Mary saw it coming. The economy had dramatically impacted the
company she worked for and there were several of pink slips
handed out on Friday afternoon - her job had been axed, along
with several of her coworkers.
What now? She and her husband had talked about the possibility of
a lay-off when the economy first slumped, and Mary had said at
the time that she had dreamed of owning her own business. In her
spare time she painted watercolor and friends and family had
encouraged her to pursue it as a career but she had never had the
nerve or opportunity. Until now.
She spent the weekend enjoying time with her family and talking
about the future. That Monday, she officially went into business
for herself... although what it meant was still a puzzle. She
wasn't great at sales. She couldn't design a website to save
her life. Bookkeeping wasn't a strong suit. But she could paint!
So Mary painted. But she did something else: She called an
outsourcing firm.
An outsourcing firm is one that provides a number of services
that are necessary to run a business but are often not core to
the business. In Mary's case, she hired an outsourcing firm that
could create and maintain her website and blog, answer a
telephone around the clock when orders came in, handle her
finances, and even track down corporate leads and make sales.
Outsource firms make business possible. They allow business
owners to focus on the core of the business - the thing that they
entered business to do - by doing for the business owner all the
other things that need to happen for the business to run:
administration, marketing, sales, finance, you name it.
Outsource firms make business possible in another way. Aside from
helping the business owner focus on the core of their business,
outsourcing also makes sure that the phone can be answered 24/7,
or that there is always someone available to answer questions
asked through IM or chat on the website.
And, outsource firms make business profitable. One of the
challenges of businesses (especially those operating in today's
economy) is the problem of staff. Hiring staff can be costly. And
what if sales decline? There is overhead to consider, too. But
outsource staff can scale with the business, increasing as the
need demands and decreasing if necessary. This keeps costs down
(and more closely tied to sales than a salaried employee would).
And yet another profitability factor - time spent on the right
things. Business owners should be focused on their area of
expertise and, if possible, on sales and marketing. Everything
else takes away their attention from those more important tasks.
On her own, Mary's painting would have remained a dream and she
would be out with her resume looking for another job in a very
difficult hiring climate. But with outsourcing to help her,
Mary's business prospects look bright.
To be successful in today's highly competitive global market,
businesses need to outsource. If you are starting a business, or
are running a business right now, there's a good chance that it
will be a stronger business when you put more of your focus on
the core and push the non-core activities to an outsource firm.
Heather Villa: Heather Villa's professional philosophy is that her
role in the success of others will ultimately bring
about her own success. Whether she is working from
an advanced accounting or challenging marketing angle,
offering guidance in development, organization,
supervision, or administration, Heather makes sure that
her clients get accurate answers from a professional
that they can depend on. As CEO of IAC Professionals http://www.iacprofessionals.com, Heather instituted
a company-wide philosophy of professional and personal
integrity, and IAC soared. Would you like to find out how
Heather Villa can help drive your business toward greater success? http://www.hireheathervilla.com.
