When does 1+1=3? How Outsourcing can Leverage your Business
July 6, 2011
By Liz Parker, VA Placements
When you listen to everyone’s input (even if it is just one more person than usual), the output is more than the sum of the individual parts. In these circumstances, when you are collaborating and listening, 1+1 does equal 3 (plus) every time.
So why, as business owners, does it take us such a long time to realise the benefits of working in a team and the amount of leverage this can give us?
A typical small business owner works long hours and has little spare time – yet will continue to do work that they can easily outsource at a much lower hourly rate. One of my favourite quotes is,
“A rich man spends money to save time, a poor man spends time to save money.”
There is no doubt that outsourcing can be a challenging situation, especially if you have never managed or delegated previously. How do you get the best out of your team and continue to reap the rewards of more time and less stress? The simple answer is to use a company that has the experience in finding you the right virtual assistant to help you and to provide you with resources and support to make sure the relationship works.
If you are adding to an existing team, then a virtual assistant can provide you with a level of skill and experience that just doesn’t warrant a permanent position.
Eventually, once you and your team gets into the routine of including a remote member, you will find that the added resource will provide you with a range of opportunities never considered previously. The flexibility, range and depth of services available nowadays are impressive. Everything from social media, marketing, lead generation, project management, web development, web maintenance through to operational activities such as automating processes, bookkeeping and general admin.
If you think its time to get some leverage for the time spent in your business, then consider retaining the services of a virtual assistant or several virtual assistants who are experts in remote delivery of their own particular services.
Liz Parker will be the guest speaker on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s exclusive webinar Monday, 18 July 2011 – Outsourcing to Grow Your Business. Register now for this event.
Learn more at our exclusive webinar Monday, 18 July 2011…Outsourcing to Grow Your Business: Save time and money, increase productivity and strengthen bottom line results.
This webinar will look at:
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Liz Parker – VA PlacementsAs the founder and CEO of VA Placements, Liz has matched many clients with the right virtual assistant. Previous to starting her business in 2007, Liz was a CEO and national IT Centre Manager who was responsible for developing systems and processes from idea to reality and for training staff virtually in using these new systems and processes. Over her career, she has been responsible for developing effective teams of all sizes from small 5 member teams right through to 80+.
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Outsourcing to Grow Your Business Webinar
July 1, 2011
Save time and money, increase productivity and strengthen bottom line results.
How can you have more time to focus on the income generating activities of your business? One answer is to outsource.
If you spend too much time on tasks that are not helping your business to grow and prosper, you can probably benefit from outsourcing some non-essential tasks. In today’s world, outsourcing is easier than ever.
So, transfer the headache of small tasks and spend your time working ON your business.
Join us on 18 July when Liz Parker of VA Placements is our guest speaker. Here’s where to start.
During the webinar, we’ll look at:
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Event Details:
Outsourcing to Grow Your Business – National Webinar
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Monday, 18 July 2011 10.15am for 10.30am – 11.30am AEST (Check your timezone.) |
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Price: |
Webinar – Your home or office.
Growth Members: FREE
*members: login to get your member discount. Not able to attend? Complete your registration and a recording of the webinar will be sent to you after the live event. |
Your Speaker:
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Liz Parker As the founder and CEO of VA Placements, Liz has matched many clients with |
What is a webinar?
A webinar is a web-based seminar. To participate you will need high-speed internet and a USB headset (with microphone). Instructions will be sent to you on receipt of your registration.
Not a member?
Join today and you save hundreds of dollars each year on workshops designed to help you be more successful as a businesswoman. Membership is less than $1 a day! Learn More about Membership Now.
Is this event right for you?
This event is suitable for women who are managing a business and those who are in the Growth stages of business.
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The Business Growth Webinar SeriesThis event is part of the Business Growth series of webinars which are free to those with Growth Member membership to the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. For details on the benefits of Growth Membership take a look at our Membership Comparison Chart. For details on other webinars – see the Events section on our website. |
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Register below through our secure online shopping system. Upon registration you’ll receive confirmation of your attendance. If you have any questions you can send us an email or, call 1300 720 120. If you are a member, remember to login to get free entry.
Business Insurance: How to Prepare for the “What Ifs”
June 27, 2011
By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit
You never know what’s around the corner: a recent mountain bike accident left Nerida Gill (far right) running her business from bed
A recent encounter with a tree trunk while mountain biking taught me that running a small business is not very compatible with a couple of cracked ribs. I also learned that “resting” — that is, continuing to tap away at the laptop in bed, propped up with extra pillows — is neither productive nor comfortable.
Not surprisingly, my rather annoying situation got me thinking about insurance, so this month we’re discussing how to plan for those… err, unplanned little incidences.
Why have insurance?
“It’ll never happen,” you say. Yeah? Tell that to my friend who, as a teenager, found himself in the awkward position of needing to streak naked across the lounge room in front of his mother and her girlfriends.
Unfortunately, the impossible happens all the time. My friend’s story is hilarious (he laughs about it now… 20 years later), but very few disasters have a funny side, as we saw with the Queensland floods over Christmas and New Years.
The fact is that you’ve worked hard to build your small business — you work on average an extra 10 hours a week than other people and have most likely gone without a few of life’s luxuries to get where you are today.
Still tempted to overlook insurance or pooh-pooh the price of premiums? Consider these statistics:
- Crime risks are higher for small businesses than for households
- 49% of respondents in the Small Business Crime Survey experienced at least one incident of crime in the last 12 months
- A fire costs a small business an average of $72,235
- 1 in 3 Australians are disabled for more than three months and have no income during their working lives
- For every home lost to fire, 48 homes are lost to disability
- 127,000 employers and self-employed Australians were injured at work in the last year, according to the latest ABS statistics
What insurance to get
By law, any business that employs people, even if you’re the only employee in your own incorporated company, must have WorkSafe Injury Insurance. Many business owners mistakenly believe WorkSafe is all they need.
What they don’t realise is that this insurance does not cover those operating as sole-traders or in partnerships. What’s more, it only covers accidents and injuries that occur during work hours or illnesses that are a direct result of employment. Statistics, however, show that 70% of accidents happen outside the workplace and that an equal number of trauma claims are for cancer, stroke and heart disease, which are rarely work-related.
The solution is to hold sickness and accident, and income protection policies. Experts also strongly recommend business owners hold public liability, product liability and professional indemnity insurance, depending on the industry you’re in.
Other significant policies to consider include:
- Fire and perils
- Burglary
- Equipment and general property
- Goods in transit.
And others to research or be aware of are:
- Business interruption
- Directors and office bearers liability
- Employee dishonesty or Fidelity guarantee
- Electronic equipment and breakdown
- Employment practices liability
- Glass breakage
- Income protection insurance
- Key person insurance
- Loss of money
- Machinery breakdown
- Perishable food or stock deterioration
- Motor insurance
- Product recall
- Tax audit
- Trade credit
- Unregistered equipment
- Weather.
Where to get insurance
The same companies that provide personal insurance generally also deal in the various business products. In fact, many providers offer insurance tailored specifically for small business, and have products to fit the distinct needs of individual sectors, such as hospitality, retail or the manual trades, or allow you to build a package to suit your personal needs.
It goes without saying that packaging your policies together is generally cheaper, and that it’s wise to compare quotes and the fine print from several providers. Alternatively, an insurance broker can offer a more independent and over-arching view of the business insurance policies available, not to mention do all the leg work for you! A good one can:
- Expertly match your needs to available policies
- Make sure you’re not over-insured and, thus, paying unnecessary premiums
- Help you make a claim or negotiate a settlement
- Work as a consultant to manage the insurance side of your business.
How to minimise the risks
Not surprisingly, all the insurance in the world won’t keep your business operating smoothly if you snorkel a little close to a swarm of electric eels or a plague of locusts devours your entire inventory. If this happens, won’t you be pleased you listened to this advice:
- Keep back-up copies of important documents in a second location
- Keep an address book of important contacts
- Prepare a procedures manual or train staff how to do important tasks if you or other key personnel are not available
- Have a loss prevention strategy if you’re in retail
- Review your postcode — some locations have higher crime rates or are more susceptible to natural disaster. It may never happen, but you’ll still be charged higher insurance premiums
- Train your staff in occupational health and safety and, please, find ways to make it appealing. Continually look for ways to make the workplace safer and happier.
And finally, back to those bruised and painful ribs of mine … please contact herBusiness if you’d like to send me a “get well” card or, even better, a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates!
MORE GREAT POSTS BY NERIDA GILL
- Your Business Plan: The Best Road to Success
- How to Be an Inspiring Speaker (and Promote Your Business for Free)
- Put Down Your Gloves: How to Resolve Conflict the Right Way
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Nerida Gill – Admin BanditNerida Gill is the creator of Admin Bandit, a web-based accounting package designed specifically to make keeping the books easy for volunteer treasurers in community groups. After winning numerous business awards, Admin Bandit is in a growth phase after recently attracting external investment.
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Financial Foreplay: Bringing Sexy Back to Finances – Interview with Rhondalyn Korolak
May 7, 2011
“I think financials are fun because having money is fun,” said Rhondalynn Korolak, author of Financial Foreplay, during a recent interview at Kochie’s Business Builders Boot Camp.
Not everyone shares her view. Finances are often left last after marketing, networking, social media, etc.
“I’ve noticed that everyone’s afraid of their financials, or they just hate them,” continued Rhondalynn. So I thought, ‘What I’m going to do here is help people move their business forward. I’ve got to make financials fun. I’ve got to make it easy and practical, and to do that, I’ve just created this concept of sexiness in business and relationships to tell the story”.
Some of Rhondalynn’s ideas may sound counterintuitive at first: “I’ve noticed that everyone wants to spend money on social media. What I’m saying is this: stop spending money on social media. I know this is controversial. Stop spending money on chasing customers. Learn how to unlock the insights in your financials, and you’ll learn how to make more money that way.
“Essentially, if you’ve got a cash flow issue in your business, there’s no point in chasing customers. You’re actually hurting yourself financially by doing that. What I’m advocating is to take a look and figure out where you’ve gone wrong. Perhaps you have stale or old inventory that you need to get rid of. That’s a good way to get cash flow in. Another way is to collect your debt. None of us like to ask for money, but I love asking for money because when it comes in, it goes straight into your back pocket.
Some people are afraid to ask others for money. I say, when you complete the work, you collect the money right then and there without any debt collection.
“Another way is to not allow debt in the first place. Some people are afraid to ask others for money. I say, when you complete the work, you collect the money right then and there without any debt collection. Another way could be to offer a simple discount for early payment, but be smart about it. Don’t just say, ‘If you pay early, you get 2 percent off or 3 percent off.’ Calculate what that means to your business financially before you offer it, because sometimes it’s actually not good for you”.
Rhondalynn pointed out that many businesses could save money by not wasting money on a vehicle they don’t really need: “Regardless of whether the government says you’ll get a 50 percent tax rebate, if you don’t have cash flow in your business and you don’t need that asset to produce income in your business, then you shouldn’t be buying it.”
“It’s simple things like that,” Rhondalynn concluded. “You can actually save money, and then you’ll have more money to advertise and do all the things you want to do that are more fun.”
Kochie’s Business Builder’s Boot Camp was supported by the Australian Businesswomen’s Network.
Related Links
Visit Rhondalynn’s website - Imagineering Unlimited.
Financial Foreplay: Whip Your Business into Shape and Take Home More Cash By Rhondalynn Korolak
Order your copy of Financial Foreplay from Booktopia today and save.
Show Me the Money: How to Get Your Debtors to Pay
March 7, 2011
By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit
Cash flow troubles cause 80 percent of business failures, according to Dun & Bradstreet, and are behind a recent surge in crash and burns. The company’s latest research links a 25 percent increase in business failures in 2010 with a similar increase in the number of days business customers took to pay their bills — the peak average of 53 days is almost twice as long as the standard 30 day payment terms.
That’s almost two months, which is a long time to wait for your money, especially for small, home-based and micro-businesses!
So how can you get your debtors to pay on time?
Here are some tips not just to reel in that much-needed cash, but also to prevent overdue invoices in the first place.
Only Give Credit Where it’s Due
Most bad debts come from new clients. A credit application form is a handy screening tool, and allows you to stipulate trading terms. It should include:
- The applicant’s details, such as business name, business type, ABN, postal and street address, telephone and email, and the names and contacts of all owners, partners and directors.
- Financial information, such as bank name and branch, the amount of credit required and the name of the person in charge of accounts payable.
- Names and contact details for two to four trade references.
- Terms and conditions, including how many days from the date of invoices payment is due, and additional charges for overdue accounts, such as interest and administration fees.
- Signatures and dates from all parties.
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
Photo Courtesy Alan Cleaver
Develop a process for dealing with debtors… and stick to it! You’ll be more likely to get your money and will also train clients that you’re serious about your trading terms.
First, you need to track when payments are due. As the owner of an accounting software company, any system worth its salt should show when an invoice was created and delivered at a glance.
Some experts recommend a polite email or phone call the day after payment is due, while others advocate chasing all overdue bills at once when you do your monthly bank reconciliation. Whichever you choose, a neat conversation opener is, “I’m doing my accounts and notice your account is overdue….”.
The aim is not just to remind, but get a positive, concrete outcome. When will they pay? Is there a problem? Can you arrange a payment plan? How can you help them pay on time in future?
If the account remains unpaid, escalate the pressure. Call more often or visit your client in person. If the client is a regular, decline ongoing work or withhold supplies until at least part payment is made. However, always keep your cool… resorting to bullying will achieve nothing but a close relationship with their solicitor.
Your final resort is a letter warning the client that you’ll hand the matter to your own solicitor or a debt collection agency if the account is not settled by a specific date. Make it clear that the client will be responsible for all fees incurred.
Then never work with that client again!
Prevention is the Best Cure
Now that I’ve explained all the nasty stuff, here’s some good news… you can put a dozen or so practices into place to reduce the chance of late payment. Try these simple ideas:
Allow for human error… sometimes mistakes or misunderstandings cause late payments.- Outline payment terms when you first establish a trading relationship. Be flexible… discuss client preferences and negotiate a win-win situation.
- Also make payment terms very clear on your invoices.
- Provide customers with a number of payment options and ask which they prefer.
- Ask clients to tell you if something will delay a payment… you can then adjust the due date or offer a payment plan.
- Develop client relationships, which turns you into a living, breathing person, rather than an anonymous company. This can be as simple as contacting clients to make sure they’re satisfied with their latest order, scheduling meetings near payment due dates, setting lunch dates, or sending cards for birthdays and other special events.
- Issue invoices promptly, with goods and services, if possible.
- Ask about client payment cycles. For instance, some companies pay bills on a particular day of the week, while others follow standard industry procedures. For example, 90 days is the wine industry standard, which is three times longer than the more common 30 days.
- Consider discounts for early or upfront payments.
- For large projects especially, ask for a deposit or break the work into a series of milestones, with a part payment due as each is achieved.
- Ask for a purchase order or written confirmation for every project… I know someone who lost payment for IT training because the company claimed they hadn’t ordered it and no documentation existed to prove otherwise, even though the service had been happily received.
MORE GREAT POSTS BY NERIDA GILL
- How to Run Effective Meetings
- Assess Your Competitors and Gain a Winning Edge
- How to Successfully Advertise Your Small Business
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Nerida Gill - Admin BanditNerida Gill is the creator of Admin Bandit, a web-based accounting package designed specifically to make keeping the books easy for volunteer treasurers in community groups. After winning numerous business awards, Admin Bandit is in a growth phase after recently attracting external investment.
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The Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Scheme — Now that we’ve got it (yay!), who should administer it?
February 16, 2011
By Amy Lyden
The government’s introduction of Australia’s first ever Paid Parental Leave scheme was a fantastic win for women and families generally. With the scheme now underway (1st January 2011), the latest argument is who should administer it. The Coalition wants Centrelink to do this.
At the time of this writing, the Lower House was about to vote on a bill introduced by opposition small business spokesman Bruce Billson. The proposed bill would have the new Paid Parental Leave scheme (PPL) administered totally by Centrelink, not employers.
The PPL scheme came into effect on 1st January 2011. The current claiming process:
- Employee contacts the Family Assistance Office (FAO) / Centrelink to apply.
- FAO determines if employee eligible. If yes, it contacts the employer, who then provides the FAO with their ABN, business name, bank account details, employee’s pay cycle and contact details.
- FAO sends payments to the employer just before the PPL is due to commence. The employer in not required to pay PPL to the employee until the funds have been received, so no cashflow issue for the employer.
- The employer pays the PPL as per the usual pay cycle, e.g. fortnightly or monthly. The employer must notify the employee of any payment made within 24 hours.
- The employer should deduct tax from PPL payments. However, other entitlements like superannuation are not applicable and also any PPL amounts should not be included in the calculation of workers compensation premiums and payroll tax.
The potential sticking points on the above process for small business:
- Double handing – the FMO pays the employer, and the employer pays the employee. It seems more logical for the FMO to pay the employee directly. The employee will no doubt have many more transactions with the FMO in the future if they are accessing the Child Care Benefit or Rebate, so why not keep this the same?
- Burden on the employer – small businesses particularly are under-resourced. Small business owners need to be focusing their time on growing their business, therefore employing more people and contributing to economic development. This process adds another layer of compliance and “to-do”s in the long list of tasks for small business owners.
- Because there is no superannuation paid on the PPL and payments for PPL are not included when calculating workers’ compensation premiums and payroll tax, this further complicates the reconciliation process. Again adding to time involved in managing the PPL payments.
Supporters of the existing process argue that by having employers administer the PPL payments the employee will be more “connected” to the workforce and the relationship will stay intact. I would argue that there are other more effective ways to keep a relationship alive between a business and an employee that is on parental leave. Depositing money into one’s account doesn’t constitute a relationship. Perhaps the real issue is ensuring a connection between the employee and the workforce and that is a topic for another post.
All being said, we should not lose sight that the introduction of a PPL scheme is a wonderful start. And like any new scheme, the processes will need to be tested and reviewed. I invite you to let me know what your experience is with it. Too much time involved? Happy to do it? What do you think?
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY AMY LYDEN
- Focus on the Common Threads That Bind Us – International Women’s Day – 100 years
- Alarming Statistics About Australia and Gender Equality
- Women in Leadership – We’ve NOT come a long way, baby
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Amy Lyden - Advocacy Advisor – Australian Businesswomen’s NetworkAn entrepreneur and specialist in ecommerce and online strategy, Amy has had over 13 years of practical experience in these areas. Launching her first website in 1998 Amy was at the forefront of an online revolution without even realizing it. Within a year this site became and remains today a #1 ranking site and global community of pet lovers that attracts over 4 million visitors a year. This Australia-based business, Bow Wow Meow, now sells product online to over 100 countries worldwide. Amy sold this business in 2007 and turned her energy to the nonprofit sector. Amy is currently the CEO of Australian Scholarships Foundation, an organisation that facilitates scholarships for education and training for people who work in the nonprofit sector. Amy is the recipient of numerous business awards including the 2006 NSW Telstra Business Women’s Awards for Innovation, the 2002 National Telstra Business Award and the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World Grant. Amy is an Ambassador and former Chairperson for the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, an organisation that supports female entrepreneurs. Amy was also invited to serve on the Commonwealth Small Business Council, an initiative by the Federal minister for Small Business. Amy has been profiled in the following books: “Women’s Business, Women’s Wealth” by Amanda Ellis, “Female Entrepreneurs”, by Leiza Clark and “Secrets of Female Entrepreneurs Exposed!”, by Dale Beaumont. Amy is passionate about using technology to connect people globally for positive change.
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Hope For the Best, But Plan For the Worst
November 4, 2010
By Jaye Radisich, Navigate Business
What would you do if you couldn’t work and earn income from your business for 6 – 12 months? Have you got enough savings to pay your mortgage, a manager, staff, bills, medical expenses?
When we’re on the treadmill working in our businesses it is hard to take time out to plan for things that we really hope won’t happen – like illness or accident. Unfortunately, life doesn’t always go to plan and incidents of diseases like cancer are on the rise.
We spend hours on our business plans and marketing strategies, so it’s probably a good idea to invest a few hours to make sure that we’ve got adequate income protection insurance to make sure we can get through any rough patches that life throws our way. This issue is especially important for single women, women with few assets and women leaving secure employment to start a new business venture.
So, make a plan! After all, it’s probably what you do best.
If you have an existing superannuation fund, contact them and find out what income protection insurance might be available to you as part of your existing plan, and judge whether you have enough cover or if you need to upgrade.
If your strategy for superannuation is based on equity in your business, then you’ll need a different approach. Take advice from one or more independent, financial professionals. Most banks will also provide a free initial consultation with an in-house financial advisor.
You can find some general information to get you started through the Financial Services Council (FSC) Lifewise campaign, which aims to help people understand and manage the risks that we can face in daily life.
Get planning. Protecting your future income is too important not to.
MORE GREAT POSTS FROM JAYE RADISICH:
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Jaye Radisich - Navigate BusinessJaye Radisich is the Principal of Navigate Business, a consultancy that provides communications and business solutions. Navigate Business specialises in small business engagement strategies for corporate, not for profit and government clients. Navigate Business also provides services for SMEs spanning the development of grant applications and policy submissions, through to government relations advice and PR activity. Jaye Radisich is a long-term champion of small business in Australia and was formerly CEO of the Council of Small Business of Australia and a Member of the WA Parliament.
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Are you leaving money on the table?
October 22, 2010
By Alycia Edgar, Coastal Accounting Service
You meet people at an event, you swap details. You get back to your office and the ‘busy’ work takes over. Most of us don’t have assistants to delegate work to and even if we do, our client work always comes first .
But what about filling that marketing pipeline? Isn’t that just as important? Here are some questions that you need to consider:
- How you will capture prospects’ details?
- How soon you will follow up prospects?
- How you will go about following up?
- When to follow up a second time
- The point at which you will stop contacting a new prospect
- How you will put a reminder system in place so you don’t forget to follow up?
Pretend this prospect was one of ten that you followed up. You have found on average that one out of every ten new prospects becomes a client. Each client is worth on average $5,000 annually. That sounds like a nice sum that’s worth spending the time to follow up!
Put a system in place
How do you manage to continually follow up without getting distracted by the ‘busy’ work? You need a system in place for the entire process.
Let’s see how this might look:
- Determine the sequence of events that occur to ensure follow up and who is responsible for each step (this occurs once).
- Upload business card to customer relationship management system (CRM). Preferably get your assistant to do this and/or use photo recognition software to scan cards in.
- Set reminder for follow up with contact.
- Actually follow up with client.
- Continue this process until desired outcome is achieved or contact is no longer considered a prospect.
You’re probably thinking that this all sounds very easy. However, I can tell you from experience that unless you believe that follow up is a core part of your business, you will never make the time to complete the process. You will forever procrastinate and tell yourself, ‘Oh, I’ll call them tomorrow’. But of course, tomorrow never comes.
Make follow up an integral part of your business
- Outsource the components that are getting in your way.
- Block out time each week to concentrate on follow ups.
- Most importantly pick a time of day that sits right with you to complete this, whether you’re a morning or afternoon person.
When will you next follow up?
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY ALYCIA EDGAR
- The Business of Busyness
- Time Billing vs Value Billing
- Your Email Inbox Contains a Wealth of Knowledge
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Alycia Edgar - Coastal Accounting ServicesAs an accountant and former surf shop owner Alycia understands the issues that small business face everyday. She believes you can work on your business effectively simply by understanding your business numbers. She creates innovative systems and processes that enable business owners to be highly focused and productive in their business, including Bookzkeeper – The Accounting Survival Kit for Small Business. To get tips on how your numbers relate to working on your business, simply visit here
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Delegation for Small Business – a Necessary Investment
October 6, 2010
By Yvette Vignando, happychild.com.au
It’s now been a few months since I launched my new parenting website – I’m now seeing website traffic increase, more activity on the site and getting more requests to run workshops – but I’m also seeing much more activity across my desk and I have more ideas and to-do tasks that I can possibly implement. So I know it’s time to delegate more.
To prepare for this article I spoke to three excellent sources : the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s Suzi Dafnis, ABN member Alycia Edgar and someone that one day I will be able to afford as a mentor – the delightful and amazingly successful Anne McKevitt.
Delegation requires thought,and preparation and investment but it’s a calculated risk that all small business owners have to take at some stage to grow their business. And Anne told me, from the point of view of someone who has been so outrageously successful, “If you want the sand between your toes, a margarita in hand & a good book to read on a weekday, then learn to delegate.” Anne also made the obvious point that delegation is actually required to grow a small business – I know I just can not do everything myself.
I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a delegation precipice. If I delegate the right way and use my extra time to earn more income then I will consider it to be a success. To be honest, the financial risk is what worries me the most but I know that I will truly have a ‘business’ and not just a ‘job’ if I can make delegation work for me
To answer my questions I used the universal research tools of Google and ‘people I trust’. Here’s the outcome of my research – there are some great tips in here for every small business owner.
Top 3 Fundamentally “Good” Delegation Ideas
- Make a list of the things that only you can do or should be doing for the success of your business. Include at least 30 minutes each day for thinking, planning and creating the next day’s to-do list. Try to delegate everything else.
- Try to hold on to operations or areas that define the core mission of your business. Then, consider outsourcing the other operations that are not as strategic.
- Delegation of tasks is an investment and not an expense. If your current earnings are only covering your overheads and not much else, unfortunately, you’re not in the ideal financial situation to delegate tasks. But sometimes it takes delegating to increase your revenue. Consider the investment and do your best to find a way to make it work as soon as possible – for the sake of your business.
Top Delegation Advice for Small Business from Suzi Dafnis, Alycia Edgar and Anne McKevitt
I am concerned about three things so I went to the people in the know:
Q1: What should a I delegate?
A: As the business owner your role is not to manage the business but to strategise, connect and bring in the ‘dough’. Ideally, small business owners should try to delegate anything that is not an income-producing task. Your time should be spent working on the business (bettering your skills, meeting with new prospects, planning) and tasks that are working in the business (taking calls, processing invoices) should be leveraged where possible. This is hard to do when you’re a solo operator or a very small business. So, the key then is to spend more time on than in the business where possible.
Solopreneurs need to think in terms of ‘departments’ and their tasks and then outsource their departments’ work to freelancers such as virtual assistants or casual staff. You can source virtual assistants in Australia and overseas – once you have a VA, work with them by email and imagine they are in the next room to you.
Q2: How do I make sure I cover the cost of outsourcing or delegating more of my work?
A: Make sure you are using the time you have saved by outsourcing, for revenue-generating tasks e.g. selling advertising on your website. What is your hourly rate or its equivalent? If you can outsource work at less than your hourly rate, the investment will probably be worthwhile. Make sure you have measures in place to monitor the tasks that need to be done and understand how they assist you to achieve your goals.
Q3: How will I know if delegating is working for me financially?
A: Start by setting a deadline for an income-producing project and set a financial target making sure you can cover the costs of the outsourcing during that time. Review the results. If you are more than covering the cost of the outsourcing with the increased revenue and you are gaining momentum on future revenue-generating projects then the delegation is working for you.
Suzi said “We go into business to improve our lives. A team/leverage can help us get there faster.”
October is the month when I start my delegation and outsourcing adventure. Wish me luck!
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY YVETTE VIGNANDO
- Can a Mumpreneur Really Crush It? 5 Tips to Myself.
- 3 Tips for New Business Success
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Yvette Vignando - www.happychild.com.auYvette is pursuing her passion – to take action that helps children develop great social and emotional skills as a foundation for a happy and successful life. Formerly a lawyer and then successful executive coach specialising in Emotional Intelligence, Yvette was encouraged by her experience of MentorNet to launch her business – a website for parents that publishes practical and engaging information about raising children with emotional intelligence. Yvette looks forward to sharing the challenges and successes of her experience as she navigates her way through the adventures of launching a website, and tackles online sales and marketing, an evolving business plan, and the growing universe of social media. Yvette hopes that by following her personal and professional development as an entrepreneur you will also be inspired to follow your passions.
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If You Want to Manage It, Measure It.
September 27, 2010
By Julie Wise, The SilverOwl
“What gets measured gets managed.” Although this is embraced without question, lots of business owners are slow to understand its criticality when it comes to effective and sustainable business. There are many reasons why this is the case, but I suspect that several key reasons top the list.
First, many (most?) business owners left their jobs because of paperwork / ‘red-tape’. Second, SMEs historically relied on the impression and feeling that their business was doing good more than they did on hard facts and lifeless statistics. Lastly, for a great many quantitative analysis is simply too hard and hence not a priority.
So let’s take a brief look at “5 Ms” of measures:-
- Does measurement really matter?
- What should you measure?
- How should you monitor these measures?
- How do you use measures to motivate?
- What’s the message?
Does Measurement Really Matter?
In their book Bullseye! Hitting Your Strategic Targets Through High-Impact Measurement, William Schiemann and John Lingle document the differences measurement makes in organizations.
Not surprisingly, businesses that measured scored 41% higher across the 4 parts of business than businesses that did not measure.
More importantly, 71% of companies that measured achieved their business plans while only 8% of companies that did not measure achieved their business plans. Which side of the ledger do you want to be on? Lets agree that measurement really matters, so exactly what should a business measure?
Measuring the Critical Few
Every business has four parts: inputs, throughputs, outputs, and outcomes.
- Inputs are generally measures of resources and efforts. That is, how much time, talent, effort or budget went into a particular program, project, event or activity.
- Throughputs are often measures of efficiency that deal with things like cycle times. For example, How long does it take to issue a receipt once an invoice is paid? Clearly, a payment/receipt time of 4 hours is much more attractive than a week.
- Outputs are measures of productivity. For example, for a millinery company the number of hats distributed to outlets would be an output.
- Outcomes, on the other hand, would be the number of hats actually sold. Outcomes speak to the end results that your business is seeking. Likewise, a coach might conduct 24 coaching sessions (outputs), but how were skills of participants actually enhanced and what did the participants subsequently impact as a consequence (outcomes).
The simple rule of thumb on metrics is “80/20” – where 20% of your measures will yield 80% of the desired results, insight, or action needed. To find your 20%, first identify the Key Result Areas (KRAs) important to your business’ mission and vision. Generally, there are four to seven areas (more than seven raises questions as to how key the areas really are or how clear your business mission statement is). How do you know if your KRAs are really key? They are truly key if:
- Success in these areas and failure in others will probably not matter.
- Fail in these areas and no amount of success in other areas will matter.
Once the KRAs are known, you need to identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within each of these KRAs. For example, most businesses would say that the area of e-marketing is a Key Result Area. Within this KRA, measures like new vs. old visitors, page visits, bounce rate, cancellation rate, number of orders and average value of order would likely be key performance indicators.
There are some things to be aware of :-
- There are people, due either to their aversion to accountability or simply naiveté, like to claim that what they do really can’t be measured. My response! “If something exists, it exists in some amount, and if it exists in some amount, it can be measured.”
- The mere fact that it can be measured doesn’t mean it should be measured, that it’s important to measure it, or that it’s cost-effective to capture the data, etc
- Strive to measure what you want (i.e., those measures that are really important), rather than resigning to what you can currently measure.
- Heed Albert Einstein “Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.” The fewer measures you have without leaving key measures out, the better off you’ll be. Your real goal is to achieve and sustain a strategic focus on what matters most, the more you clutter your dashboard the more this entire exercise becomes self-defeating.
Monitoring
Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement.
If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it.
If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it.
If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it
MORE GREAT POSTS BY JULIE WISE
- Why your business needs a succession plan
- Grab a coffee, take time to pause and reflect on FY10 – 01 July 2010
- Unleash The Plan In Your Head
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Julie Wise - The SilverOwl
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| Email: | julie@thesilverowl.com.au |
| Website: | www.thesilverowl.com.au |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/julie_wise |
| LinkedIn: | au.linkedin.com/in/juliewise |
| Member Profile: | See Julie’s Member Profile |
