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4 Frequently Asked Questions About Outsourcing Answered

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Outsourcing|4 Frequently Asked Questions About Outsourcing AnsweredFor those who are not yet on board with the prospect of outsourcing, this Q and A post shall help to quell your concerns. Below are four commonly asked questions that are often asked by business owners about outsourcing. And accompanying them, the answers to help you decipher whether or not outsourcing of some kind is a good choice for your business.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing refers to business owners finding and paying talented professionals (such as freelancers) and companies to do the work they don’t have the time or expertise to do themselves.

Depending on the scale of your business, there are usually multiple activities you (and your team) need to complete to ensure the company runs smoothly. For example, an entrepreneur who plans to launch their startup will need to work through the below;

  • Create a business plan
  • Build a website
  • Craft a brand
  • Set up and manage social media pages
  • Create a marketing plan to entice new customers
  • Hire, employ and train staff
  • Record every expense, income, and outgoing to ensure you have all the necessary information ready to complete your tax return

Everyone has a limited amount of time and resources available to complete business tasks, therefore attempting to adopt multiple jobs at once and do them well is near impossible. As a solution, outsourcing is often the answer to entrepreneurs’ who are short on time.

Providing numerous opportunities to outsource all of the tasks mentioned above and more, you can, for instance, outsource a trusted business partner to take care of everything related to human resources, such as hiring employees and managing the payroll. Or hire a freelance social media manager to take care of all the business’s social channels such as Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin.

What services can I outsource?

Practically each and every area of your business you can think of can be outsourced. Here are a few of many examples;

  • Sales
  • Digital Marketing
  • Human Resources
  • IT services
  • Customer services

Can small businesses outsource work?

Of course, there’s no minimum amount of employees or turnover required to outsource services, but some freelancers, contractors, and services are better suited to smaller businesses than others; you just need to research and find out what works for you.

Is there a cost advantage?

Perhaps one of the most significant benefits of outsourcing is the amount of money your company can save. If your company has been affected by the pandemic, cutting costs is likely compulsory rather than a choice.

Delegating tasks to businesses outside of your own eliminates the costs associated with hiring employees to perform a specific role.

For example, hiring an in-house human resources team to take care of every aspect of interviews, employment, pensions, and healthcare is costly. Furthermore, you need to provide the same service to the human resources team you’ve hired too.

Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. – Jessica Jackley, entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs can’t do it all. If you want to cut costs, save time, improve efficiency, and concentrate on the parts of your business, you are passionate about, delegate tasks to other professionals.

Five Ways To Get Creative While Working From Home: From someone who does it all the time

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Working from Home|Five Ways To Get Creative While Working From HomeWhen I am not teaching a class at the university or speaking, I am working from home.

Here are five things that work for me as a solitary, creative home worker:

  1. Finding my creative space
  2. Finding my creative time
  3. Take breaks and naps
  4. Letting incubation work for me
  5. Force connections

A bit more about each, and how you might put them to work for you.

Finding your creative space

Have you ever walked into a place, rubbed your hands together and said to yourself, “I could really do some great work here?” Artists and musicians have studios, crafts people have workshops, professors and pastors have studies, and scientists have laboratories.

Where is your creative space? Where do you do your best work? One of my artist friends describes her studio as her sanctuary. It is her “safe place.” In her studio, she is able to create, try new concepts, and leave her work in progress. Her studio is filled with light, it’s clean and well organized, and is just the right temperature for her. It is the place where no one disturbs her. It is her retreat from the hectic, outside world, where she can immerse herself in a private world of concepts and colors.

I really love my home office.

I work at an old library table that was built in 1952. I bought it from a used furniture store in the 1980s, and it is my favorite piece of furniture. I wrote my dissertation and all of my books at that table! When I sit at my desk I have a beautiful view of my yard and the pine trees that surround it. I keep meaningful items and decor in my office – like my Iron Man action figure and desktop tractors that remind me of my farm heritage. My office is my favorite room in the house – and it’s a good thing because I spend so much time here.

How to create your own place for productivity? Make your creative space a place that you want to be in. That you look forward to spending time in. Ask yourself, where do I do my best work?

Finding your creative time

My best creative time is morning. When I was writing my second book, Leading on the Creative Edge , I would write from 6:30 to 9:00 a.m. At 9:00 my staff would start to arrive for work and the day-to-day business would begin. I was also mentally “done” with the book for the day. I needed a break.

When I worked with my colleague, Dr. Mary Murdock, her most creative time was from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Needless to say Mary didn’t schedule morning meetings or classes.

Working from home is providing many folks a brand-new opportunity to find a creative time that works best for them. If you’re able, lean into the schedule that works best for you and your creative output.

Take breaks and naps

The philosopher Immanuel Kant worked in bed at certain times of the day with blankets arranged around him in a particular fashion. Mozart composed after exercise. For me, it is sleep that rejuvenates my creative capacity.

After a 20 or 30-minute nap in the afternoon, I am ready to do more creative work. My nap creates a separation in my day. It feels to me that I actually have two days in one.

When I was writing my master’s thesis and later my doctoral dissertation I would lie down on the floor for 20 minutes after dinner and listen to meditative guitar music. I usually fell asleep during that time, but that little nap allowed me to work productively for another three hours.

Letting incubation work for you

A classic tenet of creative problem solving is that breakthrough ideas often come to us when we step away from the problem and “incubate.” You’ve likely experienced it yourself. You’ve been working on a problem for a long time, haven’t made progress, and you back off to do something else. After your period of incubation — eureka!

The idea hits you.

Several times in my life I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with a breakthrough idea for a project I am working on. As a matter of fact, my first book, Why didn’t I think of that?, came to me at 3 a.m. in Washington D.C. in 1986.

I was finishing up my doctoral dissertation and took the weekend off to visit friends.

In the middle of the night, I woke up with the characters and the plot line for the book. I grabbed my pocket tape recorder and dictated almost the entire book.

Now, here is the kicker. I went to D.C. to get away from my work. I almost did not take the recorder with me because I thought I was mentally exhausted. However, if I had left the recorder behind, I am sure that book would not exist today.

So, if you become stymied on a project, step away from it. And it’s OK to work on several projects at the same time. (Just don’t multitask!) Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison worked on several projects at the same time. When they got tired of one, they would switch and work on another. In that way, when they were working on the other project they were “incubating” on the first project. Try it. If it worked for Franklin and Edison it might work for you.

Force connections when you get stuck

One sure-fire way to get new ideas is by using Forced Connections. Forced Connections is the essence of creativity; a practice of combining ideas that don’t appear to be related in a new way. This method helps you get those ideas flowing when you are stuck.

How it works:

  • Consider the problem you are trying to solve.
  • Pick an object or situation from a completely unrelated area.
  • Find or “force” a connection between the problem you are working on and the seemingly unrelated object.

The result of this new connection is a new idea.

In my creativity programs, we always do a warm-up exercise before we take on the main challenge. One of my favorite warm-ups is to generate ideas for the perfect bathtub.

After a few minutes, the group starts to slow down. They have generated the typical ideas for improving a bathtub. But, now they are stuck. It is time to introduce Forced Connections by showing the group some pictures or items unrelated to the topic.

First picture. “What ideas do you get for improving a bathtub from a bunch of bananas?” I get ideas like: make it non-slip, make it yellow, shape the tub to fit your body, and my favorite—have a bunch of my friends over.

Another picture: an airplane cockpit. This picture generates ideas like: temperature controls for the tub, lots of windows around the tub, seats in the tub and, of course, make the tub fly.

You don’t need pictures to have this technique work for you. All you need to do is look around. I am sitting at my desk while I am writing this. So, if I were working on a challenge and got stuck, I would ask myself—what ideas do I get from my telephone or books on my bookcase or the fan on my desk or trees in my backyard?

With Forced Connections, the ideas you get may not be the breakthrough answers you are looking for, but you will have more ideas to choose from.

There you have it! My time-tested recipe for at-home creativity work. See what works for you – I’d love to see photos of your creative spaces, learn about your breakthrough ideas, and hear about whether these practices help your creative output. Send your experiences, and good luck!


About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor |Roger L. Firestien, PhDDr. Roger Firestien has taught more people to lead the creative process than anyone else in the world. He is senior faculty and an associate professor at the Center for Creativity and Change Leadership at SUNY Buffalo, author of Create in A Flash: A Leader’s Recipe For Breakthrough Innovation and President of Innovation Resources, Inc.

For more information please visit: https://rogerfirestien.com/

Effective Ways to Cut Your Business Expenses

StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Cut Your Business Expenses|Effective Ways to Cut Your Business ExpensesAll businesses cost money to run and involve necessary expenses such as employee salaries, office overheads, and supply costs. While some expenses are unavoidable, there are various ways to cut your business costs and save more each month. Becoming more financially aware and identifying ways to lower costs will boost your bottom line and provide you with more cash to invest in core areas of your company. With this in mind, here are some effective ways to cut your business expenses:

Reduce staff turnover

Recruitment is a significant expense for businesses, and many companies invest heavily in their recruitment strategies to attract the best candidates. Recruitment costs increase significantly when you have a high staff turnover rate, as you will have to invest resources in advertising job openings, vetting applicants, and training new employees. High staff turnover will also cause disruption in your business, which is likely to harm productivity and overall revenue potential. The current job market favors candidates, and research shows that there are currently more job openings than hires. With this in mind, it is more important than ever for employers to keep their teams happy and take steps to retain their skilled employees. You can minimize staff turnover by offering competitive pay and benefits, praising your staff for their work, and offering regular career advancement opportunities.

Lower your office costs

Your office overheads are likely to be your biggest business expense. Reducing your office costs can be a reliable way to cut your business expenses and boost your bottom line. Luckily, there are several thrifty ways to lower office costs. Here are a few ideas:

  • Move your office to a more affordable area:commercial properties tend to be cheaper when they are located on the outskirts of city centers.
  • Relocate to a smaller office space that offers a lower monthly rent.
  • Reduce the number of employees in the workplace by offering flexible and remote working. This should cut your office overheads and can also be an effective strategy to boost office morale and employee engagement.
  • Encourage green habits in the office, i.e., switch lights off during the day and have all equipment on the more eco-friendly setting. Switching to more sustainable workplace practices will reduce your company’s carbon footprint and cut your monthly utility bills.
  • Invest in a utility management solutions pay bill service to help you stay on top of your bills, reduce expenses, and save time.

Negotiate cheaper supply costs

The majority of businesses make wholesale supply purchases. Negotiating lower deals on supplies can make a dramatic difference to your monthly expenses, especially if you make wholesale purchases on a frequent basis. Make sure you shop around to find the best-value wholesale distributors. If you want to target proven fast-moving products, consider selling wholesale cups & mugs. You should always speak with your current supplier before switching, as they may be prepared to match the lower rate. This will allow you to avoid any unnecessary hassle and reduce the risks involved with switching suppliers. You may also be able to instantly reduce your business expenses by finding better energy rates. Switching to a new business energy provider could save you up to 30% and takes just 5 minutes.

How to Equip Your Employees to Work Remotely

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article | How to Equip Your Employees to Work RemotelyWhen you’re forced to shift the operations of your business to a completely remote format for your workers, as many companies have been recently, you might not know exactly where to begin. Most business owners won’t have planned for a situation where none of their employees are permitted to be present at the business’s physical location.

If you are among those companies that are finding themselves in a bit of a tough situation at the moment, in that you don’t have all the resources on hand for your employees to properly perform their jobs from remote locations, it might take a bit of time to get everything in order, but there are plenty of options available. Read on for tips on how you can best equip your employees to work remotely.

Get the Right Tech

The first thing that your employees will need to have at the ready is the right tech to do their jobs. While your offices are probably set up with desktop computers, printers, and other equipment that your workers need to do their work, few people have everything they need to do their jobs from home. Furthermore, it isn’t necessarily advisable to allow your employees to use their personal computers for sensitive work.

As such, it is a good idea to look into laptop rentals for your employees to use throughout the shelter-in-place protocols. You can rent as many laptops as you need for as long as you want. Moreover, you can ensure that these laptops have all the necessary software installed on them, allowing your employees to work remotely.

Increase Accessibility

Once your employees have the right equipment on hand, they will then need to have access to your company’s files and servers. Perhaps your physical offices are set up with hard drives that contain all your business’s digital files and data, or maybe you have a cloud-based server that is only accessible by computers at your offices. Both scenarios present a challenge.

Start by investing in a cloud-based server, if you do not already have one in place. There are many benefits to doing so, benefits that will last beyond the remote working order. Not only will your employees be able to access company information from remote locations, but you will also be able to enjoy automatic software updates to your systems, which will help to keep them running efficiently and securely.

Focus on Communication

As well as the right equipment and access to files and folders, you will also need to ensure that the lines of communication between employees, teams, and management are open. Use communication tools such as Slack and Zoom to ensure that you are regularly meeting with your employees and checking in.

There will certainly be some hiccups and rough patches during this process, but as long as your workers know that they can reach out and collaborate with you to troubleshoot any issues, you should be able to keep things running effectively until your employees can once again return to your offices.

How to Run a Business from Home

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Run a Business from Home|How to Run a Business from HomeThe idea of starting a business is something that appeals to a lot of people, but there are some restrictions that might stop them from going forward with their dream. One of these is that they feel the need to have an office or business premises away from home. Although this will be true of cafes, restaurants, retail stores and the like, there are many other businesses which you can start and run successfully from home.

If this ideal appeals to you and you want to use your home to run a business from, there are things you will need to consider and put in place to be productive and successful. Read on to find out what some of them are.

Have a Dedicated Office Space

It may not be possible if you live in a small apartment, or if you share your home with lots of other people, but if you can find a space to use solely as an office you will find that working from home is much easier.

This could be a guest bedroom, for example, or a playroom that the kids no longer use. You could extend up into the attic or use the basement. You might even have a custom-made building put up in your backyard.

Although this might been like a lot of trouble and expense to go to if you could simply work at the kitchen table or in your bedroom on a makeshift desk, it will help you be more productive, and ultimately more successful, if you have somewhere you can call your own. You won’t have to keep moving your work so that other people can use the space and you can effectively shut everything away at the end of the day, offering a better work life balance.

Have a Special Phone Line

People will want to be able to get in touch with you and that means an email address and a phone number. An email address is simple to set up and can be done in minutes for free. The phone number, however, is slightly different. You could give your cell number, and although this is perfectly fine, it can be seen as a little unprofessional. You could give your home number, but what if someone else needs to use the phone, or what if someone else answers it and has no idea what the person calling needs or wants? This will also look unprofessional.

The ideal solution is to have a virtual phone line set up. This will give a landline number for customers to call and it can be diverted to your cell so that you know to answer in a professional manner. There are different plans at virtualhostedpbx.net to look at and you should be able to find something that suits you and your business in terms of budget and ease of use.

Be Organized

Organization is key in any business, but perhaps even more so when you work from home. It can get very confusing when you have your work and personal life mixing so closely, so you need to be extremely organized, allowing time for work and time for home life. Have a schedule in place and try to stick to it as much as you can. This will help you stay happy and keep you productive, too.