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Time Management
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Article 5: Outsource Time-Consuming Chores
If there simply isn’t enough time in your workweek to do it all, focus your hours on the tasks that are critical to your small business. Outsource chores that others can do for you. You’ll save time and frustration.
Often, professionals can complete specific tasks faster than you can. And handing off work saves your time for more important chores, like calling on clients.
Here are a few small-business tasks that you can easily outsource to a pro:
Tax preparation. Unless you’re an accountant, you didn’t start your business so you could spend your days crunching numbers. Don’t spend time preparing your own taxes. Hire a savvy tax professional to prepare your returns. Web design and maintenance. Yes, you can educate yourself to design and maintain your small-business Web site. But why should you? Save your valuable time for your core business activities. Farm out Web design and the ongoing maintenance of your site. E-commerce functions. If you sell on the Web, hire a pro to handle e-commerce functions. Warehousing, fulfillment, credit card verification, shipment tracking and other online sales functions can be outsourced to an independent systems integrator. Look for an e-fulfillment specialist with technology expertise and an experienced track record, as well as a firm that has the ability to grow along with your needs. Payroll processing. If you have a handful of employees, outsource payroll processing.
Printing and delivering pay checks is just the beginning of the services you can outsource to a payroll-processing firm. Payroll companies, with their up-to-date software, can also help you adhere to complex tax obligations. Some firms, such as ADP, www.adp.com, take their services a step further by providing benefits administration and human resources management. Public relations. Writing and distributing press releases takes skill and time if you want to get the most bang from public relations activities. There are professional independent contractors who will take your job on a project-by-project basis, without charging big retainer fees. Check out these two sources: www.guru.com and www.freeagent.com.
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