Merchant Services

RE: Farm it Out

lisa_trcstaff — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:11:17 GMT

Excellent!!!!! As a professional in this business and a 25 year member of ASA (American Staffing Association). This artical says it all. Also, look for a outsourcing service that has EXPERIENCE! There are so many labor laws in our industry that must be adhered to and unless you choose a service that has a staff that is always up-to-date on the Tennesse laws you could find yourself in hot water. So, choose carefully.

Lisa Holland
TRC Staffing Services
615-365-7149 615-481-2684

RE: Farm it Out

Lighthouse24 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:13:00 GMT

Good article, and I don't disagree with any of the major points. Generic functions like payroll are always a prime candidate for outsourcing. That said, I do think there's another side, and it involves developing one's own employees. For example, outsourcing your website creation is an option, but if you have a receptionist (or any employee) who really wants to learn web design and development, you can probably pay for her training (and hire a temp to cover her some of her basic tasks while she learns) for considerably less money than you can outsource the job -- and you'll end up with a better website, an additional in-house capability, and a loyal and grateful employee with a valuable skill (and you'll be able to find a new receptionist later more easily than a outside web development firm now). Developing our people and enhancing our in-house capabilities sometimes makes more long-term sense than farming out professional work. Not always, but sometimes.

RE: Farm it Out

SpartanWarior — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:12:19 GMT

I think this is a wonderful post.

Though I think that the prime candidates mentioned here still thinks of 'outsoure'able tasks in a traditional way. E.g. If your business is a content website, then writing articles falls in "core" area and so you should be doing it yourself. There are better writers who can do a far better job and so you may like to outsource them! What do you think about it? Actually, I would like to learn from the readers (if you can respond in the comments here), what other tasks have you been outsourcing or would you like to outsource?

On my part, I have outsourced technology (core of my website) but I do specs of the website myself. I have also outsourced legal work, logo design and writing work.

I have one other question for small business owners. How about outsourcing to low wage countries? What stuff are you ok to outsource it there and what are you NOT? I would love to learn from both Nate and readers of this blog.

CS
blog.chaitanyasagar.com

RE: Farm it Out

CEO Space — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:26:53 GMT

I agree that this is a very well research and well written article. I think that many small business owners do everything themselves because they don't think they can afford to hire the help and outsources when done correctly can free them up to do what increases revenues.

This article gave some great guidelines for finding the right source and how to avoid some of the pitfalls.

In our network (www.ceospaceworld.com), the motto is "if it isn't your genius, it isn't your job". Outsourcing allows you to concentrate on what IS your genius.

I would encourage more businesses of every size to try some outsourcing.

RE: Farm it Out

ahr2008 — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:17:17 GMT

I feel that this article is extremely well written and fully researched. It covers the value of outsourcing and addresses each option carefully. A client of mine is actually a PEO brokerage firm and would be a great resource for anyone in this community. They actually research each PEO for good business practices and match businesses up with the right PEO to meet their needs. Their site is www.NetPEO.com. I hope this helps.