Your 500-piece mailing needs to go out by the end of the week? A
client proposal needs to be typed and proofread by Monday morning?
No problem, just have your assistant--oh, wait a second. Your
city's zoning laws don't allow you to hire employees. Even
if they did, where would you put one--in the hall closet?
If you don't have enough space or work to invest in an
employee, but still have more duties than you can handle, consider
turning to business-support services, which provide outside help on
an as-needed basis. It's like having employees on call, except
you don't have to bother with training, paying for downtime,
the complexities of payroll and benefits, or finding room and money
for another workstation in your home.
"Why do you want to get bogged down by the grunt work
that's involved in running a business--composing this and
refining that?" says Lynette Smith, executive director of the
Association of Business Support Services International Inc.
"There are things you're better at and should be spending
your time on. It's helpful to know what you're not very
good at and simply subcontract that work out to others."
Business-support services can provide a range of services, from
"grunt work," like preparing mailings and word
processing, to specialized areas, like graphic design, bookkeeping,
event planning or professional writing services. Other services
offered include database management, translation, Web research and
design, answering services, and computer consulting. For a
directory of business-support services, visit http://www.abssi.org.