This morning, my husband offered to be my office manager — to do my invoicing, record my expenses, pay my bills, etc. He makes this offer every three months or so, only this time, I’m in the midst of an organizing and productivity kick, and it sounds REALLY good to be able to turn over this stuff I really hate doing so I can focus on the things I like.
What do you think? Do you outsource any of your business functions? Would you? Which ones? Leave a comment.
Tags: freelance writing blog, freelance writing, freelance, writing, home business, outsourcing, assistant, office manager, filing, invoicing, paperwork, billing, paying bills, recording expenses, organizing, productivity, idea, inkthinker, kristen king
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
I work in a corporate cube-farm where cost cutting is king. The only people who have assistants are director level and above…and they have to share an assistant with three to five other people. I am not a director and thus am not granted the convenience of an assistant.
Honestly, I’m not sure I’d know how to use one. We’ve had temps in the office and it’s hard to come up with things for them to do that don’t involve hours of training.
Heck, I tend to act as an assistant for my boss and her boss more often than not. I book meetings, send out reminders, create reports, and draft letters. I’m being groomed for a role in management…and they’re shamelessly taking advantage of my organization skills. :)
We figured he’d probably do 5-10 hours of administrative work for me. Which would be enough to relieve my filing burden and free me up to make more moolah. :)
I’m not doing it but I would definitely consider it. I know many people in internet marketing use virtual assistants and on a WAHM board I visit many of them work for $10 an hour or less and considering the fact that I know I can earn more than $10 an hour writing instead of doing my admin I’d definitely consider it if I had enough admin stuff to warrant it.
How much will hubby charge you? LOL. Could be very worth it!
Dana – The Writer’s Blog’s last blog post..Canadian English: A US and UK Hybrid
I’d like to outsource eating. And defecating.
Who wants the job?
Jay Francis Hunter’s last blog post..Manipulating Typography: Helvetica to Hellvetica
Absolutely not. In the time it takes to tell someone else to do something, I can do it myself. Even the time it takes to jot instructions on a post-it note can be used to get the job done.
The key is to setting up systems that nearly run themselves, so you just plug in the new information and get monthly updates so you know where everything stands.
Having been around too many people who like to surround themselves with “assistants” to make themselves feel more prominent, and having worked with self-important executives who think they’re too important to dial their own phones, I have a very low opinion of the whole “I need an assistant” culture. Most of it is about ego, not efficiency, in my opinion.
Devon Ellington’s last blog post..Tuesday, April 22, 2008
My ex- used to offer to manage things in the house–but it was a ploy so I wouldn’t make him get a job..
@Dana – We’re still negotiating. ;)
@Jay – Ahh, you remind me of my brother. When he was six.
@Devon – So wait, are you calling me a slacker? ;) I’m still not sure I’m going to take him up on it, but since he already knows how to use QB, there’s a pretty shallow learning curve. He would just need to learn how to invoice my particular clients. It’s not hard — I just hate doing it. So far training has consisted of him watching me do invoices. And he’s pretty much got it figured it out already after one session, so this is promising. We just have to figure out the logistics of syncing our computers so we can both access the same data at the same time in real time. I have to call my QB guy.
@Star – LOL! I nearly choked when I read that. :)
Your brother outsourced that stuff at 6? Smart kid.
Jay Francis Hunter’s last blog post..Manipulating Typography: Helvetica to Hellvetica
@Jay – For real. He goes to Rutgers now.
Did you get this idea from “The 4-Hour Workweek”? I loved the story about his first bad experience with a virtual assistant!
If I outsourced anything, it would be my recordkeeping. Despite having decent software to track and manage my own finances, I just don’t do it often enough.
I might, however, put the money into a marketer instead. Hey, while I’m busy making money, why not pay someone to find more business for me?
Kristen, YOU are definitely not a slacker. In your particular case, it might work, as long as it’s the type of system where you don’t have to spend more time prepping the work for him as it would take you to do the invoicing yourself.
I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen corporate executives “delegate” most of their working days to the assistants, and then spend their own days running their personal lives on company time while the much-lower paid assistant is actually performing the job the exec is supposed to be doing. THOSE are the ones I loathe.
Or the ones that screw things up, but say, “oh, my assistant did that” when it wasn’t the assistant at all, but just don’t want to take responsibility.
I think Lori’s idea is the best — putting money into a marketer to get your name out there seems like a better bet. If you have a system where the info goes right to his computer so he can do the invoicing and you don’t have to do a lot of explaining, go for it. It takes me less than 5 minutes to do an invoice, though, and it would take longer to send the info to someone else to plug the numbers into my template. Depending on the job, I sometimes start the invoice when I start the job and fill it in as I go, so it’s complete and can be sent with the piece.
Devon Ellington’s last blog post..Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I’d like to outsource my housework! Then I could concentrate on my home business tasks without interruption. After a number of burned meals when I lost track of time or didn’t hear the timer, my hubby took over some of the cooking. He prepares great meals!
Mary Emma Allen’s last blog post..5 Tips For More Productive Blog Tours For Your Writing Business
@Devon – I really do need to do the as-you-go invoicing. I just put it off to the end, which is what makes it so torturous. :)
I totally hear you about slackers who don’t ACTUALLY need assistants but use them as ego props.
@Mary Emma – I am so tempted to hire a housekeeper to keep me sane. It’s all I can do to keep up around here. I don’t know WHAT will happen when we have kids. Seriously.
Cleaning is easy if you do what I do – nothing. The Hoover has more cobwebs than the rest of the house. I close doors and ignore most of it. We have four bedrooms and right now we’re using one. The other bathroom is out of sight, out of mind, too.
Dusting? Open the windows on a windy day. ;)
Sorry, Kristen. Most husbands havea good deal more to do than handle their wives’ business affairs. Try a high school or college student. I’m interviewing for one right now. Summer vacation is great to break them in, so by the time school opens again, they’ve mastered the routine and can do it all in record time. These kids are amazing. The put harried husbands like me to shame!
Absolutely I would! I don’t know which tasks I would like to keep, but I would love to have someone handle the tasks of finding qualified writers for me.
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Hey ladies! I just found your blog and you all seem great. I just started working online from home. I really enjoy it. I am not making much yet but I am going to make it work. I heard of the software called Glyphius, not sure if you have heard of it or not. I have an 8 month old daughter that I am happy to spend the majority of my time with.
I love your idea of hiring you husband, that would be great if I could do that but in my case that would only make things worse. LOL