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Industrial Real Estate Thrives While Residential Flails – What’s Going On?

The business of real estate is struggling right now. The current state of our economy coupled with an ongoing pandemic and an evolution of the professional workplace has had a major impact. Supply shortages have delayed new construction while urban residents are seeking suburban bliss. Rates are at record lows but are expected to gradually climb. Inflation is on the rise as well. Basically, there are a lot of factors causing an unprecedented time for the housing market. But what about the other side of real estate… the industrial side? Well, industrial real estate is a different beast altogether and primed for success. We’re going to outline why that is and why you should be paying attention.

E-Commerce

The e-commerce industry is on a long-term upward trend right now, with no signs of dipping anytime soon. More people are staying home than ever before, which leads to more online shopping for everything from clothes to groceries. With the demand for contactless online shopping rising, so too is the need for warehouses and facilities to support that industry. The supply chain that connects products to consumers is still not performing well, unfortunately. But this means that local businesses can benefit from the redirected demand. Every time you order something online, that purchase has to be fulfilled somewhere. Companies like Amazon and Gamestop are making news as they purchase more warehouses and fulfillment centers. E-commerce revenue was up 48% from 2019 to 2021 and is forecasted to almost double during the next 4 years.

Weed and Crypto

And it’s not just traditional retailers who are snatching up valuable warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities. The cannabis industry is booming, as it’s become a high-growth business everywhere it’s being legalized. But marijuana needs somewhere to grow – preferably in a large, indoor, controlled environment. As legalized cannabis creates more multi-million dollar companies, more need for industrial property arises. As marijuana farms expand, so too does their need for more facilities. Industrial real estate benefits from this as long as it can keep up with construction and leasing availability. It truly is a green business in every sense of the word.

The largest REIT(Real Estate Investment Trust) Prologis, recently reported a nationwide vacancy rate of just 3.9% for industrial properties. This means that supply is low in the midst of growing demand.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that other thing you’ve been hearing about everywhere; cryptocurrency. With the world of digital currency like crypto being so new and complex, it’s easy to not realize how much physical space is actually needed for something that’s digital. There are companies that specialize in crypto mining, which much like cannabis, requires a lot of space in a controlled environment. Massive rooms are full of servers with constant air conditioning, mining for crypto coins around the clock. And as this industry becomes increasingly lucrative, early innovators have more money than they know what to do with. So they’re buying up warehouses to expand their operations and make even more money. It sounds like some sci-fi fantasy from the future, but it’s very much real and present. Long story short; industrial real estate is in a good place with a bright future. It won’t be hit as hard as residential real estate, because industrial properties are often purchased by seasoned businesses with deep pockets.

The Virtual Assistant Factor

But why does MyOutDesk care? Because there are a lot of roles in this equation that our virtual assistants fit perfectly. We have such a wide pool of talented and educated professionals, spanning all kinds of industry experience. From real estate and e-commerce to marketing and customer service; the list goes on. Companies trying to grow efficiently or already scaling up come to us for cost-effective help. From important high-level priorities to entry-level busy-work. If you need it done, we have people who can do it. Supporting the industrial real state business, and thus supporting our economy during unprecedented times, is an honor for us. So if you’re at all curious how we can help you grow, at up to 70% savings from traditional local hires, use the link below. You can request a consultation with one of our experts, who will hear you out and then explain how this works. We’re confident we can help you achieve your goals at a fraction of the usual cost, with 1 or more of our reliable virtual assistants.

Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide

February 2, 2022/by Dan Trujillo

Zillow Tried and Failed: With Virtual Assistants, You Won’t!

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The housing market is pretty crazy right now! And it’s making the real estate business go a little crazy too, apparently. I’m sure you’re familiar with Zillow, the massive online database of rental and purchase properties. Recently they got into buying homes themselves and flipping them to customers. Things did not go according to plan, and ultimately ‘Zillow Offers’ was short-lived. New questions are being raised about corporations getting involved in the housing market, as given recent events it’s clearly a slippery slope. Who benefits the most from a company buying up mass numbers of homes and reselling? And who is hurt the most by that? Some technology advancements in the real estate industry may lead to removing the middle man in the equation; the agent. While others seem more aimed at supporting the agent to provide a better experience for buyers. In either case, the integration of virtual assistants can be the missing piece of the puzzle when properly placed. Let’s talk about where Zillow went wrong, and how virtual assistants keep other businesses from making the same mistakes.

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Avoidable Losses

Zillow Offers was the name of their failed house-flipping operation. They had aimed to no longer be just a database for buyers/sellers, but to be a major player themselves in the market. The global reliance on internet shopping no doubt had an influence on Zillow’s mission here. If we can order everything from cat food and groceries to cars and vacations over sites like Amazon, why not buy a house online too? Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right, the execution was flawed, or perhaps a bit of both. Because Zillow reported having lost over $300 million dollars in just the past few months thanks to this new venture. This obviously led to Zillow reconsidering this algorithm-based approach to house flipping, and ultimately the end of Zillow Offers short life. Zillow now needs to sell 7,000 homes at a loss, resulting in another $250 million in losses by year’s end.

The World Moves Faster Than Tech

One bit of conjecture is a lack of discipline corporate-wise in the execution of this venture. The systems set in place for buying up homes seem to have struggled with predicting accurate home prices as the market continued to rise. CEO Rich Barton said as much; “the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeds what we anticipated.” That, coupled with a known inability to find enough contractors to help them flip these homes Zillow already purchased, led to a massive overflow of houses they couldn’t do anything with. This may sound like a tech-company attempt to manipulate the market, but in reality, it was more an attempt to predict and get ahead of it. To become the Amazon of real estate, before anyone else got a chance. Ultimately, it does not appear the world is ready for an automated home buying experience. There are just too many moving parts. The market can be too volatile, buyers can be fickle, and contractors are a finite resource. Zillow learned a hard, and expensive lesson.

Remember The Humans

Money wasn’t the only thing lost in this mess, as one-quarter of Zillow’s 6,400 person workforce is being laid off. That’s approximately 2,000 people who just lost their jobs, due to Zillows business mistakes. A sad chain of events during an unprecedented time for businesses and employees alike. It makes us wonder if this could have been avoided, had Zillow implemented more human safeguards? Relying on code will always have its limitations and risks. That’s why more and more businesses are expressing interest in virtual assistants. The human touch is necessary to keep your business growing in a healthy and sustainable fashion. Human error can be caught, noticed, corrected, and resolved before it blows up. When an algorithm messes up, it often just keeps messing up and the damage just piles on.

Brace For the Future

If you’re trying to grow your business fast like Zillow, but you want to do it the right way, perhaps a virtual assistant is the key. Keep your local experts focused on their specific strengths, give them the room to breathe and excel. While delegating remote busy work to an experienced, trained, and reliable virtual assistant. All at up to 70% savings compared to hiring a local employee. If you get carried away with tech and automation you’ll dig yourself a Zillow-sized hole. Humans, no matter where they’re located, can be a vital part of the equation when calculating rapid growth. Use the link below to request a FREE one-on-one consultation. We’ll hear you out and understand what you need, and then pitch a plan to help with a virtual assistant. No obligation, nothing to lose, everything to gain.

Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide

November 9, 2021/by Dan Trujillo

Amazon Embraces Remote Work – Are Virtual Assistants Next?

MOD Virtual Assistants

The nationwide shift to embrace working from home just took a big step forward. Yesterday Amazon announced that they will allow working from home to be an option to all of their employees, indefinitely. Essentially, the decision will be left to individual managers to make for their own respective teams and departments. This is a shift from their previous stance, which indicated they expected a company-wide return to the office in January 2022. It was at this time that they expected to enforce a minimum 3-days at the office per week. Now it looks like 0 days at the office will be required, so long as the work is getting done of course.

“The decisions should be guided by what will be most effective for our customers; and not surprisingly, we will all continue to be evaluated by how we deliver for customers, regardless of where the work is performed.” – Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy, in a company-wide email

A Sign of the Times

The pandemic has forced a lot of companies to rethink their stance on working from home. Some have fully embraced the change and made the proper steps to support it going forward, while others have resisted a full adoption and instead gone for a hybrid model, in the meantime. Is your business working from home a lot? Should you embrace this workforce evolution indefinitely? There really is no right or wrong answer, as experts will attest that there are definitely pros and cons to be considered. With so many facets of our jobs becoming digital, a hybrid work model at the least is rapidly becoming the answer. For a lot of companies, they don’t need to dive all-in, nor do they need to resist the growing demand and risk alienating good employees and jeopardizing health. Adopting a mix can give a company the best of both worlds. That’s essentially what Amazon is doing now, by leaving the choice in the hands of managers. Because what works for one company, or one department, may not work for another.

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Less Physical, More Digital

Amazon has over a million employees, globally. They have major centers in cities like Seattle, SF, NY, Boston, LA, and a work-in-progress facility in Washington. One might think this is a problem for them going forward, as more office space with fewer employees using them is a waste. This is a very real concern for big companies right now, as well as for the commercial real estate business. For just one example, in Seattle, the amount of vacant office spaces has been increasing over the past year. While this may be a concern for realtors, it’s a silver lining for other business owners. More employees working from their home office equals less money spent on an office lease. Now a company like Amazon will always need buildings for distribution centers, but they could conceivably reduce overheard costs by way of administrative facilities. More and more companies are turning to outside providers for remote working employees, like virtual assistants. It simply makes sense nowadays, as more and more local employees are essentially becoming virtual assistants themselves!

Perks and Benefits

We’ve recently written plenty of articles about how and why virtual assistants are the way of the professional future. To boil it down to a few of the main positive points is relatively simple because the entire case for utilizing VA’s(virtual assistants) is relatively simple too!

You can get the same skills, experience, and even education as a local hire
You save up to 70% on employment costs vs a local hire
Flexibility. Hire one, or hire 10. It’s one flat monthly payment. We handle the rest.

One of the first things a business owner considers is the quality of employees they get when they outsource. While a valid concern, it’s far less an issue nowadays than ever before. Companies like ours recruit our VA’s from places with a population that fluently speaks English. All VA’s we consider go through a rigorous and thorough hiring process, that includes FBI grade background checks. We ensure all VA candidates come already with the skills and experience necessary for the roles and industries we typically place them in. A lot of them have attended universities and have all the necessary tools for tasks like accounting, marketing, customer service, realty, etc. And all of this comes to US employers at major savings. MyOutDesk handles all of the insurance, PTO, benefits, etc so that our clients only pay a monthly fee per VA.

Who’s Next?

It’s starting to seem like only a matter of time before bigger and bigger companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Apple start increasing their outsourced employee numbers. It’s literally a win/win for everyone! Companies can save money hiring VA’s to handle the busy work that can all be done from anywhere in the world, freeing up space and budget for local employees who either need to be more hands and present or require particularly special skillsets. The big names are doing it, and you might be the next big name of your industry. So what are you waiting for? If you have any obstacle in the path to growing your business, you owe it to yourself to reach out. There has never been a better time than now to at least explore the possibilities. Click below to schedule a free one-on-one consultation with one of our experts. We’ll hear you out first, and then discuss how we can help.

Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide

October 13, 2021/by Dan Trujillo

keyboard with a shopping cart button amazon ebay virtual assistants ecommerce

Envisioning a mutli-department e-commerce team: eBay, Amazon, Shopify SUCCESS GUIDE

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Discover how e-commerce has evolved over the years and how successful merchants are scaling their storefronts, such as Amazon, eBay, and Shopify.

In this article, you’ll find:

History of E-Commerce
Amazon, eBay, Shopify Management in the 2020s
The role of e-commerce virtual assistants
Envisioning a multi-department e-commerce team with 70% less overhead

History of E-Commerce

People have been using e-commerce for years now to buy anything from a book to plane tickets online, but it hasn’t really exploded until recently with mobile devices.

The first e-commerce system was developed by a company called Prodigy, which sold consumer goods over telephone lines. The technology behind this seems very archaic now, but at the time it changed how people bought things. Over time many more companies got into the business of e-commerce and created their own systems to run on top of existing networks like AT&T.

Eventually, many companies decided to strike out on their own and create new dedicated e-commerce systems. Prodigy was purchased by IBM in 1998 and its system shut down in 2001. It seems as though people were switching over from using the telephone lines to using the Internet for their e-commerce.

Amazon, Ebay, Shopify E-Commerce Management in the 2020s

These days, there are many e-commerce systems. The most popular is Amazon & eBay which have been around for 20+ years now and seem to be the go-to systems for buying nearly anything online.

The first thing to understand is that e-commerce management is not the same as conventional business operations. The internet and related technology in general, are driving a huge revolution of how people do business. You need to keep on top of developments continuously, which will be challenging for you.

You should ask yourself these questions:

Are you a visionary who can anticipate what customers will want in the future? Are you an expert at communicating with them? These skills are crucial, now that e-commerce enables people to connect directly. You cannot just sell any old thing.

Are you willing to continually change your business model? You will not get rich selling the same kind of products that others have been selling for a long time. The best way to make money in e-commerce is to be unique.

Do you have a niche market? It is easier to make money in e-commerce if you can target a specific group of people. For example, young women who like pop music may be interested in customized ‘backpack’ cell phones that have cute designs that suit their personality.

Do you have a high-quality website that is properly maintained and updated regularly? A website is your face to the world. It needs to be professional and attractive.

To execute an effective e-commerce plan, you’ll need proven professionals to help you run your operations and be a thought partner for solving new, daily challenges.

Virtual assistants are an emerging type of personnel that high volume Amazon & eBay sellers are leveraging.

[Considering a Virtual Assistant?]

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Virtual Assistants for Amazon & eBay Sellers

Virtual assistants can be a great idea if it allows business owners to focus on what they do best and get someone else to handle the less savory parts.

Many online marketplace merchants have found this to be an absolutely perfect solution for them. However, many businesses don’t do their research and end up making a poor choice when outsourcing. This is why it’s important to know what kind of business you’re in before you outsource.

For example, if you’re an Amazon or eBay seller who is just starting out and is still trying to find its niche in the market + creating a good traffic flow, it can be incredibly helpful to hire a virtual assistant when you need additional hands. This can help get your company moving in the right direction very quickly and at very little cost.

Regardless of when you outsource, it’s important to be very clear with your e-commerce virtual assistant provider about what they are responsible for and what the standards should be as far as quality goes. This clarity is something that many businesses overlook, but it can make all the difference in whether or not outsourcing works.

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Why e-commerce virtual assistants are the right fit for Your Amazon & eBay businesses

Amazon seller services
Amazon & eBay advertising
Amazon & eBay brand protection
Amazon & eBay listing placement coordination
Product research for Amazon
seller growth analytics
inventory placement
seller compliance
dropship coordination
fba revenue calculations
liaison to dropshipping suppliers
handling inquiries from the resolution center
managing seller hub
Shopify administration
Google shopping coordination

[Considering a Virtual Assistant?]

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Here’s how virtual assistants support e-commerce merchants:

Listing Coordination & Documentation: product and inventory support, reports, and billing
CRM Management: Updating records, verification, claim submissions, billing, and much more.
Email & Phone Answering: Answering administrative phone calls, customer support, answering emails, managing your calendar.
Research & Administrative Support: Any type of research on the web, maintain spreadsheets & any other information or secretarial tasks, coordinating with other staff or getting any other work done or organized at your workplace.
Marketing Management: Coordinating your social media pages with updates, CPC & PPC coordination, news or article sharing, setting up email campaigns, creating marketing materials (flyers, brochures, etc).

MyOutDesk has been in the industry for over a decade, helping all types of businesses grow. We have providing e-commerce virtual assistant services for years, becoming one of the top virtual assistant providers available. After serving more than 7500 clients and employing over 4000 professionals, we have seen firsthand how this investment supports business growth. Because of this experience, MyOutDesk currently caters to other industries as well such as professional services, mortgage, and insurance to name a few.

[Considering a Virtual Assistant?]

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ENVISIONING OF A NEW REALITY FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & business owners with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.

MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.

See what we are about, and schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.

Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide

Did You Know? MyOutDesk’s origin story is set during the last global financial crisis of 2008. Yes, that’s right — our business started by scaling businesses with virtual assistants during a recession! Pioneers of virtual assistant services, our first client in 2008 went from five to seventeen VAs with a completely revamped organizational model in short order, and he told MyOutDesk, “Our virtual professionals have shaved $250,000 off our monthly overhead.”

October 16, 2020/by Jeremy