Marvin is a top-ranked, nationally recognized financial advisor with a focus on helping people invest & save more wisely for their golden years. As the founder of Compass Retirement Solutions, his team leverages MyOutDesk virtual assistants for both administrative & inside sales roles, and on average, they’re making him over a 20x ROI – and sometimes even more.
“My virtual assistant made me $43,000 in commissions less than half an hour ago, so if you’re still on the fence about hiring one, my advice is: just do it. The ROI on our virtual assistants is amazing – it’s definitely going to finish the year over 20x…”
Marvin isn’t just leveraging his ISAs for prospecting: he’s also using them to prequalify prospects, which saves his team of advisors countless hours – and lets them focus on advising only qualified prospects who are ready to take advantage of his expertise. This is only one of the many strategies Marvin has used to grow his business into the #3 financial advising firm in the United States. Take Marvin’s advice: just do it! Schedule your Double My Business Strategy Session now!
Marvin grew up in a working-class family in St. Louis, with little money. The first in his family to earn a college degree, Marvin put his law school education on hold to help care for his grandmother after she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. Marvin soon discovered that, although his grandmother had worked her whole life, she was still susceptible to financial turmoil as a result of poor financial advice and a stock market crash. Inspired to help other, hardworking retirees, Marvin became a broker for a large financial institution in 2005 before founding Compass Retirement Solutions.
“Once we get that lead, that’s where my MyOutDesk virtual assistants come in – they’re following up on those leads, getting them on our calendar and making our time more efficient. It saves us literally hundreds hours of time because we don’t have to skim through all of those individuals to find the most qualified people – and it’s changed our average case size from $325,000 to over $850,000!”
In 2016, he received the Salute to Business Excellence Award as voted by the St. Louis American Newspaper, and also that year, he was an honored recipient of the St. Louis County NAACP Distinguished Legacy Award. Schedule your Double My Business Strategy Session now, and drill down on doing your one thing to the absolute best of your abilities.
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/marvin-972x456-1.jpg455972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-12-23 14:32:272021-01-05 14:09:10Marvin Mitchell: Making a 20x ROI with Virtual Assistants!
Tune in as we discuss leadership strategies for – crisis management, executing flexibility, accessing pivots & improving your cash position. Schedule a free Thrive Strategy Call today.
This special webinar includes 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 limited-time access to:
1) Famous book “Scaling Up” + tools & worksheets
2) #1 bestselling business book “Scaling Your Business”
3) Business strategy consultants + thrive guides
Free Thrive Guide + Strategy Consultation
We’re joined by Bill Gallagher, CEO of Scaling Coach. Bill Gallagher is a business coach and master facilitator with over 30 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience. Bill has spent the last 15 years coaching and training others in leadership and performance and previously led 4 companies of his own and been a partner or executive in 2 others. Bill discovered the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up 20 years ago, has used them in his own companies.
Today, Bill coaches leaders and teams across more than 25 cities in 11 countries and the host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast. He is a passionate and playful presenter, and his clients, at all stages, share a hunger to grow successfully with an openness to new approaches and thinking.
It costs tens of thousands of dollars to attend one of Bill’s Scaling Up Institutes, and today you can access his timely knowledge here for free! If you need help or want to explore some ideas, book aSchedule a free Thrive Strategy Call today.
Free Thrive Guide + Strategy Consultation
Bill shares his strategies to lead in today’s uncertain times.
Lead Without a Plan — Although this sounds like terrible leadership, IF you relay that you’re FIGHTING through any crisis and problem, and when you work collectively with your team, you can figure out and make astounding pivots with your leadership.
Continue to hold the vision and communicate
Fight like hell
Ask your people for help
Radical Requests — Get access to improving the situation. Instead of feeling confined, ask what you really need! Don’t wipe yourself out, BUT work with a solution — For example, with clients & prospects, you can ask, “What do you need? What can I do for you instead?” It can help you turn situations around and come out with success and growth!
Name That Feeling — it takes courage to show emotions, and courage needs strength, to be a whole human! Nobody’s great—there are moments that you are, and moments that you’re not. Emotions make you human. There is power and courage in being a leader. Being human as a leader gives your people a truth, that you’re not faking it to make it. Self-awareness & mindfulness. Calling it out as a practice of acceptance—it becomes a powerful thing. Call it out and go with it!
Execute Flexibly — Working remotely to keep the business going. Technology can help you manage virtually. At the same time, don’t change or abandon your long-term vision and goals. Shift priorities, or even strategies! Metrics and dashboards? It might be missing since you moved virtually. Some tools and apps can help you out and keep it up. This helps people know if we’re collectively hitting metrics and KPIs. Keep the progress visibility out there!
Let People Get Off the Bus — People who continually resist might not be a good fit in your environment. There might be a better place for them to win. How do you get people in this space and get the right request out there? By leading up in the front and leading by example. Work with your team, and ask them what they can do. Keep nudging them up. Make a list of radical requests and have them do one while you are encouraging and helping. Fully appreciate and acknowledge the radical request from both perspectives.
Be a Trend-Spotter — Acknowledge the weaknesses and strengths in the world and yourself right now. What do they need? What can you do better? Pivot your business around what people need, and you might see opportunities. This might be the same business to different people, or a different business for the same people. Look for trends far outside the norm, and look broadly across the world. Bill shares his SWT tool—strengths, weaknesses, and trends. Start using this tool for in your industry, then for your region, and afterward go even broader!
Free Thrive Guide + Strategy Consultation
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bill-Gallagher-BLOG_NL_BANNER.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-12-22 15:45:082020-12-23 15:35:45Leadership Strategies for Crisis Management with Scaling Coach Bill Gallagher
In this special webinar we share an effective & proven recruitment model that is entirely process-driven, where you can find predictable results in bringing high-caliber talent into your team.
What you’ll learn in this webinar:
The biggest mistakes that businesses make with talent acquisition
Bulletproof Process on Ad Placements
How to take advantage of short term opportunities in our labor market
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
In today’s unprecedented time, there is a real opportunity to grow your business.
BIG NUMBERS: 50k people per day are applying for unemployment. This is a time to take advantage of the short-term trend. Talent has never been more available and affordable.
Normally, there is a huge gap between the number available workers and the number of available jobs. Usually, there are more available jobs than qualified, quality workers.
When COVID-19 hit, this caused lots of layoffs
Today during the pandemic, the trend has changed, and there are more quality workers who are ready for hire. This massive shift in the market will eventually go back to normal.
If you have the foresight, start talking to candidates now and have the opportunity to get better people who were laid off by older, destabilized companies.
The labor opportunity window is open right now.
TALENTED LABOR WITHOUT DISTANCE LIMITATIONS
For almost any function that can be done remotely and doesn’t require physical space, virtual assistants for recruitment, marketing, & administrative jobs are cost-effective and allow us the adequate focus & time for our functions.
MyOutDesk Virtual assistants are known to exceed expectations in providing excellent customer service and seamless administrative operations.
We will save you up to 70% on employment costs with experienced virtual assistants, precisely matched for your strategic needs. To book an interview with those in our talent pool,click here.
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
Patrick Johnson, CEO of Talentuition (a MyOutDesk client) provides Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) services to Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs). They focus on “process outsourcing” more so than traditional headhunting or recruiting.
Recruitment Fundamentals
The mistake in prioritizing skills & experience over culture fit & talent.
Recruitment should follow this order: Culture fit, talent, skills and experience
There are two things you can’t teach people: culture fit & talent. So skills and experience can follow.
What is culture fit when hiring?
The right candidate who matches your culture is the one you’ve considered once before, (think this mentality) : “We’re not ready to hire yet, but as soon as we do we want you.”
When hiring, culture fit usually gets bumped down when skill sets & experience get prioritized over. Again, remember to prioritize in this order: culture fit, talent, skills, experience. This webinar goes into detail on the technicalities of posting your jobs while attracting the right culture fit.
How to know if it’s talent or not
In basketball drafts, Player A has played ball 10 years and they know how to do everything (he has the skills & experience). Player B is someone who can do the shots, the dunks and the plays — he has the talent! With the both of them together, the culture is the team.
Tip: People apply to several companies at the same time — so the response you make puts you out there in front of other companies for the candidate. Never be that employer who doesn’t reply to any questions.
2 Reasons to Recruit Now
#1 Lots of people got laid off with the pandemic, even those who had 10+ years & are highly sought after — you can get them now!
#2 Now is also the perfect time to make time investments to your business, use thedowntime so you can push your curve steep when you bounce back.
Contact:
You can contact Patrick Johnson at Patrick@talentuition.com, visit their website:talentuition.com, or email info@talentuition.com.
You can connect with Daniel & MyOutDesk to leverage virtual assistants. We have a vested interest in your success! Every MyOutDesk client wants to maximize the ROI on their investment in virtual assistants. Our CEO Daniel Ramsey hosts a live mastermind discussion with MyOutDesk clients and discusses tactical, practical & utterly invaluable strategies to best utilize a virtual assistant while you scale your business!
It’s time to gain market share new by leveraging virtual assistants!
‘Grow Virtual’ with MyOutDesk Today
Access more business guides & Schedule a free consultation today!
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Patrick-Johnson-BLOG_NL_BANNER.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-12-22 08:42:032020-12-23 15:35:25Quality Talent Acquisition: The Process & Systems for Predictable Results!
Marketing agencies need bandwidth in order to create impactful reach for their clients and to continue to scale their business.
To scale an integrated enterprise of marketing professionals, it can get very expensive, and without strong capacity meets less marginal profits. (FYI: You can save over $90k per year.)
With any growing marketing agency, more clients means balancing more nuanced tasks and roles. When marketers take on too many assignments, their creativity can take a dip. Often, marketing agencies opt to use freelancers to complete minuscule tasks on the agency’s behalf on an ad-hoc basis.
Matt Buchanan is the founder of Pioneers of Marketing. His marketing agency helps well-known clients each earn over 1.5M on social media through direct messaging — and that’s only one revenue stream!
Matt has 4 MyOutDesk Virtual Assistants working for his marketing agency! “They are very professional & very timely. I’m grateful for them and for all the wisdom shared by MyOutDesk. The people you bring to us are top notch people. In all seriousness, I have to say that!”
Monetizing Social Media: Direct Messaging to Drive Revenue
In this interview, we’re truly diving deep on tried & true methods to scale through direct messaging marketing. Social media is all about principles, guaranteed 100% to work every single time.
Matt shares the idea of having the right mentality about the marketing principles:
Be open minded
Be patient
Execute what you set
If you follow these proven principles of social media, they’ll 100% drive results.
The video elaborates on the 2-step process for social media success:
BRANDING
ADVERTISING
Don’t do this alone, but with the MOD Family.
Free Grow Virtual Guide + Strategy Consultation
THREE PILLARS OF CREDIBILITY and BRANDING for FB, IG and LI
(The main social media networks you focus on)
1 – Audience
You need an audience and followers, having the audience gives you the altitude and credibility — we live in a world of perception, remember that!
How to build an audience: Go to an online event or an in-person event. Make it your intention to connect on socials. Have the goal to make viewers follow you on socials, like “follow me on XX, YY, ZZ for more updates, for a replay, for a special offer, to connect, etc.”
Your goal is to take offline relationships online and vice-versa. You may also collaborate with people who already have an audience or have a good reach.
2 – Content Through Facebook and Instagram Stories
Post IG stories, at least 6x a day from your personal account
What should you be posting? Cycle between these 3 types: personal, professional and lifestyle
Professional — brings value for your audience
Personal — connect as a person instead of just a logo—remember people want to do business with a person, not a logo
Lifestyle — documenting the life you live (your “human interest aspect”)
3 – Content Through Wall Posts
Stories vs. Wall Posts: Wall posts are highlight reels. they stay forever unless you delete it! Stories drive traffic and are more intimate since it’s available for just 24 hours. Stories shouldn’t be edited too much or not edited at all!
All the while, wall posts are permanent — it’s the face of your brand and company. They will never go away. So, only post what you want to last, but use the three content types mentioned. Throw in a lot of content, especially when you’re starting out. But, keep it to 3-4x a week if you’ve built an audience already. All of your promotions and posts should also go to your personal account.
Are you afraid of DMs? What do you say when you start a convo?
Understanding it in simple basic form — all social media is just a networking event
When you meet somebody in person — think about how you do it in real life: Introduce yourself!
“Hey how’s it going, saw your page/profile here, and want to get connected”
“Nice connecting with you, I have a great idea. I’d love to share it with you, what’s your cell? Can we chat about it?”
If they reply, send a text from your phone.
Ask: “When’s the best time to talk with you”
Depending on how credible you are, that’s how many people will reply to you. A response rate of 5-6 people out of 25 is a good start.
The higher your credibility, the more responses and messages you’ll get.
If they don’t respond, move on to the next.
Get used to rejection, don’t take NO personally—it’s going to happen.
Focus on the few that respond.
Don’t do this alone, but with the MOD Family.
Free Grow Virtual Guide + Strategy Consultation
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Matt-Buchanan-BLOG_NL_BANNER.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-12-22 01:19:292020-12-28 10:20:04Growing Your Digital Marketing Agency & Drive Revenue | With Matt Buchanan
Cannabis Business (or Canna-Bus, get it?). If you’re in the cannabis industry, or interested, the stats are in your favor. Inspired by new research that marijuana was used in a temple dating back to 2,700 years … Today, virtual assistants help lead cannabusiness to success and outperform competitors.
Since the shelter-in-place orders, cannabis & CBD products sales have only INCREASED. If you need help, or want to explore some ideas, schedule a free Business Strategy Call today.
Worshippers at a Jewish temple dating back more than 2,700 years got high on cannabis, according to new research. The researchers wrote, “It seems feasible to suggest that the use of cannabis on the Arad altar had a deliberate psychoactive role.”
2,737 BCE First recorded use of cannabis as medicine by Emperor Shen Neng of China.
23-79 AD Pliny the Elder’s The Natural History mentions hemp rope and marijuana’s analgesic effects.
HOW VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS ARE HELPING CANNABIS BUSINESSES GAIN MARKET SHARE
Virtual Assistants offer INDISPENSABLE help that allows your business to make quicker + more informed decisions.
Your Cannabis Business Virtual Assistant can take on:
As the go-to administrative support assistant
As the default note-taker for all business meetings
Compiling all reports (KPIs, sales, customer demographics, employee performance)
Helping + organizing all managers
All digital marketing, flyers, templates, website maintenance, blogs, & ads
8 MARIJUANA VIRTUAL ASSISTANT CANDIDATES, NO SWEAT
“We went through at least 8 candidates & interviews”
Tony Trinh’s delivery & consulting business SAVED valuable time by allowing MyOutDesk to help recruit and organize 20-30 minute interviews, recruitment ads, phone screening, interviews, background checks, personality profile, and final interviews.
Here are the trends: The legal cannabis industry is reported at 78% growth, year-by-year.
Marijuana retail is an “essential service” in many states (great for prolonged shelter-in-place orders)
Medical & recreational marijuana has inelastic demand (the business is recession-proof)
Weed delivery & CBD retail are in high demand, seeing a 65% percent spike in March 2020 alone.
NOT ONLY CAN A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT CAN HELP YOU, BUT THE ENTIRE CANNABIS BUSINESS TEAM.
“Why didn’t we do this two years earlier?” shares Tony when asked about how much he’s appreciated his MyOutDesk Virtual Assistant. “If you’re thinking about it, just go for it. We paid off in a month.” If you need help, or want to explore some ideas, book a Schedule a free Business Strategy Call today.
Focus on your growth & scale your operations
ENVISIONING OF A NEW REALITY FOR YOUR Legal Marijuana / CBD / Cannabis 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 legal marijuana, CBD, or cannabis 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 cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cannabis-Been-doing-it-for-2700-years.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-12-08 07:35:522020-12-09 10:05:24Cannabis Business: How long has marijuana been used by humans?
Since COVID, Jennifer’s business operations are now more efficient than ever — even with a downsized team. How? With Tello and a virtual assistant.
We grab a cup of virtual coffee with Jennifer Geddes as she talks about how she utilizes Trello and her MyOutDesk Virtual Assistant to gain leverage in her business. We ask Jennifer how she does it, and she takes us through her systems and processes she built with Trello to help create a system and process for her production and training.
Now, she has these systems in place, and she is ready to scale her business!
How a Virtual Assistant Manages My Trello
Combined with a virtual assistant, I use the free version of Trello, so it doesn’t even cost us anything!
We have a couple of boards. Having a free system is awesome because I feel like I had so many different systems, and they’re all thirty dollars. well, it all adds up with Trello, just jump in!
I have one virtual assistant from MyOutDesk, as well as a marketing person. Wanda, who is my virtual assistant, is doing all the administrative tasks. She does the transaction coordination.
Upgrading the operational system
I had a team a year ago, a team of six agents. A year and a half ago, I had eight agents. Now I have one, so I’m really just trying to trim the fat and focus on the revenue and generating streams. And the highest and best use.
What I found with the agents on the team was that they were not the best use, and it also led me to hire my virtual assistant and really just finding someone who was going to be more productive, efficient, and effective to increase the bottom line.
This year has given me a chance to step back and really focus on what we’re doing in improved systems and processes.
What’s the system and process to cross that million-dollar threshold?
What you’ve learned as you implemented this system and process for your business. Why did you decide on Trello? At what point did you decide you needed a system and a process to run the team?
So, Trello was recommended through real estate b-school, which is the company that I use for coaching.
I spoke with quite a few individuals there who were using it, and it seemed like it made the most sense, so I tried it out myself and, through kind of playing around with it, I decided that it was going to achieve the things that we wanted to.
I had actually started out using Wunderlist, which is just an elementary kind of to-do list, and had built out some of these kinds of checklists there, which was like my step one of kind of like first grade then I graduated to middle school and so forth. I then integrated Trello definitely takes time to set up, and it’s an ever-evolving process because to me, what’s significant is to have every single step in here so that somebody can pick this up brand new.
A Transaction coordination virtual assistant can pick this up, and they can run with it! I have every step, but we also have how-to sheets and videos linked in a separate google drive.
So, as they’re going through each task, the individual could say, “okay, it says do x y z I don’t know how to do x y z, but they can go back and reference the video or the how-to sheet on how to actually do that step.”
It’s about creating the process and then creating the training that goes along with it that doesn’t involve me doing that and explaining.
Because it’s so time-consuming to have to explain those things over and over again. So, I’m big on recording videos, sharing my screen, talking through it while I’m doing it one time, then I don’t want to do it again.
I love your mindset. Show us one of those examples? Can you share with us one of those examples in Trello? A task where you click on it, and then you pull up a video? How long is that video? What kind of detail did you share in that video?
We have our Trello how-to sheet. This is showing someone how to process a termination and then document names so for us. On Trello, we basically have every step on here like pre-offer, offer prep, under contract, after settlement. So now, if we go back to my Trello boards, and this is where I keep my template.
Under our templates, I have a pre-offer section, offer prep, under contract, and after settlement. So, the same as here, you could follow along and say, “okay. offer prep… where are the how-to sheets on offer prep?” If we go to the top here to ‘offer prep’ and ‘create a Trello card ‘… in KW Command, create a contact command through DocuSign. How to do that it’s through your CRM.
I’m just clarifying that those who aren’t KW people command are just a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot or any other CRM.
You have to create what’s called “an opportunity” through KW Command so that KW knows what business we’re doing right now. These are pretty simple steps here. Most of them are self-explanatory. Command, save, mortgage pre-approval, CPE, ad, client, once buyer broker assigned CTE is what we use for financial and gold tracking. So once we have a buyer broker signed, we’re going to add that into CTE. If we go back here, I’ve got a “How to add to CTE,” so if the person doesn’t know how to do that, they open it up.
It’s simple. Follow the steps. You can figure out more complicated things. We have videos on these. this, the pre-offer, is really just setting the stage. Then you get to offer prep a little bit more complicated. Creating the documents, and setting them up in DocuSign, so that they’re ready for me to then review before we send them to the client. Once we go under contract, we broke things up into Day One, which needs to be done right away. And then we get down to Day Two, and then we’ve reached Day 10, Day 16. So there’s a timeline.
Oh my gosh, there are 500 tasks, but as you can see, I’m scrolling through. There are many things here, but it’s all simple tasks that the person can complete in KW Command.
KW wants to see stuff, so we have to submit these documents to them. Once we go under contract right check off above is meant for these labels that we use here. So when you see the labels on my big screen, you can see as we go through a transaction, you get less and less of the labels, so that’s really a way for us to track how many tasks are left. We have a KW command submission. Once that’s complete, that would be checked off here. So we check that off, and now that’s gone. So that’s what that’s talking about completing it up above. But it’s really again just every step that we go through in Trello, and add the due dates above.
We’ve got an area where all of our critical due dates, execution date, first deposit, reply to inspection, second deposit, title order, and mortgage settlement. So I don’t want my VA wasting time searching for this. It’s all right here. She sets it up one time, and she sets it up when she’s sending out the initial email to the seller’s side that’s telling them about the due dates.
Once tasks get input into the system, it gets set as reminders on her calendar and finished. We do a lot with email templates, so all email templates are sent out that the VA knows what to fill in. We’re also scheduling a lot of our templates now. So before it was okay, you need to go back into the file like every day. We’re scheduling out this buyer with five pending emails sent out three to four days before the deposit.
Essentially almost all of our emails are going out on day one, or at least they’re being set to be scheduled to go out day one.
How does the CRM, your email calendar, CTE commit to excellence? How do they all play with Trello in your world?
Wanda has this template saved in her Gmail. she pulls it up and schedules it to send when it’s due on the 10th. It takes about five minutes to input these into the calendar, and again it’s done on day one. The seller side knows the dates as well as when the mortgage commitment is due. This gets emailed to the lender a day before it’s due.
Now it’s on Wanda’s calendar the day it’s due, and then we actually have a reminder. So she’ll put the calendar reminder that the mortgage commitment is due on the 10th. there will be an email that gets sent to her on the 9th and an email that gets sent to her on the 7th, so all of our due dates, we have a one-day email reminder and a three-day email reminder; what I found is having a calendar alert those get missed you’re in the middle of a Zoom, and you click off of it, or whatever it is so I have the reminders in our google calendar set as actual email reminders, so that goes into her email box she doesn’t miss it she can see that it’s due and it stays there until it’s addressed.
I love it! How do you manage what’s done versus what’s not done? How do you manage multiple people with deadlines?
In Trello, there’s this chat feature here at the bottom. So we actually have a different template that is it’s on another board. It’ll take me too long to get over to it, but when another agent is involved, we have a pre-offer dash admin pre-offer dash agent, so it’s very clear who is responsible for what task so Wanda could see.
I found that when I had agents who weren’t following my pretty good process, not perfect, those were not the right people.
So I think that’s my simple answer, although it sounds pretty elementary. If you have a process that makes the agent’s lives easier and they’re not doing it, maybe we need to look at something else.
Another thing I did was if you, the agent, follow the process and do all the steps and don’t miss any of your due dates, and the virtual assistant will do more of the deal and do more tasks for you.
It’s like the more you follow your process, the more they do so. If you do x on time, the assistant will do y and z, you miss x, now you have to do y and z., so it was a favorable combination of positive-negative reinforcement to try to get the agents to do things.
I think it’s spending the time to do it the right way, and it’s having the right person too. So when Wanda started, we had probably 70 of it done. It would be, “okay, Wanda do these things all right? I’ll talk to you in two or three hours.” in two or three hours, we’d talk, and she’d say, “Jen, I don’t know how to do XYZ.”
“Did you look at the how-to sheet?”
“Yep, it’s blank.”
“Oh, okay, great, let’s walk through it together over zoom screen share.”
And she would create the manual, take notes on it, and then complete it. So I think now having it all complete, it would be seamless to bring someone else in.
People complain about the paperwork and transaction coordination. I mean, that is such a small portion of my business now, whereas, in the past, I’d say my admin spent probably 90% of the time on it.
Now with my virtual assistant, I’d say Wanda is spending 25% of her time on it in a perfect world with booming business. she’ll spend well under 50 percent of her time doing transaction coordination, which means I’ll run 25 million through the business with someone doing 15 hours a week of transaction coordination. Before, if I had someone spending 40 hours a week on this, and now they’re spending 15 hours a week. What can I have them do in that other time that’s 25 extra hours a week?
For me, I enjoy selling and growing and evolving; this is just kind of a side effect that needs to be done, and it needs to be done correctly, so I don’t want to spend time on it
I want it to be a system that just flows and is super easy to go through, making a lot of sense.
What’s it been like working with MyOutDesk?
MyOutDesk has been great. I have no complaints. Communication was excellent. I wanted to get started right away and was pretty demanding about that. And my request was met, which was great. I know you guys were in a significant backlog, but you could fit me in, which was really super important to me. I asked Wanda to find other resources within MyOutDesk periodically, and she does, but with her training and skillsets and all of that, I really have no complaints.
I have a client who just went under contract who complimented Wanda, “She’s been so great. How long has she worked with you?”
He’s been a long time client, and I ask for feedback.
“I’m so glad you found her. Is she in your office?” … and that’s what I was waiting for. I’m explain, “Our office is closed. She’s in the Philippines, actually.
“No kidding?”
So this is someone that’s been working with him. And he had no idea that she was in the Philippines, which to me is the goal.
My virtual assistant has been a lot more motivated and enthusiastic than anyone I’ve had in this role in a long time in person. She’s finding things to do when I get busy, and I’m not giving her something to do. I feel confident she’s working the whole time, which was not the case when someone was sitting in the office.
Growing Your Business With An Administrative Virtual Assistant
As a business person, you’re already familiar with what an administrative assistant can support do for you and why it’s crucial to your business. Staying on top of administrative functions is essential to your success.
You can be more effective if you’re not bogged down by paperwork, repetitive administrative tasks and troubleshooting bureaucratic red tape delays and issues. A administrative virtual assistant can take care of these tasks and ensure that sales paperwork and its administration run smoothly and your clients are receiving excellent customer support.
With a virtual coordinator, you can become more efficient & effective – while your coordinator handles all the repetitive tasks involved with your business – like gathering documents and signatures, calling clients, and stakeholders, completing paperwork, following up on contracts & requirements, and putting together a broker file for each completed transaction.
Having a virtual professional tackle operations and administrative outcomes for you can go far beyond what a traditional assistant does, like answering phones and keeping your calendar. There are many more ways a virtual professional can help you administratively. Here are some concrete examples of my favorite things administrative virtual professionals do for our clients.
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 cost
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.”
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Trello-Thumb-v3.png321845Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-11-17 14:49:402020-12-03 09:25:59Trello & Virtual Assistants: The Best System for Efficient Admin Work!
A friend of mine was recently on a call with Mark Cuban. Who else can say they’ve been taught by a billionaire?
Entrepreneurs, it is certain that the businesses who act diligently and stay informed will rise to the top. We are tired of hearing about today’s uncertainty. Instead of pausing with the rest of the world, the proactive business is reinventing itself.
Here are billionaire Mark Cuban’s advice and lessons on how to handle today’s market downturn. He is VERY bullish on the US and on American ingenuity. Once we are out of this recession, he thinks the country’s economy will bounce back and be so much stronger as a result.
Of all of the “models” that the experts share as “data,” this is not actual data but rather an opinion or projection. Today, the data that we are looking at now is skewed by a huge outside factor that is making it more difficult to trust and analyze.
Look at it but take it with a grain of salt. Most of our best analysis and learning will be reflective.
Pay attention to the said data, but remember that the data presented AFTER this situation will be considered the “real” data.
It’s always the time to sell
It’s never the time to be selling and pitching items and services of value even in this current environment.
Authenticity is critical more than ever when selling. If you are calling on a prospect, empathy is key. Mark said that it’s ok to tell prospects that you are scared too (if that’s true). A great way to sell to continue rapport building, at a time that people are seeking to connect. Your authenticity will make you more relatable.
Understand EFFECTIVE inside sales operations — by boosting your prospecting engine starting with a free business STRATEGY call with MyOutDesk!
Make it a point to learn something new daily. Even if you don’t think you need to know it. Mark mentioned he is going deep into learning about the future of A.I.
This is a common lesson of many billionaires, including Jeff Hoffman (founder of Priceline). Bill Gates reads at least 50 books a year. If you hear it more than once coming from a billionaire, then it must be a valid point, right? Mark pointed out to the group to take notes in the book margins and reflect chapter by chapter on what you’ve learned.
Learn how billionaires and millionaires are leveraging the remote workplace with a free MyOutDesk Business strategy call. Be proactive in today’s downturn!
You won’t get it unless you ask for it
You will never get anything without first asking. In the call, the moderator tested Mark’s advice and promptly asked him for an introduction to another influential person that the group could learn from. After laughing, Mark offered to connect the group with Barbara Corcharon. Point taken.
Stay proactive
When you look in a decade from now, there will be around three to five huge companies that were formed during this time. Why not grow your business during these times? Mark said that all the improvements that you have been thinking about HAVE TO BE implemented now both personally and professionally. Get your unfair share and it starts by making those changes now.
If you wanted to implement that new system or software, do it now. Make that huge shift in your offering or streamline processes. Make it happen now.
Scale your business operations by leveraging experienced virtual assistants in your industry.
The CEO Mindset. Lead by example, double down, and gain market share.
Refreshed value. Understand what people want and need now, and how your business can respond to these demands.
Becoming an Exceptional Force – all while reducing operational costs. Reduce operational costs with virtual assistants, a forgivable expense through the SBA. Restructure to a remote workspace and create new plans with a CEO’s mindset.
MyOutDesk brings you 13 years of recession-tackling knowledge. We are committed to supporting your continued drive to champion a thriving business and support your local community during the COVID-19 health crisis.
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 cost
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.”
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/What-We-Can-Learn-from-Billionaire.jpg456972Daniel Ramseyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngDaniel Ramsey2020-11-14 15:32:542020-11-18 16:11:12What We Can Learn from a Billionaire About Today's Market
This special program focuses is on all of the things that are happening post-election that are happening post-election: Our president-elect Joe Biden’s tax plan, what’s going on with our economy and inflation, and how these will impact businesses. Also, we discuss the ballot measures that have been passed across different states in the nation that will affect small and medium-sized businesses.
Tim Mahoney is a principal with Clifton Larson Allen and is going to dive deep into tax implications for the new election.
Taxes = An increase is coming
President Elect Joe Biden tax platform is squarely aimed at income earners above $400,000 viewing to raise the tax rates for higher earners & nearly doubling it for those that make over a million dollars a year.
The minimum wage laws your business must follow depend on the state (and sometimes city) where you are located.
The minimum wage is the lowest allowed employee pay rate. It differs by state and sometimes city.
Federal minimum wage laws determine acceptable wages, overtime pay and exemptions to both.
Minimum wage jobs generally require employees to serve or constantly interact with customers.
This article is for small business owners and human resources professionals who have or will have employees and are looking to learn the minimum wage laws they must obey.
Looking at the election results, more challenges are ahead of us as business owners. Florida is joining 7 other states — and 33 cities/counties in the US — on raising their minimum wage floor to $15 an hour.
If you want to hold costs down, MyOutDesk is with you 100%. Let’s talk about it.
At MyOutDesk, we’re beating minimum wage. Output is FAR significant, and your dollar goes a long way with experienced virtual assistant professionals!
Wage Floor at $15 per Hour:
Your dollar can go farther with the experienced talent that we help you find, which is under the $15/hour wage floor. You can pay $15/hour for entry-level & zero-experience talent — or pay even less for proven & educated professionals.
In trusting in virtual assistance, businesses can do more while local employees and talent can be less distracted on grunt work— so that your money can be better spent on what’s most important for you and your community.
Get more for your money — with college-educated, career-oriented, and experienced VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS for much less than a minimum wage worker!
Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
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.”
___
Transcription
Hey everyone, Daniel Ramsey here with Scale The Show. I’m really excited. Normally we interview CEOs, entrepreneurs, and to get actionable strategies to grow and scale businesses.
But today, our focus is on all of the things that are happening post-election that are happening post-election: Our president-elect Joe Biden’s tax plan, what’s going on with our economy, and inflation, and how that will be impacted. Also, propositions and measures that have been passed across different states in the nation that will affect small and medium-sized businesses.
I am your host and founder of MyOutDesk, and today’s episode is going to be good. Before we jump in, I just want to note that we at MyOutDesk are not providing tax, legal, or financial advice. We strive to support the success of all small and medium-sized businesses and want to pass along this useful information that is practical and can help your business drive out effective solutions.
Please consult a qualified tax advisor, attorney, or investment professional for guidance. We need to make that disclaimer because today a lot of what we’re going to be talking about is, you know, tax strategy for small and medium-sized businesses…
Saving expenses, looking at what’s going to happen nationally for your own personal pocket book, and what’s going on now.
The Wall Street Journal put out a really interesting article: “the bid to undo trump policy faces hurdles” and here’s the thing… tax policy is something that affects every small business owner.
There are only so many expenses that we can put into our PL and the operating expense section, and because of the tax policy is affecting how much money we have leftover to reinvest in our employees and reinvest into our businesses, I think it’s a very important topic.
One of the biggest challenges is just simply the fact that under a Democratic president we will see an increase in not only social security taxes, but workers comp insurance will go up as well as payroll tax and associated employee taxes.
Here’s what really struck me. This one is interesting. Mr. Biden would raise the corporate tax rate to 28% and impose a minimum tax on US corporations, foreign income, and many other US-based multinational companies.
What that means is we’re going to see if you’re in a high tax state like California, New York, parts of the Sunbelt. You’re going to see the total number of tax from where we are today in the 40s percentile to possibly all the way up to 60 percent.
Our first guest today is a principal with Clifton Larson Allen and, if you don’t know them, they’re an international CPA firm with more than 6,200 folks in that company.
Tim Mahoney is a principal and is going to dive deep into tax implications for the new election. How is it that we’ve put the fate of the Georgians and, if you’re in Georgia right now, I love you. I really appreciate you, but oh my goodness this our entire future tax situation for the next possibly eight years rests in a senate race for two seats.
Tim what are your thoughts about what’s happening right now in Georgia?
You know I think it’s interesting that it came down with it. They have a rule that you have to win at least 50 percent of the votes and so as of like Wednesday I think we were pretty certain the democrats weren’t going to have control of the senate. It was going to be split between the house and the senate,and the presidency wasn’t really going to be able to dictate what was going to happen when it came to the tax law. Everything was going to stay status quo and then as they finished counting all votes the incumbent republican dropped below 50 percent and so now we have two special elections that don’t take place until after the end of the year. So we can’t even plan accordingly for what may end up happening.
Consensus is it probably will split one and one but there’s a lot of money and a lot of effort that’s going to be poured into those two seats and it’s a really contentious time right now and depending on how how things pull together.
I mean it’s really hard to get a crystal ball out and say with any certainty that it’ll end up being the way we want it to but it does look like it’ll probably end up splitting at least one and one and then the republicans would still have 51 senate seats. As long as there’s a split, there’s probably not going to be a lot of changes.
For sure, we want to talk about changes because President-elect Joe Biden has squarely aimed his tax plan at individuals making more than four hundred thousand dollars. What are your thoughts around, you know,
if the Senate doesn’t go the way we hope it would go? How is that going to impact small and medium-sized businesses here in the US?
It’s really going to cause costs to go up because a lot of it is on the payroll tax side and lifting the caps on what people pay in a social security payroll tax. Now, you’re seeing probably a change with capital gains rates getting eliminated at higher income thresholds. I think overall what he’s talking about is a slight increase in overall rate structure but that’s just a small piece of it.
Out in California and New York and some of the other high state tax, we might get our local tax deduction back through all this and so it won’t impact everyone quite so badly, but they’re predicting in a lot of states a marginal tax rate if you’re someone that makes more than 400 thousand
dollars in excess of 60 percent.
That’s all in that’s your payroll taxes that’s your income taxes and a lot of that comes down to right now the, you know,you get to about 130,000 and you’re capped out.
Now when you get up to that 400,000 mark, you’re adding another six percent on top of what you’re ordinarily paying. That’s not something that’s easy to get around because a lot of small business owners, you know an LLC for example, that gets capped on your self-employment tax but under this new tax plan it wouldn’t. You continue to pay payroll taxes up to a much higher threshold.
Okay so what you’re saying and what’s interesting about this is Biden’s plan and maybe democrats as a whole is to raise taxes specifically on the wealthy and business owners, and go from where we’re in a mid-40s kind of range for the highest possible tax number to above 50. Is that kind of the bottom line?
Yeah, the bottom line it depends a little bit on what it is you do for your business but right now, and we’ll just use California since that’s where you and I are sitting out here right now, between you make $400,000 now. Anything above that, you’re getting taxed roughly 48% between the state and the and the IRS.
Now they’re talking about what other changes they’re moving towards that it would be 61/62 so it’s a big increase for the incomes above 400,000.
So as a CPA and and a principal for CLA, what is your advice to the small and medium-sized businesses in the US that would be impacted uh by this shift in the tax rate?
Well you need to you need to plan ahead. You have to look at what is going to be potentially coming because it’s not just income taxes. There might not be a lot you can do about it given the law that it’s set up. So what ends up happening is things cost more because you’re going to still push to get to the same net income amount that you were making, net of your taxes previously. But labor costs are going to go up because it’s going to all your employees are going to be wanting to be in the same boat there.
It may not increase the tax on the middle class so you might be able to control some of your labor costs there but I think entity structure is going to have a big play in what’s going on.
How you’re getting the money that passes through entities may not be as advantageous as they were previously so you know each person’s situation is going to be different but there’s strategies that can be still be put in place to help you know how to move income to a better tax advantage position but you need to do it in advance.
You can’t wait till after the fact so that’s the problem with the January election versus the December elections. It’s hard to figure out exactly when this might be, you know, it’s other factors. It’s the gift tax rates changing, it’s the exemption on your estate planning that could be changing, it’s the changing capital gains to ordinary income that’s potentially changing. So it’s hard to say exactly if they’d be able to do everything all at once but we know that nothing will be able to be done if it’s split.
So if this is a big concern for you, you should figure out kind of what’s going on with some of Georgia’s politics and maybe make a donation or two to the sides you should prefer.
Tim thanks for joining us today and giving us your feedback on what’s going on with the tax bill.
Absolutely thank you for having me.
Here’s what’s interesting, and if you’re an investor, a small business owner, or anyone in the world, considering tax as part of your cash flow, because as a small business owner we take our profits and our income and we use those to pay our portion of our share of taxes and in many states that already is in the 40 to 50 range.
What’s interesting though is according the taxfoundation.org, if Joe Biden’s tax initiatives do pass, we will see an 1.62 reduction in total US GDP. Gross Domestic Product. That’s the total amount of goods and services sold by everyone in the US, and basically what you’re seeing is this concern or this that the dollar is going to be worth less and because you’re going to see inflation.
What that means is what you have your purchasing power as an entrepreneur as a business owner reduces and, to break all of that down, I’ll give you an example.
According to a CNN another article, the median house price of all types of houses across the US was $311,800 in September of 2020. Basically it’s up 15% from a year ago. That’s up 15% in one year which is a massive increase.
Michael Krein, the founder of the NRBA (National Real Estate Brokers Association), focuses basically on following national trends for foreclosures, and real estate data.
He just sent a text over and he says depending on the new house seat and how strong the republicans are, control of the senate remains so all of this tax stuff is really boiling down to what is going happen in Georgia and whether or not President-Elect Joe Biden and the democrats in the congress will be able to actually make any headway or change to our tax code.
You’re also seeing gold, which is a harbor of value, is where investors go when they’re nervous about inflation. Gold is where the smart investor puts a portion of their total income and total savings because as inflation goes up, so does gold.
If you look at spot prices over the last two years, there hasn’t been a massive change, but if you change the window down to one year you’ll see that gold prices over the last year have increased. Spot prices for gold have increased by 60 percent and so all of this conversation and everything that we’re talking about is about controlling the things that you can control in your expenses as an owner….
Controlling your employee and controlling really the one thing that you can control, which is what you’re spending every month for your business expenses.
I want to introduce a clip of a customer at MyOutDesk, Brian Woods. He’s a business person in Florida and he is an international speaker and trainer.
It’s interesting because he equated hiring a virtual assistant is better than hiring a standard employee at Mcdonald’s.
And that sounds strange, but here’s what’s happened. On a national basis, there are more than 20 states that have passed legislation raising the minimum well above the federal minimum wage, right now at $7.25 and there are only a handful of states, really three, that have no minimums of their own.
Yet what’s happening across the country is this drive and this interest in really making an impact for the low income earners. Our country has decided to pass legislation increasing the minimum wage Florida.
As you heard there, Brian was considering hiring a virtual assistant and because the minimum wage is going up in Florida. He has moved forward with that action and I think it’s not a bad thing for you if you’re considering growing and scaling a company because MyOutDesk is up to 70% off the cost of traditional employment options.
If you’re at all feel yourself needing talent or wanting to scale your business, I want to offer MyOutDesk as an opportunity.
At MyOutDesk, the focus has always been on talent and driving revenue to scale through finding great talent.
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This tax increase is going to make it more difficult to hire quality talent while maintaining a thriving business. Hire a Virtual Assistant, and save your whole operation.
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 cost
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.”
*Disclaimer: We at MyOutDesk are not providing tax, legal, or financial advice. We strive to support the success of all SMBs and want to pass along useful and practical information that can help your business draw out effective solutions. Please consult a qualified tax advisor, attorney, and investment professional for guidance.
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/bident-tax-plan-NL-BLOG-BANNER.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-11-11 12:04:122020-11-11 16:54:19[BREAKING] What Joe Biden's tax plan means for Small & Medium-Sized Business Owners
Florida is the latest state to pass a law during the November presidential election to increase minimum wage to $15.
A number of states already passed laws to make local minimum wage $15, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
In 2020, there are 33 cities and counties with at least a $15 pay floor is set to double next year to 32, as Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and South San Francisco, along with about a dozen other California cities, adopt the benchmark
Minimum wage laws have changed! Here’s how it affects you & start planning for the future now!
Don’t let the election results disrupt your business. Minimum wage is going up, but your costs don’t have to.
Leverage is the key! Writing a strategic plan won’t work unless you have the means to execute it (labor).
Don’t just plan 2021, Take action on 2021 today!
Business owners planning for the future ahead
Looking at the election results, more challenges are ahead of us as business owners. Florida is joining 7 other states — and 33 cities/counties in the US — on raising their minimum wage floor to $15 an hour.
If you want to hold costs down, MyOutDesk is with you 100%. Let’s talk about it.
The entrepreneur/business owner is a risk taker. He/she takes his time to produce the product and then sells it for a sum of money that he believes will allow him to make more than what he put into creating the item. In order for this business model to work, there must be people who are willing to pay enough so that they can earn profit.
The problem comes when a person or entity with more money than sense wants to earn even more. The government has decided that the business owner should pay their employees a set amount of money per hour, regardless of whether they are worth it or not.
The government does not pay the employees, they require the business owner to do so. If businesses raise their prices in order to pay for this new set of rules, then fewer people will be able to afford it and thus sales will decrease. Legalizing a smaller wage is not an increase in wages; it is merely a different way to determine what constitutes minimum wage.
The first instance of minimum wage laws was in 1914, which was called the Clayton Act. This act guaranteed that workers would make a living wage and be protected from unfair wages. The act also established an 8-hour work day and proscribed child labor. It was not until 1938 that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) set out to regulate child labor in the United States. This act raised the minimum age for workers from 14 years old to 16, and established a maximum work week of 44 hours.
The minimum wage throughout the years has been progressive. Federally, it started at $0.25 in 1938. In 1961, it was raised to $1 and then to $1.15 in 1963. In 1989, the minimum wage was at its highest ever of $3.35 per hour. Since then, the minimum wage has gone up and down with inflation. But now it stands at $7.25 per hour federally.
The minimum wage is a barrier to entry. There are jobs that require workers, but the government has prevented these people from fulfilling their needs and wants by creating an artificial currency restriction. You cannot morally force someone to pay more for a good or service than they are willing. If you do, then you create poverty and fail in your duty as an entrepreneur.
The minimum wage is the lowest amount of money a worker can be paid for their work. If businesspeople are unable to pay their workers less than this, they must find some other way – such as efficiency gains or cost savings from more efficient technology – to increase profits.
This is why so many business owners are considering automating or outsourcing their jobs. They can’t compete with the government’s wage floor.
Your dollar can go farther with the experienced talent that we help you find, which is under the $15/hour wage floor. You can pay $15/hour for entry-level & zero-experience talent — or pay even less for proven & educated professionals.
In trusting in virtual assistance, businesses can do more while local employees and talent can be less distracted on grunt work— so that your money can be better spent on what’s most important for you and your community.
Get more for your money — with college-educated, career-oriented, and experienced VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS for much less than a minimum wage worker!
Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
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.”
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/minimum-wage-NL-BLOG-BANNER.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-11-10 15:52:372020-11-11 16:05:43Minimum wage changed. How it affects you.
Understand what types of personnel will best fit your needs. Read this guide to find answers these questions:
What is the difference between a freelancer, an employee, and a virtual assistant?
What are the pros and cons of a freelancer?
What are the pros and cons of hiring a new employee?
What are the pros and cons of hiring a virtual assistant?
Are freelancers or new employees more effective?
First let’s define the differences between the 3 types of personnel that we’ll be comparing.
What is a freelancer?
A freelancer is a person who works independently to fill a needed capacity for a business. Freelancers are not considered an employee, and they work for themselves. They are contracted by businesses to perform a specific job, and they set their own schedules.
Freelancers can be found within almost all industries but are most commonly employed in writing, technology, marketing, producing art & media, art, education, design, and more.
Who is considered an employee?
An employee is someone who receives compensation as a result of employment, oftentimes working full-time for a business. With employees, businesses are usually required to file proper paperwork, maintain tax compliance, and observe medical and vacation benefits.
What is a virtual assistant?
Virtual assistants (VAs) are outsourced and usually full-time hires who provide assistance in sales development, calling, marketing, administrative, and customer service functions to their clients from a remote, home office and typically from a different country.
Who should I hire? New Employee, Freelancer or Virtual Assistant?
Hiring A New Employee
Hiring a new employee, or rather an entry-level or mid-level individual to your company will ensure that you have someone who is willing to learn and grow with the company. However there are several factors to consider.
Employees are paid a daily wage and you can ask them to do any work that is required, as long as it falls within their job description. This means they are more likely to do the required work but will cost more than freelancers. They’ll probably want benefits and a raise. Be prepared to fill out & file all the appropriate paperwork. You will also need to provide all the equipment. They will probably need a computer and a desk. If they work from home, you’ll have to pay for their internet connection.
It is known that hired employees will eventually leave at some point. This in turn has a negative impact on productivity, as existing team members get used to working with one another and it becomes a more difficult transition for someone new to come into the team.
Hiring a new employee and bringing them into your team. This is often beneficial, as you have someone who is loyal to your organization and will be willing to work even harder knowing that they are representing themselves in work ethic.
New employees are good because they tend to have more energy. They can be a fresh start after all the previous workers who didn’t work out. However, new employees cost a lot of money and time to hire.
To recap…
PROS of Hiring a New Employee
Consistent work & talent
Can grow and adapt with the company
Loyal to the organization; addressable & accountable work ethic
Can do any work that falls within their job description
CONS of Hiring a New Employee
Business provides work equipment
Tedious recruitment process, paperwork, and administrative bookkeeping
Costs from taxes and fringe benefits, such as sick & vacation PTO, and medical benefits
If a new employee doesn’t sound like a right fit, continue reading to see if a freelancer or a virtual assistant is what you need.
Freelancers can be hired by the hour, or one lump sum as agreed, for a project; and will work on specific tasks you provide. This means that, for a small job, they can potentially be cheaper than employees who generally need to be paid a daily wage. Hiring a freelancer typically means less paperwork and they usually provide their own equipment.
If you hire a freelancer, they won’t get any benefits or raises, so in many instances, their negotiated costs could result in paying them more than a new employee. This means that at times, for a bigger project, your company may end up having higher costs than it would have with new employees.
However, freelancers are not always willing to do work that might be required that is not detailed in their initial agreement. For example, if you need a programmer to write software for your business but the only programming skills listed on their resume is ‘can code a calculator’ then you will probably be wasting your time asking them to write an entire new suite of business management software. You have to make sure the freelancer is skilled enough for your job and that they have good references.
Freelancers are good because they can help you in a moment’s notice. They’re also less administrative upkeep than new employees, but may have less motivation to understand your full vision and scope of work. It may take several tries to find the right freelancer to work hard and do the job right.
To recap…
PROS of Hiring a Freelancer
Can help you in a moment’s notice
Less administrative upkeep
Easy to replace; good for short-term jobs
Can work for an agreed lump sum
Typically provides their own equipment
Can be more affordable than an employee, depending on project
CONS of Hiring a Freelancer
Not always willing to go beyond agreed scope of work
Less motivated to understand your full vision or scope of needs
May take several tries to find the right freelancer for the project
Can be more costly than an employee, depending on project
If a freelancer doesn’t sound like a right fit, continue reading to see if a virtual assistant is what you need.
So, Are Freelancers or New Employees More Effective?
To answer this question: If you need, for example, a new program written from scratch so that the software can be sold as an app or on a platform (with little to no upkeep required), then it is recommended to hire freelancers. You will save money and probably get it done quicker than if you wait for employees.
On the other hand, if you want someone to write software for your business (that requires regular maintenance and upgrades) and integrate it in a database so that the software will be used by multiple employees, then it is recommended to hire a new employee for the role. It might cost more, but it will probably save you time and is more efficient.
ULTIMATELY, you can find common ground and hire a virtual assistant if you want the good qualities of both a freelancer and an employee.
Hiring A Virtual Assistant
Virtual Assistants offer the flexibility that businesses need when finding freelancers, but also ensures accountability, professionalism & loyalty as any prized in-house employee. Beyond that, virtual assistant offer more affordability than any other type of personnel.
A talented, experienced, college-educated virtual assistant can handle the essential parts of your operations, so you & your team can focus more on making more deals and growing the business! (Even while cutting your costs — saving you up to 70% on traditional employee costs)
Here are ESSENTIAL tasks a virtual assistant can do to help grow your business:
The first thing we should consider is the nature of employment. What motivates people to work? Are they working for their own well-being and happiness or are they simply complying with orders from a superior?
We have just the right suggestion. Hire a vetted & experienced virtual assistant who is already experienced in what you need to accomplish or has the potential to do it with the right guidance. That way you can avoid unnecessary training costs, less risk in lost costs from failed searches, and save significant overhead costs!
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 cost
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.”
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/VA-vs-Freelancer-1.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-11-09 15:26:362020-11-11 15:57:44Who Do I Hire? New Employee, Freelancer or Virtual Assistant? - PROS & CONS
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