The best use of your time

Many small companies begin as a sole proprietorship or two-person operation (fondly called mom-and-pops). As the company grows, a need for additional help is realized. This business owner who used to wear the operations, bookkeeping, marketing and sales hats now must decide who will help with these tasks. A choice whether to become an employer or to hire companies that provide some of these services looms overhead.

An option often considered is hiring third-party service providers because 1) they don’t call in sick or go on vacation, 2) they can be used on an as-needed or contracted basis, 3) they have the expertise and knowledge of their industry, and 4) they are the professionals in their field. Often times business owners have a variety of skills, but common sense must be used when making the decision of whether to do it yourself or hire someone else (employee or sub-contractor).

Well-known purchased services are cleaning, admin, human resources, marketing, payroll and accounting. Are your bills and invoices processed in a timely manner? If not, then a bookkeeping or accounting service would be a good opportunity for you to eliminate interest and bank service charges and also get faster payment on your receivables. Are you the only person who doesn’t look forward to payday? Possibly it’s time to contract with a payroll service so you aren’t facing the heartburn and anxiety from wondering if everything is being done properly. Are you still maintaining your own website and trying to write a newsletter, but finding both are suffering from lack of attention? A marketing or web design firm could be the answer. And consider the laws today regarding hiring practices. An HR consulting firm is a must if you don’t have a human resources professional on staff.

Other services that are becoming more common are concierge services, professional organizers and inventory services. Do you spend way too much time trying to remember where you put things? Then maybe it’s time to hire someone to bring functionality into your office. Do you do monthly or annual inventories and find you’d rather be out selling instead of counting? An asset inventory company could most likely do it faster and provide the updates in a more timely manner.

Often the answer is hiring the third party service provider who can get the job done more professionally, in less time, and you’ll have benefited financially by making that choice. The next time you have this type of decision to make, ask yourself: Is this a wise use of my time?