04 Sep 10 How a Virtual Assistant Could Skyrocket Your Profitability
A virtual assistant is one whom you hire off the Internet and who lives in a remote location away from you. In most cases he or she lives in a developing country, and because of which he costs less to the employer than a regular employee would.
But, why people got involved with virtual assistants, if their works were successfully done by regular employees, and whom the employer can monitor from the comfort of his office? This question quizzes everyone who has never used a virtual assistant for his business and for these people only I have written this article. Read it to the end and you will know why to use a virtual assistant.
Why to hire a virtual assistant
Low cost
By charging less and allowing extra cash to sit in the employer’s pocket, a virtual assistant gives a competitive advantage to its employer which is hard to match using a regular employee. A small business owner hiring a virtual assistant has an unfair advantage. He can attack the competitors by lowering the price below the industry’s norm. He can do it as his operation cost is low.
Comparable quality
When compared, the output produced by a virtual assistant is same as the output of a regular employee of the similar capability. If both of them produce comparable results then why to hire one who costs more?
Operational flexibility
A company that runs an online business could keep his operation manned 24X7 by hiring a person from across the globe. If you are in the United States then you can hire a virtual assistant from Asia, so that your virtual assistant works when you sleep and sleeps when you work. This way you could keep your online shop open and manned the entire day.
Use as a Swiss knife
You can use a virtual employee as a Swiss knife by making him do all kinds of administrative and promotion jobs. Unlike most of the regular employees, a virtual employee keeps himself involved in many fields.
Hire a virtual assistant and see your profit skyrocketing. I have seen many small and mid-size businesses transforming themselves by hiring one to do the works for which the presence of an employee in the office is not required.
Tags: Asia, Capability, Comparable Quality, Comparable Results, Competitive Advantage, Developing Country, Extra Cash, Globe, Manned 24x7, Norm, Operational Flexibility, Profitability, Question Quizzes, Sleep, Small Business Owner, Swiss Knife, Unfair Advantage, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistants, Virtual Employee
16 May 10 How to find a good Digital Printing Service
In the past few years the quality of spectrum digital printing has gone up several notches. Not just the quality of printing has improved, but so has the process of printing, hence it is imperative for you to decide before hand about the kind of printing services you want to avail, and how much are you willing to pay for it.
Once the above parameter is set, you need to do some quality check so that the sweetness of memory you have captured in the pictures does not get soured by the low quality of print’s output. You need to determine certain things before you give any company the responsibility to print your memories on pieces of papers.
For home users
Before finalizing a spectrum digital printing service provider, always keep in mind that it is not just the photos that you are sending for print, it is a piece of memory that you want the digital printing company to cut up on the finest piece of paper. If you approach a printing company with this mindset then you definitely will succeed in finding a good Digital Printing service provider.
For business users
You should adopt the same approach that has been suggested above for home users when searching for offset printing services providing companies. This helps you keep your needs and requirement in the center while deciding on a printing company. It also saves you from getting lured by the freebies and frills offered by the printing company, which in fact, will not do you any good if your business suffers because of the bad quality of printed marketing materials (flyers, business cards, brochures, and catalog, etc.).
Printing Services Checklist
Personal or business, whatever kind of printing requirements you have, you should first filter the available options using the questions written below before you choose a company for your printing job.
- For how long the printing company is in business?
- What kinds of printing services do the company offers?
- Are the technicians employed by the printing company qualified enough?
- What kind of paper will the company use?
- Does it have experience in printing the kind of work you have?
- Can the service provider show you the work it has done in the recent past?
- Is the company charging too much?
- Can the high price be justified by the quality of printing it provides?
- Which image format (TIF, TIFF, JPG, EPS, AI, PSD, or PDF) does it accept?
- What color modes does the company accept?
- And what image resolution does the company accept? Does it matches with the image you have?
- How many days will the company take to complete the assignment?
- What kind of clients does the printing company has? (This question becomes more important, if you are looking for an offset printer to get your marketing materials printed.)
- Can the company give reference to any known business unit in your locality that has used its services? (This is also important for business users).
- Does the company offer image enhancement and photo optimization services?
- How Far is the printing company from your location? If the unit is far away, will it offer pick-up and drop?
- Can you send large images files in e-mail attachments?
The Digital Printing service provider that passes the test with maximum “yeses” should be given the preference. This test is very important; therefore, I will suggest searching the Internet for reviewers who reviews Printing Services, if you cannot find time to run the company through the checklist yourself.
Tags: Bad Quality, Business Cards, Business Users, Digital Printing Company, Digital Printing Service, Flyers, Freebies, Home Users, Low Quality, Marketing Materials, Mindset, Notches, Piece Of Paper, Printed Marketing, Printing Job, Printing Requirements, Printing Services, Quality Check, Spectrum Digital, Sweetness
13 Mar 10 How a Small Business Can Fight a Big Business?
In the era of corporatization of everything, the mom and pop stores has reached to the brink of extinction. It is no longer seems to be viable to start a small business because in the public imagination, a small business cannot stand against the Goliaths of the business world.
Or is it so?
I don’t care what you are told, but as far as I am concerned, this is not going to happen. It is always the small business that has an upper hand while dealing with customers or fulfilling their need, or even when fighting with big giants.
Why?
Because…
- It is the David who always wins the battle.
- It is the David who clicks with the masses.
- It is the David who knows to connect.
- It is the David who does not underestimate the competitor, and prepare the strategy accordingly.
- It is the David who does not become myopic.
- It is the David who tries harder.
- It is the David whose life is at stake.
Goliaths (big corporations) are managed by managers, they are not owned by them. And the distance f ownership from those who runs it plays a big role in deciding how much power one exerts.
The small business owners understand that if he loses his livelihood will go for a toss, so he fights. Contrary to this, a manager thinks: how does it matter if his corporation wins or loses now or in the long term. Neither losing nor winning is going to affect the paycheck he is drawing every month. The manager feels satisfied as long as the target set for him by his superior is met.
It is about the target, not about the customers or their satisfaction.
This is not so with small business owners. Go to a neighborhood shop, and he will cordially greet you and will ask for your well-being. You will not receive the same warmth from big giants. Indeed, they will greet you, but you also know how superficial and greed-dipped it is.
Small business do have a chance to stand against big business, but for them they have to stop pretending that they are big, and start behaving what they are. They will have to connect with the audience, and give personal touch to all the interaction with every customer.
Follow this and you will defeat the goliath (giant company) sooner than you ever expected.
Tags: Brink, Business World, Competitor, Corporations, Corporatization, Extinction, Giants, Goliaths, Greed, Livelihood, Neighborhood Shop, Paycheck, Pop Stores, Public Imagination, Satisfaction, Small Business Owners, Stake, Start A Small Business, Target, Warmth
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