One 'Pain Point,' in business that I often hear entrepreneurs mention is that they need help in order to run their business more efficiently, but don't quite feel like their business is bringing in enough in order to satisfy their business expenses, pay themselves and pay for good help. Well, business owners I am here to provide you with a few solutions, because your business deserves to grow and so does your pockets.
Here are some practical solutions:
1) Evaluate your prices - Are you charging enough for your time and services/ products? Often times we are undercharging, giving away too many discounts or freebies and not bringing in our worth. Perhaps you can afford to outsource if you charge what you're worth.
2) Offer more services/products - If raising your prices is not necessarily appropriate perhaps you can offer additional services or products to bring in more income. What else are you offering or doing of value that can be monetized? Are you sitting on ideas and just haven't implemented them yet?
3) Barter - The bartering system is NOT dead. There are people out here willing to work for experience or in exchange of something else that is not money, but of value. Perhaps you can perform a service or offer a product in return of experience, promotion, or something else either party may have in mind. That way both party's are winning.
4) Start small - You may have to come to terms with the fact that you are up and coming. You're almost there and you're doing an amazing job! With that being said you may not be able to hire the BEST assistant out there that requires $20 + an hour, instead you may have to accept the college student who will take $10/ hr, that needs off a least twice every month. This isn't to say you can't still thrive, this is just a starting point that can alleviate small headaches on the day to day while you build. You need that alleviation so you can continue to elevate where you will be able to outsource to skilled professionals. Check out fiverr.com as a great resource in the mean time.
5) Look for interns - You maybe able to find high school or college students willing to work for FREE or little money to pump up their resume and to gain real experience in their field of interest. Again, it's all about offering value and gaining value in return. Think about how you could have benefitted from such an opportunity.
6) Outsource on an As Needed basis - Create an agreement or understanding with someone willing to work for you or along side you that will work on a project to project basis. That way you are not committed to a reoccuring pay a schedule.
I hope you found these solutions helpful and are able to implement some of them. Please continue to share your 'Pain Points' in business for more blogs posts like this.
Great tips!