Rapid advances in technology have enabled a number of small businesses to start and grow with no onsite employees, instead of offshoring work to virtual assistants from the Philippines.
In a time not so long ago, the mark of a successful business enterprise was upsizing. The need to invest in new premises to accommodate your growing team meant you were doing well. Never mind that you were spending thousands — perhaps even hundreds of thousands — to further your success. Never mind that the cost of investing in new equipment and leasing a larger commercial space ate into profits that could have been better spent elsewhere — you were growing; that’s all that mattered.
To a certain extent, it still matters now; growth in business always will be a mark of success, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that that growth needs to be tangible. Why pay for larger, expensive properties when you can achieve the exact same thing right where you are? The answer is, of course, remote work.
Thanks to advances in digital technology, it’s becoming easier to run a successful, financially viable, growing business, without any onsite staff. As is often the case, entrepreneurs were one of the first to spot the potential of outsourcing to the Philippines.
Launching small businesses, they soon discovered that while they could, in theory, do everything themselves, it would take an awful lot longer to do so. By hiring Filipino virtual assistants at significantly lower rates compared to their local counterparts, SME owners achieved their goals and turned a profit more quickly.
For some business owners, outsourcing is still a somewhat scary prospect. However, chances are that if you’re a small business owner, you’ve already outsourced something without even realizing it. You might bring in an accountant on an annual basis; you might be using an external payroll system, or perhaps a company to carry out background checks on job applicants; hiring a freelance copywriter or graphic artist works on the same basis; they all have a job to do and they all know how to do it.
In life and in business, nothing is entirely risk-free, but if the benefits of offshore outsourcing outweigh the costs, it’s worth at least a try. If I were just starting out now, I’d not hesitate in using a remote staff. But I wouldn’t just leap in. Start off small; see if it works for you. If it does, you could well find that you’ve boosted productivity in the most economical way possible. Not every business has the potential to go virtual, but if you can, there are big benefits to reap.
If you want to know more about how remote workers can help your SME, click on the button below and talk to a Remote Staff outsourcing expert today.
