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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.

Many small business owners are choosing 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, 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 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 processed 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.

Other services that are becoming more common are professional organizers, concierge services, asset documentation providers and delivery 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. Are you spending too much time delivering your product instead of creating marketing materials? A courier service could solve that issue. Do you do monthly or annual inventories and find you'd rather be out selling instead of counting? An asset documentation company could most likely do it faster and provide the updates in a more timely manner.
Following is a letter we received from Tiffany Mullen of Eventful Florals. She speaks to the issues all small business owners face, and validates that it isn't always just the dollars that need to be considered:

"I wanted to tell you briefly about how I learned the value of your services. As a new business owner, I am constantly plagued with where to put the few dollars and cents I have into business related expenses. I was told about your company, and thought "WOW" what a great idea! As I looked at the costs, I ignorantly thought I could just do it myself and save a few bucks. As time went on and I needed to get an accurate inventory of my retail space, I really start to feel the pressure come tax time. So, I surrendered it, and had my part time sales girl work on the hand written inventory over a TWO WEEK period. It cost me over $200 in wages, plus time LOST that could have been used GENERATING business (which has exponential value). Had I spent the time to figure out just how VALUABLE of a service this is and how incredibly COST EFFECTIVE it is, I would have made a FAR better business decision. Rest assured, I will not be making that mistake again."

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 decision to make, ask yourself: Is this a wise use of my time?

Learn more about this author, Cindy Hartman.
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