Strengthen Your Business Position | Remote Freelance Workforce

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As a small or medium-sized business owner, one of the biggest challenges you face is growing your company in a manageable way. If you are like most other entrepreneurs, you wear many hats in the daily administration of your operations. Regardless of whether you are proficient in handling all facets of your business or not, getting the assistance of a well-qualified freelancer is an effective way to delegate authority and strengthen your brand position.

As an industry leader, it always makes sense for you to focus on the activities that you excel at and are most profitable for your organization. These days, building a brand name is more complex than what it was even 10-years ago. It’s essential to have a tested and robust marketing strategy in place that includes Content and Social Media Marketing to keep your friends, family, and fans’ in the loop about your business activities, as well as keeping search engines happy with new, exciting, and relevant content.

Are You Short on Time and Talent?

If your answer to this question is ‘yes’ you can take comfort in knowing that freelance contractors are a viable solution for solving all of your problems. In recent years, there has been a significant shift in how many people approach their work. More skilled workers than ever before now use Freelancing as a way to augment their incomes and in some cases, even earn a full time living from their efforts. Here are a few ways that you can utilize the talent and time of others to strengthen your business operations:

Web Design and Development – Internet technology is always changing, and there is no doubt that keeping abreast of all the changes that could impact the effectiveness of your website can be formidable. The good news is that there are plenty of experienced freelance web designers and developers who are proficient and motivated to help you with all of your web design and development needs.

Regardless of whether you need to make your website ‘mobile friendly’ with a responsive website design, you need help with adding email opt-ins, or a complete overhaul of your WordPress is necessary, outsourced freelance web design and development specialists are there to make short work of your project. These experts are also handy if you have a custom coding job or another type of project that falls outside of your skill set, or you have time constraints that limit your ability to work on the assignment yourself.

Custom Content Creation and Copywriting – There is nothing stronger than carefully crafted content and copy in conveying your branding or marketing message. If you struggle to find the time – or the words – to deliver your message eloquently, freelance writers and copywriters help you communicate your message in a persuasive and professional way.

These professionals can play a significant role in helping with content marketing strategies for amplifying the growth of your business through creating digital marketing assets such as white papers, infographics, print and web ready marketing materials, and consistently providing fresh content for your blog. If you have a very specific job in mind, you always have the option of hiring a freelance writer who specializes in SEO optimized content, writing press releases, or finishing the type of copy you need.

Virtual Assistants – If you find yourself behind when it comes to completing administrative tasks, hiring a freelance virtual assistant is an ideal way to get caught up and stay on top of your duties and responsibilities.

Virtual assistants are ideal for helping with jobs such as responding to customer emails, conducting Internet research, scheduling appointments, handling support tickets or live chat duties, preparing reports, sorting spreadsheets and other types of data, and managing calendars for you and your team to coordinate and collaborate more effectively.

Marketing Teams – For many small and growing businesses, one of the most cost-effective ways to increase their marketing reach is by hiring freelance marketing professionals. They are helpful for doing short-term project work for product launches, working with media outlets to boost the coverage of your brand, your products or services.

They are also able to tap into the strength of their network and skills to adeptly spread your brand message, which helps boost sales and awareness of your offerings. Your team may intersect in providing both offline promotions and online advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and others.

Bringing It All Together

After you’ve assembled all the key members of your outsourced staff, the next step is getting everyone on the project aligned to meet your business goals. Luckily for you, collaboration software has made it easier than ever before for people to work together, regardless of where they live in the world.  Another benefit of using Collaboration software is the fact that many of them are cloud-based, meaning that users don’t have to download software to their workstation. Instead, it is remotely hosted, and your team can log in to your workroom to update on the status of your project from anywhere, so long as they have an internet connection.

Beneficial to everyone on your team, you have the freedom to hire from a talent pool that can deliver the support and help your business needs from the comfort of their home or another preferred workspace. You reap the benefit of not having to get a larger business office for your team to work at because their ‘meeting space’ is hosted securely online.

Other types of software that come in handy for getting your team organized and on the same page is conference calling (with or without video) and document sharing software that enables all selected team members to work together throughout the creative process until the project gets completed. Members assigned to the project can make suggestions in the document without making changes to the original, allowing for the creation of a “mastermind” in the creation and implementation of the end product.

If you are interested in learning more about how delegating authority can methodically increase your business capacity, please feel free to reach out and start a conversation with me today!

looking for a small business loan

Looking for a Small Business Loan?

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So it seems I may have inadvertently started a series (of posts) centering around what was going on when I went missing from my blog for a year.  I promise there are happy endings and learning lessons wrapped up in all of these posts. 🙂

When things got tough with my business, I started to pour more effort into some side projects that were still in the construction phase.  One of my side projects was an online store.  I have always wanted to create products based on my illustrations, artwork, photography and quirky sayings, but I hit a bit of a funding snag when things got super slow with my design business.  This lead me to start looking for a small business loan.

My original plan was to bootstrap the online store concept with funds from my design business.  To be completely honest, the idea for the store and for different product designs came about long before I actually tried to launch the concept.  The tough times that I was experiencing with my business served as a catalyst to try to bring the ideas to fruition.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

While I would have preferred to self-fund the store myself, I just didn’t have the cash flow needed to launch in a short period of time.  Instead, I decided to try financing with a small business loan.

The biggest expense I faced with launching the store was trying out different print vendors with my designs.  I needed to purchase samples.  I needed to see who had the best quality and which designs worked best for printing.  This required money.

Looking for a Small Business Loan

The first thing I did was to turn to “the Google.”  I did a search for small business loans and a familiar name popped up…Kabbage.

A friend of mine that is an eBay and etsy store owner had told me about Kabbage a year earlier.  He had used their site to get a small business loan to purchase inventory and supplies for his business.  The way he explained it was that it was an easy process to qualify for funds and easy to pay back.

Before I clicked on the link to check out Kabbage, I called my friend to make sure they were still a legit source for him.  I also wanted to make sure that in the year since he had first told me about them, his experience was still favorable.  He told me he did still occasionally use the site and that he still felt it to be a good alternative to going to the bank.

So I went back to “the Google” and I clicked the link.

The process to sign-up was pretty easy and because my design business uses Paypal as a payment processor, it was easy for Kabbage to analyze my revenue.  I honestly can’t remember if it took a few minutes or a few days to determine how much I qualified for and I don’t want to lie by trying to venture a guess.  I do remember that it was a very easy process and once I knew how much I qualified for, gaining access to funds was immediate.

I ended up qualifying for more than I actually needed and I liked that Kabbage did not force me to take that entire amount.  I submitted the amount that I wanted to “withdraw” from the approved amount, and they gave me a list of terms and a time period to repay the funds.  I was given specific dates and amounts that would be withdrawn from the Paypal account that I had linked to Kabbage.  Once I gave my agreement/acceptance, the funds were immediately made available within that Paypal account.  This allowed me to use those funds right away.

Another bonus or thing that I really liked about Kabbage was that there was no penalty for repaying the loan early.  At any time, I could go in and submit a payment for any amount.  It would post to the principal and reduce the amount I owed on the next payment.  I paid my loan off prior to the term limit (6 months) for the original amount.  I did go back about a month later to withdraw some more money to cover advertising for the new store.

It has been a little less than a year since I last used Kabbage, but if I needed funding for my business again, I would definitely use them.  Since that time, I received a notification that the amount I qualify for has increased.  Although I don’t need it now, it’s good to know! 😉

If you are a digital or online business and you are looking for a small business loan, I would definitely recommend Kabbage.  Like with any loan, you do have to pay it back and in a timely fashion.  So if this is something you struggle with, I think you should put your idea on hold.  If you can handle making payments, or just need an advance on funds, Kabbage may be what you are looking for in a small business loan.

I would like to note, that my experience with Kabbage is my experience and was favorable to me.  I also would like to note, that I am not being paid to write about my experience, although I was encouraged to do so by a Kabbage rep for a campaign they are doing to get the word out about their services.  With that said, no compensation has been given, no promises of exposure and no affiliate links appear in this post.  Just my two cents. 🙂

6 Blogs You Should Be Following

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I am an avid reader and have been since childhood.  With the advent of technology and the explosion of content readily available and easily accessible online, I have added blogs to my daily reading lists.  I follow more blogs than what is listed here, but I thought I would keep the list short and list some of my top favorites.  I present to you the top 6 blogs that I like and think you should follow:

 

Seth Godin

“SETH GODIN is the author of 17 books that have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 35 languages. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything.”

 

Gary Vaynerchuk

“In the spring of 2009, my brother AJ and I launched VaynerMedia, a new breed of agency that would help Fortune 500 companies like GE, PepsiCo,Green Mountain Coffee, the NY Jets, and the Brooklyn Nets find their social voices and build their digital brands through micro content and other story telling actions. The idea took hold – what started as a 6-person project 4 years ago has swelled to a 250-strong team spread across the country.”

 

Small Business Marketing Blog (by Duct Tape Marketing)

“John Jantsch has been called the World’s Most Practical Small Business Expert for consistently delivering real-world, proven small business marketing ideas and strategies. His blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for marketing and small business and his podcast, a top ten marketing show on iTunes, was called a “must listen” by Fast Company magazine.”

 

Entrepreneur.com

“Business ideas and trends from Entrepreneur Magazine. The latest news, expert advice, and growth strategies for small business owners.”

 

Jenn’s Trends in Social Media Management

“My goal in my blogs is to bring you relevant social media and business trends and discuss their applications, implications, and benefits. I will write from my perspective about the things I enjoy and use regularly. I also scour social media, forums, magazines, headlines and groups to find information that I think you will find fun, interesting and valuable. I sincerely hope that you enjoy my postings!”

 

Under30CEO

“Goal: To inspire, lead and educate the next generation to live more succesful and fulfilling lives.  Under30CEO is the leading media property for entrepreneurs, inspiring the world’s next generation of business leaders. Under30CEO features direct interviews with the most successful young people on the planet, profiles twenty-something startups, provides advice from those who have done it before, and publishes cutting edge news for the young entrepreneur.”

 

I would like to note that all of the descriptions were taken directly from their respective sites.  To make it easy to keep up with and read new content from the blogs that I follow, I use a RSS feed reader.  I used to be a user of the old Google Reader that was shut down, through a third party source, but I have migrated over to Feedly.  I can recommend Feedly as a pretty good RSS feed reader to use to follow blogs.

Low Cost to Free Resources to Learn Technical Concepts & Software

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One of the great things about technology is that it has made it easier to share information, find information and learn.  I myself have taught myself new techniques in updated software releases, CSS, some PHP, and a few other technical concepts using online resources.  Some were free resources and some were paid, but the pad resource that I used (Lynda.com) was nominal compared to what I could have paid to attend a class to learn the same thing.  Another added benefit is that I was able to learn at my own pace and at my leisure.

If you are pretty technically inclined and do not need a classroom setting to learn, here are some resources to check out to learn technical concepts and software:

 

Lynda.com

My favorite resource over the years has been Lynda.com.  For $25 per month, you can watch all of the video tutorials you want on your computer, phone or tablet.  Courses are organized into chapters and then further broken down into chapter sections.  The section videos are just long enough to pick and learn what that video is teaching, but short enough for someone like me with a short attention span.  Because of the way courses are organized, it makes it easy to pop in find a video specific to what you need to learn how to do, without having to watch the entire course.  For instance, if you are already familiar with and use Photoshop, but do not understand smart filters; you can find a video within a Photoshop course that specifically goes over that function.  On average, the videos that I have watched are about 6 minutes in length.  For $37.50 per month, you can access the resource files that are used within a course.  One of the best things about Lynda.com is that there is no contract and you can cancel your subscription at any time and reactivate it later if you need.

 

Udemy

Udemy touts itself to be the world’s largest destination source for online classes.  I have not used Udemy myself, but it has been referred to me a few times to learn different programming languages.  It has also been referred to me as a place to offer a course of my own.  So, if you are looking to teach a course and looking for a third party external source to host the material and distribute it; Udemy might be a good resource for you as well.  Courses range in price because they are offered by a myriad of individuals.  You can also price shop for different courses because there tends to be a lot of duplication with the course topics.  I recommend looking at price, course content and reviews/ratings for the instructor, when making a decision.

 

YouTube

Of course the post would not be complete without the inclusion of YouTube.  You can learn a little something about just about anything on YouTube.  From hair and makeup tips, how to play the piano (one song at a time) and of course design and coding concepts.  There are a plethora of users with dedicated channels on various topics and of course, it’s all free!  Keep in mind, that you may get what you pay for with some users.  However, there are a lot of competent and talented instructors with video tutorials on the ‘tube.