“I’d like to try something new. But what if it doesn’t work? How can I do this without fully committing to it?”
The whole purpose of trying out things is to see if they work or not. While this is trivial, doing it in a business environment usually carries significant overhead. Purchases of equipment, hiring people or just diverting existing manpower, attending trainings, and running multiple test scenarios, not to mention that the learning process usually has its aha-moments followed by a change of direction, which can render previous expenditures and efforts unusable for the next steps.
We can help you by providing capacities and expertise that are very easy to change as you are moving along in your exploration process. Similarly, you can undo everything and call it a day in case you realise that things are not working out, or, if they do, you can easily turn the discoveries into permanent changes in-house.
“I'd like to reduce my own workload time to time.”
Doing everything by yourself sometimes seems like a great idea. It feels like it does not cost a thing, lets you handle everything your way, and provides a sense of control. However, there are plenty of reasons why you might want to delegate at least some of your tasks. You may simply need to take a break. You might have another engagement at a given time. You may have duties that you really dislike doing or are not your cup of tea. There are situations when you feel you are not knowledgeable enough and getting up to speed would require way too much effort. And there is also the best case, when your business is growing and you simply outgrow your own capacities.
The benefit we can provide small business owners is that they can involve help in a range of subjects whenever needed, without having to commit to hiring or fixed monthly costs, and without being constrained by the skills of a single assistant you might work with by the hour.
Should you feel the need to slow down a bit, we can help you for as long as you need.
“What does the future hold? I can’t be certain.”
Fortune telling is not easy, and the easiest way to be prepared is by staying flexible. The environment might change, including taxes, regulations, the situation of business partners, the labour market, resources, and sales channels – in the long term, almost everything. There can be internal changes: personal decisions and shifts in preferences, new ideas, new plans, and new attempts.
Our flexible approach allows our clients to change the involved services whenever they need to or want to. This means both the number of hours and the nature of support requested.
“What if there is a recession? And what if the recession is temporary? But what if it is not?”
Business downturns make any fixed costs, such as labour and office rental, risky. However, counteracting this risk is not straightforward. For example, downsizing results in loss of knowledge, can make the remainder of the team less motivated, and most likely also involves an upfront cost in the form of severance packages and legal experts involved. Office rental can take a while to cancel and might require the sale or discarding of equipment.
And if things catch up again, you must take steps to restore whatever was lost.
Our flexible services are designed to address these problems. If business is slow, even if for just a month or two, you can simply adjust the capacities you order from us and restore them as soon as things change for the better. You don’t have to wait to be sure about these steps, and there are no additional expenses related to lowering or restoring capacities. Not to mention the speed at which you can react.
“What if there is a boom? But what if the boom is temporary? And what if it is not? How can I tell in advance?”
It is great news when turnover intensifies. Adding extra costs to meet demand and handle the extra workload can, nevertheless, slow things down, in particular when the uptick is not certain yet and might last for only a while. Implementing increased capacities takes time due to hiring, equipment purchases, new contracts, and the onboarding processes. This also puts you on a more rigid path, complicating future changes, especially when speedy action would be needed.
Our flexible services are designed to help businesses in growing phases stay flexible. If customer orders increase in number, you can simply increase the capacities you have at hand. If things change further, additional skillsets and expertise can be added. When you decide that the positive changes indeed take hold, you can bring everything in-house and reduce our involvement – and if not, you can reduce the capacities received from us with the same ease and quick reversal.
“How can I get rid of expenses when I suddenly need to?”
There are plenty of expenses that appear to be risky, a drag in unfavourable business situations. Labour costs, office rental, certain pieces of equipment, just to name a few. Eliminating these is usually slow, has strings attached, and can incur upfront costs before actual savings are realised.
When working with us, you can simply reduce the capacities you outsource, simply submitting fewer orders to us (or nothing at all). And if things brighten up again, you can simply restore the capacities.
No overhead, no lead times, just flexibility.
“How certain must I be to make fundamental decisions?”
Major decisions, such as starting new activities, hiring people, downsizing, or approaching new markets, require preparation and usually involve overhead. Such initial costs are difficult to reclaim if things do not work out as hoped, or if you learn along the way that a different approach would be better, or if other priorities arise.
Our services flexibly handle your workloads (both in terms of the number of hours and the nature of the tasks involved) and many of the related equipment (such as computers and software). Hours can be changed quickly as you need. This enables you to try out new things, letting you quickly see what happens and fine-tune accordingly.
“What if I want to undo some of my decisions?”
Decisions impact the future. In most cases this also means that their outcome is not certain. Nevertheless, they might involve changes that are here to stay or have a lasting effect. New purchases and hires or downsizing and divesting. If the desired outcome is not as it had been envisioned in the beginning, these steps might mean sunken costs, permanent changes to structure, or must be undone as smoothly as possible.
Our flexible setup enables you to try and see the impact of your decisions and does not force you to commit fully to resources until they unfold. The amount and nature of the capacities involved through us can change repeatedly as you require. If a decision works out just as expected, you can safely invest in permanent resources in-house, and if not, you will be able to easily move along to the next item to explore.
“There are certain skills that my company lacks and would benefit from. Can I optimise by expecting employees to be good at unrelated things? I don’t think so.”
Full-time employees tend to work for 35-40 hours a week. This time is best filled with tasks that are well-suited to the skills and expertise of the given person so that the quality of their work remains the highest possible. Learning on the job is, of course, possible, and explicit training and courses can also be invoked. Nevertheless, the scope of tasks that can be assigned to a single individual is relatively narrow. Your finance assistant will most likely not be a good candidate to adjust the design of the next flyer, even if there is time left at the end of their day.
Handling tasks with the help of us alleviates this problem. Each task is handled in its own right; the required talent and skills can be selected appropriately, without the pressure to try and fill precisely the number of available hours, but not a minute more.
“What if I don't need a full-time employee? What if sometimes I need a full-time employee, but other times I don't?”
Hiring decisions involve compromises. You try to bundle enough tasks into one position so that the 35-40 hours a week full time, or the appropriate part time, hours are properly utilised but are not overloaded.
To make matters more challenging, the tasks must be similar in nature so that the same person can handle them. After all, a person good at one type of thing might not be good at something totally different.
The schedules must also align; if one task needs handling at a certain hour, another one must wait.
And all this, of course, must happen week after week.
With our flexible approach, these are non-issues. You can take as many tasks as you want, and we will assign them based on the required skill sets. If there is just a single and very short task (it can be as short as 15 minutes) that needs a certain type of skill – no problem. If several things must be handled at a given hour (or after hours), we can also help. And when your requirements change in the future, it is easy to adjust.
“Hiring is expensive and slow.”
Even when hiring decisions need no approval from several executives, the hiring process is slow. Assessing the existing requirements, identifying potential opportunities for improvement, finding a suitable recruitment partner (including job portals), announcing the position, waiting for the first applications, shortlisting them, and agreeing on the dates of interviews, second interviews, and maybe third interviews.
Even if you have identified a candidate you like, you will keep on interviewing for a while, just to be sure that there are no better applicants in the pipeline.
And once the offer is made, there is still some time until the first day of work, when the onboarding and training can begin. Actual work is almost around the corner at that point.
The way we work is different. You have a task that needs to be handled; you send it to us, and we handle it. If you like what we have done, you send more tasks. There is far less lead time, far smaller risk, and the overhead is negligible.
“What if I hire the wrong person? It takes ages and a lot of money to find out.”
Hiring usually involves some risk. The person selected most likely aced the interview, but the real performance only becomes clear while working – most likely after onboarding, training, explanations, and some experience.
This is the purpose of the probation period.
Should you realise that the chosen candidate is unsuitable after all, you are faced with the dilemma of keeping on trying until or even beyond the end of the probation period or letting them go and starting all over again. If you are in luck, the second-best candidate might still be available when this happens, allowing you to try again without restarting the entire search process.
Our services can be started and stopped as soon as you want. This, of course, puts us on a permanent probation period because the only thing making our clients return is their satisfaction. Unlike regular employment, you can even begin slowly (this is what we recommend to our new clients), starting with less important tasks to be handled, just so that you can see if you are comfortable with the way we work and what this contributes to your business.
“What if I need to downsize? I don't want to fire anyone. They are good people.”
There are several reasons a company might decide to let go of employees. The decision can be cost- or tax-driven. It can arise due to a pivot in activities or changes required by the market. And of course, it can be related to the performance of a specific individual.
These situations are usually not easy and can have a lasting impact on you and the team.
What we can help you with, at least in the case of the duties with which you decide to task us, is that you can adjust both the hours and the range and scope of services received from us. These changes are seamless and fast, providing convenience rather than a headache.
“I don't want to buy new equipment for new hires, if possible.”
Hiring a new person is expensive on several levels. First, it takes a lot of time until you find the new person and get them up to speed. Job adverts can get costly, just like the time it takes to do the interviews. In case the first hire, for some reason or another, leaves the company prematurely, the pay cheque of this fruitless period stings even more.
In case new hires need new equipment, such as office furniture, computers, software, and perhaps even the expansion of the office space, the costs are even higher.
When working with us, none of the headaches directly linked with hiring arise. And even better: whenever we provide services to you, we use our own equipment. Our own space, our own computers, our own software. Therefore, you can keep the costs down, and if you need changes, you can initiate them with absolutely no overhead.
“What if something breaks down?”
A big problem with equipment is that it does not last forever. In accounting, depreciation and amortisation are constant reminders that the clock is ticking – this is particularly true for computers that might get outdated even if they appear to be functioning properly. Just think of end-of-life support for Windows XP or, recently, Windows 10. To quote the legendary Charlie Munger, “The idea that depreciation doesn’t matter? … You have to replace the trucks all the time. It’s a real cost.”
While we do not provide trucks, we do work using computers and software – and we use our own equipment, keeping it up to date as technology advances. All you have to decide is how many hours and what kind of services you need. Related to those, you won’t have to worry about keeping the equipment up-to-date or functional, nor of selling off or donating old computers once they cannot be used for the desired purposes anymore.
“We don't have enough space in the office.”
A growing company always faces the challenge of how to implement growth. When working in person, you usually just have a fixed-size office space, which might become too small as your team expands.
If you are lucky, you can rent additional areas in the same building. But if not, you might have to set up a second address, have a rotating RTO system, or move entirely once your existing lease agreement expires.
For the range of tasks we can handle for you, this is not a problem. We work remotely and will not take up any space in your office. Even if you do decide to move, the cooperation with us will remain seamless.
And all the above is also true in case you want to shrink your office.
“How can I let go of employees when I need to? How much time does such a transition take? How much legal expense does it involve? They could even sue me.”
Beyond the human side, downsizing has several unpleasant practical considerations, too. Downsizing is usually expensive and slow. Severance packages, paid notice periods, and a lawyer just to be sure that everything is done properly. These barriers provide protection to your employees.
They also make you want to postpone the actions until you are absolutely certain that there is nothing else you can do. Therefore, a very long time can elapse from the first moment you feel that a lighter team would be better for the longer-term outlook of your company until the first day you work with this reduced headcount. During this time, “regular” costs and some bulkier one-off expenses must also be handled. Potential positive effects might only be reflected in the following year.
While we mostly handle office tasks, our services are flexible in this regard. You can increase and decrease involved hours and their associated costs, and you can change the nature and scope of services involved. These transitions are without overhead and are near-immediate.
“I must include the costs of holidays in my cost calculations. And any fringe benefits in addition to the salaries. And what if there is sick leave?”
Employment costs have several layers to them. Salary is one part; there are taxes on top of salaries, and there are certain benefits that the labour market expects (most likely involving some taxes as well). There are paid holidays, and in unfortunate situations sick leave can arise as well.
Trivial, but this means that the average salary expectation is higher than the pay the employees receive, and a position can deliver work less than the number of “normal” weekly working hours.
The way we work is different. We handle the tasks you require; we measure the hours it takes (giving a preliminary estimate about how many hours are expected) and provide you with a single invoice that can be handled as any other supplier invoice.
We even invoice 0% VAT – “reversed charge” within the EU and 0% in the UK.
What is even better is that our expenses also include the equipment needed to handle the tasks. Computers, software, and software upgrades.
“Can I work with AI? What if AI is not creative enough? What if AI does not go the whole way?”
AI is the next, or even the current, big thing. Many tasks are being moved to be handled using artificial intelligence, and at the same time, there is also some resistance. The newly emerging term of “AI slop" will be familiar to most people by 2026 and for a good reason. Tasks handled by AI are good quality up to a certain point but can also be seen as overly uniform or, for more black-and-white tasks, careless.
As an example, if the same style is reflected in your output as in that of myriads of other businesses who take up headspace in your customers’ minds, you might stay unremarkable and remain under the radar. For a business that needs to stand out and be creative, this is the exact opposite of what you want.
The process, therefore, needs a human touch in the end. This ensures that everything is appropriate and delivers the right results and that nothing comes across as run-of-the-mill, as “slop”, or as something full of hallucinations.
This involvement is brief in terms of the hours involved, diverse in terms of the needed expertise, and unpredictable in terms of when it arises.
This is what we are good at, and therefore you can always take these extra steps, may the result be visual images that do not resemble the business next door, texts that are genuine, or calculations that make sense throughout.
And to make it better, there are no commitments or fixed fees.
“What if AI is not reliable enough? And how will I know?”
“Hallucinations” are frequently mentioned when artificial intelligence is discussed. Some even say that they are there by design, sort of the price of creativity. But once you spot them, you can do your own research to correct them.
The big question is how you can notice when hallucinations occur or the AI tool is making a mistake.
AI can help in a diverse range of tasks, and ensuring its quality also requires a diverse range of expertise. Since we work with professionals in many fields who you can rely on without any overhead, we can help you raise your initial AI output to a quality level that can truly stand out. This might be calculation accuracy, the thoroughness of searches, factual errors, creativity, or you name it.
“What if there is a tax increase? How do I adapt?”
Taxes and regulations can change. Sometimes they change for the worse. The changes can eat into the bottom line or force you to modify the way you operate, either to avoid a business setup that is detrimental in terms of taxes or simply to save money.
Some of these modifications carry an overhead in the form of closing contracts, paying out severance packages, or incurring legal expenses.
With our flexible approach, making changes becomes much easier. You can simply alter the number of hours we provide to you, and there will be no overhead for you to worry about – the changes are almost immediate.
“I need specific equipment, but only for a while. How much will it cost? Will I know how to work with it?”
Equipment, including software, has multiple strings attached. You must handle the cost of the equipment itself. Additional elements might have to be purchased – for example, in the case of software, a computer powerful enough to use that specific program. When it comes to using the tool, the question arises if you (or anyone on your team) have the skills and the knowledge to really use it and, if not, how long it will take you to become prepared. And once you won’t need the tool, you’ll either have to divest it or keep it maintained or even updated for a potential next time.
Whenever we provide a service, we always bring the tools and the knowledge as well. A simple order submitted to us will be handled with the right equipment by a person who knows how to use those software tools. And you can keep paying based on the hours the job took to complete, rather than having to face a bulky upfront investment.
And don’t worry, our professionals maintain all their software tools, so when you return with a similar project in the future, you will get access to the latest version of the suites.
“I might need help during weekends. I might need help after hours. What if I can’t afford the help I need? What if I only need a little help? What if I only want to spend a little?”
Business is hardly uniform and is hardly “always” predictable. Work might be required after hours, on weekends, suddenly, or as a one-off situation. This, coupled with cost considerations, means that it is very difficult to handle tasks involving actual employees.
What we can offer you is, at least for the range of tasks we handle, that we can help you whenever needed. After your business hours, during weekends, or involving sudden “bursts” of workload that you otherwise would be unable to handle.
Our services come with no commitment requirements and no fixed costs, and the end goal is always to enable you to make changes seamlessly and with absolutely no overhead.
“Sometimes I would like to be shielded from some of the stress.”
Running a business is a great experience but can get stressful some of the time. You might hate being interrupted, you might dislike incoming phone calls, or you might just want to take it easy for a few hours without having to worry about the time you are missing.
We can do most of this for you without hassle, even if we are talking about a one-time occasion, simply charging by the hour. This can give you some relief without the downside of excessive costs or rigidity.
This post is a continuation of our January entry titled Random thoughts of an imaginary SME owner.
