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May 12, 2020

Small Businesses Making Lemonade with COVID Lemons

Beauty is produced from struggling. Take a pearl for example. Without an irritant making its way into an oyster, it would have no reason to coat layer after layer of nacre on the irritant which after many years produces a beautiful pearl.

The same is true for the butterfly. Through the process of struggling to emerge from its cocoon, the butterfly gains power it needs to strengthen its wings to be able to fly.

We are all in a struggle right now whether it be health, finances, isolation, or some other struggle, we are joined together through it. 

But like any struggle, you can choose to find a way to make lemonade out of the lemons you’ve been handed.

Here are a few small businesses from our HireMyMom Community doing just that:

Big Sky Internet Design is a small family-owned website design company building websites for the Agriculture Industry since 1998.  Due to Covid-19 they discovered that many 4H, FFA, and other youth county organizations were not going to be able to hold their annual sale/auction due to the lockdown. Tom Bruch, owner of Big Sky Internet, decided that they could do something about that. They created easy and affordable websites for youth organizations to be able to have auctions online.  Now these students who have spent countless hours and sometimes large amounts of money, have a way to reach a market interested in buying their livestock. 

Dudley Court Press is a hybrid publishing house for authors. A couple of their remote team members homeschool their children. As “stay at home” orders became the norm, the rest of the Dudley’s team found themselves homeschooling as well. 

“The stress was palpable,” Gail Woodard, Dudley Court Press CEO shares. “We decided to devote half our weekly team meeting to sharing experiences and advice. The impact on the new homeschooling moms was so positive that we decided to offer a free, weekly Zoom-based Homeschoolers’ Support Group through April. Our first session was a great success with new homeschooling parents relieved to have ‘experts’ to chat with.”  

Ben Walker, of Transcription Outsourcing LLC is in a CEO peer group of small business owners. These business owners have been helping each other in their respective areas of expertise at no charge through webinars and online meetings.  He shares, “I’ve been helping one fellow business owner here with brainstorming how he can pivot his event staffing company and all his skills and knowledge into a new business. All of this has been done with absolutely no expectation of anything in return.” It’s just one small business owner doing what he or she can to help another business survive and thrive through this season.

Marsha Means, MA is a part of a team of coaches who are offering new Covid-19 support groups that are free to those who have lost their income ($10 for with an income). Marsha shares, “If you’ve lost someone to covid, or if you are anxious and overwhelmed, I invite you to join me and others to share, process, and to support each other as we face the loss, the fear, and global trauma all humanity is experiencing.”

Barkha’s Custom Sourcing specializes in sustainable and ethical sourcing of fabric. Currently, they are organizing a large donation of stock fabric to the Sewing Masks for Area Hospitals – Atlanta project. They’re a non-profit that is building networks in and around Atlanta — and all across the U.S. — to make sure our healthcare workers have the PPE they need to fight the battle against COVID-19. 

Barkha Malik, owner, shares, “While masks sewn by volunteers at Sewing Masks for Area Hospitals – Atlanta are not viable by themselves, hospital staff are using them over their N95 masks to extend their usefulness. These masks can be sanitized and reused.”  Anyone interested in sewing masks or getting involved to learn more about the Sewing Masks for Area Hospitals – Atlanta project by joining their Facebook group here.

In a world with a lot of bad news, it’s great to be reminded of the positives going on around us. Hats off to all you small business owners making your own version of lemonade!

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May 4, 2020

Is Remote Work the Way of the Future?

The year 2020 has turned out to be far different than anyone could have ever expected. Outside of essential services, the survival of many businesses now rely on their ability to run remotely. Remote work is now one of the best and only ways a business can survive through these trying times. 

But even before COVID-19, remote working was starting to flourish and become a worldwide phenomenon.

Let’s dive into how remote work has transformed from optional to essential. 

Growing Populations = Increased Commuting Time and Costs

With the populations of our major cities increasing at a rapid rate and the methods of transportation to and from work becoming increasingly strained, many businesses started looking at ways to diminish travel time, expenses and stress that derives from commuting to and from work each day. This is one of the reasons remote work options started to come into play.

The Benefits of having a Remote Workplace for Businesses

Many employers have been choosing to have remote workplace environments for many reasons including:

  • lower operating costs,
  • the advancement of tools and technology,
  • improved productivity and quality of work and;
  • access to a broader spectrum of qualified workers.

 

Leadership and Communication in the Remote Workplace

As stated above, there are many benefits for companies who choose to create remote work environments for their employees. The key to having success in these remote working situations relies heavily on two things; Communication and Leadership.

Remote work success starts at the top of a company’s organizational chart – the Leadership. It’s up to the leaders to set the bar for policies, and procedures in remote work. 

There should be a clear and well laid out structure of supervision to motivate work from home employees and aspire them to hit their productivity goals and provide them with flexibility at the same time so they can create the perfect work-life balance. 

Strong communication is key to the success of any company but due to the lack of physical accessibility in a remote work environment, having clear communication protocol is essential. 

Two considerations when laying out your policies and procedures for communication include; access to important information and the right tools and software to communicate with.

Remote Work as an Emerging and Essential Trend

Ten years ago, remote work was almost unheard of. This is because over the past decade there has been some key technological advances made and an influx of software options available for remote workers that has made running a remote work environment much easier and affordable to implement. 

In some cases, it would cost a company more to NOT work remotely and have to source out office space, equipment and other in house essentials.

One of the biggest challenges for employers on the fence between remote work and in office work environments is not having the ability to monitor and implement strategies for sustaining productivity amongst their employees.

Some case studies however, have emerged reporting favorable findings that remote workers are more productive than in-office workers. Take CoSo Cloud for example; their survey reported a 77% increase in productivity within their remote workers.

 

COVID-19 and Remote Work

Many years ago, remote work was not an option because of the lack of the right equipment and technology to do so. 

Fortunately, we are in a position to transition to remote work almost immediately which helps sustain a business when faced with a crisis like COVID-19.

Not only has this type of work become essential for our economy, but it’s also important to the health and safety of helping businesses survive.

Remote work can help businesses operate while governments have been closing non-essential service storefronts and emphasizing the practice of social distancing and self isolation. 

 

What the Future Holds for Remote Work …

There is an endless amount of software offerings that support almost every aspect of business from logistics to accounting to marketing to sales and customer service. 

Of course some exceptions to remote work abilities include businesses that rely on human to human physical contact such as health and wellness companies and manufacturing facilities.

For those companies in a position where remote work is a possibility, NOW is the time to do so. 

The key takeaway to this article is that time is of an essence and there is no time for debate. The future IS in remote work environments in order to sustain non-essential businesses that would be forced to shut down if not providing remote work environments. 


The Benefits to Doing so far Exceed the Setbacks. 

If your business is ready to take the next step to hiring remote workers, HireMyMom has become a go-to source for finding skilled, trained, and highly qualified employees to help businesses grow and sustain. Here are 7 Reasons Why Moms Make The Best Remote Workers For Small Businesses.

Review what companies are saying here or if you’re ready to start your search, you can get started here. 

 

 

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April 15, 2020

How to Use This Time to GROW Your Business 

How is your business doing at this time? Are you thriving, barely surviving or somewhere in the middle?

I know for many, business has slowed. So I want to propose that we make lemonade from lemons. 🍋

What are some areas of your business that you could improve upon?  What are the weak links? Or where do you get bogged down in your business?

These are the areas you could use this time to improve upon and accelerate your growth.

Here are a few ideas on how to use this time in a positive, business growth way provided by some of the talented Mom Professionals on HireMyMom…. who would love the opportunity to work for you right now.

📈 Update or implement CRM to maximize your customer communications and sales efforts.

📌 Get your business on Pinterest to increase brand visibility, drive traffic, and grow your email list! So many businesses are missing out on this huge source of traffic.

🎯 Create or improve client onboarding process. Welcome clients to the company with an informative, value-based email campaigns.

📩 Hire someone to manage your inbox and customer service, so you can focus on what makes your business awesome!

⏰ Automate systems in your business.

📊 Create and update processes and workflows.

💡 Revamp your website and content.

📝 Create new content for social media, marketing and blogs.

💻 Digitize your training manuals and other documentation.

📸 Elevate your branding with lifestyle images or new product images.

🖥 Create an online course to sell your expertise.

🧾 Get your accounting and bookkeeping in order.

🎥 Create webinars from your expertise to attract new clients.

🌿 Create health engagement for your team: wellness check ins, online challenges and more.

How many of these do you need for your business? 

Each of these are jobs that the talented Mom Professionals ♥️ on HireMyMom can help you with!  And I can tell with 100% certainty they will SO APPRECIATE you!

Click here to POST your JOB now!

 

 

 

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February 25, 2020

6 Statistics Proving the Benefits of Working at Home

Did you know the number of people who work from home has increased by 140% since 2005?

Over the past decade, technology has really transformed the business world. Now, more and more businesses and individuals are discovering the benefits of working remotely from home.

With small businesses driving 44% of the total US economy, it’s easy to see how allowing employees or contractors to work from home would be beneficial and cost saving. It is a great solution to growing companies who seek an alternative to hiring, training and finding space for on-site staff. 

We at HireMyMom, already know the amazing benefits of working from home but let’s look at the benefits the Industry Experts have to share on remote work: 

 

1. Working at Home Saves Money

One of the biggest benefits of remote work is cost savings. According to Global Workplace Analytics (GWA), businesses can save up to $11,000 per employee each year by simply allowing them to work from home.

There is also less absence in the workplace when an employee can work from home. Again according to GWA, unscheduled absences cost employers $1800 per employee per year. The American Management Association realized a 63% reduction in unscheduled absences.

 

2. Working from Home Saves Time

Remote work can save a lot of time (and stress) because it eliminates the need to commute. According to the State of Telecommuting, part-time remote employees save around 11 days a year by not traveling to work. This means the employee is less stressed, less tired and can commit more time to performance rather than having their energy drained in rush hour traffic.

 

3. Working at Home Improves Productivity

It is true that distraction decreases productivity. There is nothing more annoying to an employer than seeing staff doing more chatting than working. But according to 2018 statistics, the majority of surveyed employees feel there are fewer distractions when working outside of the office.

Forbes.com relays that 77% of those who work from home get more done in fewer hours thanks to fewer distractions like meetings, conversations, and noisy coworkers.

When Highfive.com conducted a study, remote workers accomplished 30% more work in less time. 

 

4. Working from Home Helps Improve Employee Retention Rates

Keeping employees happy is the key to a successful and productive business. If employees are not happy, the quality of work often suffers significantly and could lead to employee loss.

A huge part of employee happiness comes from:

  • less travel time and commuting costs
  • less distraction from their co-workers
  • the ability to have a more flexible schedule and;
  • a comfortable work environment

According to Global Workplace Analytics, a poll of 1,500 technology professionals revealed that 37% would take a pay cut if they could work from home.

From an employer’s perspective, 95% report that working from home has had a high impact on their employee retention rate.


5. Working at Home Improves Health

Remote work can improve employee health both physically and mentally. Monster.com reports that when Staples conducted a study in 2011, they found employees who worked from home experienced 25% less stress. They also reported being able to maintain a healthy work-life balance and experienced improved eating habits as well.

Working from home also means being less exposed to viruses and other airborne illnesses that can sometimes heavily impact the workplace environment. It’s much easier to self-quarantine one person than an entire office. Less sick employees mean less disruption to productivity and in turn can lead to companies saving thousands of dollars each year. This is an especially timely topic given the outbreak of the Coronavirus. 

 

6. Working from Home Is Better For The Environment

According to the State of Telecommuting, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through telecommuters / remote workers is equivalent to 600,000 cars.

When employees eliminate the commute to work every day they help reduce the amount of pollution. By eliminating the commute, working from home drastically reduces the carbon emissions created from driving. In Entrepreneur.com’s article “How Telecommuting Reduced Carbon Footprints at Dell, Aetna and Xerox” it’s stated remote work, even if it’s only done on a part-time basis, can still reduce over 54 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.


At HireMyMom we help businesses hire talented, affordable, virtual team members and freelancers while at the same time, assist mom professionals in finding flexible, legitimate, home-based work to help create the perfect work-life balance.

If you’re interested in using our services to find your next remote employee you can visit our registration page here.

 

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February 5, 2020

7 Essentials To An Independent Contractor Agreement

As a business owner, you often take on the roles of many people. You can find yourself working long hours and doing all of the work by yourself to keep your company afloat. When it gets so much that you can no longer keep up, it’s time to hire!

You’ll want to determine if the job you are hiring for is a contractor role or an employee role. You can learn the definitions on those here and get some additional advice here. 

If you are hiring freelancers or contractors an independent contractor’s agreement will help you outline the details of the work to be performed, terms of the agreement, compensation, and any additional important details. 

In today’s article, we will discuss the importance of a contractors’ agreement and some key components you may want to include when creating one*.

Statement of Relationship

This is the opening of the contract that discloses the parties the agreement is between. The Company name is indicated and from that point on, referred to as “The Company”. The Contractor’s name and his/her company (if applicable) is also indicated and referred to as “The Contractor” from that point on.

This piece of the agreement is extremely important to get right especially when it comes to the contractor being able to prove his or her work status. It protects against employee misclassification.

The contractor-client (Company) relationship is a business relationship, not an employer-employee one.

Scope of Work

This part of the contract highlights the work the Contractor will be doing for your Company. If there was an SOW (Statement of Work) drawn up (which is recommended), it would be included here.

Note: A Statement of Work (SOW) is a document within the contract that describes the scope of work and/or project being performed as well as performance expectations.

Payment and Billing Terms

This is an important part of the contract. Rates agreed upon should clearly be disclosed here along with the terms of billing and form of payment.

The rate of pay should have been discussed and agreed to ahead of time along with any commission rates (if applicable). For payment, it should be discussed with the Contractor how you would like to be invoiced and the payment dates.

Party Responsibilities

This part of the agreement applies especially if there are multiple departments involved within your Company that your Contractor will be performing work for or collaborating with. This is a good opportunity to present the review and approval process, set the standards of communication and to also have your Contractor provide proof of insurance.

Deadlines and Timelines

The Contract term (length) should go in this section of the agreement. If you don’t have one, it’s good to at least set a contract review/renewal date.

If this contract is for a project, the timeline or approximate timeline should be specified. If the project is large enough, milestones can be outlined as well. Clear goals and targets should be outlined. The more details you can include the better. This will ensure clear expectations and communication between yourself and your Contractor.

Termination

Not all agreements work out. Sometimes they have to come to a close. All contracts need to have a termination clause.

The termination clause offers the right for both parties to cancel. Reasons to end the contract should be clearly stated. Some considerations include nonpayment, breach of contract, and business disruption.

When considering the termination timeline most contracts can end with 30 days written notice from either side.

Non-Disclosure/No Compete Clause

Unless your contractor is designated to only working with you at the time of the agreement, having them sign a Non-Disclosure or No Compete clause might be difficult.

If they have more than one client, chances are, at some point, they might be working with your competitors.

You can, however, cater to the non-disclosure specifically in reference to the information you share with them about your company. 

Other Considerations

It’s always advisable to have a legal advisor review your contract before it officially falls into the hands of a Contractor. Once reviewed, it may be able to act as a template for future contract work as well.

 

For more information, see:

 

*HireMyMom.com (HBWM.com Inc.) does not provide tax or legal advice. The material contained herein is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Readers should consult with their own tax advisor or attorney with regard to their personal and business tax situation.

We have some amazing Contractors right here on HireMyMom. You can see what other business owners are saying about our services here.

Ready to start find a great candidate now? Click here to get started.

 

 

 

 

 

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November 25, 2019

5 Questions Every Small Business Entrepreneur Should Ask Before Hiring A Virtual Assistant

As an entrepreneur, you may have reached that point in your small business where you are thinking you need some help. There just aren’t enough hours in the day for you to check and respond to emails, field phone calls, create social media posts, create email blasts, manage your calendar, research topics, manage day to day operations, and on and on.

There are many advantages to having someone who can assist with tasks that feel overwhelming so you can focus on the more important, revenue generating activities of your business. And working with a virtual professional can help you focus on GROWING your business and help you leverage your time better.

Before you jump in feet first and start the scouting process to find a Virtual Assistant (VA), there are some things to carefully consider.

Here are 5 questions you should ask and answer before hiring a Virtual Assistant or a Virtual Professional.

1. Do You Know What You Need?

Take some time to decide what tasks would be most beneficial to have someone else do. Make a list of the job duties you don’t like or don’t have time for as well as any tools or programs needed to complete the tasks.  As you create your job post, this list will help you refine the duties to help you find the right person for the job.

Are the tasks suitable for one type of assistant or should you hire more than one person? It may be that you need a part-time administrative assistant as well as a part-time social media manager, bookkeeper, blogger or customer service specialist depending on the tasks and duties you need to have done. Many businesses start out small and hire someone for 5-10 hours per week until their business grows and they need more help in various areas.

 

2. Are You Looking for a Certain Personality?

You will be working closely with a virtual assistant, so it’s important to find someone who gets you. Are you a Type A driven personality who works better with similar personality types? Are you more laid back and work better with someone who is too? Do you procrastinate too often and could use a no-nonsense person to help keep you on track? Do you run a faith-based business and want someone who shares your Christian values?

Knowing your personality type and what type of person you are looking for in a virtual assistant who will complement that is essential.  If this is important to you, you may consider having the applicants submit their scores to a personality assessment test.

 

3. How Will You Work With Your Virtual Assistant?

You will have the most success working with a VA when roles and communication are laid out clearly. There are a lot of project management resources out there like Slack, Asana and Trello to help with task tracking, communication, and project management. Or you may choose to keep it simple with daily or weekly check-ins by email or Zoom calls, sharing via Google Suite or DropBox folders. Decide up front how you will work best to ensure efficiency for you both in work and communication. But remember that communication is key and that no one will be able to read your mind or do a good job if they are not taught, show and directed early on especially.

 

4. What Skills Do You Need in a Virtual Assistant?

Having a list of tasks to delegate is a solid foundation when you are ready to hire a virtual assistant. Keep in mind, though, that hopefully this will be an individual who can grow with you and your business to form a great long-term working relationship. Think about what kind of skills you want a virtual assistant to have and what would bring you the most value as your business grows over the next two or three years.  If you are unsure, try searching the internet for Virtual Assistant (or whatever role you need) job duties to get an idea of what others are hiring these assistants to do and what skills may be needed.

 

5. Will They be Dealing with any Private or Sensitive Information?

If you need someone to help with parts of your business that include sensitive or private information to you or to your clients, you should consider not only checking references but also doing a background check or requesting a Trust Badge from a service such as SafetyPin Technologies. In today’s remote economy, it is important to do the extra work up front to reduce the chances of someone having access to sensitive information or business assets that turns out to be less than trustworthy. It is wise to get to know the person before allowing them full access to your business. Start small and allow them to prove themselves. The extra work up front may save valuable time and headaches in the future.

  

And when you are ready to hire, HireMyMom can help you find a great Virtual Assistant or Professional.  We believe Moms make great virtual employees or contractors.

FACT: Over 5.4 million mothers put their careers on hold to stay home with children*. That adds up to a lot of talented women with experience, education, skills and the motivation to find flexible work that can be done from their home office. (*Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

What are the benefits of hiring remote employees or contractors from HireMyMom?

  • Save time.
  • Save money.
  • Save on office space and office equipment.
  • Save Your SANITY!
  • We do NOT take any commissions from You or our Job Seekers!
  • You will have more time to focus on your clients and improve your business.
  • Your project or job is posted to our entire pool of talented work from home candidates saving you valuable time.
  • You save money by not paying high salaries and benefits for traditional employees.
  • You interview, evaluate and decide which candidate is best suited for your business (or you may choose our Small Business Concierge program and allow us to do it all for you).
  • We provide the candidates. You provide the work. We get out of the way.
  • We’ve been around since 2007, and as moms and entrepreneurs ourselves, we are committed to helping small businesses, entrepreneurs and moms find mutual success!

FIND A TALENTED VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

 

What Types of Professionals Can You Hire?

Here are some of the more common job types posted with us:

  • virtual assistants / administrative assistants,
  • blogger / writers / editors,
  • social media marketers,
  • marketing / public relations / advertising,
  • legal & real estate assistants,
  • researchers,
  • graphic designers,
  • accounting / bookkeeping,
  • web designers,
  • customer service reps,
  • sales,
  • e-commerce specialists,
  • human resources, and more!

FIND YOUR NEXT VIRTUAL PROFESSIONAL NOW!

If you need help with hiring, try our Small Business VIP Concierge service and we can do all the hard work for you!

 

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November 12, 2019

7 Reasons Why Moms Make The Best Remote Workers For Small Businesses

Running your own business can be very rewarding but it can lead to you doing absolutely everything in order to run it effectively. This is where bringing on part-time employees or contractors can be very beneficial. Knowing what you do well and then outsourcing or hiring team members to do other things gives you the opportunity to focus on your strengths AND grow your business. 

So why do MOMS make the best workers for small businesses…..

💪🏼Because there’s probably no one more motivated to make a remote work opportunity work like a mom.

💪🏼Moms deeply desire freedom and flexibility in order to be more present for their kids and family.

💪🏼Having remote work is a huge blessing for moms, and therefore, we believe they go ABOVE and BEYOND to do a great job to make sure they can continue working from home. 

💪🏼Moms typically have been working in their careers for some time, unlike students who are just starting out.

💪🏼Moms possess life skills that a small business can benefit from such as……

 

Time Management

From household chores to diaper changes, from homework help to getting dinner on the table – Moms sure do a lot! Time Management becomes an essential skill for Moms and something they have no choice but to quickly learn in order to keep up with the demands of family, kids and running a household. 

This skill becomes highly beneficial to your business. Moms have no time to waste and that means a reliable and dedicated worker you and your business. Moms know how to use their time wisely.

 

Organizational Skills

A Mom quickly becomes the organizer in the family. From vacations to birthday parties, Moms are really good at planning and executing.

They are also great with rolling with the punches and can be quite flexible when things fall out of line. They are great at coming up with a new plan that keeps everyone happy. Moms know they must be organized to get all the things done! This is why Moms are great Virtual Assistants especially for Small Business Owners like yourself. We have a great article about how VA’s can help you grow your business here.

 

People Management

From tantrum-throwing two-year-olds to grumpy teenagers, Moms have to deal with many personality types and different levels of maturity.

Strong listening skills, empathy, and conflict resolution go hand in hand with people management. This makes a Mom a really great candidate for your business’s customer service. Moms can handle customer complaints at all levels of your marketing funnel and offer win-win resolutions for all. 

 

Negotiating Skills

Children quickly learn from a young age how to get what they want and can get quite creative about it too! This is where the power of Moms negotiation skills can really come in handy. Moms become experts in compromising and trading.

Because Moms are good at negotiating, they can make a great addition to your company’s Sales Team. 

 

Problem Solving Super-Heroes

Some problems are completely predictable while others can come as a complete surprise. Moms deal with new problems each and every day and it’s amazing how they can still stay calm, cool, and collected throughout the solution process.

This makes Moms ideal candidates for small service businesses that are focused on “solving problems” for their customers. 

 

Master Multi-Taskers

Moms always have more than one project on the go … literally! They are great at handling a phone call while prepping dinner and helping their child with his/her science project all at the same time.

In the workplace, this often translates to being on the phone with a customer while typing in the customer’s account info and facilitating their transaction from start to finish. Moms are great at multi-tasking and getting things done efficiently and effectively. 

 

Now that you’ve learned about the benefits of hiring a Mom, where can you find one? Right here at HireMyMom of course!

Click here to post your job to our talented pool of Mom Professionals.

Or let our HR Specialists do all the hard work for you! Check out our VIP Concierge service. 

It only takes a few minutes to create an account with us, post a job, and then wait for the resumes to come in. We have some pretty amazing Moms on this site ready to work with you.

You can see what other Small Business owners have had to say about HireMyMom here. 

 

 

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October 28, 2019

3 Important Reasons Small Business Entrepreneurs Should Avoid Mega Job Sites

As a small business entrepreneur, you no doubt have been faced with the demands running a business requires. There is always a to-do list a mile long from tracking expenses, updating your website, email marketing and creating social media content with just not enough hours in the day to tackle it all. 

Maybe you have reached that pivotal point in your business where you can begin to set aside a budget and outsource the tasks you either don’t have time to do, don’t have the skill set to do (and don’t desire to learn) and/or don’t enjoy doing so you can focus on more important tasks like revenue generating activities. It’s an exciting step to reach in your business but it can also be a scary and overwhelming one. 

Now that you are ready to spend your valuable time looking for and interviewing potential candidates who are qualified and a good fit for the mission of your business, it’s tempting to turn to mega job sites like Freelancer and Upwork as they can seem like a logical place to start but they aren’t always the best option for small business entrepreneurs and here are 3 important reasons to think about:

 

  1. Overseas Workers

Many of the freelancers and subcontractors you find on mega job sites live outside the U.S. and while you may find their rates to be cheaper than a U.S. based worker there are important factors to consider such as:

  • Language and Culture Barriers. If you are looking for someone to respond to or create emails, social media comments and blog writing, you could be spending more time proofing and rewriting content than actually creating it yourself. Hiring someone to create content on your behalf should have a good understanding of how to represent your brand voice and business. Language and culture barriers can make finding a qualified candidate well versed in U.S. business culture difficult.

    For example, it may be customary and an understood practice in the U.S. for a client and contractor to have a co-creative working relationship with good communication being a “no brainer” but in other countries, this practice is not well understood resulting in you finding yourself constantly having to follow up with your contractor for status updates. Spending more to hire a high quality U.S. based candidate is well worth it in the long run. 

 

  • Legal and Tax Ramifications. You may not be hiring a part-time or full-time employee but that does not exempt you from legal or tax obligations and when you hire workers from other countries those rules and regulations can become even more complex. 

 

  • Time Zone. Hiring workers that are half a day ahead of you can often work against you. Let’s say you are just getting your day started at 10am and wake up to an email from your contractor who is delivering you the project you asked for but it’s plagued with mistakes and issues but unfortunately your contractor is 12 hours ahead of you and are already offline for the day. Now you have to decide if you are just going to fix it yourself or wait another day for it to be corrected versus working with a U.S. based contractor who can respond much quicker and not delaying your project.

 

  1. Mega Job Sites Take A Percentage Of Earnings

Here’s a recent email we received:

“Hello, I am a freelancer who currently uses Fiverr and UpWork to gain writing gigs. I write website content and articles for businesses. I am tired of paying out 20% per project…..”

As a small business entrepreneur, you may not be aware that mega job sites take a percentage of earnings from the freelancers you hire. For example, if a person’s rate is $20 per hour, they can expect to earn around $16 per hour which means freelancers on mega job sites will actually charge more than they should for their work and skill set in order to help offset the fees that are deducted which means you pay more for the quality work you can expect to receive. 

 

  1. Scammers.

Anyone can create a free profile on mega job sites so quality and legitimacy are not guaranteed. As can be expected on such an open platform with millions of job seekers from all over the world, there is the potential for scams: 

  • Freelancers who do not perform the work themselves (so you are hiring someone based on their credentials and they are in turn outsource it to someone else who is less qualified but still charging you a higher rate. Yes, this happens.)
  • Freelancers who have fake reviews in their profiles and they can actually remove negative feedback as well (yes Feedback Removal is a real thing). 
  • Freelancers who have fake identities and therefore claiming to be of different nationality than they actually are. 

This means you will spend way more time than you need to in order to weed through applicants to verify they are who they say they are and can do the work they claim they can do. 

As a small business entrepreneur, don’t let this process overwhelm you. We have talented North American-based mom professionals ready and qualified to tackle your jobs and projects so you can focus on growing your business. The candidates on HireMyMom pay a small membership fee to receive these job leads so they are more serious job seekers who are willing to invest in themselves which also means you will not get 100s or 1000s of applications from a platform that lets anyone sign up and apply for free. 

At HireMyMom.com we are mom owned and mom run. We are entrepreneurs running our own small business. We understand the needs and challenges of both sides and we aim to create a platform that works perfectly for both. Unlike the mega career sites and platforms, HireMyMom.com focuses strictly on home-based jobs and projects that work perfectly for today’s savvy entrepreneurs and modern small business owners just like you!

Over the past 12+ years, HireMyMom has helped thousands of small businesses find the perfect candidate for their projects while helping place thousands of mom professionals in their dream jobs. We do that by providing a platform that brings the best group of qualified and passionate women together with the best group of successful and growing companies who are looking for highly qualified virtual professionals with skills, experience and expertise. 

 

Why Post Your Jobs Hire My Mom

We all know….. Moms are awesome. Moms are reliable. Moms are dependable. And moms make great virtual employees or contractors.

FACT: Over 5.4 million mothers put their careers on hold to stay home with children*. That adds up to a lot of talented women with experience, education, skills and the motivation to find flexible work that can be done from their home office. (*Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

  • Save time.
  • Save money.
  • Save on office space and office equipment.
  • Save Your SANITY!
  • We do NOT take any commissions from You or our Job Seekers!
  • You will have more time to focus on your clients and improve your business.
  • Your project or job is posted to our entire pool of talented work from home candidates saving you valuable time.
  • You save money by not paying high salaries and benefits for traditional employees.
  • You interview, evaluate and decide which candidate is best suited for your business (or you may choose our Small Business Concierge program and allow us to do it all for you).
  • We provide the candidates. You provide the work. We get out of the way.
  • We’ve been around since 2007, and as moms and entrepreneurs ourselves, we are committed to helping small businesses, entrepreneurs and moms find mutual success!

POST YOUR JOB NOW!

Who are HireMyMom Professionals?

They are talented, experienced freelance professionals looking for real work from home jobs in a variety of fields including:

  • virtual assistants / administrative assistants,
  • blogger / writers / editors,
  • social media marketers,
  • marketing / public relations / advertising, 
  • legal & real estate assistants,
  • researchers,
  • graphic designers,
  • accounting / bookkeeping / payroll,
  • web designers,
  • customer service reps / sales,
  • e-commerce specialists,
  • human resources, and more!

POST YOUR JOB NOW!

 

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October 8, 2019

How Smart Entrepreneurs and Mompreneurs Use LinkedIn to Attract New Clients

With over 562 million members in 200 countries and across all industries, there is no denying LinkedIn is the top professional networking site. Facebook is where you have a strong circle of friends, Pinterest allows you to tap into evergreen marketing and boost your blog content but LinkedIn is where you can take your business to a whole new level.

LinkedIn is indexed by Google so when it comes to marketing your personal brand and your business, LinkedIn is definitely an important tool to leverage in your marketing efforts. LinkedIn also gives you the ability to search for and connect with your ideal client. 

Here are some tips to help you fully leverage LinkedIn as a smart entrepreneur / mompreneur!

 

  1. CREATE AND FULLY COMPLETE YOUR PROFILE

Your profile is the most important aspect of your LinkedIn account. It’s the first impression people have of your personal brand and business. 

  • Ensure you have a high quality photo and make sure your face is 50% of the size of the circle. 
  • Create a banner image that will be displayed at the top (Canva.com has lots of free templates to help you). Think of this a free highway billboard and use it wisely to promote you and your business. 
  • Add your name and you can also add a title with it to let me know right off the bat what you do. For example “Amanda Jones | Digital Marketing Professional”
  • Add a short bio
  • Complete the ABOUT section. This is a great opportunity to highlight what you do and the ideal client you are looking to work with and use as many characters of the max 2,000 as you can. Think of LinkedIn like Google. Your goal is to create a profile that comes up in search results. And remember, most people will only see the first 3 lines so make them count. 
  • Complete all sections to add your experiences, work history, education, volunteer work, skills and website
  • Add samples of your work or blog posts

It’s important to spend quality time on this and to fully complete this before moving on and connecting with other professionals. Feel free to hop over to my LinkedIn profile to see how I have set up my profile and I would love to connect with you too while you are there! 

 

  1. ENDORSEMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Once your profile is fully complete you can reach out and connect with people you know and have worked with on LinkedIn. People you already know is a great place to start because you can ask them to leave you an endorsement and recommendation. This helps to edify you to new people you want to connect with. Be sure to return the favor and leave a recommendation for others as well. 

 

USING LINKEDIN

  1. MAKE NEW CONNECTIONS

Now that you have created your profile, connected with people you know and received some recommendations and endorsements you are ready to start making other connections, especially with people who are your ideal client. Think of LinkedIn as an online network group and search engine. Let’s say for example you are a logo designer and you are wanting to network with website designers who can refer clients to you who will need a logo designed for their website. 

You can go to the search bar in LinkedIn and type in “website designer” and have it filter for “people” and it will pull up search results for those that have “website designer” in their profiles. LinkedIn will filter the results by mutual connections you have with other people. 

When you click on the “connect” button, you will have the opportunity to type out an invitation before sending. LinkedIn will have a generic one but it’s important that you personalize every invitation you send. Take the time to look at their profile and make the invitation all about them not about you.

“Hi Lori, I see that you are a website designer and as a graphic designer in the same industry I would love to connect and know how I can support you and send referrals your way. Look forward to connecting with you.”

People will be a lot more likely to accept your invitation to connect if they feel valued and not like you have an agenda. 

 

  1. POST UPDATES

Make LinkedIn part of your daily marketing routine. Use LinkedIn to share your blog content and other articles that would interest your network of connections, tips, resources and to highlight your work. Remember as with any social media platform, the goal is to tell instead of sell. 

LinkedIn also has an app that can make posting and the time you spend networking easier too. 

 

  1. CREATE A SOCIAL VIBE ON LINKEDIN

Ensure you are engaging with your network through their status updates too. You can’t expect to post and not spend time supporting others on their posts. Social media doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Set a timer to spend 10 minutes to like and comment (5+ words on any social media platform shows the algorithm that your comment is a real genuine comment and not a bot).

 

  1. THE POWER OF GROUPS

LinkedIn has a lot of great groups that you can join to connect with more like-minded people and share your expertise. You can use the search bar to search for groups in your niche. Be selective and only commit to joining groups that you feel you can actively participate in. You will need to send an invitation to the moderators for them to approve your request. Once they do, be sure to read the group rules and be a respectful member of the group and give value. It’s a great opportunity to find more people to connect with. 

Take the time to implement these tips and you should see some great connections and future clients before too long!

 

ABOUT HIREMYMOM…

Over the past 12+ years, HireMyMom has helped thousands of small businesses find the perfect candidate for their projects while helping thousands of mom professionals find in their remote dream jobs. We do that by providing a platform that brings the best group of qualified and passionate women together with the best group of successful and growing small businesses who are looking for highly qualified virtual professionals with skills, experience and expertise. 

How is HireMyMom different?

  • As more of a boutique site, candidates on HireMyMom do not have to compete with 100s or 1,000s of other applicants and our small businesses do not have to wade through 1,000s of applicants, 
  • We do not take a percentage or commission of earnings from virtual professionals OR the small businesses,
  • HireMyMom is more than a job site; we are community offering personalized services, training, support and virtual high-fives,
  • Our site is primarily for those in North America and native English speakers familiar with U.S. Business culture and in or near the same time zones,
  • We offer our Small Business VIP Concierge program where our HR Specialists will hand select top candidate(s) for our Small Business clients.

Mom Professionals looking for legitimate, remote jobs and projects, start here. 

Small Businesses looking find high-quality, independent candidates, start here.

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September 23, 2019

3 Ways A Virtual Assistant Can Help Grow and Scale Your Small Business

When it comes to starting your own business there’s a lot to think about. Although being your own boss can be very rewarding, it also comes with a lot of responsibility which often translates to you wearing ALL of the hats.

In the beginning, this can be manageable however, as your business starts to grow, so do the “growing pains”. There’s only so much time in a day and there’s only one of you!

Bringing someone onto payroll involves training costs, costs for additional office space, furniture, and supplies plus, don’t forget there are government rules and regulations to follow before and after you hire.

This is where having a Virtual Assistant could really come in handy. If you don’t have the funding to grow your company internally, a VA can provide you with the support your business needs at an external level.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant is a real person. They are professionals who provide support to your business from a remote aka “virtual” location. They have their own equipment and space to work in. This means a VA could start working for you almost immediately with minimal cost.

What can Virtual Assistants do?

A Virtual Assistant can help in many ways but typically, they take on the mundane tasks, business maintenance, and customer service that company owners are often too busy to keep up with. This includes:

  • Filtering and responding to emails
  • Managing social media
  • Bookkeeping
  • Fielding and making phone calls
  • Appointment booking and tracking
  • Market research
  • And more

3 Ways A Virtual Assistant Can Help Grow and Scale Your Business

Now that you know what a Virtual Assistant is and the common tasks they perform, let’s talk about the many ways they can help your business scale and grow.

There are three stages to any business’s marketing funnel – customer acquisition, customer after care, and customer retention.

A Virtual Assistant can help you scale and grow your business at each level. Here’s how:

  1. Customer Acquisition

    At a lead generation and customer acquisition level, your VA can:

  • Create and manage your social media accounts.
  • Help you stay up to date with sales and promotions and website content.
  • Perform market research and competition tracking.
  • Help plan and organize events you might host to attract new clients.
  • Answer any emails that come in from potential customers and guide them towards booking an appointment with you (service business) or purchasing a product (e-commerce business).
  • Your VA can also help you form alliances with other businesses by reaching out to them on your behalf.

  1. Client follow up and after care

Once a customer has made a purchase, you want to ensure they are happy and this is also the best time to upsell and promote other services and products you have. You can use your VA to:

  • Contact your customer after the purchase or service to make sure they are happy.
  • Reach out for a customer review or testimonial.
  • Offer an upsell or friend referral incentive.

  1. Customer Retention

    A lot of businesses spend most of their time at the acquisition level but, customer retention is important for company sustainability and is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. Your VA can improve your retention rate by:

  • Reaching out to your customers when they are nearing the end of their product supply or coming close to needing service, to encourage purchasing or booking again.
  • Circulate blog posts, new content, newsletters, and more to help keep your existing clients in the loop.
  • Your VA can help spread the news to your existing clients whenever you have a sale or promotion. This will encourage repeat business and/or referrals.
  • You can create a customer appreciation event and have your VA spearhead it from start to finish.

Whether you use your virtual assistant to market your business, handle your books, or manage your emails, they can really help alleviate the stress and workload that so many small business owners face.

Ready to find the perfect VA for you? Here are some important things to consider:

Time Zones: Make sure that if there is a time zone differential, it’s compatible with your schedule and your company’s operating hours.

Languages Spoken: You want to make sure your VA can speak and write fluently in the languages you prefer. At HireMyMom, our site is primarily for N. America so English is the native language of job seekers.

Education, Experience, and Skills: You want to make sure that your VA is qualified for the tasks you need them to do. Graphic Design or Accounting? Customer Service or Ad Creation? It’s important to hire someone who is strong in the areas you need them most. You wouldn’t for example hire a sales and marketing VA to do your bookkeeping and accounting. Carefully screen your VA applicants and keep an open mind. They are there to help you after all. If you find you don’t have time or don’t care to go through the lengthy hiring process, check out the VIP Small Business Concierge package available to hand-select virtual professionals for you.

Tools: You may want to consider providing a useful assistant tool or two to maximize productivity and ensure all the necessary work can be completed on time.

At HireMyMom.com, we’ve had a lot of success matching employers and VA’s. Here’s what some of our happy employers have been saying:

“I have been a great fan of your service for many years. The quality of the people who I have found have been consistently exceptional, and at very affordable prices. I’ve also referred HireMyMom.com to many of my friends and colleagues, and will happily continue to do so.”  Paulette Ensign, Tips Products International

“I was able to grow my company with your service and were now in 5,000 stores. We have five moms with us. Always referring my friends who are business owners and telling them how smart these women are and amazing to work with.”   Chris-Tia Donaldson, Thank God Its Natural

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I submitted my request for a Web Guru to HireMyMom and I have to admit, I was blown away with the response. The quality of the applicants far exceeded my wildest expectations! It is very apparent that each applicant is highly qualified for my project. I am very excited to be working with such talented professionals. I am spreading the word to my business associates. HireMyMom.com is a real wealth of professional talent.”  Teri Hurley, Owner/Operator, Endless Love Travel

Are you ready to take the next step to help grow your business? Click here to post your job and find the perfect VA for you and your company.

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