| For example if you had to enter in all your transactions | | | | websites I recommend visiting to find good |
| from your website into your accounting software, | | | | webmasters and web developers: |
| could this have been eliminated if a script was written | | | | * - Elance says it offers entrepreneurs a flexible way |
| to do this automatically? It may cost you $10,000 a | | | | for to get work done by tapping into expertise |
| year to have a staff doing data entry, when it would | | | | whenever they need it, and offers access to more |
| have only cost you $1,000 to get someone to write | | | | than 80,000 registered freelancers providing a wide |
| the script that will last forever. Here is a three step | | | | range of services. |
| process to switch on autopilot: | | | | * Scriptlance - allows you to post your project and |
| 1. Outsource your customer support | | | | place a bid to work with professional programmers or |
| 2. Find a good webmaster to manage your website | | | | webmasters for your business. |
| 3. Have a business manager to handle day to day | | | | * Rent a Coder - offers access to software and Web |
| tasks | | | | developers. |
| Customer Support | | | | * Odesk - Offers a range of freelance programmers |
| The first step any Internet business owner needs to | | | | and web developers in India, Russia, the U.S., and other |
| take is to outsource or hire staff to manage their | | | | locations. |
| customer support. In my case, I hired virtual assistants | | | | Business / Project Manager |
| who didn't need to be in the office and could answer | | | | Hiring a business manager to run your day to day |
| all customer support issues anywhere for me. I | | | | operations allows you to find someone else to replace |
| provided them with a list of commonly asked | | | | you. Searching for a competent and capable business |
| questions, which is the website's FAQ page and also a | | | | manager is not an easy task. Though, once you have |
| manual that outlined some procedures of the business. | | | | the right person in place you can free up your time to |
| For the better part of it, it doesn't cost as much as | | | | start new projects. If you want to have someone to |
| what people think. Most virtual assistants can start as | | | | replace you, you must write down what the person will |
| low as $3 per hour and they can be found online. To | | | | be required to do. It's not as simple as saying, "please |
| date my best virtual assistant costs me $2 per hour. | | | | take over my day to day tasks". Clearly list the tasks |
| Here is a list of leading virtual assistant sites where I | | | | they need to perform every day, from following up |
| have found my best virtual assistants to date: | | | | with orders from suppliers to making sure that the |
| * Va4u | | | | customer support team is keeping up with their load. |
| * Bestjobs.ph | | | | Your goal is to train the business manager to take |
| * Jobs 4 Philippines | | | | over the tasks you have been doing and allow them |
| Webmaster Support | | | | to take responsibility. If you do this successfully, you |
| Having a webmaster working on your team helps to | | | | own an e-commerce business rather than being in one. |
| maintain and fix any issues that you may have with | | | | Here are some places to find good quality business |
| your website. Your webmaster will help you to do any | | | | managers: |
| upgrades, install new modules, write customised scripts | | | | * * Brickwork - Get some of the best business |
| and also attend to domain and hosting issues. There | | | | managers in India and tap into a huge network of great |
| are other things you can assign to your webmaster | | | | resources. |
| such as maintaining the database and doing search | | | | Removing Yourself |
| engine optimisation. It depends if your webmaster is | | | | Completing these steps will keep you quite busy in the |
| working for you on a full time basis or per project. In | | | | early stages. Ultimately, your goal is to remove |
| my own business I hire my webmaster to develop and | | | | yourself altogether from the business. Whatever you |
| improve my websites on a monthly basis by paying a | | | | do with your life after you create a successful Internet |
| set fee. Ideally you will want them to be on your team | | | | business is up to you. |
| on a full time basis if you can afford it. Here are some | | | | |