by Yasmeen on March 18, 2010
This guest post is for all you small business owners. It should help you learn to find employees for free, find a freelancer, and work with your unemployed friends and family to get affordable help for your small business.
As a budding entrepreneur, I have been challenged to find help for critical roles in my business. My husband and I run a manufacturing business and have had to discover different ways to find additional employees, while our profit catches up to our desired budget so that we can hire permanent new employees.
In the process of being resourceful, we have managed to secure very talented professional help for a variety of needs—from website design and setup, to sales support, to bookkeeping and office administration. Here are a few of our budget-friendly tips for finding talented employees at a fraction of the costs for your temporary and ongoing projects:
Find Employees for Free at Local Universities
Contact the career centers at your local top universities. Every college has a career center and an online job depot, where employers can post jobs and temporary work projects. These are almost always free and are distributed to current students and alumni. Tapping local college students is a fantastic way to find eager and excited young employees ready and willing to get real world experience. Also, with the added benefit of alumni distribution you get the combined benefit of finding someone with professional work experience and the educational background you need.
Some schools are known to have better academic programs or specialties and you should do your homework on which schools offer majors in the field you are recruiting for. For example, I recently needed someone to help with web design and programming and found that USC in the SoCal area seemed to have the best talent in relation to other neighboring schools. Conversely, when I needed some marketing and business consulting, I found the alumni at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business to be quite talented. Every school has its niche, and each career center’s staff will be happy to match their students and alumni with a budding business.
Utilize Family and Friends
With so many people unemployed, or feeling anxious about losing their jobs, I know many people looking for side gigs. Ask your friends and family if they know any reliable people looking for a short term assignment, like helping you get your books in order for taxes or someone to proof your marketing materials for an upcoming business campaign.
Find a Freelance Writer, Designer, or Developer Online
Check out the available freelance websites. There are plenty of people trying to make extra money with freelance writing. If you need writers, web developers, web content, brochures, press release, etc., there are a several websites that can broadcast your job ad to help you hire a freelancer. These sites are very popular and are sure to give you a pool of talent to select from. Also, with the benefits of computer technology, you can find a freelancer to use virtually. Location no longer is a barrier, widening your pool of talent.
Editor’s Note: A site that I’ve recently fallen in love with is oDesk. At
oDesk you can get a freelancer from anywhere in the world who will help you with just about anything for extremely reasonable prices.
- I recently hired someone from the Philippines to work on a tweak of my site design. Three hours work cost me an embarrassingly low fee.
- The great thing about
oDesk is that you are connecting with a real entrepreneur from across the globe and helping them to make a nice income.
-
Do More with Less on oDesk
As an entrepreneur it’s critical to your success to realize that you cannot do everything and be effective. For those tasks that do not require your oversight, delegate them to a freelancer or temporary employee. Finding freelancers, students, and temporary employees gives you the freedom you need to drive business sales, while still getting other needed jobs completed. So stop being a superwomen and man, and start being a smart entrepreneur focused on your core business needs.
This post was contributed by Yasmeen Muqtasid, a fanatic for of all things frugal and fabulous.
There are two ways to a more affordable auto insurance policy:
1. you can either review your current auto insurance policy and reduce the amount of coverage and extras, OR
2. you could request an affordable auto insurance quote and change insurance companies all together.
I guess technically you could do both, right?
In the coming days and weeks I’ll be sharing some information on auto insurance: how to evaluate your policy, where to find inexpensive auto insurance, what to look for in a new auto insurance policy, and specialty information about cheap car insurance for young drivers and students, women’s car insurance, temporary car insurance, etc. But first here’s my recent story…
How I Found an Affordable Auto Insurance Policy
For a while I simply tried to save money by reviewing my auto insurance policy every years and removing all the extras and increasing my deductibles. I was able to trim my bill by quite a bit over the years, while still maintaining the level of risk I was comfortable with.
Recently though I decided to look into a different insurance company. I looked for a discount through a trade organization I’m a part of first. And there was a link to GEICO. I’ve obviously heard of GEICO before and seen their crazy commercials. But I never tried to hook up with them. My next step was to search for an affordable auto insurance quote online with GEICO. I was pleased at the results and I offer them up to you to see if you can save a bunch of money with GEICO too.
Auto Insurance Plan Before and After
Old Policy – $734.10/6 months = $122.35/mo
GEICO – $523.80/6 months = $87.30/mo
When comparing auto insurance policies it’s important to do an “apples to apples” comparison. See if you’re getting the same coverage. The above two prices were based on similar level of coverage and deductibles. I also had several discounts through both companies (multi-car, safe driver, anti-lock, anti-theft). GEICO came out significantly ahead. That’s an extra $400 I am saving annually. I’m not sure if I was just over paying with the other company or whether GEICO is just that much more competitive. Possibly both. I’m curious if any of you have had a similar experience?
More Discounts Available
In addition to the above discounts, I just found out I’m eligible for a defensive driver discount of $50. That would make my policy even more affordable.
Do you have a similar story? Have you tried GEICO and had success? Any issues to report with their claims service or general customer service?
I’m Not an Investor That Likes to be Taxed
Up to this point in my life, with the exception of company stock options and the occasional bonus deal from an online discount broker, I’ve avoided investing in taxable investment accounts. This is mainly because my focus with investing has remained on retirement.
And since there are so many tax advantaged investing options available to me (401k, Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, 529 Plan), I just put my focus there. I love them. I can’t get enough of the concept of sheltering my income. I think to myself, “why on earth would anyone want to invest their money in something that doesn’t involve a tax advantage?” After a bit of research and thinking beyond my own situation, today I’m going to answer that question.
What’s Inside these Different Accounts
As I mentioned last week when I was reviewing the best Roth IRA rates, it’s important to note that for the most part, you are able to invest in the same types of investments in or out of tax advantaged accounts. The account, like a Roth IRA, is just a place to put your investments.
So When Do You Start Taxable Investing?
When You Max Out Your Options - When you’ve maxed out your annual 401K contributions, your Roth IRA contributions, and your SEP IRA contributions, if any are available to you, a taxable account comes next. In fact, after you’ve taken care of these investment accounts, you’re only choice is to move into taxable investing. Of course, that’s a lot of income you are putting towards retirement each year. Does anyone out there max out both a 401K and a Roth?
When You Reach Income Limitations – Secondly, if you earn above a certain amount of money, you will not be able to invest in a Roth IRA. Therefore, after you maxed out the 401K, the next best choice is probably taxable investing.
When You Want Flexibility – Next, and probably the most important point here, is that taxable accounts generally give you more flexibility with how you use your money. Money in a 401K must remain in the 401K until you retire or you will have to pay the taxes on that money, and possibly face penalties for withdrawing early. With taxable investing, you can move your money in and out as you please. A Roth is a bit more flexible than the 401K, but it doesn’t touch the flexibility of the regular old taxed brokerage account.
When You Want to Invest in Tax Free Investments - Lastly, there are apparently some investments types that are tax free (i.e. tax-free bonds) that you can only get in a taxable investment account. If you’re dead set on using these investments, then you’ll have to settle for a taxable account.
Should You Have Both?
I don’t see the harm in having both types of accounts. If you’ve reached one of the milestones listed above than it’s probably time for you to begin with the taxable accounts. However, make sure you have your debt situation under control and a decent emergency fund built up prior to shoving a bunch of extra funds into one of these accounts.
Where to Open a Taxable Investing Account
You can open these up at the same places you open up tax advantaged accounts: at low-cost online brokers (if you’re going to be active with your trading) or full service investment houses, like Vanguard (if you can meet the initial balance requirements).
So what’s your opinion on investing in taxable accounts? Have you started one? Are you waiting to reach some of these other milestones first?
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