As an employer, what are your costs?

To pay the part-time employee, you have to run payroll. That means you are either paying a service or person to do all this for you. Without that, you are putting in unbillable hours to do it yourself.

Then you have to track the withholding taxes from those paychecks and keep the amounts for eventual payment to the federal and state taxing authorities at regular intervals throughout the year. To top it all off, you even have to kick in your share of that person’s Medicare, Social Security, as well as all of your own owed federal unemployment insurance and state unemployment insurance.

Now let’s look at the contractor. As the hiring company, you pay her invoice.

Yes. That’s it.

At most, you’ll have to send out a 1099 form and its associated single-paged summary sheet at the beginning of 2012 to document total payments for this contractor.

It sounds like a big difference doesn’t it?

Keep in mind though… The IRS is serious when it comes to avoiding the payment of your fair share. Certain conditions must be met for someone to be a contractor and not a staff member. Please study their documents carefully. Or contact me for help.

I’m often asked about the standard $10-an-hour pay offering by those advertising for assistants on Craigslist. I must assume that these entrepreneurs get responses because otherwise, they would stop asking.

For my part, I usually respond to this inquiry by saying—they probably got what they paid for.

There probably is a reason that the ad answers are willing to settle for this wage. The bottom line is, they accept $10 an hour because (for whatever reason) they are not able to get someone to pay them more than that.

Even if there are extenuating circumstances, I feel that the small business runner would be taking a big risk. Once a good assistant begins to realize that he/she is being underpaid and is able to command a higher price elsewhere, then the entrepreneur will either have to step up and match the demand or be willing to start all over with someone new and of perhaps a lower quality.

When you own a business, I know that business is you. And you deserve an administrative professional who is capable, experienced, and trustworthy. Not someone purchased at a bargain basement rate.

Synopsis: A normal guy with a normal life gets caught between Thor and Loki in a godly battle of silly yet cosmic importance.

112 pages, Black & White art,
ISBN: 9781934985144

Currently in Diamond Previews (DEC09 0644)
Releases February 2010

Pre-order directions:

1. Go to Discount Comic Book Service.
2. Click on “Preorders” in the left-hand column.
3. Click on “Other Comics,” again in the left-hand column.
4. Choose Alterna Comics in the “Publisher” drop-down.

And there it is! At 45% off!

More things to do:
Visit The Big Bad Book Facebook page
Visit The Big Bad Book blog
Read a review at Fistfight At The Arthouse and another one at Geek In The City.

Unnecessary expenditures, such as late fees, can really hurt a business’s bottom line these days. A healthy cash flow is even more important since credit remains tough to come by.

For those who keep letting money seep away from them despite the best of intentions, there are a number of ways that a personal assistant or business assistant can help.

Perhaps all you need is one email reminder each week about what’s due and what’s coming up. For the truly sidetracked, outsourcing all accounts payable functions may actually prove cost-effective.

Of course, tasking someone else to stay on hold with the cable or credit card company is an easy one to make. Let your assistant get you a changed rate or another tier of service. Paying a monthly fee for something you don’t use is like paying a full-time employee to surf the internet.

Times are tough. Make sure each cent you spend is out there working hard for you.

The theme is about opportunity cost, but the analogy makes it easy to understand. Give up the tasks that others can do for you so you can focus on the things that only you can accomplish.

Perhaps this is not the case overall, but organization certainly brings an individual more money than he or she would have otherwise. These households do not buy that unnecessary third box of baking soda. These families do not overlook a choice tax deduction. These people know what is the best deal on higher priced items.

A personal assistant can help your life become more organized. When you know what you have, you’ll have a better idea of what you need. Your money situation becomes clearer and the amount of waste lessens.

A good, professional personal assistant can even help you figure out the cost effectiveness of his or her services.