There are two assistants. One is a part-time employee who makes $20 an hour. The other is a 1099 contractor who also charges $20 an hour. Neither person receives any benefits.
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.
Sometimes it is lonely at the top. And sometimes it’s lonely working your tail off at your own business.
A business assistant can help take away some of that isolation. He or she can serve as a sounding board and may be able to provide perspectives that you have not considered.
And it always helps to have another pair of eyes, another set of hands, and another calculating brain around.
The photo to the right is one that I took of a local shop window. That entrepreneur could have used a little freelance help.
When you buy a $10 pair of shoes, what do you expect from it? What about from a $100 printer or $1000 car?
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.
The picture shows an actual notification that was stuck under my windshield wiper. This brand new business canvassed blocks and blocks of cars with this flyer.
They really wanted to get the word out, but I highly doubt that this is the first impression they wanted to create.
People start their own businesses to do what they love. No one, however, is good at everything.
If you need some help with a quick copyedit run through of a business document, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line. I have six years of editing experience in the publishing industry and continue to perform these duties for my current clients. We’ll stop those glaring errors from reaching the light of day.
Detour Services (www.detourservices.com) provides quality and affordable freelance business support and consulting to Chicago's busy small business owners and self-employed professionals.
Detour Services (www.detourservices.com) strives to be a busy entrepreneur's one-stop shop for administrative support. If you do not have a full-time executive assistant, personal assistant, or project coordinator, let us help.
There are two assistants. One is a part-time employee who makes $20 an hour. The other is a 1099 contractor who also charges $20 an hour. Neither person receives any benefits.
When you buy a $10 pair of shoes, what do you expect from it? What about from a $100 printer or $1000 car?
The picture shows an actual notification that was stuck under my windshield wiper. This brand new business canvassed blocks and blocks of cars with this flyer.
