When I come on board, it is rare that the scope of my work remains only on the initial project. Usually, I become a sounding board and a discussion partner.

Running a small business can be an isolating endeavor. Oh, sure, the resources are out there, but the time to access them may not be. Trustworthy peers can also be hard to find.

In these instances, someone like me, a fellow small business owner and someone with experience in a wide variety of fields and tasks, can be so valuable. Why not give me a call to see what I can offer?

Make sure your staff is not afraid to point out mistakes and offer solutions. Every boss will do better with back-up and another working mind.

Capable assistance is an asset and the cultivation of this relationship is absolutely worth it. It may appear to be a waste of time and money to not simply do things your way, but over the long run, a team on your side will catch those huge problems before they occur.

Quite often, business owners do not find it hard to describe where they want to be. The bigger question marks have to do with all those little steps needed to get there.

When this vision puzzle becomes too challenging, try to think of the journey another way.

Ask yourself: Where will my business be in [time frame] if things continue as they are now.

The truthful answer to that question allows the gap between what will be and what you wish for to become sharply defined. The puzzle can now be approached from a different direction, using a different perspective.

Sometimes it helps to take a 360 walk around a problem because looking at it straight on does not always work.

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.

Use to Small Businesses: Limited

In all fairness, I did not completely finish this book. I became frustrated that this is mostly about hype marketing rather than buzz marketing, in the organic word-of-mouth way.

Now there are general principles in hype that will apply to the creation of genuinely valuable word-of-mouth buzz, but the big difference is in the bottom line. Hype does not directly lead to sales and income.

Mark Hughes used to be the VP of marketing for Half.com. They did make a big splash once upon a time when a town in Oregon agreed to change its name officially to “Half.com, Oregon.” Undeniably, this brought a lot of publicity to this start-up website. Mark gives some numbers in terms of registered users as an example of what a big splash can do.

“Ah, yes,” a small business owner would say. “But what about their bottom line?”

This book came out in 2005. Do you know what ClearPlay is? This company is the example at the center of Chapter 9. Hmm. People are still talking about that Pepsi Challenge campaign but Pepsi just dropped behind Coke and Diet Coke in popularity. And do you really want to know how smart Britney Spears was with her buzz generation back in 2005?

I supposed it is fitting that this book is as dated as hype usually is. Hype flashes in the pan. Without purpose, it just comes and goes with nothing gained.

Small businesses that are watching every dollar and every hour in the day simply shouldn’t pursue hype as the main thrust in its marketing efforts.

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.

Wow. That’s pretty incredible to me.

I am truly thankful.

The news keeps screaming that 2010 is the year of growth and recovery. Regardless of whether this is truth or fiction, opportunities are always out there.

If you find yourself stuck at any time this year, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. When your A to B needs a little help, Detour Services will be ready.

Thank you to the clients and helpers who made this first anniversary possible. I look forward to continuing and building our relationships over the next year.

To all our successes!

With the economic downturn, businesses, especially small businesses, are being more aware of how they spend their money. A service like mine benefits from these choices.

I will try to be more diligent in being more productive here and keeping everyone informed.