3 Tips to Keep A Business Open 24/7 in A Cost Effective Way

Many of us run business that would do much better if it was open 24 hours a day, all week, all throughout the year (say, Pizza shops!). One of the prime reasons why many people are afraid to keep their business open 24 hours is the cost that comes with it. True, your cost will increase and your ROI may not be there, but what if there was a way to reduce your cost say 70% or more? Would that justify a good ROI, just justify keeping your business open 24 hours?
I run My Virtual People, and guess what, and we are open 24/7/365, providing services to clients all over the world across different time zones. Today, I wanted to share a few tips on staying open 24 hours in a cost effective way.

Software Automation

Nowadays there is a web base software for almost everything. From customer CRMs to managing employees to Marketing and more. Take a simple example such as conducting a survey on hand written forms and then recording all that onto a spreadsheet to analyse the data. You can automate it using simple and Free tools, such as Google forms, eliminating the need for duplicate effort, time and resources wasted. Using software strategically to automate work can help you go paperless and lower the man hours needed – thus reducing your costs.
Hire Interns or Apprentices

From my own experience, I have seen that if interns or apprentices are used effectively, they can be instrumental in running your company. Although they cannot quite replace your permanent full time staff, think of all the back office work that they could be doing, all whilst trading their time to gain experience working in your firm. Apprentices usually tend to be of a younger demographics, energetic, ambitious and looking to make their mark. Don’t be surprised if they are happy to overnight! A win win for both parties.
Hire Virtual Employees

A little known alternative to hiring employees in your own office is to hire virtual employees that work from a third party office, working directly for you. With a good offshore provider open 24 hours, such as MyVirtualPeople, you can hire people at 70% lower salaries, AND you don’t get all the other costs that come with having employees in your own office such as:
* Employee tax
* Insurance contributions
* Pensions contribution
* Office space
* Desks, computers, facilities
* Overtime rate for overnight workers
* And more..

This has probably got you thinking now, so feel free to get in touch on www.myvirtualpeople.com, or send an email directly to me.
There are of course a number of other ways of staying open 24 hours whilst keeping your costs lows and maintaining a decent ROI, but hopefully this has got you thinking.

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