Rescue Desk

I am a loyal and dedicated attendee to most events hosted by the local chamber of commerce. Once or twice a quarter, the chamber hosts an educational breakfast session with a local speaker who entertains the audience about everything from networking to sales to doing the books.

At last month’s event, an interesting phenomenon caught me off guard, twisting my insides into a rather liberated – albeit it a little confused – bundle of goo.

My inner introvert lost her first fight. Ever.

She NEVER loses a fight! She’s calculating and convincing and scrappy. She’s quick to remind me that I’m more comfortable laying low doing my own thing, not drawing too much attention to myself. She regularly points out that public recognition shoves me so far out of my comfort zone that I end up with a bruise.

But, I think she’s finally met her match. My inner business owner.

I wandered into last month’s breakfast event, pleasantly surprised to recognize a few faces and pleased to rekindle a few connections. I made my way into the standing-room-only, 60-person classroom, parked myself toward the back, and settled in for the presentation.

I noticed a woman I knew from a previous event up in the front of the room, helping the speaker set up.  Then, loud enough for God and most of the room to hear, she pointed me out to one of her colleagues.

“Hey! That’s Rachel! The Rescue Desk lady I told you about! You should meet her!”

Not only did her colleague turn to look at me, but so did half the room. In fact, I’m pretty sure the cars driving by outside slowed down to rubberneck.

Here’s how the 5-second dialogue played out in my head.

Inner Introvert: Ohmigod, ohmigod…everyone’s looking at us! Wha’dowedo?! Wha’dowedo?!

Inner Business Owner:  Dude, pipe down! This is AWESOME! Lookit all the people who just heard not only your name, but the name of your business! Wooo-hooo!!

Inner Introvert: Ohmigod, ohmigod…but EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT US! WHA’DOWEDO?!

Inner Business Owner:  I’ll TELL you what we’re going to do. We’re going to stand up, smile, say hello, shake her hand, and tell her how nice it is to meet her. Then, just because you’re a pain in my ass, we’re going to smile at everyone else in the damn room.

Inner Introvert: Ohmigod, ohmigod…BUT…BUT…

Inner Business Owner:  But nothing!  If you don’t chill out RIGHT NOW, I swear I’ll bust out the business cards and start sending them down this row of strangers….

It’s about time my inner introvert got her tail-end handed to her on a platter. She was long overdue.  

I think this is a lesson every introverted business owner eventually learns. In fact, no matter what your personality, I think everyone’s inner business owner needs to be a little feisty, willing to take whatever heat is necessary to protect a new and growing business. Introvert be damned.

I get up close and personal in understanding the nuances of business process outsourcing, otherwise known as BPO to all you acronym-loving CEO/COO/CFO/VP/EVP/CKO-types out there.

My theory is that BPO is quickly solidifying itself as a huge, resourceful, practical tool in today’s market for two reasons.

First - and perhaps most obvious - it’s an extremely cost-effective solution in today’s economic climate.  Just because the market is scrambling to pull itself up by its bootstraps, that does not mean businesses aren’t still scrambling to continue growing and increasing revenues. They’re just looking for cost-efficient, realistic, functional, outside-the-box alternatives to do so. An obvious alternative is outsourcing some of those day-to-day business processes.

Second, and maybe as a result of reason #1, organizations are seeing that outsourcing is simply an efficient tool in general to integrate into the overall business strategy … of any sized organization.

Why create an entire IT department when you can outsource some (if not all) of your tech needs to an already-established expert? Do you need to bring in an HR manager, when there are human resource consultants available on-call when you need them? And, my personal favorite, why hire an on-staff executive assistant to handle the details of your day, when there’s one right here who can do all the same things without the stress, cost and commitment of bringing on a permanent employee?

Every day I’m amazed at the new technologies I learn about that are easily and readily available for those of us in the BPO arena … tools that not only make our jobs easier, but also those of our clients.  Need to have a quick, few-sentence conversation? Click on your instant messenger and see if your service provider is online. Have a large file that needs to be sent? Check out some of the FTP or “drop” sites for quick and easy file sharing. Want someone else to be able to access files directly from your computer? Take your pick from several remote access tools.

The definition of BPO grows almost as quickly as technology changes. Back in the day, “outsourcing” brought images of larger-than-life corporations sending production lines offshore to other countries. Today, the one-person consulting firm down the street outsources her bookkeeping to a bookkeeper, sends her marketing materials and newsletter copy to her virtual assistant to produce, and emails her list of prospects to an off-site appointment-setter. 

What does she get in return? The equivalent of a three-person staff and the time to focus on what she does best – consult her clients and grow her business.

Before embracing the Brave New World of BPO, a little due diligence is always in order.  There’s a good BPO 101 article that was published on SourcingMag.com that outlines a few of the first considerations. But, do a Google search, and I’m sure you’ll be up against countless other resources.

But, you’ll find any BPO-related service provider is just as interested in making sure you understand the benefits and potential challenges as you are in discovering how to make it a workable solution for you.

Last spring, I had the good fortune to start meeting with some of my local virtual assistant colleagues for an occasional breakfast gab-fest. It was a pretty small group, but we got along famously and had fun talking about our businesses, sharing referrals and tossing around ideas.

It didn’t take long, and we got to thinking: Are we the only ones doing this? The only people getting together to network and build a little local support network?

After a little digging, we found … well … nothing.

We couldn’t find any other groups in the state. So, being the freakishly organized people we are, we decided to start one.

The Wisconsin Virtual Assistant Network officially launched earlier this month, with the introduction of our Website to as many Wisconsin-based virtual assistants as we could find.

In a matter of days, we got responses from almost half the VAs we contacted, filling out their membership profiles to be posted to the new site. The goal is to profile all the active virtual assistants in Wisconsin, allowing both the business community to meet us and learn more about adding a VA to the team, and providing tools and resources for VAs to grow their practices.

As the interim marketing and communications person for our new statewide group working to get the word out, I’m beyond thrilled about this venture! I’m excited to introduce VAs to each other and build support networks for our local industry; I’m excited to promote the industry to the state’s business community; I’m excited to help plan and develop workshops and seminars; I’m excited to educate everyone I talk to about the benefits of having a VA on the team.

So, to my fellow Badgerland VAs, welcome! And to the Wisconsin business community, let us know what we can do to support you and your efforts for growth!

A few weeks ago, I made the leap and upgraded my chintzy little MP3 player to a full-blown, 80-gig iPod.

I am not an avid music buff. I like what I like simply because it’s the backdrop to my life. I like blues because it adds texture to an already-mellow evening. Classic rock is the anthem for my “leaving it all behind” daydream to become a roadie. Classical tends to inspire my creativity. Country is the soundtrack to my northwoods-loving alter ego.

But, as I peruse my new iTunes store, I got to thinking. What would my eclectic collection of tunes say about me?

Admit it … you have songs on your iPod that you’d be mortified if anyone knew you not only listened to, but also had on your “Most Often Played” playlist.

But, an even more random train of thought is what those artists would say if they knew they were parked right next to each other on said playlist?

Would Shania Twain and KT Tunstall get along? Who would win the fight between Heart and Poison? Would a duet ensue between Etta James and Tom Petty? Would Tony Bennett buy Norah Jones a drink, or would he be too busy chatting with B.B. King? Or what about Toby Keith, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks, Muddy Waters and Madalyn Peroux … now that’s a “We Are The World” group if I’ve ever seen one.

I think our iPod collections are one of the truest, purest representations of who we are. It’s the soundtrack to our personality – old-school, new-age, classic-rock, Top-40 all rolled into one.

An appreciation for this hodge-podge of personality goo is something I bring with me to most of my client meetings. A big part of why I love doing what I do is because I get to know and partner with a huge variety of wildly fascinating people. To me, the people I work with are much more than the projects they send my way … they’re also duck-hunting, dog-training, opera-singing, model-train-loving, fashion-forward, diverse hobbyists of all shapes and sizes.

So here’s my random thought for the day. Next time you meet someone new – whether it be a big-wig CEO, your kid’s new teacher, or the eccentric guy who moved in down the street – remember, don’t judge an iPod by its playlist.