As a 21st century woman you probably find your day filled with errands and tasks and duties that are never ending.  We spend our days trying to do it all.  We take care of the household, our children, our pets and our significant other.  For the successful career woman the stresses are twice the battle.  Offering

Technology allows us to multitask and cram as much as we can into a 24 hour day. 

Outsourcing is contracting with another company or person to perform a particular function. Almost every organization outsources in some way. If big businesses can do it, why can’t small business? Why can’t the average person do it?

In the day-to-day grind no matter what we have on our “to do list” it seems the day is just not long enough to fit it all in.  Both our personal and business lives seem to be filled with never ending tasks. Outsourcing is a way to free up some of that time by handing over some of those tasks to someone else.

Personal Services

For those of you who don’t like to cook, clean, do laundry and the many other tasks I’m sure you have on your list, well you don’t.  Call The Other Woman and let them take care of those things for you.  The Other Woman is a company that offers a host of services to make your life a little easier.  Their services include household chores, personal concierge services, and errands, just to name a few.  So if you need your home cleaned, your clothes washed, someone to stay home to meet the repair man/woman, contact The Other Woman by visiting their website at www.theotherwoman.com.  

Don’t have time to Cook?  Maybe you’re not a good cook or just too busy to figure out what tonight’s dinner is going to be.  Whichever category you fall under Entrée Vous can help.  Located in Raleigh and Cary, NC, Entrée Vous provides a delicious home-cooked meal for you and your family.  They do all the prep work and you take it home to cook.  Most entrées can be prepared and ready to eat in just 15 minutes. To find out more about Entrée Vous visit www.entreevous.com.  You can order by phone, fax or internet and you can even arrange to attend a session where you actually prepare the food yourself.   

Grocery shopping anyone?  I don’t know about you but I find grocery shopping to be relaxing when I can do it alone and have plenty of time to browse.  That does not happen too often for me.  Of course you should already be aware that you can go online to a local grocer like Lowes Food and pick out your groceries, pay on line and then pick it up at the store.  But did you know that you can actually send someone to pick out the groceries for you and deliver it to your home.  Triangle Groceries 2 Go does just that and much more.  Not only will they pick out and deliver your groceries for you, they will stock and organize your kitchen cabinets, put away your groceries and discard of any items that have expired.

This is a great service for seniors or the hard working parent with a busy schedule.  You can place your order via fax, online or by phone and your order will be processed and delivered at the most convenient time for you. www.trianglegroceries2go.com.

The Concierge Place was conceived by the owner, Delmar Johnson, out of frustrations with corporate America and the lack of flexibility. That may have been the best thing that ever happened to her, because it made her re-think how she could better enjoy her life and take advantage of the wonderful things that it has to offer.

 The Concierge Place is here to help whether it’s your home life, work or playtime that you want assistance with.  From running to the grocery store to organizing your office, they are here to help you get the job done, the way you want it.

To see a list of the services they offer visit their website at www.theconciergeplace.com. 

Business Services

Here’s my favorite, the Virtual Assistant.  Time is money.  You really don’t have a lot of time to spend on the administrative tasks that go along with running a small business.  You may not have it in your budget to hire a full-time or even a part-time assistant to help you with the many day-to-day tasks.  But you do have an option.  The option is to hire a Virtual Assistant who not only can keep you organized, answer/return calls, update your website,  prepare and send out your marketing materials, send thank you notes to clients, make travel and meeting arrangements.  A Virtual Assistant can help you to be more productive and free up more time to relax and enjoy your family as well as work on what really drives your bottom line. 

A Virtual Assistant is a small business owner providing administrative support services to business owners virtually.  You can hire a VA for a couple of hours a month or more dependent upon your needs and your budgets.  Visit www.alternateoffice.com to find out more.

Bookkeeping is a task that many small business owners hate to think about, let alone do.  Keeping track of receipts, payroll, tracking mileage, and the day-to-day operations of their business can be quite overwhelming.

The Roper Group can help you with your bookkeeping needs.  Their services are designed to provide you with a complete and cost-effective accounting solution so that you can focus on growing your business. 

Not only does the Roper Group offer bookkeeping services, they offer training and phone support as well.  If you’re interested in support or training check out their website at www.theropergroup.com for additional information.

From time to time you may need to have a package delivered locally and you’re so busy you just don’t have time to do it yourself.  A courier is the perfect solution when it comes to picking up and dropping off packages.  Budget Courier is located in Garner, NC and they do a wonderful job of handling packages large and small and delivering them on time.  They are flexible and reasonably priced. You can reach Budget Courier by contacting them at (919) 779-3320.

Have you ever tried creating your own logo in MS Word or some other non-graphics program?  You pick a cute font and add clip art and boom, a new logo is born.  That’s what I did and I actually thought I did a great job until I met Melanie Dogan of Vigor Creative located in Raleigh, NC.   Take a look at my before logo and Vigor’s after.

There are many services around the Triangle area that we can outsource some of our work load to.  There are services dedicated to helping us get organized, services to transport our children to their many activities, services to help us when we can’t find the time to help ourselves.  When you find a service that has worked well for you, spread the word.  And if you can’t find a particular service, ask around, if it doesn’t exist, you may have just come up with another outsourcing business you can start yourself.