It’s a growing trend in employment: outsourcing tasks rather than hiring on new staff. Supporting Strategies gives franchisees a business opportunity that takes advantage of this trend.
Why do businesses choose to outsource? Hiring is becoming ever more complex. Requirements for health care coverage, minimum wage increases, and employment eligibility verification make hiring new workers a bigger investment now. At the same time, employers continue to be nervous about the economy, and may hesitate to bring new people onboard unless they’re quite sure they will need them for the long haul. The combination of these two factors makes it appealing to hire a service rather than a new employee.
The same reasons that have led businesses to hire services in the past are also still in play: temporary needs for additional workforce during crunch times, occasional needs for special skills, and the chance to save on costs associated with hiring.
Bookkeeping is one of the areas businesses are increasingly choosing to outsource. 74% of CPAs in a recent survey said that their clients don’t have the knowledge and skills to do their own accounting, and yet increasing automation often means that small to medium sized businesses can’t justify the services of a full time accountant or bookkeeper. And yet finding a truly expert part-time finance person can be difficult.
Supporting Strategies offers expert support for accounting, bookkeeping, and operations in general. “You’ve got enough to worry about” is their motto, and the franchise targets busy business owners wearing too many hats. With automated systems that don’t rely on franchisees to have expert knowledge, Supporting Strategies offers a turnkey business with a proprietary technology platform that streamlines and simplifies the processes.
Team members work remotely with the company’s virtual Workplace software, so there is no need to provide office space or on-site amenities for staff. Clients can also be anywhere; franchisees have the benefit of local business connections, but since work is done remotely, there is no geographic limitation.
Use of the software is priced according to the number of employees the franchise has, and the royalty fee is based on a percentage model — and that royalty fee covers most overhead, including hiring and training of team members. This means that costs can be adjusted in response to revenue, keeping overhead manageable.
This variable-cost strategy is appealing to prospective clients, too. Rather than requiring a monthly retainer or a service package, Supporting Strategies allows clients to pick and choose just the services they need, only when they need those services. This lets small businesses add additional services as they grow.
Franchisees can thus develop relationships with other local businesses and grow with them. Supporting Strategies offers defined territories with at least 20,000 businesses employing fewer than 101 employees. This ensures a good-sized market for each franchise.
With a low initial cost and a system that keeps overhead small, a Supporting Strategies franchise offers a good starting point for someone new to business, and yet it is definitely scalable.
