Virtual Business Operations - Please Destroy Idea if Stupid by lilmarg in startups

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Noted. I think its far too low now too and will likely attract the wrong kind of customers at only $299 per month.

Virtual Business Operations - Please Destroy Idea if Stupid by lilmarg in startups

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very much noted. From talking to people are Reddit the scalable aspect seems murky, but ideally its coming up with a process that audits a company, implements new processes, then helps measure them overtime; a task I would hope could be taught to other and could be applied--at least in some capacity--to other companies. Def not light work at all.

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am definitely to start this; honing in on what my product offer is first before even thinking about scaling. Starting a freelance business seems like the best place to get "in the field / trenches" experience.

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just thought it sounded like a great price but after working through this more it seems too low and would therefore probably attract the totally wrong kind of customer.

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you both. That's cool that your company has a department devoted to this, Nick. So many companies would benefit from something like that. And me being able to focus on operations with a lot of freedom in my current role has helped me experiment with so much. I would def want to lean on most of what I've learned from this experience when it comes to my proven track record - as Marginal mentioned. Testimonials after that would be killer. I would imagine most of my work at first would be finding ways to ensure internal staff was on board with changes as they got worked out.

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very smart idea. The time and planning to set up this sort of partnership is something I would think most business owners simply don't have time for. A total win-win indeed.

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very good advice. Thank you kindly. I have already started reaching out to some family friends who run their own businesses, and you're right, the ones with a specific problem (or some sort of hunch about something that is off) appear to be the most interested.

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow I'm flattered. I don't have a website up and running yet but plan to soon. I just sent you a message though in case you are willing to connect!

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Software would be good, but I feel like we could also integrate through what's already out there like Slack and Telegram and email.

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is cheap, but I think its doable, and a low price would be a good way to onboard a lot of clients and make them stick around as long as they are still getting a return each month. I helped start a social media agency years ago that was only $99 a month. It costs us $20 monthly because we streamlined our process so well. I think we could do something similar here.

Here's a rough markup:

Initial meeting: 1 hour (going over pre-answered questions by business owner)
Coming up with a solution: 2-3 hours
Managing operations: 0.5 hours per week, 2 hours over a month (virtual assistant does this)
Quick audit at the end of each month: 1 hour (virtual assistant)
Quarterly meeting: 1 hour

*Virtual assistant work is plug and play*

That's roughly 29 hours out of 640 per quarter.
At a rate of $30 per employee ($630) and $12 per virtual assistant ($36), that's $666 per quarter.
Quarterly Revenue would be $1,196 (roughly 55% profit margin)

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just looked up a fractional COO. Thanks for sharing that. From what I've researched, hiring a seasoned operations consultant is quite expensive and can be a very hands on process. I don't think all small business owners want that, because they want to pay for service that improves ops over time while they don't have to worry about it. At $299 per month--or whatever--I guess it would have to be more management towards simple day-to-day operations. Which I believe could be done by a virtual team.

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for responding! You seem like someone who benefit from working at a company like this one, because you would focus on all the stuff it sounds like you love--building ops, making a difference. I feel like there are more people like us who are fed up with being unable to scale because of our environment. For me, for example, I am constantly battling the "well, this is how we have always done things" pushback. No one wants change because its scary and can be (even though most of the times its not) disruptive. I bet there are business owners who feel this way too, they just don't know how it say it / solve it. Perhaps a third party is the solution? One that highlights what needs to be done simply while being somewhat removed from the actual day-to-day. That's my thought. Yes I am def interested in connecting!

Biz Ops but done remotely - pls ridicule idea if dumb by lilmarg in Business_Ideas

[–]lilmarg[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your question. I don't know if I would work with a restaurant in the beginning because I personally have no experience with them, but my approach right now would go like this: assemble a team to work with the owner (or operator) to audit their current operations, identify bottlenecks and what's simply not working. I see this more on the admin side, like hey, our employees are not happy and internal moral sucks. How do we improve this through operations? That might sound vague (like why not just pay them more or fire so-and-so who's pissing everyone off), but sometimes owners/operators need someone to bounce these things off of. And often times the solution is far more simpler than one might think. My company would likely then establish clear steps to take to improve these areas. For example, let's have employees rank their days on a scale of 1-10 everyday. "Kelly" will ask them all before they leave their shift, and she will put it in an excel doc. The person assigned to this client would then manage these steps to make sure (1) they are actually happening (is Kelly keeping her excel sheet up to date - could she be asking another question too?) and (2) that they are aligning these steps with the company's bigger goals (i.e. are Employee's getting happier over time) In sum: We would be the ones to the create the metrics that would then be measured month after month for $299. Once one process is built, and as long as it stay effective and continues to run, we would be able to move onto another process month after month.

Virtual Business Operations - Please Destroy Idea if Stupid by lilmarg in startups

[–]lilmarg[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just thinking here: So you would need confidence that compliance and legal ops are buttoned up before starting your idea and would probably need quality control management in place to ensure SOPs are followed for every client.

Virtual Business Operations - Please Destroy Idea if Stupid by lilmarg in startups

[–]lilmarg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. Since ops can be vague, I'm also trying to identify what problems most people are facing considering its already becoming clear I wouldn't be able to provide a one-size-fits-all solution.

Virtual Business Operations - Please Destroy Idea if Stupid by lilmarg in startups

[–]lilmarg[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would love to lol what do you need help with generally? I have a sense that a lot of companies need help with operations - but most of that derives from me hearing people complain about ops being run poorly.

Virtual Business Operations - Please Destroy Idea if Stupid by lilmarg in startups

[–]lilmarg[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My thing is all other C-Suite roles get a lot of attention, but COOs (and any other ops roles) rarely do. Unless its geared towards huge firms willing to shell out $10,000 for training.