Looking to lower some of your cost? Look to outsourcing.

Now outsourcing has gotten a bad rap over the last couple of years but for a small business owner it could make lots of sense. Instead of hiring a full time secretary you can have an independent contractor do that kind of work for you.

The Clerical Solution-Virtual Assistant Blog has an entry called A Strategic Solution for business that discusses outsourcing.

However, I would recommend you only outsource in areas that your customers cannot see. I would not recommend you outsource anything that could directly affect your customer's experience with your business.

This is the mistake many technology companies are making today. They will outsource important functions like customer service to outside organizations and in the long run the customer gets worse customer service and the company is directly affected.

Outsourcing can help your bottom line, just insure that you are outsourcing in the right areas that will not hurt your company in the long run.