Page 191 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

of trial and error, but getting the product out of my home office was incredibly
liberating. It felt like my child was finally old enough to go off to boarding
school or something.”

Interestingly, this perspective is not universally accepted. Several other topics
covered in the study resulted in a wave of similar responses. Many members of
our group spoke of bootstrapping and limited business plans in the same way,
and the connection between freedom and value was a key theme for almost
everyone. But there was one topic that resulted in a wave of divergent opinions.
That topic was employing contractors or “virtual assistants,” also known as
outsourcing. On this topic, input ranged from “love it” to “hate it” to “it’s
complicated.”

For every story like Jamila’s that told of partnership leading to freedom, I
heard a contrasting story from someone who was much happier deliberately
keeping the business to themselves, without outsourcing or hiring. Let’s look at a
few examples of the different camps.

CASE 1: PRO-OUTSOURCING

The camp in favor of outsourcing can be represented with the following
statements from business owners who came to view their release from tasks and
responsibility as a freeing decision:

Hiring employees was my biggest challenge as a business owner. I put it off
for years and turned away tens of thousands of dollars each year because I
was afraid to grow. Finally, I realized that I had hit a ceiling. I couldn’t
make any more money without bringing some members to my team. Since
changing the structure, I’m able to accept all of the orders I had had to turn
away. I’m no longer overbooked, and I can invest extra time in moving the
business forward in other aspects. Do I wish I could do it all myself? I used
to, because I don’t like to lead or be led. I don’t like to feel like the boss.
But I am so much happier now as part of a team. I’m the pilot of my
business, and my crew is there to make my work easier while fulfilling their
own goals as well. —Megan Hunt (read more about Megan in Chapter 3)

Our aim has always been to have zero employees in order to avoid the
expense, complex legal issues, and inflexibility. However, our warehousing
operation is completely contracted out—all stock receipts, storage,
processing, pick, pack, and dispatch is taken care of by our logistics
partners; we just send the orders. We use freelance sales agents, who are