Decreasing Labor Intensity

[scott]

In another thread I mentioned my continual efforts to reduce my labor intensity. I do not want to work harder. It's related to working smarter - but more than that.

It is understanding the work you do that provides you (and your client) with value. My best (and most time-profitable) example:

When I started as an insurance consultant I would review a client's insurance program and prepare a report that was sometimes 60 pages long. I soon realized that it was the 5 pages describing the problems identified that the client was interested in. The prior 55 pages was nice, but not valuable to the client.

I stopped providing the first 55 pages and nobody complained. In fact, my clients started telling me that they were glad I didn't prepare a "big, long report that they had to read."

My clients want meat and that's what I provide. Think of the time savings!

I am constantly working to reduce my time investment in projects and tasks. Most people live in a state of time-poverty. I can not create more hours. I can use the hours to provide me with more value.

[pita3333]

I completely agree with you on this one Scott. Key is to focus on what you do best, what your clients need from you and push out the rest!

In my last position I outsourced all of our IT to a provider that did most of the services remotely. The remote was the best as it meant that I did not have to sit around waiting for a tech to arrive, they were typically in my system in a matter of minutes and fixed what ever needed to be fixed. Additionally this IT vendor focused on the insurance agency industry and was able to give me real solutions for real situation based on what they did for their other customers. Shameless plug time, it was Anchor Consulting Group ( http://anchorcg.com/ )

We also had a problem with accounting, we needed someone to do accounting, but did not have the volume to justify hiring a full time experienced person (not to mention the lack of real estate to place such a person). Of course we could hire a part timer, but those were even harder to find. I ended up outsourcing to a vendor who was able to provide everything (and more) that we needed. Our rep was based in Seattle and I would scan/email her everything (statements, invoices etc) and she would let me know when it was all done. Plug time: Angela Adams Consulting ( http://angelaadamsconsulting.com/ )

By using these services I was able to free up my time, free up physical desk space (and hired another assistant account manager) and more importantly was given the peace of mind that everything was not just being done...but was being done correctly!

On the subject of your reports Scott. I am one of those "content" persons. I typically view the big long presentations as mostly "fluff" and ignore it all. Instead going to the meat (as you correctly put it) of the report. Heck to me the presentation of the info was/is secondary to the content. But that is just me...others love the fluff.

[scott]

I hit a cord with this one. More messages from forum members than on any other post. All positive! I usually hear more from dissenters <wink>.

Because of the interest I am offering a free teleseminar on time management issues to forum members.

Go Here for More Info or to Register

[mcasconi]

I am a newbie looking for opinions from those in the Insurance industry regarding "Outsourcing Accounting Services". My Forum-Opinion search returned a few results however that were posted between 2009-2011. Do you have a current opinion, feedback or experience with outsourcing accounting services with all the technical advancements since 2011?