New Resource for Jackson Area Small Businesses



Clarklake, Michigan - April, 2008. In the slowing Michigan economy, Jackson area small businesses now have another resource for reducing their operating costs. Jackson Administrative Outsourcing (JAO) is an administrative outsourcing firm, which has opened in Jackson County providing back-office services performed at their offsite location.



Jackson Administrative Outsourcing is one of hundreds emerging in the fairly new profession of virtual assistants (VA), across the country. While Oakland County supports at least 14 established VA’s, JAO is the only in Jackson County. VA’s have become a popular option as small businesses realize the benefits of outsourcing business administration to an experienced professional, instead of hiring full-time or temporary workers. Other emerging entrepreneurs are often unable to afford the expense of an employee at all. They find the flexibility of hiring a VA invaluable, because their time is free to focus on the core operations of their business.



Joe Hadzima with the MIT Sloan School of Management estimated the total cost of employee ownership is almost 2.7 times the actual salary. Outsourcing your back-office functions to a VA requires only a flat hourly or project rate: no taxes, no benefits, no insurance, no hidden costs. Professional virtual assistants, such as JAO, also offer productivity reporting and confidentiality agreements so business owners are protected and assured the highest level of service.



Jackson Administrative Outsourcing officially launched a new website this month, revealing services such as bookkeeping, project management, purchasing and procurement, material planning, word processing, and internet marketing services. Sarah Bernstein is the owner and founder of JAO, boasting 11 years in administrative and professional account management experience. To contact JAO, visit www.JacksonAO.com, or call [no phone numbers on the forum].



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Sarah Bernstein
Jackson Administrative Outsourcing
www.jacksonao.com

Sarah - this is FABULOUS! You've done a great job and I really like the way you incorporated what a benefit it is to use your services due to the slowing economy. That's a great way to sell your services to people who might be worried about the cost.

Great job on your first press release!

Yvone

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Yvone M. Kon
M.Y. Marketing & Design
Your Virtual Marketing Assistant - At Your Service!
www.mymarketingdesign.com

I said it when you posted the draft and I'll say it again - the use of facts and stats from an outside source really punches up the professionalism of this release. Great job and congratulations on getting it out there!!

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You girls are great. Thanks for taking the time to read through it, gives me the warm and fuzzies. haha

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Sarah Bernstein
Jackson Administrative Outsourcing
www.jacksonao.com

I thought my press release was forgotten about, tossed to the side. I had been watching the Thursday business section in our paper for the last few weeks and nothing. Until I received a phone call from Keith Roberts, the editor for this section. And..... I had an impromptu interview, and the article will be running this Thursday! Is it strange that I should be so excited?

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Sarah Bernstein
Jackson Administrative Outsourcing
www.jacksonao.com

Not at all - this is absolutely braggable! Congratulations!!!! Be sure to ask for reprint rights for your website and get a good quality PDF for your press kit.

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That's great Sarah. Its a reminder that press releases really do get seen out there!

Tess,
Is this a big deal to get reprint rights? Should I have something in writing or just an informal agreement via email for example? I hadn't thought about this before. As for a PDF, I had Planned to scan and print to PDF but do you think I should retype it and format as a reprint from the original source?

I'm not sure what the standard is for this?

Nottsf - I'm going to post a new question addressing that exact point in another topic

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Sarah Bernstein
Jackson Administrative Outsourcing
www.jacksonao.com

It never hurts to ask for reprint rights, with copyright law in mind, especially if you want to be able to use this in your press kit/promo materials or on your website. Generally it's not a big deal for local press but with the copyright issues getting more and more prevelant I'd suggest at least asking (they certainly will grant them as you're the subject!)

As to the PDF: if the quality is good you could create a PDF of the actual print article. Typing the content into it's own web page is an option as well - but in this case I'd be particularly certain of your rights to use the text because searches will turn your site up as well as theirs (this is how many people get 'caught' without those rights and end up having to take content down.)

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Or, perhaps I've misunderstood - are they just reprinting your original release or are they actually talking to you for a fresh article. If it's just your release then obviously you hold copyright....

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