A Greener Fix for Broken Grass

If it’s not broke don’t fix it. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. You typically hear these phrases when people make the decision to try something new and fail. Some are yearning for change and will try any and many things to make things better. Without failure innovation doesn’t exist. Just because it’s not broke doesn’t mean there’s not a better way.

One phrase that I do feel holds true is "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got." In these economic times I find myself in search of the greener grass, and trying to find new ways to improve what isn’t broken, and I think more people should be.

Many businesses have found themselves trying to figure out how to continue to run a profitable business in a recession, or what some are calling a depression. This is the biggest problem facing our current administration. How the hell do we get our economy back on track?

I don’t think the solution is dumping more money into the economy, or the government providing bailouts for big businesses. One way to start digging ourselves out of this hole is to start trimming the fat and looking for every way to save a dollar and spend it more wisely. So many times we don’t make changes because we think they aren’t significant enough or not worth our time to make that change, but the bottom line is every dollar adds up and when you make enough small changes you realize the big change that has come about, and that is more money in your bank account.

Here’s an example. I currently have two different accounts in two different banks. One bank I have used since I started a savings as a kid (bank #1), the other I opened when I started my business (bank #2). So all my business money was at bank #2 and when the economy was good I was earning a 5% return on the account balance. Now the economy is bad and I’m earning 1.3%. Well now bank #1 is offering 4% on your balance up to $30,000. I thought about it and first thought it’s too hard to change banks and not worth my time. But then I did the math and for my money just to sit in the bank I was passing up $810.00 of free money. For me that is like getting 6 months of free cell phone. I was going to pass up 6 months of free cell phone because it was going to take a little extra time.

I’m not saying our time doesn’t have value, because it does, but we also have to recognize the value of the dollar. How many of us have heard the phrase “a penny saved is a penny earned”? Now how many of us stop on the sidewalk to pick up that dropped penny? Not worth your time? I think in times like these we all need to stop and pick up those pennies, seize the opportunities to save a dollar and watch it add up. At Energy Force we tell our clients “It all adds up and we know it counts”.

Small Businesses and Employee Leasing

Most small businesses start with a big idea, a business plan and one maybe two people. As your business continues to grow you bring on another employee and continue to do so as growth and profits allow for a larger workforce. Most small businesses find it hard to compete with large corporations when trying to offer the “whole package”…benefits. Large corporations have a much larger employee base that make health insurance more affordable and are generating larger profit margins to pay for all those added benefits we as business owners don’t even get. What if there was a way to offer those benefits and not break the bank. That option may be utilizing Leased Employees.

What is a leased employee? Workers who are officially employed by a professional employer organization (PEO), which is responsible for overseeing all HR-related functions, but who actually perform all work for your company.

Employee leasing lets you add workers without adding administrative complexity. Employee leasing firms manage compliance with state and federal regulations, payroll, unemployment insurance, W-2 forms claims processing, and other paperwork. Some also offer health insurance, retirement plans, and employee assistance programs.

By combining the employees of several companies into one large pool, PEOs can also offer business owners better rates on health-care and workers' compensation coverage. The net effect can be significant savings of your time and money. According to Gartner Research “Reducing operating costs by 5% is equal to a 30% increase in sales.”

In these economic times more businesses are looking for ways to reduce cost without having to do layoffs. One way to accomplish this may be to turn your current employees into leased employees. This allows you to keep your current trained staff, but reduce your liabilities and expenses.

If you think leasing employees might be an option for you or have questions give me a call or send me an email, I’d be happy to answer your questions and tell you if leasing your employees from Energy Force is right for your business.

Some truths about Staffing Agencies

A lot of people have the idea that staffing agencies cost too much and don’t do anything that we (employers) couldn’t do ourselves. Coming from an HR background I too once had this thought. However, now being on the other side of the table I realize it doesn’t have to be that way.

Energy Force, LLC is a staffing and placement agency located in Edmond, OK. Not only do we provide staffing solutions we also provide payroll processing services for small to medium sized businesses.

Energy Force offers very competitive rates when compared to other staffing and payroll processing firms. I think it is important to put the price on your product and let people know up front how much it is going to cost for your services. So many firms quote you high and then come down, offer different rates depending on current business needs and the amount your willing to pay, and lastly they tack on fees. Don’t you hate those add on fees. Fees that weren’t quoted in the price, it’s like they’re an afterthought. Oh, I’m not charging you enough so let me add a fee. In my opinion raise your price if you have to add on all these fees. Of course that is their sales tactic, they might not get your business if they gave you the full amount up front. It’s like car buying, you negotiate a price with the salesman and then you go to the financing department and by the time you leave you’re paying several more thousand than what you negotiated.

Our direct hire services are offered at 15% of the hired persons negotiated salary, with a cap of $5,000. So it doesn’t matter if you are hiring for a $50,000/year position. We’re not going to charge you over $5,000.00. Some firms charge up to 25% depending on skill level. Our temporary or 90 day hiring is calculated at 158% the hourly rate. For example if you are paying someone $12.00/hour your rate is $18.96/hour. That’s it, that takes care of everything for you, we take care of payroll, workers comp, unemployment insurance, etc. Best of all once you have utilized that person through us for 90 days there are not any conversion fees to make them your employee. I’ve shopped my competitors and the same $12/hour person can cost you up to $21.00/hour. That’s 75% above the pay rate.

So, I’m here to tell you that yes some staffing firms can cost more, however if you shop around there are more affordable firms, Energy Force being one of them. And yes it may be true we don’t do anything you couldn't do on your own, but there are many factors that come in to play. One, you won’t get the pool of people to select from. Two, do you have the time or staff to wade through all the candidates that don’t fit the qualifications? Why not receive the cream of the crop and be able to feel comfortable with your selection? And three, do you know how expensive it is to advertise, and can you afford to do it often enough and in the right places to generate a decent selection pool?

There it is, all out on the table. Let Energy Force be your staffing source. We understand that it all adds up, and in today’s economy who couldn't afford to save a little. Call us, we'll help you out (405) 715-1616.

About Energy Force

Allow me to give you some background on Energy Force. We opened for business in January 2007 providing Landman Training classes and placement opportunities for those who successfully completed the course. In addition to these classes we offered staffing solutions for Professional and Administrative needs. We offer Direct Hire, 90 Day Hire, and Temporary services.

In 2008 I hired John Kuehn to help grow the staffing side of the business outside of the oil and gas industry. Since bringing him on board we have staffed for IT positions, financial positions, office personnel, retail, and painting positions. We are a full service staffing agency.

In 2009 we added Payroll processing to our serivces. After utilizing another serivce provider ourselves and spending thousands of dollars and receiving poor service we realized with the help of our CPA we could do our own payroll and provide it as a service to our clients and be more affordable than the competitors out there.

I strongly believe in providing quality service for a fair price. Because we are a locally owned and operated business we don't have all of the large overhead that some of the others carry and you'll see that our fee structure is very competitive with others within the industry. Being a business owner myself I understand the need for saving money, especially in today's economy. Who couldn't afford to save a little?

I live and work in the Edmond, OK community and it is important to me to see our community thrive even during these financially stressful economic times. Give us a call if you have staffing or payroll needs, we would love to help your business be successful. And because of the current economy there are a lot of good candidates out there looking for opportunities. Now is a perfect time to trade up and ensure your team is an "A" team. You don't have to hang on to poor performers simply because there is no one to hire. Now is the time to step up your game and invest in the best team you can build. Why settle when you don't have to?

Energy Force
(405) 715-1616
www.energyforce.biz

The Economy

I listened to an interview with Warren Buffet last night and he is truly an amazing and smart guy. He brought up some very valid points and one is that we are treating this economic depression all wrong. We have the Republicans pointing fingers and the Democrats worried about their earmarks on the bailout and no one is really working for the common good of the American people. These are our elected officials and they can't bring themselves together for the common good of our society. If we were to treat this economic depression like a war we would come together and lift ourselves out of it. During war time we don't sit around, point fingers at each other and wait for someone else to make a move. We rise to the occasion. It's about time we "rise to the occasion". All of us, every last American. We are all scared, fearful for losing our money and waiting on the government to bail us out. Guess what America...I don't think it is going to happen.

In my opinion one of two things is going to happen here. One, we will acknowledge this and step up and start doing what we always have done and that is consume, buy, spend, and live! Not to excess and not beyond our means, but we just can't lie down and wait on someone else to provide for us. By doing this we will eventually work ourselves out of this economic blunder.

Or we can do option two. We can sit, wait, get depressed, wait some more, get sick and tired of all the bad news and press we are hearing on how broke we are and how the economy continues to go in a downward spiral and then decide we have had enough. We then will shut off the damn TV because we simply can't take it anymore, mentally or physically and begin to start spending again, lending again, and opening up commerce to bring ourselves out of this terrible economy.

Unfortunately I'm afraid it will be the later of options that we do, and it will take more months to get ourselves back on track. If Americans would just come to the realization that we the people are what is going to bring us back on top we could work ourseleves out of this mess much faster. So let's stop pointing fingers, let's stop ear marking funds to support our own agendas and bring our economy back on track. I can say for me personally, I'm already sick and tired. Let's get to work.

Technology and Me

Blog = To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.

Most everyone my age knows this and has been doing it since Al Gore invented the Internet, but not me, this is my first time. I'm kind of excited about it too. I'm not a techy person, but within recent months I was introduced to Linked in, Facebook, and then Twitter. I'm on all three and really haven't discovered the advantages of Twitter yet, but I still tweet occasionally.

I have an addiction to Facebook, who would have thought online social networking could be so social? Everyone is on there, in fact some of my old high school teachers. It is so hard not to spend hours perusing through all your friends profiles to see what they are up to and who their friends are. It's almost like snooping through their lives without them knowing.

So I know Al Gore did not invent the Internet, nor did he really claim to (I checked it out on snopes.com), but I'm not so technological savvy. I can typically figure things out, but trying to fix a problem, well that's why I utilize Interworks for their IT services.

Blogging is a new frontier for me. I'm not sure how often, or even what I will blog about, but I'm excited to have a presence. It's my hope to use this as a platform to inform others of what I'm working on both at Energy Force, and the other projects that I'm working on. I have lots of interests and like to be involved in more that I have time for, but it keeps me busy.