I often hear in many different different business, the idea of building a team versus hiring a professional services provider and a trusted partner.

A few things to keep in mind:

1. Take into account the true cost of building a team.

In the world of small business ownership, every decision can have a significant impact on your success and bottom line.

One critical decision that often arises is whether to hire an employee or partner with professional services for various business needs. Let’s disect the scenario and look at both options.

Let’s start by considering the traditional route—hiring an employee. For many small to medium-sized businesses, hiring staff may seem like the natural progression to handle tasks like marketing, payroll, human resources, accounting, bookkeeping, and more.

Suppose you decide to hire a marketing manager with 2-3 years of experience. In December 2023, the average starting salary for such a position in Ontario is around $42,000 annually. This amount, however, is just the beginning of your financial commitment.

Recruiting the right employee can be a time-consuming and costly process. On average, it takes about 42 days to find the ideal candidate. During this period, resources are allocated to the recruitment process, adding up to approximately $4,129.

After hiring, the employee’s productivity typically remains low during the initial months. This period of onboarding and ramp-up can be conservatively estimated at one additional month’s salary, which is another $3,500.

Your employee will likely require paid time off, which typically includes two weeks of vacation and two weeks of sick leave. This adds an extra $3,500 to your yearly expenses.

Employers are responsible for payroll taxes, employee benefits, and contributions to health spending accounts (HSAs). Factoring these in, you’re looking at an additional $12,000 annually.

To equip your employee for success, you’ll need various software tools, such as CRM systems, project management tools, and design software. A conservative estimate for these expenses is $1,000 per month or $12,000 per year.

Summing up all these costs, the true cost of hiring one employee in this scenario comes to a staggering $84,649 annually, nearly double the initial salary.

Now, let’s shift our focus to the alternative—partnering with professional services. Instead of hiring an employee, you can collaborate with trusted partners who specialize in areas like marketing, payroll, human resources, accounting, bookkeeping, and more.

One significant advantage of partnering with professional services is cost predictability. You can typically negotiate a retainer fee, which remains consistent throughout the partnership, making it easier to budget and plan for your business expenses.

Professional service providers often have years of experience and a team of specialists at their disposal. They bring industry-specific knowledge, best practices, and a track record of success to your business.

When you work with professionals, there’s no need for an onboarding or ramp-up period. They’re ready to hit the ground running from day one, delivering immediate value to your business.

Partnering with professional services eliminates the need to worry about payroll taxes, benefits, or employee-related costs. You pay a fixed fee for their expertise, and they handle the rest.

By outsourcing non-core functions to professionals, you can focus on what you do best—growing your business and serving your clients.

In conclusion, while hiring an employee may seem like the obvious choice for small businesses, it’s essential to consider the hidden costs and complexities involved. Partnering with professional services offers cost predictability, expertise, and a streamlined approach to meeting your business needs.

The decision ultimately comes down to whether you want to take on the responsibilities and costs associated with hiring, or if you’d prefer to leverage the skills and experience of trusted professionals. In many cases, the latter proves to be the more efficient and cost-effective solution for small to medium-sized businesses, but that’s not always the case. There are no silver bullets.

When evaluating the true cost of hiring versus partnering, it’s clear that the value of professional services can far outweigh the expenses of hiring and maintaining an employee.

As small business owners and entrepreneurs, we should always be building a network of trusted advisors and service providers to help us navigate the challenges of growing our businesses.

The post The True Cost of Hiring vs. Partnering with Professional Services for Small Businesses first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

What’s the difference between a Partner and a Service Provider as it applies to professional services? Specifically Digital Marketing or Software Development?

There are some major differences IMHO…let’s dive into it.

Partners are part of the process, involved in the conversations as they are developed. Partners are on the team and involved in the development of strategy. Pro tip: when you engage a partner, engage them in your desired outcome not in the task at hand. If you’ve got a good partner, then they’ll use their experience to work with you to achieve that outcome.

Service Providers are not distinctly part of the process. They’re valuable in their own way, but they are not strategic. Service providers provide a specific task, complete that task and move on to their next project.

Each type of professional service; whether it’s a partner or a service provider fulfills a specific need and one is only superior to the other within the context of the bigger picture.

The danger? In asking for a partner when in fact you really want a service provider. That can get messy for both sides of the equation.

Enjoy this “sort of” Transcript.

Introduction: In today’s episode of The Drive, Dan Nedelko dives into a crucial distinction that often gets overlooked in the business world: the difference between a partner and a service provider. He emphasizes the importance of choosing the right term because words matter, especially when it comes to defining the relationships within your service-based business.

Defining Partners and Service Providers: Dan starts by clarifying that the definitions of a partner and a service provider are worlds apart. Service providers are there to fulfill specific requests, complete tasks, and move on. On the other hand, partners engage in a more profound relationship, actively participating in the process, and sharing their expertise and experiences.

Digital Marketing: Dan delves into the realm of digital marketing and explains that distinguishing between a partner and a service provider is crucial. Partners should be deeply involved in the client’s internal dialog, helping them understand the intricacies of their strategies. While service providers fulfill tasks efficiently, they may not contribute to strategic discussions.

Software Development: Shifting gears to software development, Dan points out that the choice between a partner and a service provider depends on the client’s technical infrastructure and needs. If you need specialized technical skills, a service provider might be suitable. However, if you seek a comprehensive understanding of how technology aligns with your business goals, a software partner with a broader experience is essential.

The Power of Partnership: Dan underscores the value of partnerships, where both parties work collaboratively to achieve desired outcomes. Partners bring a wealth of experience and want to see your business succeed. When the partnership is genuine, it becomes a powerful force for growth.

Conclusion: In closing, Dan urges listeners not to confuse partners with service providers and warns against misusing the term “partner” when seeking specific services. He emphasizes that choosing the right word is essential, as it sets the tone for the relationship.

Final Thoughts: In the best-case scenario, a partnership is a true collaboration, while a service provider fulfills a specific task. As you navigate the world of business relationships, make sure you choose the right partner or service provider based on your unique needs and goals.

Outro: That’s it for today’s podcast. We hope you found this episode enlightening. Stay safe out there, and remember, words matter in defining your business relationships.

The post Differences Between Partners and Service Providers first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

Welcome back to The Drive with me, Dan Nedelko. Join me to learn about Business and Growth for Small Business. It’s practical, snackable, pragmatic and hopefully helpful.

In this welcome back episode I’m explaining a bit about my perspective on Business and what value I can convey to you in the rejuventated verion of The Drive.

Join me and I’ll be talking about:

1. Business – running a small business as an Entrepreneur.

Thanks for being here. Remember: you know more than you realize.

The post The Drive – Business and Growth with Dan Nedelko first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

As we wrap 2016, it’s a good time to look back and reflect on the fact that there have been more updates in the past year in terms of SEO, Google, Facebook, Twitter than the past 3 years combined, all which affect how we market and do business on the internet.

In today’s Marketing Drive we’re not talking about the 2017 trends but rather the 2016 changes and how that will affect how we think about our activity in the digital marketing industry. These are my personal observations from my day to day work and client work that span these different digital marketing platforms.

2016 has been a great year for Honeypot Marketing, thanks to everyone for subscribing to The Marketing Drive YouTube channel and podcast. Happy New Year!

In The Marketing Drive Episode 22 we’re talking about:

Video Transcription

Welcome to the marketing drive. I’m Dan Nedelko and it is the end of the year. On today’s marketing drive I wanted to talk a little bit about, not trends because I don’t like the word trends. But for 2016 especially, in the world of digital marketing, there has been full of changes this particular year from my observations.

Working day to day in digital marketing on client work, our own projects, using all of the different channels in the platforms that we use, this year has seen some really substantial changes. Now you can probably look back every single year and say the same thing but I feel that this year there was a huge maturity that happened on a lot of social media platform.

1.Google

Starting with the big ‘G’, Google introduced the caffeine platform. I’m probably going to miss a couple of these milestones, such as Penguin 3 and Penguin 4, but I think how I’m going to hit on the generalities of it. So we saw the caffeine platform which really underpins Google’s infrastructure roll-out and that really put an end to your “google update”. Since that happens now in almost real time, those rankings move around.

There are thousands of thousands of PageRank algorithm updates that happen. They’ve said over a thousand, so I actually would trust that would be the case given the size and scale of the search engine itself, and the number of people working on it and the platform is running on.

What I would say is very effectively and I have been involved with a number of projects who you know we’re living in a state of denial about what penguin means? Why is content important? Why SEO and just site development best practices are extremely important? And they got penalized for it. A lot of old-world thinking about what content means? Is content important for the user? Which it absolutely is and the holistic approach of SEO which I think is often forgotten.

So that’s google, it’s going to be mobile – mobile first, mobile app development, search optimization in app. So iTunes Store, Google Play, taking into account that google now has google pixel which is going to be a probably a rising kind of star for google, but again just on the mobile front is really tailoring a mobile experience primarily rather than secondarily, and moving into the app development space, and really understanding when you design pages specifically on your site whether they’re lead acquisition pages or information pages or anchor pages, the device is important for the layout of your content and how people interact with that.

Obviously, screen size is a massive issue. Smaller screen sizes should have content tailored for people and understanding how people use devices. When you’re mobile you’re typically on-the-go. You’re not going to read a five-page document right. You may watch a video it needs to be scan-able all of those types of things.

2. Facebook

3. Twitter

4. Snapchat

Continue to double down on the vertical video world and continue to expand to the millennial crowd. I think we are going to see a lot more brands and brand engaging stories and I’m hoping Snap will work n their distribution model for smaller and medium size businesses to make it worth it for them in interact there.You’re also going to see Snapchat introduces features that will allow the brand to interact and schedule content on snap channels would be a very welcome thing.

5. Bing and Yahoo 

I’m not entirely sure. Your going to see Bing with the maturity of Windows 10 and Xbox

In summary:

Again, no trends! These are my observations that I think you will see happen in 2017 in a real tactile way. Happy New Year and happy 2017. It’s been a fascinating and great year at Honeypot Marketing. You’re going to see the introduction to the Knows Network and I’m super excited about that. We are going to start doubling down on our own projects and community.

Subscribe to The Marketing Drive YouTube channel

I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road.

Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com

The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully.

Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com

Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns.

Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com

How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

The post The 2016 Digital Marketing Recap: The Marketing Drive ep22 first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

AdWords is the world’s most advanced and largest network for publishers and an extremely powerful demand-side platform (DSP). If you’re a digital marketing professional managing advertising inventory then this will be a great use of 8 minutes of your day!

In today’s Marketing Drive we’re talking about AdWords Quality Score, why it’s important for all marketers from the highest executive levels to the most junior intern to understand the importance of this score.

Your Finance team and your year-end budget actuals versis forecasts will thank you for being thoughtful about your digital marketing messaging quality.

In The Marketing Drive Episode 20 we’re talking about:

Subscribe to The Marketing Drive YouTube channel

I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road.

Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com

The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully.

Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com

Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns.

Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com

How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

The post AdWords Quality Score Talk : The Marketing Drive ep 20 first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

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Setting your digital marketing campaigns into one of three main types will help you maintain your sanity and provide clear goal posts for your team.

Lead generation is a nurturing and growth process, it does not burn resources. Conversion Campaigns can be very effective when care is taken to understand your true Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). Retention Campaigns can catapult your business into the stratosphere.

In today’s Marketing Drive we’re talking about why I do The Marketing Drive without expectation of reward, defining the type of campaign you are launching before it is launched and ensuring it fits into your revenue allocation and targeting model.

In The Marketing Drive Episode 19 we’re talking about:

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road.

Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com

The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully.

Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com

Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns.

Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com

How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

The post Why You Need To Classify Your Digital Marketing Campaigns : The Marketing Drive ep 19 first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

Managing PPC campaigns on Google AdWords or Bing networks and now Facebook and Twitter is complex. Set it and forget it isn’t going to work in 2016, you’ll burn your budget and reduce your acquisition efforts.

In today’s Marketing Drive we’re talking about 10 AdWords PPC Optimizations we can do right now, today to optimize our budgets and increase conversions.

Here’s what you’re going to get in episode 18 of The Marketing Drive:

Let’s talk marketing on the drive into the office. I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road.

Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com

The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully.

Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com

Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns.

Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com

How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

In today’s episode I’m talking about sticking to a Marketing Playbook, executing “on point” in an agile manner and a little bit about what I’m going to be talking about in the Drive every day!

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

The post Practical PPC and AdWords Optimizations : The Marketing Drive ep 18 first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

Often marketing strategies and tactics are confused.

Here are some tips that will help you to lay out Marketing strategies clearly, assigning tactics to them, then completing the circle by integrating that process into your reporting cycle.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel

In The Marketing Drive Episode 16 we’re talking about:

I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road.

Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com

The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully.

Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com

Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns.

Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com

How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

The post Mapping Marketing Strategies & Tactics : The Marketing Drive ep 17 first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

Facebook has been on a tear recently, they’re definitely on track to “eat the world”. I’ve found that Facebook also sports one of the highest conversion rates of all channels when you’ve developed an engagement plan (a.k.a defined funnel and plan).

See, what Facebook has done is created an ecosystem of extremely high engagement. When we’re on Facebook, we’re really engaging: talking to friends, business associates, family and more. It doesn’t stop there, with the advanced features Facebook keeps rolling out, we can really ramp up our activities, engage with our audience and grow our audience through great customer experiences.

On top of all of that, Facebook is also accelerating their product roll out schedule. One of Facebook’s strengths has always been their pace of development and features. This year I’m seeing Advertising support and intelligence tools allow us to communicate more intelligently and relevantly than ever before.

Facebook Video and Live are both priorities for Facebook, they’ve in fact been the ones to say this is their focus throughout 2016. Facebook Live is already changing the marketing and communications landscape. Facebook wasn’t first, but they’ve got the users and distribution. But there’s one quiet Facebook feature that isn’t being talked about and it’s the most powerful feature for marketers looking to really engage with their audience.

In The Marketing Drive Episode 16 we’re talking about:

I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road.

Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com

The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully.

Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com

Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns.

Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com

How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

The post Facebook Groups The Feature No One Really Talks About : The Marketing Drive ep 16 first appeared on Dan Nedelko.

I’ll be covering the latest and greatest marketing, business and start-up tips every day from the road.

Agency Life: http://dnedprod.wpengine.com

The ups, the downs of agency life. How to build your agency successfully.

Marketing Execution: http://honeypotmarketing.com

Every day we’re launching, reviewing and optimizing marketing campaigns.

Marketing and Business: http://marketerknows.com

How to survive as an effective marketer without losing your sanity. Marketer Knows is a community for marketers who are in the trenches each and every day.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

The post Sweet Little Marketing Lies : The Marketing Drive ep 15 first appeared on Dan Nedelko.