Elance - the online marketplace that helps small businesses easily and efficiently hire freelance talent - sponsored a survey by Harris Interactive looking at personal service outsourcing.  The survey found the majority of Americans would gladly outsource a wide variety of tasks.  Key quote from the press release via Reuters:

"the majority of U.S. adults dread, and would happily outsource, a wide variety of
tasks (64 percent). More than 70 percent also said that hiring a virtual
assistant would give them more time or reduce stress in their lives.  Most
U.S. adults (75 percent) also believe that personal assistants are not just
for celebrities."

Small businesses are increasingly looking to outsourcing - both big tasks and little tasks.  Outsourcing is quicker, provides organizational flexible, and is often cheaper than hiring full time staff. Like many buisness trends, outsourcing started with large organizations but is now becoming a viable option for small businesses. 

For more on this see the Small Business Trends post on this topic.


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