Daily Archives: October 21, 2024

Business to Business: Vote Harris

Business to Business: Vote Harris

Donald Trump’s lack of mental acuity exacerbated by age is one reason this country must turn the page and elect Kamala Harris, writes Vance Opperman.

Dear Business Reader:
We are leaders in our communities and are responsible for jobs and careers. Normally, business and politics make for uncomfortable bedfellows, but this presidential election is an exception. This column would not have been written if President Biden were seeking reelection, nor is it a column urging business votes for other elective offices.
It became clear in the June 27 debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that President Biden was suffering cognitive decline, exactly as congressman Dean Phillips had warned (apologies due). The focus on that obvious decline took attention away from the cognitive decline of Donald Trump. With Biden bowing out of the race, Trump, if elected, would be the oldest person ever inaugurated.

Grow your business internationally with free expert advice at International Trade Week

Iseabail Mactaggart, Deputy Director at the Department for Business and Trade Scotland

Human Resourcefulness for the Smaller Business: Interview with Elizabeth Eiss

There are a host of recruitment platforms geared towards large enterprises. But what of the smaller business or one-person outfit looking to take on contract talent? Elizabeth Eiss of ResultsResourcing has the answer. 
It’s great to meet you, Ms. Eiss! Can you tell us a little about how your leadership journey began?
Thank you so much for including me in your leadership series, I’m delighted to share my journey. After years of leadership roles running large businesses in the insurance industry, I changed gears and joined my first start-up about two decades ago. I’d always felt that leadership was about positive influence and not power or authority, and joining the world of entrepreneurship was the place to ultimately apply those principles in a completely dynamic environment, where success was significantly impacted by solutions that met client needs and an engaging customer experience. All of this required leadership on multiple levels.
The inspiration for leadership in my current field evolved from consulting work I was doing about 15 years ago, after that first start-up failed. I would hire skilled, contract freelancers to augment my consulting project teams. I was good at finding excellent freelance talent and my clients noticed and began to ask me to find and vet freelancers for them. In the course of doing this work informally and working through the myriad of DIY job platforms, I found the proverbial gap: no human help for small businesses hiring contractors. I was sure I could design and build a talent platform that would handle the mechanics of recruiting but would insert access to skilled human recruiters who would help the client hire contractors successfully. And I did.
In 2015, I incorporated and began to build the business model and the technology platform. In January 2017, we launched ResultsResourcing, the freelance staffing platform that comes with your own recruiter. You get the heart and hands of real human beings in finding, interviewing, and vetting freelance choices, plus everything great about online job board platforms. We do the work for you. For a small fee, we match your skill needs with virtual independent professionals, saving you time, hassle, and opportunity cost, and lowering your contract hiring risk. Satisfaction guaranteed.
What inspired you to focus on “solopreneurs” and small to mid-sized businesses as your primary clients?
The mission to help small employers scale and succeed! The sheer numbers of businesses to serve is massive, plus the recognition that interesting innovation frankly begins in small organizations.
In the US, 99.9 per cent of all businesses are solopreneurs (non-employee firms) or small employers with fewer than 10 or so employees. This is probably true around the world as well. This group is highly fragmented and are forced to “DIY” in growing their businesses. Our goal is to help these businesses be more successful and scale their impact.
The mission to help small employers scale and succeed! The sheer numbers of businesses to serve is massive, plus the recognition that interesting innovation frankly begins in small organizations.
I experienced first hand the challenge of finding skilled, quality freelance talent using the well-known job platforms of today. I knew there was a better way that combined technology and human beings, resulting in a better experience and better results for both employers and freelancer workers.
The #1 hiring challenge for small businesses is finding quality, reliable talent. We are virtual talent matchmakers and enable businesses to scale quickly with skilled contractors. So, imagine you’re a speaker, consultant, merchant, manufacturer, or creative agency; you can hire a freelance virtual assistant, copy writer, customer service rep, and more, to get work done well. ResultsResourcing helps you outsource, so you can focus on what you do best!
Can you walk us through the initial steps you took to develop and launch ResultsResourcing?
I was inspired to create ResultsResourcing after hiring freelancers using the major online platforms myself. I noticed many job platforms were not designed for smaller companies, yet were used successfully by enterprise companies with skilled HR teams. While there is abundant talent online, the process is extremely laborious for small businesses and many don’t have hiring expertise. The result: inconsistent hiring decisions and the opportunity cost of time spent on DIY recruiting / hiring.
I was confident I could enable solopreneurs and small employers to hire quality freelancers cost-effectively. I designed and co-developed our proprietary platform and business model from the ground up with solopreneurs and small employers in mind. Leveraging technology makes it cost-effective but the special sauce is that we integrate human hearts and hands to curate talent, and humans actively support small-business employers and freelancers.
Our business has grown dramatically year over year – growth in clients served, freelancers engaged, and revenue generated as a result of our quality matching process. How did we do that? How are we doing that still? Three key ideas prevailed during all the ups and (hard) downs of building a business:

Scalable business framework: our business model and technology enable us to scale up.
Client-driven innovation: we constantly listen to our clients (and the freelancers who serve them) and evolve our offerings to meet what our target clients need to be successful.
Outsourcing work to trusted independent contractors: we ”drink our own champagne,” as the saying goes. We outsource work to appropriately skilled, performance-oriented, independent pros (and their teams) to scale operations as a hybrid workforce.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced then and how did you overcome them?
I’ll mention two of the many challenges any entrepreneur faces:
Probably the biggest challenge was educating the very market I wanted to serve about the gig economy and the opportunity to scale through utilizing talented virtual freelancers. When I started the company, the benefits of outsourcing to virtual freelance or contract workers were well known to large enterprises. It was an unknown or even novel idea to smaller businesses who were used to employee models and working with onsite resources.
Strategy one was networking. I sought out and engaged with intentional, professional B2B networking groups relevant to my target market. I deliberately joined networking groups because I knew I’d have a chance to hone “my elevator pitch”, and that other members would want to meet with me and provide useful feedback (and even try my service)! Groups can be “power partners” and I approach networking with a sense of curiosity and ample desire to serve and connect others.
I sought B2B groups that prioritized what is often cited as “givers’ gain.” I helped others. That fit me (vs “selling”), so I approached each organization from the mindset of how can I contribute to the group and to others, be it referring business, participating in the organization, providing new solutions to persistent problems. It’s often not a one-to-one payback but, over time, my giving resulted in gains of prospect referrals, speaking opportunities, and an ongoing forum to test out ideas as I iterated my business, beside the direct fulfillment that comes from giving. I developed educational materials, wrote articles, gave presentations, and did podcasts, which helped me evolve my ideas and laid the foundation for an active marketing and social media strategy.
The second was staffing. I knew I could not build a successful, scalable company that I envisioned by myself. So, I essentially built the company by practicing what I preached – building and scaling my own company with virtual freelance talent. I was a solopreneur myself. My challenge to myself was to take ResultsResourcing as far as I could using vetted, virtual contractors. Standing in my customers’ shoes every single day meant I built process and technology solutions to solve real-world problems that aligned with my outsourced business model.
How has ResultsResourcing evolved since its inception, and what have been some key milestones in its growth?
The business has constantly evolved following a cycle of vision, strategy, execution, reflection, and adjustment. Each phase has built on the prior one, while remaining focused on the steady objective of empowering the purpose of solopreneurs and small employers. Evolving is a strength (not a failure) as you adapt to realities and the dynamics of the market and life. Key milestones include:

Idea/vision (2014): ResultsResourcing, the freelance job platform that comes with your own recruiter. We do it for you.
Inception, ideation, building the business model and technology with various “manual” pilots along the way (2015-16)
First model – matching the client’s business needs of any kind with custom talent pools of individual virtual freelancers, with one freelancer awarded the work (2017-19)
COVID (2019-21) – a positive for us, as our target market was forced to become adept at remote work, or not survive. We could help
Second and current model – niche focus on the concept of virtual assistance as a professional service. Since every business has a backroom, our solutions increasingly focused on how to outsource that back-office, non-core work, so the business owner could focus the majority of time on the core work that delivers value to the market. The “on demand” VA teams we provide can fulfill a broad set of skills and tasks within one team. The teams are competent, reliable, nice, and available right now (stood up in 24-48 hours). This model is attractive and affordable and in demand generally for ongoing work, but we can also do projects. The teams are in the US and Canada, so they are also knowledgeable about cultural and business operations.

What are your short-term and long-term goals for the company?
We are currently focused on scaling our services and offering thought leadership to solopreneurs and small employers on how to leverage the freelance economy.
Over time, it may make sense for ResultsResourcing to become a part of a larger organization focused on talent curation and operational scaling, as I believe hybrid talent models will dominate in the future for both small and large organizations. Contract talent is one element of the talent spectrum, and perfectly suited when needs are non-full-time or for specialty skills.
How do you see the gig economy and freelance talent landscape evolving in the next five to 10 years, and how is your company preparing for these changes?
Many publications speak to workplace trends which point to a strong future for the “gig economy.” As one point of reference on LinkedIn recently, “According to a report from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the global gig economy generated approximately $204 billion in gross volume in 2018, with expectations of continued growth. Moreover, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that 55 million Americans participated in gig work in 2017, accounting for about 34 per cent of the U.S. workforce, a figure projected to rise to 43 per cent by 2023.”
We have been committed since day one to empowering the purpose of solopreneurs and small employer through effective, efficient utilization of skilled freelance workers. We build and deploy win-win solutions for both the buyers (business owners who hire) and sellers (contractors who provide services) in today’s fluid talent market.
As a female CEO, what unique perspectives or challenges have you encountered in your leadership journey?
Like many, I worked hard, won advancement opportunities, and performed as a doer and leader in the corporate world. Then I reached a professional pivot point; what was next wasn’t another version of the challenges I’d met or responsibilities I’d had. I realized I had been an “intrapreneur” in corporate. When a compelling start-up opportunity came my way, I took it, however hard it was to leave the structure and security of a large company. That first start-up ultimately did not succeed but I learned a lot and knew that entrepreneurship was the right path for me.
Embracing constraints and the fact that resources are always finite is another success factor. Constraints are everyone’s everyday reality, whether it’s limited funding, experience, networks, or changing market dynamics.
In retrospect, what enabled me to succeed and transition was being curious, open-minded, and welcoming of new ideas. I’d always been willing to take risk, balanced by thoughtful planning and gaming out the scenarios or options. I’m also big on communication and collaboration, not only by inviting alternative views but also in the implementation of new ideas through involvement of others. I’m happy to strategize but always get down to ground level and get my hands dirty, too.
Embracing constraints and the fact that resources are always finite is another success factor. Constraints are everyone’s everyday reality, whether it’s limited funding, experience, networks, or changing market dynamics.
I learned to love constraints and how they caused me to think, “How can I … ?” To think resourcefully, to look for workarounds or a different way to solve a problem, or to collaborate. Since solving often took time, I also learned to give myself time and space to create new ways to accomplish my objectives. Some of my best, really scalable ideas emerged from constraints and an open mind about “How can I … ?” and became, “Of course, why didn’t I think of that way before?”
It also taught me to pursue big ideas, but to think in small, incremental steps. Not only is this more manageable from an execution standpoint but, in the time it takes to create and launch something meaningful, the world changes in ways you can’t always anticipate (hello, pandemic) and you never have perfect information nor understanding. Be nimble, think in scale, iterate.
What strategies or practices have you found most effective in empowering and supporting other women in leadership roles?
Women helping women: sharing knowledge and experience, so other women develop the skills and tools to be successful in the rough-and-tumble world we live in.
And finally, how do you define success?
Being purpose-driven, being grounded in some larger, sustainable idea of service. This helps when times are tough, so you never quit on the ideas in which you believe. As the river guide said, “When in doubt, keep paddling.”
I have confidence in my paddling because of my purpose, even when the river takes me to places I didn’t expect. I’m open to that and how it can enhance my purpose.
Being of service is essential to me, personally, and the foundation of my company’s mission is to serve others. Our purpose is to make productive matches between businesses and freelancers. As we see their needs shift, our tactics shift, but we remain consistent in our purpose.

Executive Profile

Elizabeth Eiss is a well-known speaker on entrepreneurial growth and a sought-after expert on the future of work, business performance, and culture, on-demand talent/virtual staffing trends, as well as leadership transformation from intrapreneur to entrepreneur. After decades of running Fortune 500 business operations, she launched ResultsResourcing, a virtual fractional talent platform, and service to help solopreneurs and small business owners find the resources they need to grow and scale.

‘Business will be severely impacted’: Hong Kong flower market concern group speaks out against redevelopment

Around 20 local residents and florists from Hong Kong’s century-old Flower Market district have joined forces to advocate against a controversial redevelopment project of the area.Ada Lee, a member of the concern group who has lived in the neighbourhood since 1999, told HKFP last Friday that many residents and florists opposed the proposed redevelopment, which will see more than 200 trees uprooted, 33 flower shops affected, and the construction of new large-scale shopping malls and residential high-rises.Around 20 residents and florists form a concern group to speak up against the redevelopment scheme. Ada Lee (middle), a member of the concern group, hosts a media tour on October 18, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. A vibrant commercial community, the flower market boasts more than 120 ground-floor flower stores and spans four streets between Prince Edward and East Mong Kok, with most buildings less than 15 stories high. @media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 100px;}}@media ( min-width: 320px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 100px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}@media ( min-width: 780px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 100px;}}
In March, statutory body the Urban Renewal Authority announced plans to redevelop the district. It proposed the demolition of 22 low-rise buildings accommodating 35 ground-level and 12 upper-level shops, and the acquisition of significant public land nearby to build high-rise residential buildings, shopping malls and a waterway park. Despite concerns among the local community, the Town Planning Board in mid-August published the redevelopment plan for public inspection. Over the course of a two-month period that ends on Wednesday, Hongkongers were invited to give feedback on the proposal.Some members of the flower market concern group meets the press on October 18, 20224. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. “We’re not opposing to the government. The URA is not part of the government, right? And now the Town Planning Board has called on the public to provide opinions,” Lee said in Cantonese as she led a group of reporters around the flower market last Friday, visiting residents and merchants.Since the URA introduced the redevelopment plan, residents and business owners who used to be strangers started gathering to discuss what they could do to save the community, Lee added.A retiree in her 60s, Lee lives with her family in a 76-year-old residential building located on Flower Market Road. To her surprise, the redevelopment plan did not propose to redevelop or revitalise the building, which is reportedly the oldest in the district.Public land in Hong Kong’s Flower Market. According to the Urban Renewal Authority’s development scheme, the land will be acquired to build a waterway park, two high-rise residential buildings, a high-rise commercial building and a multi-purpose complex. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Instead, it plans to acquire a large swath of public land across from Flower Market Road to build a shopping mall and high-rise.“Shouldn’t a redevelopment scheme aim to help people living in old apartments and revitalising old buildings? Our apartment has no lift and only one staircase to escape fire,” Lee said.While Lee was sharing her concerns, a fan of the flower market passed by. Brian, a retiree, who preferred to speak under a pseudonym, said he loved plants and therefore visited the market at least once a week.People shop in Hong Kong’s flower market in April 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. “It’s so pretty here. What’s the redevelopment for? It will be a pity to redevelop the district. But there’s no way out. [The redevelopment] is for the sake of making money,” Brian said in Cantonese. “It’s a pity that some florists will have to relocate. Where can they go? Consumers will lose out, too.”Hard to survive redevelopmentBowie, a manger of a flower shop located at the junction of Sai Yee Street and Prince Edward Road West, told HKFP that the shop is one that would be acquired by the URA.Two 38-storey residential blocks are planned to replace the old buildings and dozens of flower stores along Sai Yee Street. The lowest five floors to the buildings would house a five-storey shopping mall.A tour group visits Hong Kong’s Flower Market, on April 11, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.“No one has told us where will go [after the redevelopment]. This area serves as an entrance to the flower market… so, why do the authorities want to redevelop this particular site?” Bowie said in Cantonese, urging the URA to allow affected shops to return to the same site after redevelopment.The URA told HKFP in May that it would consider “giving priority” to the florists affected by the redevelopment to move into the new retail units after the completion of the scheme.Despite not being among those forced to relocate, shops allowed to stay expressed no fewer concerns. Leung King Fai, who owns a flower shop on Flower Market Road, said he expected business would fall by at least 40 per cent if the whole district was turned into a large construction site.Leung King Fai (middle), a flower merchant who runs a business in the flower market since 1995, talks about his concern of the redevelopment scheme on October 18, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. “Our business will be severely impacted. Such a large redevelopment project would take at least 10 years. How can we survive the redevelopment?” Leung said in Cantonese. He employs around 10, all of whom are worried about being laid off.While the URA said the scheme would facilitate the future development of the market, “shaping it as a vibrant landmark,” Leung, who has been running a floristry business in the neighbourhood since 1995, did not agree.

“The flower market will have been destroyed after redevelopment. How can we make a better business?”Redevelopment model reconsideredChan Kim-ching, a researcher with the development policy think tank Liber Research Community, told HKFP last Friday the URA should reconsider the redevelopment of the flower market district, saying it revealed a new model of taking public land for commercial development while neglecting those living in old apartments.Old residential buildings located in the Flower Market Road which are not to be redeveloped by URA. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Local resident Lee said the concern group had urged the URA to amend its plan, suggesting it focused on renewing old residential buildings that posed safety risks thus avoiding any negative impact on the vibrant commercial community that has been flourishing for years.Following the two-month period of public inspection, the Town Planning Board will later publish all representations for public comment for a three-week period. Meetings may be also be held with those who submitted representations.A fan of flower market says it is a pity to redevelop the flower market on October 18, 2024. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Ada said the concern group had been working to organise more residents and florists to submit their opinions to the Town Planning Board, and that it was looking forwards to expressing their opinions further in a meeting with the board.Support HKFP  |  Policies & Ethics  |  Error/typo?  |  Contact Us  |  Newsletter  | Transparency & Annual Report | AppsHelp safeguard press freedom & keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team