You can send your thank-you note directly to Sarah Leah Gootnick. She is the one who made it possible for your small business to afford secretaries who may be better educated than the people they assist, and for less money than you can get local help. In the process, she is changing the way we think of outsourcing. In fact, throw away your pre-conceived notions of outsourcing, because Sarah Leah is re-writing the rule book on this one, and her results speak for themselves.
In January 2008, Sarah Leah founded Secretary In Israel LLC, a service that matches US born, raised and educated professionals who have moved to Israel to serve as secretaries for US small businesses real-time. The business model overcomes common concerns raised about outsourcing. You can outsource your secretarial and administrative needs to a US citizen who pays US taxes but lives in another country with a different economy, and therefore, will work for less.
In the days preceding my interview with Sarah, unbeknownst to her, I had encountered several negative experiences with other overseas outsourcing set ups. I had been directly or indirectly involved in contacting someone only to be transferred to an offshore call center or support center staffed by someone who spoke terrible English or didn’t even work on Central Daylight Time. I’m no genius but it seems to me that if you are going to support a population, you should probably be awake when they are and speak their language. So when I first heard the comment, “We use secretaries in Israel to support small business secretarial needs in the US,” I was less than optimistic. But the more I learned and the more I talked with Sarah Leah, the more I saw the huge differences that really make Secretary In Israel LLC a must-know-about resource for every small business.
Meet Your New Secretary
Not everyone who comes out of a Tier 1 university sets their top priorities in the commercial realm. Many of the secretaries were educated at schools like Harvard, UC Berkeley and Boston College. Some leave the US after high school and attend university in Israel. The two things thing they all have in common is the desire to live in Israel for non-commercial reasons and the need to make money while they are there. Secretary In Israel LLC is connected to the community of women who have chosen for any number of reasons to move to Israel after having been born, raised and educated in the US. Sarah Leah says most make the choice because of their pursuit of spirituality, religious studies or cultural/political connections to Israel. The job market and pay scale in Israel are far from being on par with the US, so underemployment can be extreme. This creates a population of well-educated professionals who possess attributes very desirable to US employers. (Pictured above: Tal Shamberg, a Virtual Assistant at Secretary In Israel LLC. Tal originally hails from Richmond, Virginia and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bar Ilan University in Israel.)
Sarah Leah reports these people have chosen a lifestyle and paradigm that allows them to find fulfillment and enthusiasm in their secretarial role. Moreover, they are organized, diligent and hard-working, not to mention very grateful for the opportunity to make more money working from their home than they could ever make in the traditional Israeli economy. The secretaries realize valuable benefits, such as lower stress, lack of commute to work and the ability to balance home schedules.
Secretary In Israel LLC provides a US phone number to clients so that incoming calls can be answered by the secretaries in Israel. Secretaries speak English as a first language and are available on your time zone. Alternatively, you can work out arrangements that allow you to send work at the end of your day to be done while you sleep. The completed work is waiting for you in your Inbox when you awake.
There is a five-hour per week minimum and the rest is determined by your needs. The cost varies by what you need and the experience level of the secretary, but Sarah Leah says you can get a seasoned secretary with ten to fifteen years experience for about the same or less than the hourly cost of what a first-time inexperienced secretary in the US costs. You get the benefits of fractional commitment and no additional overhead issues of space or benefits to pay.
How It Started
Sarah Leah started the business after helping a friend on the West Coast solve a persistent personnel problem by matching him with someone she knew in Israel who wanted to do secretarial work. The employer was a small business owner working long hours and exasperated by the misfires he had experienced in training and turn-over demands associated with getting that first help hired and smoothly working. When it worked so well and the business owner was ecstatic, Sarah Leah began to see the possibility of scaling up a business model.
What I Like
Anyone could have done this. There is no special technology here - it is about Sarah Leah’s passion, meeting mutual needs and execution.
Everyone wins. Small businesses win big with great help for lower cost than conventional alternatives. The secretaries win because they get to balance home, family and better economic opportunity. The US wins because these are American citizens who pay US taxes.
It solves a problem and overcomes obstacles traditionally associated with the solution. Small businesses need help long before they can afford traditional solutions. This makes a solution available sooner and doesn’t create the unwanted side effects commonly associated with outsourcing plans, namely language, quality and time-availability issues.
Sarah Leah is an extremely positive and energetic person. Emotional intelligence determines outcomes more than academic credentials, and her demeanor is an asset all on its own.
Sarah Leah is a giver. As our interview drew to a close, Sarah Leah was complimentary, gracious and wanted to know how she could help me with introductions to innovators she knows. Within five minutes of concluding our interview she had emailed a virtual introduction introducing me to a colleague who may be of interest to our blog. Execution. Follow-Through. Giving. My experience is that people with that natural paradigm are much more likely to succeed consistently than those consumed with their own agenda. If she handles her clients the way she treated me in our interview - and I believe she does - she will grow a loyal client base.
This business model is a great differentiator that can support a strong acquisition value later. Staffing companies of various models can be lucrative to own and even more lucrative to sell in a liquidity event. This business is less than one year old, so it is too early to discuss the valuation or timing of a sale. But the foundation she is building suggests this business will be an attractive asset for buyers as it matures.
Sarah Leah’s Advice For Other Innovators
1. Don’t take shortcuts on things that attorneys and accountants should help you set up. Do it right from the beginning. She did and says it has really paid dividends.
2. Keep your costs down through bartering with colleagues and friends. If you have friends who have expertise in website development, graphics, printing, etc., then leverage their abilities to keep your costs under control.
3. Keep showing up every day and keep pushing. The long hours can be exhausting. It will take more time and money than you expect, so be patient and just keep showing up. Eventually, you will get there.
4. Surround yourself with positive people who support your goals and who can provide you with encouragement, advice and help you manage expectations.
What Innovativeeconomy.com Readers Can Do For Secretary In Israel LLC
Sarah Leah offers the “Ultimate Small Business Owner’s Resource Guide” for $24.95 on her website, http://www.secretaryinisrael.com. It is free to those who sign up for her service, and risk-free for 30 days to everyone else. Check into the service if you need administrative help. If you don’t need help now, spread the word to those you know who may. It’s a new business and she has a great deal of available capacity in her personnel pool.
Conclusion
Keep an eye on Secretary In Israel LLC and Sarah Leah Gootnick. This is her first entrepreneurial venture but I don’t think it will be her last, and along the way she is going to make a lot of people happy. You may be one of them!
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