The Genesis of ClearDesk

In 2020, we started a company in San Diego, CA. Over the next 5 years, we grew to 35 million in annual revenue and 130 employees. About 77% of our staff was admin and customer service. That's about 100 employees.

Each admin/customer service employee earned: $39,000/yr (incl. payroll taxes, office space, etc.)

Total payroll costs annually: $3,900,000. Or $325,000 per month.

Most of their work comprised of making phone calls and following up on orders. Work that could be done from anywhere. Additionally, due to the number of employees we had, we then had to hire a Director of Human Resources.

Total Cost for Director of HR: ~$127,000 per year

Then we incurred additional hiring costs, firing costs, unemployment, paid time off, sick days, office politics, etc. Okay, I'm making it seem a bit exaggerated, but all these things are real; especially as you're growing a business.

Here's what's not exaggerated. As we approached our fifth year in business, we lost everything and had to close our doors. We ran a great company, but like many businesses, our margins thinned over time as the business became commoditized.

One of the top three reasons we had to close our doors: excessive payroll costs and the inability to scale up or down quickly enough.

Years passed and as we built new businesses and educated ourselves, we were introduced to outsourcing a few years ago. It changed our lives for all of the reasons I mentioned above. I started to reflect and realized the incredible mistakes I had made in my prior businesses. That thought never left me.

Meet ClearDesk.

We wanted to share this opportunity with the small business world. While outsourcing, remote assistants, virtual assistants, or whatever you want to call, it is not a new concept, very few people leverage it.

If we go back to the cost of the 100 employees above, what would they cost if we were to outsource. The quick answer, less than half the cost; and that's for a fully managed and trained team that we would have been able to scale up or down as easily as sending an email.

Total cost of 100 outsourced employees: ~$150,000 per month.

While there's a lot more to share, we hope this story gets you excited about learning more about how we can help you and why we started this company.

With ClearDesk, we hope to provide you clear results and clear savings!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why did ClearDesk's founders start the company?

A: ClearDesk was founded after its founders experienced firsthand how excessive payroll costs contributed to the closure of their previous San Diego-based business. After discovering outsourcing in subsequent ventures, they recognized how dramatically it could reduce staffing costs and wanted to make that opportunity accessible to small businesses.

Q: How much did excessive payroll costs actually impact the founders' previous business?

A: At their prior company, roughly 100 admin and customer service employees cost approximately $3.9 million per year — or $325,000 per month — when factoring in payroll taxes and office space. This, combined with additional costs like a Director of HR at $127,000 annually and expenses tied to hiring, firing, and turnover, was cited as one of the top three reasons the business ultimately had to close.

Q: How much can a business save by outsourcing instead of hiring in-house staff?

A: According to ClearDesk's own experience, outsourcing 100 employees would cost approximately $150,000 per month, compared to $325,000 per month for the equivalent in-house team — less than half the cost. That outsourced team would also be fully managed and trained, with the added flexibility to scale up or down quickly.

Q: What types of tasks are best suited for outsourced or virtual assistants?

A: Based on the founders' experience, work that can be performed remotely — such as making phone calls, following up on orders, and handling administrative and customer service tasks — is well suited for outsourcing. These are the exact functions that made up the majority of their previous company's workforce.

Q: What is ClearDesk and what does it offer?

A: ClearDesk is a company that provides outsourced staffing solutions, including remote and virtual assistants, primarily aimed at small businesses. It was founded to help business owners reduce payroll costs and gain the flexibility to scale their teams up or down without the overhead and complexity of traditional in-house hiring.

Q: Why do so few businesses take advantage of outsourcing if it's not a new concept?

A: The founders acknowledge that outsourcing and virtual assistants are not new ideas, yet very few businesses actually leverage them. Their goal with ClearDesk is to change that by educating small business owners about the significant cost savings and operational flexibility that outsourcing can provide.

Q: What makes outsourced staffing more flexible than hiring traditional employees?

A: Unlike in-house employees, an outsourced team can be scaled up or down as easily as sending an email, according to ClearDesk's founders. Traditional hiring comes with fixed costs and slow processes — including recruiting, onboarding, HR management, and severance — that make rapid adjustments to team size difficult and expensive.