Temp agencies are actually quite expensive. If you plan to pay the personnel x amount of dollars per hour, the agency that finds them for you can charge up to x + (30% of x). Like stated, a software solution might be a lot easier. If you are worried about learning the software, the bigger vendors have online training sessions that could prove much more effective than many perceive.

Good advice to learn how to do it yourself. But, if it takes you away from your business - then it is ok to outsource. When I first got started, I contracted a local accounting firm to handle all my payroll. I thought it would cost me an arm and a leg - but, doing it myself required me to spend needed time away from my business and customers. What I found was that it was really affordable. When I got started, I had three employees and it only costs me $35 per month and $2.25 per employee. It was the best move that I could have made at that time. They took all the liability and stayed on top of the ever changing rules. They handled my payroll but I did my own hiring - I really wanted to make sure people fit in with me and my organization.

kuneilius, If you are worried about setting up a payroll system, there are many software packages out there they can make filing very easy. Check out the article Setting up a Payroll System. Remember that going through a temp agency will be more expensive because of the mark up on. Some temp agency also have 'finders' fees if you then decide to hire one of the workers. JimD

Learning so you would know how to do it yourself is ok but that takes time, wasted resources and most likely missed opportunities. The key is to put together a team whom you influence to do things you can't do, don't know how to do or don't want to do. Sort of a mastermind cluster. For example. Take Henry Ford. He was short of a high school education but he was masterful at 'outsourcing' his vision and manage to become a corporate giant by getting people to do things he couldn't do, didn't know how to do or didn't want to do. So when you say you need help with doing the taxes, there is no need to do it yourself as long as you make sure you have a core understanding of the process at hand, what needs to be done, then have someone do it. Rather it's payroll related or filing taxes, etc.