For those of you coming to arbitrage from the standpoint of already being a social media manager, here’s the step by step arbitrage system you can put into practice to start growing an already established social media management business past what you can personally accomplish in a 40 hour week, with the ultimate goal of transitioning to a full time arbitrager:

1. START SMALL.

It’s going to take time to perfect your system, so don’t plan on going from 30 jobs a week to 60 in one month. Dip your toe in the water by trying out a few sites, packages and vendors on your own accounts at first. When you feel you’ve found a good vendor or two, select a client to try the service out on. This can be a new client for whom you can pitch just the right sort of package, or an existing one you want to try and over deliver for. If everything goes well, add another client, then another. This will give you time to solidify your relationships with vendors and to work out any kinks in your system.

2. CHARGE MORE.

Gradually raise your pricing until all of your new clients are paying enough to support your plan of outsourcing their social media. Once again, if you pay $10 for someone else to do it for you, you should be charging your end client at least $30. Remember, if you are glued to your desk more than 40 hours a week, it’s a sure sign that you aren’t charging enough. 20 well paying gigs beats out 40 low paying ones any day!

3. WORK SMART.

Keep timesheets for each client, or invest in a time tracker app that lets you follow how many minutes you devote to each client. Remember, if you are spending more than a third of the time you would spend to do the job yourself, you are doing arbitrage wrong. Figure out ways to shave minutes off of each project by creating branded report templates, so you can simply transfer the data collected and forward it to your client. Streamline your use of the job sites by setting aside time to do all of your job assignments at once, and use calendar alerts to track deadlines so you aren’t caught scrambling if something goes wrong.

4. KEEP GROWING.

Once you start using social media arbitrage to run your business, the sky is the limit. When you reach the limit of projects you can supervise in 40 hours a week, outsource the project management to a virtual assistant and keep taking on more jobs at higher rates. Make sure to track your expenses so you can benefit from tax breaks!