Outsourcing

[Chris Norman]

What is all this I hear about outsourcing? Is it for people that are lazy or is it a viable solution for those who seriously need to spend their time more wisely.

I imagine as you make more money marketing and it is cost effective, why wouldn't you outsource what you can?

I just thought it might be some IM fad or something. Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

Take care, Chris

[PpcJen]

Outsourcing is new to me. Very new.

I have also heard a lot about it and always thought it was for people making heaps of money. It wasn't until last week, when a friend wrote to me showing me how easy it is, that I decided to try it.

But, of course, it depends on your situation. You may be moving along just fine and have no need to get additional help.

For me, I have been working full time, around the clock, building my business. I simply do not have enough hours in the day for all the ideas that are racing around in my head. And I know I cannot work at this pace forever.

One task that takes up a lot of my time is content writing : blog posts, articles, product reviews. So I decided to take a leap and outsource a tiny little writing job to see how it goes.

You can start with $20 and request bids on Elance, Rent A Coder, ODesk, etc. You simply tell them exactly what you need (be very specific) and how much you are willing to pay. Then people will submit bids to do the work for you. As with everything, you get what you pay for. So it pays to do some research.

I'll let you know how my experiment goes! I'm excited!

[christianwins]

It's also a good way to have others do things you dislike or aren't the best at. No one is great at every aspect of IM, if someone else can do it in less time and better than you I think it's worth it.

[tracyr]

Outsourcing is also a great way to get stuff done that you don't know how to do and don't have the inclination to learn.

For instance, if you love to write then content on your blog might not be an issue but if you want to change your blog's appearance and don't know how to code css then you might be better off outsourcing it.....same with some like affiliate management, if you are selling products & have an affiliate program. Stuff that stays on your to do list because you dread doing it is prime stuff for outsourcing.

It's a good thing! ;-0

[Lynn Terry]

All of the above!

I am outsourcing work to both of my children (ages 13 & 18) as I need the help and there are tax benefits for all three of us to do that. My daughter is proficient on the computer and is doing basic copy, paste, edit & upload tasks. My son is a self-taught programmer and is building a database and script for one of my new sites. So one is something I don't have time to do myself, the other is something I don't know how to do myself.

I have a small virtual team I outsource a variety of other tasks too, which helps me stay on top of things, and gives me time to do the things I love most.

I haven't tried freelancing sites (like elance) or freelancing overseas (I hear the Philippines is a good source), so I haven't ventured out much in the world of outsourcing - but there are a lot of options.

[retta719]

Outsourcing will rock your socks off once you get into doing it. It's like having 10 of yourself doing things while you go to the movies with your kids... Yay for outsourcing!

[Lynn Terry]

Speaking of, ^^ Loretta is great when you need audio transcription done

[retta719]

Speaking of, ^^ Loretta is great when you need audio transcription done

Thank you.

[Lynn Terry]

You're welcome

I'm probably more about "out-tasking" and haven't quite mastered the full-on virtual team & project manager aspects of outsourcing... but I'm working on it.

One thing that has worked really well for me is to organize and prioritize my task list, then before I begin I pluck out everything that could be done by someone else and send that off - then I start at the top of the remaining list of tasks.

I absolutely love the people I am working with right now, for a variety of tasks & projects - they truly make my life so much easier!!

[TraciKnoppe]

One person can not possibly do all things well. Running a business requires skills across a variety of areas from writing, web design, marketing, etc.... Offline business owners do not run their entire business by themselves, even if they have a small storefront, they usually have 1 or 2 employees, hire someone to do their taxes, etc...

Outsourcing is how you can get it all done, and not have to work 24/7 yourself.

So outsourcing = working smarter, not harder.