The Difference - Doing it yourself Vs. Hiring someone to do it

27 replies
I haven't really had the chance to really formulate this question, but in the IM world where you can outsource practically anything you need done, where is the boundary you can say "I did this" or "that" and not "Yeah, I hired this guy to do everything for me. I just own it all"?
#difference #hiring
  • Profile picture of the author madaffiliatemoney
    I dont know that I fully understand your question, but here's what I outsource.
    Article writing, web design, backlinking.
    These are the tasks that take up most of my time. One thing that i would never outsource is keyword/domain research.

    Best of luck,
    Justin
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  • Profile picture of the author fatboy
    You can outsource everything, or you can do it yourself. Honestly if you find someone that is trustworthy and gets the work done, and you are making money, then why wouldn't you pay them to do everything while you work on other things/sit around and relax/travel?

    I believe it is most IMer's goal to be financially free and outsourcing is one of the things that allows this to happen. You are asking a very personal type question, a question that can only be answered by the individual.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dylan K
      Originally Posted by fatboy View Post

      You can outsource everything, or you can do it yourself. Honestly if you find someone that is trustworthy and gets the work done, and you are making money, then why wouldn't you pay them to do everything while you work on other things/sit around and relax/travel?

      I believe it is most IMer's goal to be financially free and outsourcing is one of the things that allows this to happen. You are asking a very personal type question, a question that can only be answered by the individual.
      Thats the biggest problem in this business
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      • Profile picture of the author fatboy
        Originally Posted by hoot33 View Post

        Thats the biggest problem in this business
        It is a huge problem, but on the other hand if you owned a local business you would have to go through employees to find the right one. Trust me I have been there before. It is no different then finding a trust worthy person to out source to.

        Once you do find someone trust worthy to outsource to, you just need to take care of them and keep them around, just like a regular employer would.
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        • If outsourcing didn't exist, I couldn't operate my business the way I do now. There will be a point in whatever you do where it takes several clones of yourself to get all the work done in a way it's still profitable for you. Then you have to decide between either working 10 hours a day IN your business, or outsourcing the time-consuming/grunt/boring/tedious/mind-boggling labour and working 5 hours ON your business.

          Some people use outsourcing to sit back and enjoy their freetime, others do it in order to increase and scale their business to heights they could have never reached on their own. It really depends on you and what you want to get out of your biz
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          • Profile picture of the author donaldwilson
            BacklinkExcellence said it perfectly. Outsourcing makes the difference between working on your business and working in it.
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            • Profile picture of the author redstanford
              Originally Posted by donaldwilson View Post

              BacklinkExcellence said it perfectly. Outsourcing makes the difference between working on your business and working in it.
              so i'm assuming the "working on your business" is better?
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              • Profile picture of the author paulie888
                Originally Posted by redstanford View Post

                so i'm assuming the "working on your business" is better?
                Absolutely. Working on your business implies higher level/value activities, whereas working in your business means getting involved with all the tiny, excruciating details that so often prevent from you seeing and working on the bigger picture.
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  • Profile picture of the author bhuff85
    Do what you excel at and hire-out for what you do not. In the past I did everything myself, but trying to be a "jack of all trades" can wear you down. Now, I outsource the things I'm not the greatest at, leaving me time to focus on what I'm good at and enjoy doing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Chri5123
      Originally Posted by bhuff85 View Post

      Do what you excel at and hire-out for what you do not. In the past I did everything myself, but trying to be a "jack of all trades" can wear you down. Now, I outsource the things I'm not the greatest at, leaving me time to focus on what I'm good at and enjoy doing.
      ^ In a nutshell!

      This is bang on!

      I take the same approach - I tend to outsource a lot of my design work - however to add a point it is a good idea to have a baisc understanding of everything you outsource.

      For instance although I am not a top notch PS designer I know how to make a simple site and some graphics.

      Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author edgelance
      Originally Posted by bhuff85 View Post

      Do what you excel at and hire-out for what you do not. In the past I did everything myself, but trying to be a "jack of all trades" can wear you down. Now, I outsource the things I'm not the greatest at, leaving me time to focus on what I'm good at and enjoy doing.
      I second that. I remembered the first thing I put in consideration before I start my IM is finding someone to help me write article/content, because I know I am not good at it. I can prepare the content but need someone to help me put it in words. If I do it myself, it will take all my time which there is no way I can do any other things. Now I tend to only outsource the work that I am not good at or no interest
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
    There is no dividing line. If you paid for it then you "did" the work. Whether it was physically your fingers on the keyboard or not.

    That's the difference between labour and capital.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      Originally Posted by Andy Fletcher View Post

      There is no dividing line. If you paid for it then you "did" the work. Whether it was physically your fingers on the keyboard or not.

      That's the difference between labour and capital.
      This is how you get people saying things like "my company" did this or that.

      In addiiton to what Andy says, I might add that this is the difference between thinking like an employee and thinking like a business owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author marcuslim
    There are some tasks in IM that can be repetitive - article writing and back-linking come to mind, and these tasks can be outsourced quite successfully to people who've had training. Though I think it's always best to do them yourself initially to know what the process is, then you'll be in a better position to train others on how they should best approach the tasks.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ben Armstrong
      My business plan is to eventually outsource Article writing and backlinking and do market research and site design myself.

      While I have the money to do this all now, I'm just starting out in IM so I think it's important that I at least become proficient in all areas. Otherwise I'm not going to know what someone else's work is worth to me.
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  • Profile picture of the author J.M.Wilson
    The most successful business people in the world don't spend every waking minute worrying about the small things that consume so much time... they don't spend their time micro managing every aspect of their business.

    However, for many IM is more than a business, it's also their passion and hence the reason many people prefer to work on it themselves instead of outsourcing.

    I'm guilty of that to a degree but I also outsource a lot of the stuff I get frustrated with leaving me working on only the aspects I enjoy
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  • Profile picture of the author promo_guy
    Some great comments here but I have to agree and disagree with some of them.

    Originally Posted by JMichaelZ View Post

    In addiiton to what Andy says, I might add that this is the difference between thinking like an employee and thinking like a business owner.
    I don't totally agree with this but I understand what you're saying. You can think like a business owner but lack the skills and most often the capital. Doing things on your own sometimes is the only way to a) learn the "trade" and b) build up some capital....even the most successful business owners had to start somewhere and unless they were born with a silver spoon, it's a journey so this is too blanket a statement in my humble opinion.

    Originally Posted by Chri5123 View Post

    I take the same approach - I tend to outsource a lot of my design work - however to add a point it is a good idea to have a baisc understanding of everything you outsource.

    For instance although I am not a top notch PS designer I know how to make a simple site and some graphics.
    Chris
    Chris makes a great point. Yes, many people have been successful out the gate without knowing even the basic of skills like how to transfer a domain from their registrar to their host let alone install a site or learn to market but having at least some knowledge (knowledge is gained through experience, otherwise it's just conjecture from what one read or heard), then one is in a better position to dictate to outsourcers what needs to be done.

    Originally Posted by paulie888 View Post

    Working on your business implies higher level/value activities, whereas working in your business means getting involved with all the tiny, excruciating details that so often prevent from you seeing and working on the bigger picture.
    Once again, I don't fully agree with this. As mentioned, we all have to start somewhere and this implies if you're working like a dog you don't see the bigger picture. Maybe the bigger picture involves a helluva lot of work (long hours, dogged determination, etc.) and that too implies one who sees the bigger picture.

    I admit I'm not uber successful in terms of monetary income at this time in my IM career. But, let me share a few OLD bank statements I just found tonight (literally) that occurred my FIRST year in IM!

    [ this is pure profit btw ]

    ** May 03 2006 - £27,538.77 profit. At roughly $2/£1 in 2006, that's about $55,077 in one month

    ** May 31 2006 - £16,634.78 = roughly $33,269

    ** June 06 2006 - £31,056.77 = roughly $62,113

    These are just 3 old bank statements but I did those numbers for 2 years!

    Hmmm...is that the earnings of someone who doesn't see the bigger picture? Most people will never see those numbers. I DON'T make those numbers now lol....wish I did...but, I'll keep them as mementos to remind me of what's possible and what to try to achieve beyond.

    It all comes down to personal goals, what one wants to achieve, and even if someone is broke now but has high aspirations and continues to fight to achieve those goals...to me, THAT is seeing the bigger picture and what makes an entrepreneur...despite the monetary success people like to brag about.

    Go and shoot for your goals is what I say! If you realize to get there means outsourcing then by all means do it!

    Scott
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    If you find people you can trust, without paying a fortune for having this privilege, than outsourcing is advantageous for your business, and you have the chance to organize your life much better. You will focus on the things you are good at, and let other experts care about the things you know little, things you don’t like, etc.

    Outsourcing is very good, but also very dangerous because you’ll hardly find people you can completely trust. When you depend on someone else for something very important for your business, this means that you are in a very delicate position. You have to be careful.
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  • Profile picture of the author CaesarSEO
    I don't make enough income right now to outsource.
    But I'm fine and enjoy doing all the jobs myself, especially because if I do them, then they get done in the way that I like most.
    I do my own market research, buy the domain myself, get the hosting set, write reviews and spin them to post on other sites, I make profile backlinks myself, I blog comment myself, I check the rankings myself.

    I guess I can do all of this stuff myself for just the reason that I enjoy doing stuff that I think will make me money.
    I might look for some outsourcing when I get a good constant income.
    But I do not really see the need since I can complete all the tasks myself very quickly.

    It's just a matter of doing the tasks yourself some time to learn, and then you'll be so used to it that you can do the job faster than the amount of time you need to find a good outsourcer.

    After all, internet marketing is enjoyable.
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  • Profile picture of the author RizenKJ
    Thanks for the answers so far, it looks like this sparked some interest!

    I think I found what I was looking for among all your replies. I was unsure of how outsourcing would be seen by others, but the employee versus business owner arguement seems fitting.

    So to finalize, a man, who has lots of money pays and doesn't know anything about what he's doing, can hire a person or group of people to build a successful multi-bllion dollar company and be called a one of a kind, outstanding entrepreneur?
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  • Profile picture of the author pethanks
    If you have enough resources it is best that you will outsource the work. That would lessen your work loads.
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  • Profile picture of the author jushuaburnham
    You can do outsource if you don't have the idea but still it is good to do it by yourself ti make sure the quality of the work but the, but outsourcing is now becoming very common today.
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  • Profile picture of the author DIGITALCHAMELEON
    In outsourcing there is advantages and disadvantages, before integrating this you must know what are the benefits you get or perhaps its just a waste of time in your part. But for now outsourcing is becoming very common among internet marketers, SEO, and content writing.
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    • Profile picture of the author markreed757
      I would love to outsource everything if I could.

      The thing is finding quality companies/people to outsource to. Its really not much different then an employer finding quality employee's.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lazy
    My philosophy is this:

    Learn how to do it all yourself, and learn how to do it well. Then when you outsource it, you'll be able to tell if they're doing a good job.
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  • Profile picture of the author MaryReynolds
    I used to be a firm believer in "DIY" for everything...

    However now that I've taken on a few writers, I've seen that
    they really can help you save A LOT of time...

    That being said... it can be extremely hard to actually find
    them... I've had to weed through hundreds of job applications...
    and then had to spend time seeing if they were what they
    claimed to be...

    So it does take time to find a quality worker, but once you get
    one, they are WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD.

    Mary
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    • Profile picture of the author paulie888
      Originally Posted by MaryReynolds View Post

      I used to be a firm believer in "DIY" for everything...

      However now that I've taken on a few writers, I've seen that
      they really can help you save A LOT of time...

      That being said... it can be extremely hard to actually find
      them... I've had to weed through hundreds of job applications...
      and then had to spend time seeing if they were what they
      claimed to be...

      So it does take time to find a quality worker, but once you get
      one, they are WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD.

      Mary
      You touched on a pretty important point, Mary. There are people who mistakenly think that if they pay to get some task outsourced, they don't have to lift a finger anymore, and everything will magically take care of itself.

      Obviously this is not true. You have to get pretty involved in the outsourcer selection process, because you don't want the quality of your work to go down the toilet when you start outsourcing. Even when you've hired someone that you feel pretty confident about, you'll still need to monitor them carefully during the initial phase to ensure the quality of their work.

      As you've mentioned above, once you're sure that you have good workers, then your task becomes considerably easier. It may not be a short and smooth journey to get to this phase of things, though.

      Most importantly, I feel that everyone who plans on outsourcing a task must at least know the basics and be able to do it first, so that they'll be able to train, monitor and provide feedback to their workers effectively.
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