please share your outsourcing experiences

by yianni
16 replies
hi

i have recently begun making use of outsourcing

and have been having mixed success

people who claim they are able to do things
and you ask them to do basic tasks and they struggle!

i would love to know what experiences other warriors have had

how did you find good ones?

how did you manage the process when you had dodgyish ones?

how did you ensure you had good ones?

thanks
#experiences #outsourcing #share
  • Profile picture of the author regska
    I only outsource for article writing, because it really consumes my time a lot. And I must say that I made the right move of letting others write my articles for me. They are a great writer, and the articles are keyword-rich so I don't have to research for my own keywords. Other than that, I run my own business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim Franklin
    True outsourcing is an art, it requires patience, lots of communication, and asking question after question after question, until you know, (not just think) that they understand what you want, that is really all there is to it, I know it sounds a lot easier than it is, and about 2 out of every 5 projects will end badly.

    However, you have to consider the cost if you were paying full price.

    If you are successful 3 out of 5 projects, which is good, then you have saved a ton of money, but if you end up with 5 bad projects, then you have wasted all your work time and money.

    So, from more than 7 years of outsourcing experience, my advice is to know what you want, do the research, so that you know exactly what to ask for, because if you have little or no knowledge about the subject matter of what you want out sourced, then how can you expect to be able to judge if a project is proceeding in the right direction.

    So patience, is good, but good communication is better.
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    • Profile picture of the author petelta
      Tim is right here. You have to be able to explain what you want in the best detail. I have lost hundreds in outsourcing costs because the employee does horribly. It definitely is an art.

      For all my outsourced jobs, I record a screen video that shows them exactly what I would like them to do. This way there is no confusion. I also include what limitations there are to the project and what decisions I would like them to make on their own if a problem arises.

      After a while, you find the people that you will use over and over again. In the first 3 months of outsourcing, I used 25 different article writers. Now, I've found my best 3 that I give work to daily.

      Travis

      Originally Posted by Tim Franklin View Post

      True outsourcing is an art, it requires patience, lots of communication, and asking question after question after question, until you know, (not just think) that they understand what you want, that is really all there is to it, I know it sounds a lot easier than it is, and about 2 out of every 5 projects will end badly.

      However, you have to consider the cost if you were paying full price.

      If you are successful 3 out of 5 projects, which is good, then you have saved a ton of money, but if you end up with 5 bad projects, then you have wasted all your work time and money.

      So, from more than 7 years of outsourcing experience, my advice is to know what you want, do the research, so that you know exactly what to ask for, because if you have little or no knowledge about the subject matter of what you want out sourced, then how can you expect to be able to judge if a project is proceeding in the right direction.

      So patience, is good, but good communication is better.
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    • Profile picture of the author yves
      Originally Posted by Tim Franklin View Post

      True outsourcing is an art, it requires patience, lots of communication, and asking question after question after question, until you know, (not just think) that they understand what you want, that is really all there is to it, I know it sounds a lot easier than it is, and about 2 out of every 5 projects will end badly.

      However, you have to consider the cost if you were paying full price.

      If you are successful 3 out of 5 projects, which is good, then you have saved a ton of money, but if you end up with 5 bad projects, then you have wasted all your work time and money.

      So, from more than 7 years of outsourcing experience, my advice is to know what you want, do the research, so that you know exactly what to ask for, because if you have little or no knowledge about the subject matter of what you want out sourced, then how can you expect to be able to judge if a project is proceeding in the right direction.

      So patience, is good, but good communication is better.
      I agree with Tim here communication is crucial, don't assume your writer just knows what you mean, you need to spell it out.

      So many people (and I've done it myself) just want what sounds like a bargain then end up with utter junk or nothing like what you asked for, and now and again you will get lucky. In my experience, the rates very often reflect the quality.

      Elance, is a good place to hire, as there is lots of competition and you can access writers' profile and see testimonies of other clients. The only downside is that Elance takes a cut and it's quite high so you might have to pay a litlle more for services.

      Yves
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      • Profile picture of the author Riz
        Outsourcing is both a dream come true and a nightmare at the same time.

        The problem with most outsourcing (when outsourced to non English speaking countries) is the clear communication gap. I have experienced this first hand. I have also had outsourcers who claim they can do x y and z but when they deliver it becomes clear they have limited experience in x y and z.

        It takes time and patience, as mentioned by others, to get the right mix of outsourcers. Luckily for my business i now have a team of good outsourced workers. However, the communication gap can still make a difference.

        Let me give you an example - we have a membership site and the creation was outsourced to our regular team. When a member joins they must create a profile which in turn needs to be approved by the admin team before their profile becomes 'live'. So our outsource team set up this function, however the email the user gets when they are approved or declined is written in very poor English,

        Dear xxxxxx,

        Thanks you so very much for ceating your profile at xxxxx.com. But we are telling you your profile was declined for some sort of a reason.

        Bye


        I'm sure you get the picture Bottom line is we test everything our team does when it comes to our membership sites.

        If it's simple web design projects they are fantastic.

        Riz
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        • Profile picture of the author NicoleBeckett
          It definitely can take some trial and error to find a good, dependable writer. However, if you have to spend so much time explaining things to them, it doesn't sound like you're saving that much time.

          When it comes to content writing, the cheapest isn't always the best... especially if you have to hold their hand.

          When people hire my service to write articles, we ask a few things - how long they want the article, what keywords, the name of their website (so we can see exactly what kind of business/products they have), and any special instructions they think we need. If you have to spend any more time than that, it doesn't sound like it's worth it.
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          • Profile picture of the author dougp
            Its a pleasant experience for me because when i find a competent freelancer, they will get more and more business out of me which produces quality results for me. Its always a good idea to look for two or three extra freelancers for a particular skill just in case your main one gets overloaded with work or some other occurrence come up.

            For me, its trial and error. If im looking for an article writer and they have grammatical errors when communication with me then they are not getting the job.

            If im in contact with graphic designer and they produce quality graphics, but the lapse time between or discussions are too long, then they are not getting the job.

            There are literally dozens of variable si use to pick a freelancer, but i have been doing it for years so it comes natural. My recommendation is to find a outsourcing book, and apply what makes sense and just start doing it.

            Doug
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  • Profile picture of the author yianni
    thank you

    gary and tim, i appreciate your thoughts

    do you mind PMg me and letting me know where you found good ones please

    thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author Tim Franklin
      Originally Posted by yianni View Post

      thank you

      gary and tim, i appreciate your thoughts

      do you mind PMg me and letting me know where you found good ones please

      thanks
      PM sent, but to be honest, there is no guarantee, what may be good this week may not be good next week, the trouble is that you are dealing with someone you do not know, in fact you may not even be dealing with the person you think you are, this is truly a step by step thing.
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  • Profile picture of the author JimmyS
    Hi...

    Mind if I but in....? Before hiring any worker, I think you should test them first.... Let say a week.... After that...set an agreement with them like deadlines and etc.... Hope this one helps...... Goodluck......
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  • Profile picture of the author Cabinfever25
    I have just started to leverage outsourcing as of last week. I am testing an article writer and am using a logo designer. Both of whom I found on the Warriors For Hire section of this very Forum!
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  • Profile picture of the author Safade Billy
    Also just keep me mind the differences in work cultures and usage of language.

    I have been in worst situations where I ask them for apples and they gave me oranges.

    I outsource and I provide service. I was able to keep my service outstanding and get repeat clients because I have been in both places. You can give me a try :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew_Wardle
    There are plenty of good service providers out there, but you are not going to get it right 100% of the time.

    The first essential is to budget your expenses realistically. As with anything else which involves risk, you need to be able to cover the investments which do not pay off as well as the ones which do, and still come out with a profit.

    You can then increase the odds in your favour by using a strategic system. Give different outsource workers extremely small tasks. See how they perform. The ones who are totally useless will show up straight away. Increase the amount of work you give to the good ones.

    Yes, there are times when a good worker will suddenly go bad, for no apparent reason. Hopefully, by the time this happens you will already have made a good profit out of the work they have already completed for you.

    Outsourcing is never going to be 100% reliable, but you can greatly increase your odds and make sure you come out in front.

    Andrew
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  • Outsourcing can free us from tedious and time-consuming tasks, yet we need to be selective. There are service providers that abandon their task after receiving upfront payment, so never do that if you don't know the person. Communication often-overlooked but still notable benefit that can sometimes be gained by initiating an outsourcing relationship.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Rogers
    I regulary outsource article writing, currently a little over 100 articles per week. I've found that even after checking a potential writer out and talking to them in detail about the work, about one in three produce the quality and quantity they say they can. I typically send them one small job to check the quality and to see if they can follow instructions and meet a deadline. If they pass that test, I send them a bigger job. So far, the ones who have been able to pass the second test have been solid from that point forward. If they can't get the second job completed on time and to standard, I move on.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author yianni
    thanks for all your input so far

    what about people that you outsource to for link building?

    how have you found them?

    any particular sites you went to?

    thanks again
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