Outsourcing, To-do or Not-to-do

by kaper7
54 replies
We live in a day and age when running a business is easier than ever before. One of the main factors that has made this possible is the concept of outsourcing.

My questions is when do you outsource and what type of things are better outsourced?
#nottodo #outsourcing #todo
  • Profile picture of the author jtooder
    I outsource tasks that are not that important to the overall process and can be easily done with limited training. The hard part is finding good, reliable and trustworthy workers.

    Using the members here with a good reputation is a great way to get started with outsourcing.

    GL
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  • Profile picture of the author nthmarketing
    Outsourcing is awesome... however, it takes some time to find the right people to do it. If you go into outsourcing just know up front that it will more than likely take a few tries at finding the right person that fits your needs.

    Don't base your experience with one or more contractors sooner or later you'll find ones that fit what you need. Then once you do find them treat them like gold. I've been outsourcing for over 15 years and have a core group that I have farmed up with some of my contractors being with me over 12 years.

    I personally only hire full time contractors as well, going through part time people just isn't worth the time. Too often they try to multi-task and do other projects which directly affects your timelines.

    Aloha,
    Fred
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    • Profile picture of the author Jaryl
      You should only outsource when you have a good amount of funds/are already earning from your business.
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  • Profile picture of the author marknel
    With the numerous freelancing sites and sharing apps,you can outsource any task that can be done virtually.The main reason for outsourcing is saving time and money and when you feel the need to do so,submit your project on sites like elance and odesk .
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  • Profile picture of the author Jenny4u1
    It is depend upon the task do you have ? according to that you can decide outsourcing is right choice or not ?
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  • Profile picture of the author benjaedging
    I outsource almost 60% of my online business. If you are planning to go outsourcing do a little research before you decide who to hire.

    In my expirience I have been changing over 10 freelancers for little over an year until I found the right person for my jobs.

    Hope that helps,

    Have a great day
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  • Profile picture of the author Sohel Parvez
    Almost all Traditional Business Can be OUTSOURCE.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nathy Curiel
    If you find the right person outsourcing is great ! But sometimes it take trail and error.
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  • Profile picture of the author murtuza
    My rule of the thumb is start outsourcing when you have tested your system and it is working fine. You need to know the efficiency of your system or else you will get crashed spending money in outsourcing.

    Secondly, you can outsource everything. Just make sure that you personally communicate and build relationship with your list, this is important, because your style should be reflected when your broadcast goes to your list. Also some part of product creation is something that you should get involved in rather than completely outsourcing the product development work...
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  • Profile picture of the author handy
    One time tasks (like design) are "must outsource". Once your business gets some traction and is making money you can consider hiring a full time outsourcer to take care of regular tasks.
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    I can say that as a warrior almost all our businesses are on outsource.

    But it is not as easy as everyone says, you have to train and make sure you keep them up to date and also make sure they are getting off their arses and doing stuff. No one likes paying an outsourcee burning up your time and not working.

    Time is MONEY as they say.

    But once you make a few mistakes and you know what works you just keep doing it.

    I am happy to pay hefty amounts out, if I know the money coming back in is triple. Simple as that.
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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    Outsourcing is not a choice for businesses any more. If you running a successful business, outsourcing is already a must by now.
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  • Profile picture of the author SebastianJ
    I outsource everything I possibly can, given that the task doesn't require too advanced skills or is too hard of a task to complete without extremely detailed instructions.

    Article writing is for example something I outsource 100% - and I'm super satisfied with the result.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rukshan
    I outsource typical IM works such as Article writing, WP installations, Graphics, Submissions etc
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    I rarely outsource work as I can do what I want done by myself.
    I have written a book about outsourcing and freelancing that may help youanswer some questions.
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    • Profile picture of the author dcristo
      Originally Posted by laurencewins View Post

      I rarely outsource work as I can do what I want done by myself.
      I have written a book about outsourcing and freelancing that may help youanswer some questions.
      You wrote a book about outsourcing yet don't outsource much yourself? Interesting to say the least.
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      • Profile picture of the author ameerulislam10
        Originally Posted by dcristo View Post

        You wrote a book about outsourcing yet don't outsource much yourself? Interesting to say the least.
        Probably he wrote why should people outsource less .
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  • Profile picture of the author jackwebson
    I only outsource jobs when I feel my time will be consumed too much on the same thing. Outsourcing would be a great idea to help you value your time on a certain project or job.
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  • Profile picture of the author aridz
    I think it is ok if you outsource if you are rolling your money from IM. However, if you are starter, I afraid you will losing money without making the income that you like to earn.
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  • Profile picture of the author markhimeb
    i outsource technical stuff, seo and web design. I do the writing on my own
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Outsoucing isn't an easy skill to acquire at all.

      I think it's all too easy for people to decide they'll do themselves what they can do themselves and "just outsource the rest". The reality tends to be that there's no "just" about it. Outsourcing reliably and safely is a skill-set all of its own, and not one that people should assume they're going to pull off successfully at the first time of asking.

      There are also big disadvantages of outsourcing things you don't know how to do yourself.

      I outsourced too much, when I got going, as soon as my business was producing enough regular income to make the expense justifiable - and I regret that, now. With hindsight, it would have been better for me to learn more, myself, and outsource less, at an earlier stage.

      I do all the writing myself and outsource some of the technical stuff. A little more successfully, now that I know a little more about it. For me, the dividing line is typically that I'll outsource anything that involves using FTP (but I can build perfectly adequate niche sites on my own without needing that).
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Call it "outsourcing" if you want, but the bottom line is that you are hiring people to do a job. Which means those people need to be managed. If you want to avoid losing your shirt, they need to be managed effectively.

        As others have pointed out, this is a skill set on its own. You need to be able to adequately describe the job you want done to someone who isn't familiar with your operation. You need to be able to set realistic standards and measurements of performance. You need to be able to train someone in your way of doing things (or recognize when their way may be more effective and change your ways). You need to motivate, praise and reprimand fairly.

        In short, to 'outsource' effectively over the long haul, you need to be a manager. Most people are not.
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  • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
    Originally Posted by kaper7 View Post

    We live in a day and age when running a business is easier than ever before. One of the main factors that has made this possible is the concept of outsourcing.

    My questions is when do you outsource and what type of things are better outsourced?
    I outsource everything I can afford to outsource. Since I am naturally a writer I still do quite a bit of my own writing, but I outsource my backlinks, my submissions, and many other tasks that I am not as good at or just don't enjoy doing.

    I learned a long time ago from reading a business book that it is better to pay someone else to do the things you don't enjoy than to do them yourself. It saves me the headache and I can concentrate on what I enjoy.

    I say you can start outsourcing right from the beginning, but you should really have a good understanding of what you are doing as well. If you were to outsource the writing, for example, you would want to have a good understanding of what quality writing with proper SEO is before you hire someone else to do it for you.

    Benjamin Ehinger
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    • Profile picture of the author kaper7
      It seems that some outsource everything while other's carefully select things that are beyond the scope of expertise. For me, I look at outsourcing in terms of cost.

      what I mean is what is it going to cost me to do a task in money versus time. If I have a task that will take me 2 hours to do and I'm not an expert at it however I can outsource it for lets say $50. I would determine I can make more than that amount of money doing something else. In my case, the answer is yes so I will outsource in this example.

      I understand that there are much more variables to the science of outsourcing however, this method works very well for me and I hope it can be useful to others as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author myeanne
    One of the advantages of outsourcing is, its cost-effectiveness and convenience that attracts clients most of the time. It's easy to outsource, the hard thing is how to get the right company that you could trust for your business.

    Most of the time, clients only focus on the "low-rate" but they didn't realize that they always get what they have paid for. Outsourcing is not about how you cut losses, but it's about how you get the great quality services/products without paying much higher services. I always suggest to hire an outsourcing/staff leasing company instead of a freelancer.
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    • Profile picture of the author kaper7
      hiring an outsourcing agent has its advantages however I believe it's all about doing your homework. If you learn a little about what you need outsource, you will be in better position to ask the right question during the interview process.

      It also allow you to put the proper agreement in place. Either way, it saves a lot of time when you outsource.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stephen Lessey
    You should onyl outsource tasks that you feel would be most benificial for saving time + money.

    From my own experience, we are hoarders of control and we want to make sure that all the crucial tasks in our business we do ourselves.

    So I would only outsource things that are not as important but serve as a secondary objective
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    • Profile picture of the author Dimitris Skiadas
      Originally Posted by Stephen Lessey View Post

      You should onyl outsource tasks that you feel would be most benificial for saving time + money.
      Totally agree with Stephen.I always outsource stuff like article writing,video creation,building backlinks etc. Fiverr is full of nice workers that will do the job for only 5$.

      Dimitris
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  • Profile picture of the author addison.agnote
    Few advantages of outsourcing:

    1.Focus On Core Activities

    Outsourcing those activities will allow refocusing on those business activities that are important without sacrificing quality or service in the back-office.

    2. Cost And Efficiency Savings
    Back-office functions that are complicated in nature, but the size of your company is preventing you from performing it at a consistent and reasonable cost, is another advantage of outsourcing.

    3. Reduced Overhead
    Overhead costs of performing a particular back-office function are extremely high. Consider outsourcing those functions which can be moved easily.

    4. Operational Control
    Operations whose costs are running out of control must be considered for outsourcing. Departments that may have evolved over time into uncontrolled and poorly managed areas are prime motivators for outsourcing. In addition, an outsourcing company can bring better management skills to your company than what would otherwise be available.
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    • Profile picture of the author dbarnum
      A good question to ask is not just what can you outsource, but what can you do the best yourself? Then focus on that.

      In short, people wear a lot of hats running their own biz, but it helps to do what you do best, then outsource the rest as your budget enables this.

      I have a bunch more tips on my Warrior blog:

      http://www.warriorforum.com/blogs/db...al-period.html
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  • Profile picture of the author ameerulislam10
    I have outsourced data entry jobs and website creation. My data entry jobs went ok most of the times. But my website coding was not that good. New problems appearing all the time. Maybe I didn't find a good contractor. Coz technical issues arises overtime. Bugs appears from nowhere.
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    • Profile picture of the author Liesel
      I outsource certain tasks in order to free up more time for me to get other things done. I was apprehensive at first, but once I saw how helpful it is I haven't looked back.
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  • Profile picture of the author Emmanuel C
    it's tru that you can outsource a bunch of things. I think it comes down to how much are you worth and how much money you're making.

    If you make $10 an hour and it takes you about an hour to write an article, why not hire someone to write it for you at $5? or even $10...

    true that outsourcing can be scray, but when you see the value and the time you can save, it's totally worth it.
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  • Profile picture of the author mark healy
    outsourcing is a skill and is crucial to your business for it to grow.
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  • Profile picture of the author kaper7
    Outsource as many as you see fit. It helps our community and helps us as well. If you have the budget for it, outsource it. Just make sure that it make business sense to do it.
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  • Profile picture of the author kaper7
    Be careful however to not just outsource simple things that you can do yourself. It really comes down to scheduling. If you have a well planned daily schedule stick to it and let others do additional task for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    If i don't outsource by now, i wouldn't be where i am today.

    It is a must
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  • Profile picture of the author BenKJunya
    If you think you have a lot to do and can’t take any more work, and desperately looking out to give away work hire someone right away. However, make sure the person you are hiring is reliable, trustworthy and efficient. Commencing an online business and maintaining it by persistently updating it, staying in touch with clients, and writing articles and the list seems endless definitely is not everybody’s cup of tea. Thus I’d recommend get the work outsourced! Outsourcing work is a once-in-a-while contract that will last for a long time and do well to you. No matter what online business you’d want to start don’t let anything become a barrier. All the very best!
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  • Profile picture of the author Targeted Traffic
    While it may need a very special skill to do so...
    Outsourcing is important because it allows you to focus on the things that you do well while hiring another company/person to do what they do best.

    One things is that many companies have been able to keep there costs low because they outsource some of their work and has also improved operating efficiencies.
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  • Profile picture of the author marvelouz
    I tried outsourcing monotonous things it was great but something that took me an hour to do took my VA 4 hours to do -_-
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  • Profile picture of the author stevegilcrest
    Simple!
    If you have enough resources then Not-to-do
    If you are lagging with the existing resources and not having enough time to do it your self, then go for outsource to-do.

    While going for To-Do then make a good share of % in your pocked with the outsource managing people.
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  • Profile picture of the author christiehemme
    Originally Posted by kaper7 View Post

    We live in a day and age when running a business is easier than ever before. One of the main factors that has made this possible is the concept of outsourcing.

    My questions is when do you outsource and what type of things are better outsourced?
    I never outsource task. I do outsourced task. So I usually get submission task(article, directory, social bookmarking), blog commenting, social networking, onpage work of SEO etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author kaper7
    For those that have a killer product or service solution but do not have the skills or talent for such production, it is ok to outsource it. Think about, ideas make no money if no action is taken for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author zype
    I think as soon as you outsource truly effective methods that pay off, people simply go use them for themselves, which is absolutely understandable.. but if you can have people you trust,, outsource it might help.
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  • Profile picture of the author crh0169
    A lot of great info in this thread thanks everyone. My business is running fairly well now and I'm looking to outsource some article writing are there any opinions out there on odesk.com. Any other recommendations are welcomed as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author uebomoyi
    I think getting backlinks outsourced is the best method to go with. I've tried outsourcing articles before, but sometimes it's hard to find trustworthy people who can actually get the job done without any errors so the article is good enough for EzineArticles. Perhaps you can find trustworthy article writers in the warrior forum or odesk though...
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  • Profile picture of the author melltonroper
    If you cant handle the task then better to outsource and let other do the job most of the time they outsourced article writing and SEO
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  • Profile picture of the author braincandy7
    There are three things you should outsource:

    1. Things you cannot do by yourself
    2. Things that someone else can do a better job of or that would take you a lot of time better spent doing something you can do well.
    3. Non essential time consuming tasks.
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  • Profile picture of the author jacksonlin
    Outsource what you hate the most.

    For me it was content creation and backlink building.

    Once that was outsourced, the rest was so much easier!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rieth
    I outsource almost everything. Not just boring, repetitive tasks that I don't want to do myself like building backlinks. I'd rather have fun or do what I want to do then to work all the time. :-)
    I have a full time programmer that builds all of our sites, she also does SEO and builds links 1 or 2 days a week or more when we don't have work for her to do on any of our sites.
    I also have most of our content written by outsourcers. We currently have 5 writers and will probably be hiring 5 more soon.

    The secret to outsourcing is hiring people full time. Don't just find someone on freelancer or odesk to do something as a one off task. If you do that then when you need that task done again at some point you'll be stuck having to find another person again and hoping they'll do it right.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aviator Joe
    I say YES to outsourcing (Or hiring full-time employees for that matter )
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  • Profile picture of the author donovanseo07
    When you have a bunch of projects which you are not able to handle at your own just outsource it, you can get so many service provider who can surely help you in this regard.
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