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Frustrations faced when outsourcing?

by Harry B
12 replies
Hey guys,

Trying to get a feel for a certain issue here. what are the main issues faced when you try to outsource work to freelancers and VAs? What frustrates you most?
#faced #frustrations #outsourcing
  • Profile picture of the author GobBluthJD
    Their lack of clear English when presenting my work to the outside world. You really need to try them out on a test-run to see if they'll work for you. It took me more than a few test runs before I found the couple of perfect VA's for me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Harry B
      Originally Posted by GobBluthJD View Post

      Their lack of clear English when presenting my work to the outside world. You really need to try them out on a test-run to see if they'll work for you. It took me more than a few test runs before I found the couple of perfect VA's for me.

      I see! it looks like language barriers is the biggest issue.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheArticlePros
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    • Profile picture of the author Harry B
      Originally Posted by JaRyCu View Post

      My #1 frustration is a language barrier. I speak really good English since I was born and raised in the US and still currently live here. I also speak Southerner, Red Neck, and a few other dialects of US-English. Oh, and I speak some Japanese as well.

      None of those seem to come in handy for any other type of service, though. I either need to learn Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian-Hindi or Phillippino, in order to get anything done in the IM world. (Unless it's programming and then I need to learn a Russian or Slavic language.)

      -- j


      Hmm, the language barrier seems to be a tremendous issue for quality outsourcing.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Jonas Phil VA
      Originally Posted by JaRyCu View Post

      My #1 frustration is a language barrier. I speak really good English since I was born and raised in the US and still currently live here. I also speak Southerner, Red Neck, and a few other dialects of US-English. Oh, and I speak some Japanese as well.

      None of those seem to come in handy for any other type of service, though. I either need to learn Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian-Hindi or Phillippino, in order to get anything done in the IM world. (Unless it's programming and then I need to learn a Russian or Slavic language.)

      -- j
      J,

      It's Filipino, not Philippino.

      I disagree that you need to know how to speak Filipino to get IM things done. Most Filipinos understand English better than most of our Asian counterparts. But when outsourcing, one of the first things that you should look for when outsourcing in countries like India or the Philippine is to look for someone who understands the language. Before you look into their skills, you have to make sure that you really understand each other. That's why it's always better to look for workers from reputable sites like bestjobs.ph and onlinejobs.ph because with these sites, the workers are tested for their English skills.
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      Hire a Filipino virtual assistant and make your business better through outsourcing.
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  • Profile picture of the author ilee
    I was thinking of getting VAs but never bit the bullet solely because so many people tell me they need to train the VA for about 3-6 months before they become useful.

    The things that have deterred me
    - language barrier
    - loss of control if they do things you didn't tell them to do
    - loss of control if they don't do the things you tel them to do, but they say they've done
    - communication

    But I guess all this depends on the VA as individuals. Some will be willing to learn, and some won't.
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    • Profile picture of the author Harry B
      Originally Posted by ichl13 View Post

      I was thinking of getting VAs but never bit the bullet solely because so many people tell me they need to train the VA for about 3-6 months before they become useful.

      The things that have deterred me
      - language barrier
      - loss of control if they do things you didn't tell them to do
      - loss of control if they don't do the things you tel them to do, but they say they've done
      - communication

      But I guess all this depends on the VA as individuals. Some will be willing to learn, and some won't.
      That's a great point...some have to be trained
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  • Profile picture of the author untappedrep
    Luckily I have an in house team now..

    My worst experiences with outsourcing is the lies. It seems like there are not many honest contractors out there if you judge by my experience. It seems like it it easier for these people to lie over the internet. The biggest problem I faced was the padding of hours.. 9 out of 10 I hired in the past lied about hours worked.

    Did once find a amazing writer that worked for $10 an hour but he got burnt out quick.
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    • Profile picture of the author Harry B
      Originally Posted by untappedrep View Post

      Luckily I have an in house team now..

      My worst experiences with outsourcing is the lies. It seems like there are not many honest contractors out there if you judge by my experience. It seems like it it easier for these people to lie over the internet. The biggest problem I faced was the padding of hours.. 9 out of 10 I hired in the past lied about hours worked.

      Did once find a amazing writer that worked for $10 an hour but he got burnt out quick.

      got you, thanks for the input mate!
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  • Profile picture of the author TheArticlePros
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    • Profile picture of the author Harry B
      Originally Posted by JaRyCu View Post

      One other note Harith -- use the multiquote button so you don't post 4 answers in a row. It keeps the mods from deleting your threads.

      -- j

      whoops! Sorry about that
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    Maybe you need to look in different places. Lots of people outsourced their writing and proofreading to me without any problems. I am Australian and my English is impeccable.
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    Writer/Editor/Proofreader.

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  • Profile picture of the author Deepak Media
    I need to keep following up with them to check if the work is progressing. That is almost 20-30% of the work.
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    @ Bangalore, India.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Montgomery
    English which can be very bad although they may claim to have english skills, but doing some searching and testing them out helps, I have now found some very good freelancers from this method.
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