Outsourcing
Work on your business, not IN your business

I cannot recommend outsourcing highly enough. Before I started outsourcing, I was one of the thousands of internet marketers struggling to do everything myself, and getting very disillusioned with it all, especially when I had hundreds of emails every week that I just didn’t have time to read, let alone be able to use the valuable information inside them.

I had not considered myself able to outsource work, as I assumed that you would need to have lots of money and also know how to do the particular job yourself so that you can provide effective instructions for a freelancer. Both these assumptions were incorrect, and although it is an advantage to have both, it is not impossible.

Then I discovered the book ‘The 4 Hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferriss. I had some knowledge of outsourcing before I read that book, and I had done one job of outsourcing back in 2005 on Elance and someone whose first language was not English wrote the article. He did actually seem very nice and eager to please, and I paid him but later I wasn’t happy enough with the article, and didn’t use it in the end. That actually put me off for a while, when really, I should have got back into the ‘driving seat’ straight away. But Tim’s book convinced me to try again.

I did not buy the book so that I could work a four-hour week. I am perfectly happy to work a full week, but as long as I get lots of work done in that time. Because I work slower than most people, I needed the information in this book, just to be able to produce an acceptable amount of work.

Tim gives a lot of resources of how to outsource as well as very original ways of thinking. The person who recommended this book to me was Mark Vurnum, who has also told me lots of other ways to outsource. It is actually easier to outsource than you think, and once you start doing it, you can build your business a lot faster, leading to more money, leading to more outsourcing.

The way I started (again) was to outsource a small number of articles to split up and use as blog posts. Those blogs were feeding a steady flow of traffic to my niche sites and bringing in a small number of sales. It was only when I had the idea to put every penny from my sales back into outsourcing that things really took off!

It might sound silly not to spend your profits on other business costs, but I’d gone so long without getting any traffic to my sites, and therefore no sales, what difference would it make to do without the profits for a little bit longer?

I don’t spend all my profits on outsourcing now of course, but I would highly recommend it if you are a beginner. Eventually, you’ll be able to outsource everything except answering emails and the things you enjoy most. And even emails can be replaced by a support system that can be outsourced. So if you stick at it, it is possible to work a four-hour work week, but by the time that happens, you’ll be very wealthy indeed.

So how do you get started?

If you don’t already plan your weeks in terms of what tasks need completing, that would be a good place to start. I find this exercise crucial for staying on track.

Then highlight each task that you can do well and/or fast.

Out of the tasks that are left, and if you are on a tight budget, choose which ones would not cost too much to outsource. You can start small and if you need a task doing that you have no experience of, look at similar listings to see how they word their jobs.

Once you have an idea of the type of job you need doing and you know how to word your listing, visit one of the large outsourcing sites (listed below) and register. Spend a few hours looking at existing jobs and look at the normal rates for each different type of job. You might notice a large difference, such as ebooks being written for $10 - $200 each.

Don’t bother looking at the ones who are offering to do the job of writing a complete ebook for less than $70, as they will have either poor feedback, or be new to the site. They could also have been kicked off the site previously if they are new and registered under a new name. There is no way of telling.

The better caliber of writer or coder will always be busy, so they will have lots of feedback. Make a note of the number of feedback as well as the percentage, because someone may have 100% fantastic feedback, but may only have done five jobs. I know we all have to start somewhere, and I’m sure some newbies are very good, but I personally don’t want to waste time or money on inexperienced freelancers. You will get burned soon enough, even by using someone who has glowing feedback. Just don’t see it as a failure - see it as a lesson learned.

When you’re ready to list your job, do not give too many details in the initial listing. Just state that you need a website of however many pages built. Don’t tell them the subject yet. Wait until you have some responses before giving out what could be sensitive information, and also state that this should be a simple job for someone who knows what they are doing. That will make you sound like you have experience of outsourcing and make sure you get reasonable offers.

One thing to put in your detailed listings (once you have offers from writers), is that you normally take several random sentences from the work and stick them into a Google search box. If the writer has plagiarized someone else’s work, this will tell you, but why wait until after the job is done? Tell them beforehand that you will check up on whether they have used someone else’s work, and that they will be reported if they do.

Even the best freelancers will often have some negative feedback, but you need to use your common sense to determine whether any negative feedback was due to an inexperienced outsourcer who did not explain the brief properly, or whether the bad feedback is justified.

Another thing you need to be aware of is that some writers will use material that they have used for another client. If a freelancer writes a book on dog training, for example, and you state in your initial listing that you want an ebook on dog training, you will attract this writer. That is why you don’t name the subject in the first listing that anyone can view. If you want an expert to write the ebook, find them on a relevant forum, not on a freelance writers’ site. Good writers should be able to research and write on any subject, so it is not necessary to state the subject of your article or ebook in the initial listing - only how long you want it to be.

But how do you check for plagiarism within ebooks where the content is not freely available online?

If you are fast becoming an expert yourself in a particular niche, and have a website all about the subject, it would benefit you to become an affiliate for other people’s products and after you have sold a certain number of the product, the owner will often let you have a free copy. Don’t be tempted to buy the product using your own affiliate link, if you want to establish a long term business in internet marketing. The owner will always remember you as a cheat, and I have never been turned down after asking for a free copy, once I’ve sold five copies beforehand. I got the idea from the owner of one of my affiliate products who lets all his affiliates have a copy after five sales. But many product owners let their affiliates have a copy straight away.

The advantage of creating an outsourced product on the same subject as some of your affiliate products, is that you can compare yours with theirs for plagiarism. Google will only check the information that is online, not within products. But you can check the content of products using a great tool called Dupe Free Pro, which is a free download at www.dupefreepro.com, and it will show you as highlighted text all the similarities between the two different pieces of text.

I would advise against having a product on exactly the same subject as affiliate products though, as if yours is different (different, longer and better!) you can work with your product owners and promote each others products, rather than compete against each other.

In conclusion you can read all the information you want about outsourcing, but I strongly recommend that you get started as soon as possible, because that is the quickest way to learn and it will give a huge boost to your business by making you more money and giving you lots more time.

Remember, the most successful people are not necessarily the smartest people. They are the ones who find smart people to do the work for them ;-)

Sites where you can outsource to freelancers:

Most are based in the US but you can still use them if you are outside the US if the work can be sent online. SoloGig, for example, asks for your area in the search box, but leave it blank if you are outside the US.

US
RentaCoder.com
Guru.com
Elance.com
GetaCoder.com
SoloGig.com
FreshWebJobs.com
Findafreelancer.com
Odesk.com
Craigslist.com


UK
NoAgenciesPlease.com
Freelancers.net
Freelancersintheuk.co.uk

by Paula - Engineer Your Success - May 2009
 

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