Outsourcing for Dummies

Many Affiliate Marketers & Internet Entrepreneurs have ideas flying around like hotcakes, but rarely the resources to execute. You may end up having 5-10 projects on the go all at once if you’ve got severe ADD like me.

When you’re working on projects alone, the smallest of tasks can end up exhausting all of your resources & decreasing your productivity.

I like to put a dollar figure on what I think my time is worth. For example, I think that a full days work for me is worth $400, BUT then I spend the whole day trying to figure out why my wordpress template doesn’t look right I have effectively wasted a lot of valuable time.

So why not outsource this work? If you’ve theoretically just lost $400 for getting no work done & you can hire someone to do the job cheaper then why wouldn’t you?

Well firstly, Outsourcing can be a daunting task. Especially if you’ve not commissioned anyone to work for you before. So how do you go about it?

This all depends on the type of project you are working on, the expectations & the timelines. You can get a good feel for these metrics by looking at projects other people have submitted on Elance or Get a Freelancer. The advantage of doing work with companies like these are that generally it’s free to post your project & you only pay when it’s done. You can also track the progress.

What I’ve found however is that if you are consistently working on projects that demand design, coding & development then eventually you’ll need a dedicated person for that job. When that time comes how do you go about finding the first person?

Finding the right person is never going to be an easy task. Just look at all the companies you’ve ever worked for, was the team ever perfect? Probably not.

When it gets to the point that you need to hire out of necessity rather than choice then chances are you’ll also be willing to accept a much lower quality applicant than normal.

The following series of posts will try to look at outsourcing from a few different perspectives & varying project sizes.

1. Your Friends

Project Size: Small to Medium
Pros: Friends will work for food or shelter :p
Cons: If the shit hits the fan you can put stress on your friendships, you also tend to give you friends much more leeway & less slack than if they were an employee. Work also can drag out much longer if the project isn’t planned.

Friends are always one of the easiest ways to start getting help for projects. Just have a look at how Nate Whitehill & his crew work. This setup works well for these guys because they’re all business partners all working towards a common goal rather than one guy working but all his friends working for him.

That’s a decision you have to make when getting friends on board.

2. India & Malaysia

Project Size: Small to Large
Pros: Very Cheap Labour, Hard Workers, Will do all your menial tasks.
Cons: Timezones can be an Issue, So can Communication. These guys need tobe managed & expectations need to be set.

Outsourcing beyond your friends is probably your next step. If you’re on a limited budget then chances are you’ll look towards India or the Philippines. It is possible to hire a programmer or designer with years of experience for around $300 US/month. So theoretically you could have a small team working for what you’d pay 1 programmer at home.

You’ve got two choices here. If you just want to outsource your project then check out the two project sites I mentioned earlier in the post (Elance or Get a Freelancer). If you want to hire a small team then you’ll need to write up individual job descriptions of exactly what you’re looking for. When you get applications, you’ll want to screen each inidivdual then see their portfolio:

1. Have they worked in a team before?
2. What websites have they worked on?
3. Examples of coding work
4. Examples of design work
5. References

Checking references is vitally important, treat them like your background check. Rely on these heavily if you’re hiring people with lots of experience. You may also be able to hire students part time or graduates who are all self taught but still know their stuff.

Communication is vital when you’ve got a remote team working for you. I’d recommend getting skype set up so you can communicate instantly. I’d also recommend using a task management system like Basecamp to track progress & keep tabs on what’s happening on a daily basis.

Quick Tip: If you get a good group of guys/girls working for you don’t forget to reward them with a bonus if they really excel in a project.