In the past, we’ve talked about Virtual Assistants, online
reputation, websites, and affiliate marketing.And I’ve heard you when you say, “Where will I find the time to set things
up so I can outsource them.I don’t
always know how it needs to be done.”
So we’ll start this with learning how to successfully delegate,
and then identify avenues for delegating tasks that will build your business.
Often, business owners can’t see the forest through the
trees.They see their business as one
big living organism that needs nurturing, and they feel they have to have their
hands on everything to keep it happy.So step one is to take a step back
and look at the components.You have
your major areas like finance, sales and marketing, operations, and management.In your mind, spend some time separating
out the different responsibilities and deliverables.
For this article, let’s focus on sales and marketing.There are so many areas of marketing online.You want to set up a blog.You want someone to answer questions on
Yahoo! Answers and Linkedin.You want to add an affiliate
links on your website.You need someone
to build the website and add new content regularly.Step two is to view the tasks like an assembly line.If you’re going to have a blog, that’s one assembly line.Identifying and setting up affiliate marketing products would be another
assembly line.
When you think about these tasks as an assembly line, it
makes it easier to delegate because you know what you’re expecting at the end.You can see online that there is a
new, high-quality blog post three times a week that are optimized for specific keyword
phrases identified by someone else.
And you can have these processes set up so that way one
assembly line feeds another, and keeps the process building without you.The goal of delegation is to remove the repetitive tasks freeing
you up to think strategically.When
someone else is taking care of the assembly lines, you can start to think of new
ways to build sales channels.
So clearly think about the end result, delegate, and have
clear communication as to your expectations of quality.
It will help you find the right people when you outsource.There are many places to outsource.I’m going to focus on
Elance for this article.
At the end, there will be a list of other options for outsourcing including offshore
providers.
First, you need to register.It’s a short process, and you have the option to put in detailed information
about your company.The more information
you provide, the better the bids may become as the more experienced service providers
do check to ensure that the company isn’t a fly-by-night.
Then you will create your RFP in the system.You’ll set up a category, a budget, a timeframe, and then put in your project
scope.The best descriptions detail
your assembly line: what you’ll provide, what you expect in return, and when you
need it.For your initial projects,
you should consider requirements that are very narrow in scope and well defined.This will allow you to learn the process,
and you’re not putting out much money if it doesn’t go well.A sample project could be to request five articles that would then be posted
to ezinearticles.com with links back
to your website.Another would be to
install WordPress, upload and active
a theme, and a list of common plugins.
These are all activities that should be completed within a week, and for under $500.
When you start proposing larger projects, or ones with
longer timeframes, it helps to know what your budget is, and have it be reasonable.There are some companies that have descriptions
that are enormous in scope, extremely minimal in budget, and an impossible timeframe.For example, there is always someone
asking for 1500 brand new articles fully optimized for 15 keywords to be delivered
in 2 days for under $50. Don’t be a “bottom feeders.”If you have a very low budget, you may wish to strategize, and only do the
low-hanging fruit first, and build up the business more slowly. Fixed price will
save you money, and you’re not responsible if the worker mis-scoped their abilities.
When you put out your bid, you will get a few different
types of responses.The first are the
extremely low bids and are usually offshore.
Offshore bids can sometimes be useful, but be aware that really low bids can cause
you more headaches.The quality can
be low regardless of your stated expectations.Remember the axiom: You get what you pay for.
There will be those that try to expand the project and
bid much higher then your scope.These
bids can also be useful.Perhaps you
missed something important in your bid.
If most of the bids are at the high end, then maybe you improperly scoped your project.You can always update the scope and
extend the bidding time to get better, more targeted bids.
If only 1 or 2 people bid on your project, it could mean
your budget was too low, too large in scope, or provided insufficient detail about
what should be delivered.Again, you
can update the scope and extend the bidding time to get more bids.
When you’ve settled on a few bidders that seemed to have
solid proposals, spend a few minutes getting to know each of them.Click and read their profiles as well as feedback.Have they spent the time to really fill out their profiles?What is their feedback like?
Have they done projects like yours before?
Some people upload samples into the Portfolio.Others don’t, but will provide samples if you request it.For things like marketing, it can be difficult to have a portfolio since
a lot of the work may be covered by non-disclosure agreements.
Interview the candidates, and then choose the one you like
the best.You can even choose two or
three to see how well they perform.
(That’s why it’s great to start out really small).
After you have awarded the project, you will need to work
with the contractor as to the business terms.Do not pay all up front, but don’t expect to only pay at the end.It’s best for everyone if you set up regular milestones to gauge progress.Even if it’s a very short project, don’t
be concerned about paying a little up front to get the project started.If you use escrow, you will be protected.
When the project is complete, you have a few choices.You can extend the project and have additional
deliverables.You can create a new
project and invite the people you enjoyed working with, or you can go to the service
provider’s profile page, and create a new bid from there.
If you want to be successful in outsourcing, first know
what you are expecting to receive as an end product.Release yourself of the burden of needing to be a part of the process.Post your project to a known good outsourcing
agency.Some provide additional services
such as time trackers, activity reporting, etc. Have
a reasonable project, interview the people that match your ideal best, and enjoy
the knowledge that it is getting done.
There are so many things you can outsource.Start small, and write down all the ideas that it sparks.As your budget allows, start adding in more people to do your work.You can build your business up and out without having the cost of another person
in your office.
