Outsourcing - BPO
Outsourcing Your Work
A few weeks ago I touched on the subject of getting other people
to do your work for you. I want to cover this topic in a bit more
detail as outsourcing is a superb way of saving yourself both
time and money.
By way of example, let me start with a short story :-)
At 8.30pm one night last week, I started to wonder whether it
would be possible to automate a particular part of one of my website
design processes. At present I do this task semi-manually and
it takes me about 4 hours to generate a multi-page website.
Anyway, by 8.45pm I had scratched out an outline of what I would
need a new custom piece of software to do to automate this task
and by 8.59pm the 'project' was advertised on one of the main
freelance websites....
Within 2 minutes I had the first bid from a programmer....
Within 15 minutes I had four more bids....
Within 45 minutes I had accepted a bid and the programmer was
working on the project.
Two days and $75 later (and with less than an hours work required
by me) and I had a brand new piece of custom software which can
complete the task in question in seconds rather than hours!
With several excellent freelance sites around nowadays, it is
very easy to find a programmer/web designer/writer/whatever that
will be happy to work with you and the cost (as illustrated above)
will often be far less than you might expect.
If you spend some time thinking about the type of tasks you could
outsource, I am sure you will soon come up with a fairly substantial
list. The following are just a few ideas:
Website design
Website maintenance
Copywriting
General writing - for example of an entire eBook!
Software design/creation (for your own use or resale)
Graphic design
Script installation (and creation)
Dealing with your support emails
Finding new affiliates
Finding new link exchange partners
And so the list goes on....
Of course, as with anything, there are a few things to be aware
of when outsourcing so here are my top tips for a successful project:
1. Only post your project on the main freelance sites (list below).
This will give you the best exposure and the highest level of
competition from bidders. This means keen pricing and a good range
of expertise from which to choose from.
2. When you post your project, ensure that you detail EXACTLY
what is required. The more information the better. If you start
adding to the brief after a freelancer has placed his/her bid,
expect the price to rise....
3. Try and keep the brief as simple as possible. Remember that
English may not be the first language of some of the freelancers
and whilst I have never had any communication problems (in fact,
most of the programmers I have used have a better standard of
written English than the majority of my fellow countrymen!), it
makes sense not to over-complicate matters with slang etc that
may not be understood.
4. Don't always opt for the lowest bid. All of the freelance
sites listed below allow you to view feedback ratings for freelancers
and I usually base my decision on this rating. I would rather
pay a bit extra and use someone with a superb rating than save
a bit of money and use a new freelancer. They may be great at
what they do but unfortunately when you are dealing with people
at a distance, you have no way of knowing and in my view, it isn't
worth the risk and potential extra hassle. Go with someone that
has already proven themselves.
5. If your project is to create something that you want to resell
(for example a software product or an eBook) make sure that you
stress in the brief that at the end of the project, you will own
the copyright and will have access to the source code/files. Obviously
you want to ensure that the freelancer doesn't come back to you
in the future complaining that you are selling his/her work and
that you can edit the product if you need to without having to
find the original creator. It would also be wise to include a
condition stating that the freelancer is not allowed to use your
product in the future for someone else or indeed sell it themselves.
As for which freelance site to use, there are three that I recommend
but my absolute fave is http://www.thetraderonline.com/scriptlance.html
and this is definitely my 'site of choice'.
Alternatively, try www.eLance.com or www.Rentacoder.com
Copyright 2005 Richard Grady
Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since
1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two
weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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