This week I’m scheduled to speak at a high-level, closed doors event and I was asked to put together a few things about outsourcing a business. Since I don’t want to give away all the content here on the blog I thought I’d just pick a couple of the pieces and share with you some tips that will put you light years ahead of the natural learning curve.
So here’s some snippets from the presentation:
Sin #1: Hiring a company who provides your full-time outsourcer
If you’ve ever been on Elance, Odesk, or Rentacoder you know that there’s a million people providing services to fit the beer budget or champagne royalty however what most people on those networks never tell you is that 75% of them are actually companies disguised as individuals. This can be horrific for your business if you’re looking to take on a part-time or full time employee and the reason is the outsourcer working for you has zero loyalty to you. The loyalty is to their boss… you know, the guy actually giving them a check.
Sin #7: Not having a budget
If you don’t know how much you’re making you can’t hire anyone and you can’t long term grow your business. Know how much you can spend on employees and don’t exceed that. If it makes sense cut costs in other areas to bring that person in or create a new revenue stream but a recipe for disaster is spending what you don’t have. Even though you can get a full time college graduate outsourcer for $300 a month doesn’t mean you should be doing that until you can justify it. But I will give you a simple secret so that you can afford them even if you don’t have the money. Let’s say you desperately need a graphic designer for your business but you just can’t swing the $300 overhead. Simple. Go out and find people who need graphic design work done and bid out a job. You may be able to get a $300 job that will take 1 week for your “new” graphic designer to complete and when they’re done you now have a free outsourced graphic designer for the next 3 weeks. There’s no limitations, just excuses on why things can’t work.
Silver Bullet #1: Get a daily report
If you break it down to it’s most simple form there are 3 question you can ask to see if you’re outsourcer is on target. No need for time tracking software, or fancy pants spreadsheets, just start with the 3 basics.
What did you accomplish and what results did you get today?
What challenges or obstacles did you face?
What questions do you have?
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Just by implementing these little tips you’ll have a more productive team and save a ton of headache and money.
I’m implementing an idea for the next couple of days, so I’ll let you in on it. This morning I had an idea of using a donation system for me doing some consulting. It will work like this. Today through Friday I’m going to work with people to grow their businesses. You’ll have access to me, my tools, my marketing arsenal (proven copy, auto responders, opt-in pages, systems) and if needed my team.
Last week I helped a membership site owner add over $10k a month in revenue to his biz. Earlier this year I helped another business owner add almost $100k using just 1 technique from a single session… not saying that will happen to you but those are some of the results.
I’m going to do these consulting session by donation basis which means YOU PICK THE PRICE. This was an idea I had this morning so I’m running with it and I’m making myself available for the next couple days. Click on the Donation button enter in the price, submit. I will contact you via email and then we will meet via skype, chat, or webinar.
Here’s the button: