Outsourcing 101 – Part 1

First of all, don’t let the word “outsourcing” scare you. Outsourcing means that you pay someone to do something you don’t know how to do, don’t have the equipment to do, don’t like to do, or don’t have time to do. You are already doing this in your daily life. Here are some examples of how you may already be outsourcing:

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have outsourced jobs. You could have done any of these things yourself, but you paid someone to do a job that you didn’t want to do, didn’t have time to do, or didn’t have the skills or equipment to do. Now, let’s talk about how to do this for your online business, at a very low expense.

I have been outsourcing jobs for quite a while. Here is a prime example, eBook covers. My forte is writing, not designing. I go to a site like eLance and post a job for what I need. Take a look at my eBook page. All of these covers where designed for a total price of $80, and the job was done within 24 hours. I have also outsourced internet marketing, blog maintenance, and logo design.

If you have a blog that you are trying to build, one of the best ways to get visitors is through promotion on social marketing websites like Twitter and Facebook. Let’s face it, this task is time consuming. You can go to eLance and hire someone to do this for you for as low as $4 an hour. How is this possible?

Outsourcing to the Philippines has become big business. The cost of living there is much lower than in the USA, so $4 an hour is great money for them. Filipinos find it a great honor to work for an American and they do excellent work. Filipinos strive to do the work the client’s way, not their way. (I’ve had some bad experiences outsourcing to people of other cultures, so I am speaking from experience here – stick with the Filipinos.) You’re not going to be making long distance phone calls to the Philippines – everything can be done via email, instant messaging, or Skype – which ever way you prefer.

Your assignment: Go to eLance and sign up for an account. It is free. Look through the job posts to get an idea of what other business people outsource. In the next installment of this series, I will teach you exactly how to write your ad and hire someone for a small job to test out the process. (You won’t spend more than $20.)

All of this information comes from a book called “The 4 Hour Workweek” and from a program on Jim Cockrum’s “My Silent Team.” You can get the whole program there, or come back here for the next installment for free.