Archive for outsourcing
Outsourcing relationships – a case study
Posted by: | CommentsI have a good web designer, he has got good flair and his designs are generally pretty good. I’ve tried many designers and not all have been that good in coming up with designs, there is a definite look to some sites and I can often tell if they have been designed by an Indian company. It’s hard to actually put my finger on what it is about these sites, it’s just a feel.
My business plan is to help clients get a website designed or makeover as cheaply as possible as a good way to get them into relationship with Outsource success and fromm there they may want to hire extra resources and use a Virtual Assistant, where we can receive ongoing income and profits.
As a result of this I can’t afford to spend a lot of time interacting with the designer otherwise it ends up not being profitable particularly in the short term
I’ve produced quite a detailed brief that I ask the client to fill in and send to the designer.
I have the designer show me the first draft that he comes up with, I want to make sure that it looks OK and that he has got it more or less spot on and I can catch any misunderstandings.
Sounds straightforward so far…
Ok the problem now arises that he sends me his drafts at 5PM my time, now that is not a good time for me as it is the time that I have to go and pick up my son from nursery and then we have dinner time, bath time and then the bed time routine.
By the time I am finished with my routine, because of the time difference he has finished for the evening and he is not able to make any changes until the next day.
In order for our relationship to progress, I have decided he has to get his drafts to me by 4 O’clock that way I can give him feedback he can make any necessary changes and then send them to the client that same day
Now this may seem like a small point but it makes a big difference in the smooth running of my business and he is going to have to bend to my schedule or I am going to be more proactive in looking for a different web designer.
Matching your weaknesses with your Outsourcers Strengths
Posted by: | CommentsNearly 12 months ago I took the Kolbe Test; it’s a Psychometric type test. If you’ve never completed one of these tests I suggest you invest the $40 or so, I certainly found it money well spent. Every test I’ve done and my partner has done has been very accurate)
The Kolbe test helped me identify my strengths
My strengths are
-
Analysing Options
-
Creating Strategies
-
Allocating Resources
The problem that I had been coming up against was that I was really bad, rubbish in fact at finishing jobs off. I was always coming up with great ideas and strategies but very rarely executed on them.
The cynics might say did you really need a test to tell you that you struggled to get projects completed and the answer would be a definite
‘No, I am well aware!’
However, the value for me was in identifying my strengths and having them articulated concisely in 3 bullet points.
I looked at the list and allocating resources, said to me getting outsourcers to do the work. That was one of the turning points for me in really getting focused on building Outsource Success as a business, primarily to help support me in my entrepreneurial endeavours.
What are your strengths and weaknesses and how can using outsourcers fill in the gaps for you?
Start with the end in mind!
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s an age old goal setting principal. If you don’t know what your destination looks like how you are going to know when you get there.
It’s important to map out how you want your Outsourcing relationship to be.
Here is the scope of the role I’m looking to fill now, there is probably someone within my existing team who can do this for me, even so I think it’s important enough for me to write a list of my requirements. It makes me identify exactly what needs to be done and helps me highlight areas which are my ‘current time wasters’
-
Work with minimum supervision and interaction
-
monitor projects that are in progress and keep them moving,
-
send reminders to people that have not responded to deadlines
-
keep track of payments
-
ensure projects get completed
-
remind me of work that I need completing and keep me to deadlines
-
filter out junk and non critical e-mails
-
be pro-active and be able to undertake research or mange others collating research
-
format and add images to my blog posts
-
insert video posts into the blog
-
sift through job postings on elance and reply to interesting jobs
Why some Virtual Assistants get bent out of shape by cheap overseas labour?
Posted by: | CommentsThere are 2 main breeds of Virtual Assistants, those that are based in western countries like the US, Canada, UK and Australia and then those based in developing countries like India, Philippines, China and Mauritius.
The VA’s from the Western Countries often market themselves as being an extension of the clients business, being able to think for the client and be proactive taking care of things before they become an issue. They can be a bit like the right hand person or, executive assistant a MD may have when running a multi national corporation.
A number of the Western VA’s think that the Indians et al have jumped on the bandwagon and hijacked their industry. Welcome to globalisation. The more people that use cheap overseas VA’s will help raise awareness of the industry and grow the numbers of people wanting their more expensive option.
Obviously someone as competent and experienced as that is going to cost more money than a Virtual Assistant from India; they may be 5 -15 times more expensive, charging anything in the range of $35 to $100 an hour
If you or your business is already cash rich then it might be worth hiring someone from the US or UK who can work like this for you.
Most business owners though cannot afford this luxury and if the truth be known would be quite happy to be earning that sort of money themself.
If the tasks that make up your business are well documented and systematised then hiring an assistant at over $50 an hour is an unnecessary luxury when there is a plentiful supply of VA’s who will work for around $10 an hour.
If you’re able to systematise the tasks there is no reason why a $10 an hour VA can’t do as good a job as a $100 an hour VA.
I’m interested to hear your views would you hire a virtual Assistant at $30 plus an hour?
What comes first the clients or the systems?
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s been a long time since I’ve written a proper message about what’s been happening
To be honest I’ve taken my eye off the ball.
My main focus needs to be on income generation and systemisation so the company and I are earning enough and I’m not getting in the way of a smooth running machine.
Part of my problem has been a chicken and egg scenario.
I’ve been wanting to service more clients but needing to organise my own ‘working life’ better so that the business runs more smoothly.
What comes first the clients or the systems?
We’ve got some very good VA’s already but they are totally booked up working with existing clients.
Anyway I made the decision a couple of weeks ago that the next new member of staff that showed some leadership potential was going to be ‘commandeered’ for my exclusive use.
I’ve spent the time waiting by mapping all the tasks that I need doing you can download the mind map here.
We’re working through the list as he completes each task I’m having him create a process map of what needs to be done so that we can use it as we build Outsource Success and our clients can benefit too.
Lots more to share over the next few weeks, expect to see regular blog posts from now on.
Gavin
Budgeting your time
Posted by: | Comments
This is especially important if you are providing research assignments. You might ask the VA to identify celebrities based in London and e-mail their agents. If you think about you could easily spend a whole day doing that and get a big list, however if you have 10 hours a week allocated you might only want to spend 1-2 hours doing this because you have other tasks that are more important. If that is the case you need to communicate this to your VA.
Have a list of projects that are some day or on the back burner so that if for some reason you are particularly busy, you are ill or you go away on holiday you can keep your VA gainfully employed.
Every action with an outsourcer costs you money?
Posted by: | Comments
Time is money. Correct?
Well time is our most valuable currency and if you are serious about living the four hour work week then it’s vital that you trim down the interactions that you have with the outsourcers you work with.
There is a fine line between asking pertinent strategic questions and being needy and seeking approval too often.
High touch outsourcing relationships
Posted by: | CommentsWhy would you want to have a high touch relationship with an outsourcer?
Some benefits could be:
- Loyalty
- Improved response to your requests
- May add more value to your business, coming up with ideas for you to implement
- May be prepared to be more flexible with you.
- Generate ideas that can improve efficiency
Downsides:
- Invest time in getting to know someone and they end up leaving
- Can spend a lot of time getting to know someone, that takes time and there is an opportunity cost associated with that.
Do you really need more friends?
It might be better to distinguish between High Touch and Low Touch Tasks rather than the relationships themselves?
I need your vote…Can you digg me?
Posted by: | CommentsVoting has started in Rich Schefren’s Attention Age Doctrine Competition.
At the moment I’m running 3rd in my category. The informational sector, the leader I think has been miscategorized and should be in the humerous section, his video is funny, no doubt about but not informational. I’m not really counting him as competition so I am really in second place and only 14 votes behind second spot.
I’m planning a late run anyway and could even take first place.
Here’s how to vote
1 You’ll need to create an account at www.digg.com and activate it through your e-mail
2 Then go to this link http://www.digg.com/celebrity/When_your_crusty_old_boring_and_have_no_sense_of_humour
3 Then just underneath the number next to the post it will say Digg it click on that and it will change to Dugg
Thanks for Digging me.
Gavin
P.S. this campaign has already proved valuable, I have had 4 solid enquiries for people looking for outsourcing services at least 300 people have watched my video already and the name recognition for Outsource Success is increasing.
If you haven’t seen my video it is at the bottom of this post
If you’ve not read the Attention Age Doctrine you can download it here.
I’ve created a one page Attention Age Doctrine Mindmap.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Attention Age Doctrine Competiton Tips
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’re thinking about taking part in Rich Schefren’s Attention Age Doctrine competition to become an Internet Video Maven, then it is certainly getting hot.
It’s certainly going to be worth it.
I’ve got a couple of tools that can certainly help you the first is called Traffic Geyser, there’s a 2 week $1 trial and it is certainly worth every cent of that.
Watch the video below you will see that I have already got the top 3 positions in Google for the term ‘Sports Nutrition Video’
HOW cool is that,
Not sure how sticky it will be but it is there and has been there for 9 hours now.
Have a quick scan of the video below, subscribe over on the right and I’ll be adding updates over the next 48 hours as we approach the deadline for the contest. If anyone has any tips on how to produce great online videos from Camtasia I’d appreciate it as my efforts so far are not going to cut it.
The quality of the vid is not great but the video is, I’ll get this sorted out in the next 48 hours, otherwise I’ll get ZERO votes.
The bonus: if you register for Traffic Geyser through my link I’ll give you 5 Hours of Virtual Assistant time for Free. I’m going to limit this to the first 20 people. Just send me the details of your order and we’ll get that squared away for you before the end of the year.
Back to the Video Making. I’ve got some good ideas for the competition.
Powered by ScribeFire.