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Outsourcing_your_work
| Outsourcing your work...
Copyright 2005 Richard Grady
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
About the author:
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
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