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‘Outsourcing’ is always a popular topic for discussion
among Internet marketers and online business owners.

But I don’t ‘outsource’ in my business – and here’s why.

THREE REASONS TO OUTSOURCE

There may be others, but the most common reasons you’d
even consider outsourcing work to others are:

1. Efficiency – someone else can get the work done faster,
better and more efficiently than you doing it yourself.

Examples may be managing a customer support helpdesk, or
creating profiles on social bookmarking sites.

2. Expertise – someone else knows to do the things you
yourself do not have the knowledge or expertise to.

Examples are installing software or scripts, and getting
an ebook or report ghostwritten.

3. Expense – someone else can get the job done at lesser
cost than you handling it in-house.

Examples are tasks that involve time investment, which can
be farmed out to countries where manual labor is cheap.

WHY I DON’T OUTSOURCE…

I’ve managed my online business for almost 15 years.

In the course of this time, I’ve tried many different
things – including ‘outsourcing’. I learned how to do
it from the BEST teachers, esp. Stephen Pierce who gave
us an OUTSTANDING presentation of how he does it in
his business, way back in 2005.

But I don’t outsource stuff in my business.

Here’s why:

1. RISK – I’ve lost count of how often people contact me
to see if I can help them recover money they’ve lost by
outsourcing to people in my country.

Once, a subscriber frantically emailed me, saying he had
‘lost’ $25,000 to an Indian outsourcing outfit.

I was SHOCKED! $25,000 is MORE than a moderately busy
heart surgeon makes in India – in a YEAR!

And this guy had offered that much to a relatively less
skilled worker – whom he had never met except over the Net!

Crazy.

2. TROUBLE – If you commit to outsourcing, you’re also
committing to TRAINING. After reading an ebook or going
to a course on outsourcing, many beginners are excited at
the thought of handing out most of their drudgery to a
team – and paying peanuts to get it done for them.

Sorry, outsourcing does NOT work that way. You need to
train your team, and that takes time, effort, and even
money as you get it right.

And often, those you train will either leave for better
jobs when they crop up, or charge you exorbitant rates
later.

BUT THEY SAY OUTSOURCING IS THE BEES KNEES…

Yes, they do. And yes, it is. For the right person(s).

If your business tasks involve repetitive and time-
consuming activities that require relatively few skills,
then getting someone else to do it can enhance your own
productivity, leaving you free to focus on value creation.

If you lack the skills or expertise in-house to perform
certain essential actions in your business, finding someone
who can do it well is a smart decision.

But often, beginner (or intermediate) level business owners
are the ones most enamored of outsourcing – and for them,
it usually isn’t the best choice.

Here’s the important reason.

When you outsource, you still need to (gasp!) SPEND MONEY.

Yes. You didn’t think that $37 ebook, or $1,497 course,
was ALL the expense you’d incur to hand over your tasks to
an outsourcer, did you?!

Look, I signed up for Jonathan Mizel’s ‘TRAFFIC EVOLUTION‘
advanced course, paying $497 – only because I’m planning
to spend $2,000 a month or more on driving media traffic
to my sites!

If you’re spending $100 on your outsourcing ‘education’,
ask if you’re ready to invest $500 a month (or more) on
actually following through and outsourcing some of your
work.

Most online business owners manage revenues of between $500
and $50,000 a month. Yet, the purported ‘cost savings’ of
outsourcing makes them want to pretend they are on par with
Apple, and Hewlett Packard, and Dell Computers… who save
MILLIONS of dollars by outsourcing their processes abroad!

If you’re at that level of revenues, yes, outsource away.

But if your outsourcing costs are going to run to 20% + of
your overall revenues, there’s something wrong with the
picture, don’t you agree?

I worked with two outsourcers for many years.

My good friend, Marian Turgeon, of Profits Publishing, was
in charge of mailing my customers letters from Florida in
the U.S. (Yes, I outsourced my work TO the U.S.A.) – and
when she sadly passed away from an illness, I couldn’t find
anyone else to handle that as well.

Another great assistant I’ve had was Bev at HERO DESK.

My testimonial still graces her website, and she’s someone I’d
endorse heartily to anyone looking for an outsourcer or
virtual assistant.

It only cost me around $100 a month to have many parts of
my process managed by her, but even then, after a while,
the ‘cost-benefit ratio’ dropped… as compared to an
alternative I put in place (see below).

Before you make the decision to ‘outsource’, you need to
work out your costs – and make sure you’ll save more, or
earn more, than you’ll spend on training and monthly
recurring expenses.

IF NOT OUTSOURCING, WHAT THEN?

I use two things.

Technology.

And Private Label Rights.

1. TECHNOLOGY: By putting some thought into your
process, and finding the right scripts/services to
plug into, you can eliminate many time-consuming
steps in your business day.

For instance, I use Aweber’s email autoresponders to
manage a lot of marketing/follow-up communication,
and it saves me dozens of hours each month – at a
very modest cost.

And by using ‘3 Pillars Helpdesk’, I centralize and
streamline my client communication and support to
save many more.

2. PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS: For content, scripts and
other things useful in my infopreneur business, I
buy PLR – and have it customized, branded and
enhanced… letting me add to my portfolio quickly,
and inexpensively.

I understand this may not work for all types of
business, but for many Internet marketers, this is
definitely an option to consider.

SO, SHOULD YOU OUTSOURCE?

Maybe.

Only you can tell for sure. My view is that while
there are definitely situations where you need to
hand over work to others, there’s a better option.

HIRING YOUR WORKERS FULL TIME!

Now, I’m going to be contrary to widely held views
here, but these are MY thoughts – take them or leave
them.

1. Go LOCAL. Sure, there’s a cost advantage in hiring
in India, Philippines, Romania or elsewhere – but when
outsourcing will (supposedly) generate more revenue
for your business, is that such a big issue?

Contrasted against the hassles of getting scammed and
not being able to stay in touch easily with your team,
it is so much easier on your nerves to have people who
you can see, meet and monitor/supervise more easily,
if they are local.

The higher cost will be worth paying.

2. EMPLOY rather than ‘rent’. You could try out a few
people first, to see how good they are – but once you
find quality hires, KEEP THEM.

Pay generously. Invest in their training. But demand
loyalty and dedication – by being their ONLY employer!

Yes, you’ll pay more than if you ‘rent’ a coder or
designer… but you’ll get value for your money.

I once outsourced the web design and logo creation for
a new project that was almost ready to launch. Two
months later, neither was finished… so I just went
ahead and launched.

Of course, hiring employees assumes you have enough
work to hand out to keep them busy working for you.

But if you don’t, is outsourcing really what you need
to be doing? Shouldn’t marketing your business to grow
it to that level be your bigger priority? (It should!)

NO, I *WANT* TO OUTSOURCE…

Ok. If you still want to, I can’t stop you

But at least, be prepared – and learn as much as you
can first.

There are many courses, ebooks and articles – not to
mention many discussions on forums on the subject.

Learn the ropes. Ask the experts. Know what you’re
getting into. Be prepared to adapt and change as
you gain in experience. And all the while, keep a
watch on how productive and profitable outsourcing
is to your business.

John Reese is launching a new program to teach folks
how to outsource, called OUTSOURCE FORCE.

It’s going to be expensive. (I hear affiliates will
earn a lot per referred sale, so you’re sure to see
a lot of hype around it.)

I’ve learned outsourcing from John Reese, it was one
module of his famous TRAFFIC SECRETS course. That
one was solid value. I believe this will be, too.

So I’ll share my affiliate link below – if you want
to order OUTSOURCE FORCE, and use my link, I’ll make
a tidy bit of cash.

Here you go:

http://ezinemarketingcenter.com/outsourceforce.htm

Want to discuss anything that I’ve shared in this
message? Post a comment below.