As an entrepreneur one of the first things you have to come to grips with is you can’t do it all yourself, and are a fool to try to. So you will need to get others to help, one of the biggest trends is hiring someone overseas to work for you. This is great as it’s an economic form of arbitrage as the current cost of labor overseas is significantly less then in the USA. Your money in this economy goes a lot further overseas. So you hear the buzz about outsourcing but don’t know where to start. Well let me help you out…
The first step is answering this question….
What are looking to have someone do? Is it a small project/task or long term?
Smaller Projects/Tasks
If you are looking for a single project you can go a few different ways. Here are some places to find someone.
99designs.com — If your task is graphics design, you can sponsor a contest to have work done and pay the winner so you are paying for the one you like not the designer to try to make something you like. The prices range anywhere from $100-600 depending on what you are looking for.
fiverr.com — this is a great place to get some small tasks done like articles written, seo help, logos created, or buy someone overseas time for data entry all for just $5, it’s worth a look. I’ve had people there kick out good quality logos for only $5.
vWorker.com — if you are looking for something more technical, or larger then those sites, like developing an iphone app, vworker.com provides a community where you can put the work out to bid and select the best candidate from around the world.
odesk.com — oDesk provides a unique offering that allows you to hire someone to do a project on an hourly basis and it has special software that monitors the person’s desktop while they are on the clock and takes screenshots to provide you with proof the person was working. It’s another great place to pick someone up for a short term project.
How to get started…
1. Scope Document: For a small project the first thing you will need to do is develop a scope document detailing what the project is, however thing works, and include sketches of wireframes if you can. This is critical it’s the difference between you being happy with the end product and wanting to stick an ice pick in your worker’s eye. Make sure to provide as much detail as you can. For instance if you are doing an iPhone app you need to factor in how things look, and act, are their transitions between screens? Ideally if you provided designs to a developer and they just had to make it work you are in much better shape. The purpose of the scope document is to make sure the person provides what you expect and you don’t start expecting more then was originally agreed on. Anything not in the document will cost you more to accomplish.
2. Find a Worker: Now that you know what you want done and communicate it more then “I want a web site” it’s time to put it out for bid. Depending on what the project is you will want to use one of the resources above to bid out the job. Evaluate the bidder on more then just price, look at their experience and feedback. Use my tips provide in the post “Finding help in an Over-saturated Talent Market” to help you screen candidates.
3. Agree to milestones: Set some milestones or deadlines with your worker don’t leave it open ended, you need something that will motivate them to finish up, but also try to be reasonable with time lines and don’t expect them to deliver you facebook in a week it’s not going to happen.
Long Term Projects – The Real Value in Outsourcing
The real value to outsourcing everyone speaks about is hiring someone long term to help you out. This person could be an administrative assistant, programmer, writer or whatever role you can off load. With this style you build an employee-worker relationship with your employee, without the high costs of health care, employee taxes, etc that you get hiring in the us. This is very valuable as you will be able to get more done then in a project to project basis. The worker will get use to your requests and meanings, also this is a much better environment for if you don’t know exactly what you want to hand over a scope document.
Where to Hire Someone?
replacemyself.com — This is where I go to get my talent, here you get access to 2 different Philippine job sites where people are putting up their resumes to get hired. As well you get a project management tool, and training modules to make your workers more effective. I’ve had great luck there. The good thing about the Philippines instead of say India is that the culture. Typically your worker wants to make you happy is loyal and is more interested in collecting a pay check and less chance of them taking your ideas/code and running with it. Also since they use to be an american colony they speak good English and are very Americanized. Here you can hire a programmer from anywhere between $300 – $700 a month for 40 hours a week, thats roughly $2 an hour. In the US that might buy you 10 hours of development.
How do you pay them?
Xoom.com — I’ve been using xoom their service can either have the money couriered to your worker if they don’t have a bank account, or transfer direct into their account. This is good because believe it or not most people in the Philippines don’t have bank accounts. The fees are minimal $5.99 per transfer. You are well off to either work out a once a month payment or every 2 weeks.
Paypal.com — Paypal can also be used they are supposedly really good for paying a bunch of people at once with less fees per paycheck then xoom but it might be a problem if your employee doesn’t have a bank account.
How do you communicate and share files?
Skype.com – skype is an awesome tool. You can talk internationally via computers and internet for free. It also allows you to share desktops so you can help them
Dropbox.com — this allows you to share documents via an internet service.
Subversion — Version control software, great for programming, install it on a server and give them access. It tracks versions so if something gets messed up you can roll back.
Git — Another version control software, many people are using this instead of Subversion, I haven’t explored it enough to make the switch but it’s another option
How to get started…
1. Interview and hire someone: Find someone who has the skills you are looking for then send them an email, something like “I saw your resume online am looking for ….. thought you might fit, I’m offering $$$ per month for 40 hours a week worth of work, if you are interested let me know and we can setup a time to talk on skype.” Use my tips provide in the post “Finding help in an Over-saturated Talent Market” to help you screen candidates. Make sure to let them know that the first 30 days are probational and will determine if it’s a long term project.
2. First task: Don’t overwhelm them, create a lot of small tasks that add up to a larger task, and provide them enough for a few days. Setup an expectation of receiving a nightly email with their status finished or not. That will help you keep in touch with how fast they work and if you need to give them more or less tasks at once.
3. Treat them good and they will reciprocate: Many employers forget they are working with people not robots. So try to build a relationship and make the person feel special. Make them want to do a great job for you, not doing the “put the fear of God in them” style of management. No one wants to work like that, and it’s a train heading towards a wall. Honey attracts more bees then vinegar.
4. Play it by ear: at this point it’s all circumstantial as to what you should do, you will have to use the force and determine if you are happy with their results and the way the relationship is going. If not first look at yourself and see if there is something you are doing wrong in this situation. 90% of the time you are the problem not the employee. You might be sending mixed signals, not being direct enough, expecting them to think like you or a number of other management foe-pas.
5. Reward excellence: If after a period of time the person is doing well consider a minor raise, or some sort of bonus. It will help with morale.
Summary
Outsourcing is addictive. As you get more use to it you will want to outsource more and more of your tasks, and that’s a good thing. The goal is to off load the tasks that are not the most important thing you can be doing with your time so you can focus on the pieces that make you happy. I believe this opportunity to save money overseas will dry up like the gold rush. Eventually the cost of development will be the same globally. We may be 20 years off but eventually you will use the same skills to hire the best and brightest, rather then to save money. So It’s best to take advantage of it now and learn the skills while it’s cheap.
I want to hear your comments, so post your comments and questions I will be glad to answer any questions I can. The links above are affiliate links that do make me money if you decide to use them as well.
