Do you think outsourcing is a better idea?

If you know the art, it would be better to do it yourself, but due to shortage of time, we outsource. Do you think that outsourcing is a good idea? If so why?

 

Yes, outsourcing is a good idea when there's more work than you can do yourself but it's just one of the options that you have. You can also hire somebody local to work for you, enlist the services of family and friends, or establish a job exchange network with other online marketers. Each option has its own pros and cons.
Why do it? It will free you up to focus on the more important aspects of your business, so that you can make more money from your online activities.
Here are some tips for outsourcing: http://www.affilorama.com/blog/tips-for-elance-outsourcing

 

Yes, I can see that in your blog. It is nice. Good information about outsourcing.

 

- Wiki

It would seem that outsourcing is vital to our economy, without "contracting to a third party" how would capitalism work?

Be interesting to see if anyone (who knows more than I) can give a clear definition that avoids simple things like fast food as "outsourcing"

(Seriously though, maybe you would like to give a better definition?)

 

I've outsourced quite a lot of work in the last year or two. I've had mixed results. For small programming jobs where I've specified exactly what sort of class I want and what I want it to do, it's always turned out ok. I find Russian and Polish programmers to be very skilled on average (British/American coders are usually more expensive for a poorer service). Which is great because it knocks down development time greatly.

I've had a lot of bad experiences with content writing though. Out of the 15-20 content writers I've hired; I've only been happy with a couple of them. Everything from non-delivery, late delivery, content on the wrong subject, plagiarism, too short etc. etc.

Maybe it's just me. I'm all for outsourcing though, I don't see globalisation as a bad thing - and it isn't going away any time soon

 

There are arguments for and against outsourcing. Obviously, if you own your business, or when your activities are directly linked to your earnings, often it is better, or feels/seems better to do the tasks thoroughly and properly yourself. However, if you want to free up your time, grow and expand a business, then I think it is almost impossible not to outsource.

Outsourcing effectively gives you and your business room to grow, and also provides a freelancer/person an income. It seems like a very positive arrangement and strategy.

Personally I love the outsourcing concept as it allows me to free up my time, and dedicate my spare time to more profitable/higher-level business activities. Regrettably, I have not got a full-time outsourcing operation going, but as soon as my businesses revenue levels can justify it, I am looking to outsource a number of activities to two or three full time outsourcers.

 

Don't outsource content writing. Coding requires a measurable skill, so it normally works out great. Don't forget to factor into your cost calculations the time it takes to manage outsourced projects; I normally say that 10-20% of the time they spend on the project is the amount I'll spend managing it. Learn the management skill of outsourcing; it's something you might have to work at. Read books, forum posts, and always research your outsourcing company before hiring anyone.

 

Outsourcing is a great idea. It's the only way to scale out some services like internet marketing. Without it, there's just not enough profit in some cases.

 

I have used outsourcing with a measure of success. In fact, if you are prepared to outsource to places like India or SE Asia you can save 70% on the cost of things like software development and site design. 2 years ago, I had a full time worker who got $270 per month and it really helped my business offer high quality and to pass on the savings to my clients.

However, on the flip side to international outsourcing language can be a barrier and if you hire full time workers you have to deal with all kinds of shenanigans that cannot be verified (excuses that she used included not comleting work due to having a pig runing amuck in her house - you wont find that in London

 

look at it this way. if you OWNED a Mcdonald's would you try to do everything or would you delegate duties to people. would you work the cash register, cook burgers, and fries. If you tried all that you would not have enough hours in the day to handle the paperwork side of the restaurant or any other managerial duties. my point is this, this is a business and your focus should be on GROWING the business. things such as writing articles are too time consuming so you should delegate to someone else and you focus on growing your business.

 

@businessman - you forget that McDonald's isn't owned by an entrepreneur. It's a huge, successful business already. Entrepreneurs normally start out doing just about everything, or at least a few different jobs.

 

I agree with you completely. However, delegation is not the same thing as outsourcing.
I think this thread was more focused on moving work abroad to get cheap labour.

 

I think that even if you are a good writer you still shorten your days by writing. you can have the best written content in the world but if you have no traffic, then who'll know about your content? in order for someone to see your content you need to drive TRAFFIC to your site. spend most of your time driving traffic and outsource the content.

 

I think it's always a good idea to create your own content but if you really don't have the time then outsourcing and hiring some really good writers will be good.

 

Walk into your local Mcdonald's FRANCHISE and tell the owner he is not an entrepreneur. He'll probably serve you a hamburger that just fell from the floor
If someone purchases a FRANCHISE, and he expects to operate and make a profit, they are considered to be an entrepreneur. if he does not make the local chain appealing, clean bathrooms, make sure giving good service, food is hot, etc, people will go to another MCD. the OWNER can't do that alone, he hires people to help him where he doesn't have time to do things. the lesson: you want to work on bringing in traffic to grow your business. most people get into the business to make money. if you have no traffic, you make no money!

 

I believe its just give you an options to make some extra money by putting in your efforts and dont find any harm in that...

 

alright i have another example. Tony Robbins the motivational speaker. Dude is worth a ga-zillon dollars. Do you think he focuses on what he will say at his next conference. HECK NO! He has writers. he may look over the material but HE HAS WRITERS. the man is worth so much because he FOCUSES ON GROWING HIS BUSINESS.

 

Yes outsourcing is a great idea, it saves time and you can focus on other aspects of business. but it has some limitation though.....

 

Yes, you can outsource creation of social networking site at socialnetworksoftware.com