How To Outsource and Grow Your Internet Marketing Empire
Posted by James in How To, Interview, Lifestyle, List Building
Streaming podcast
If you really want to scale up your Internet Marketing business you will have to outsource at some point. Most entreprenuers know this however not all of us are able to do it as well as others. This is when you look to others and see how they do it and get some ideas..
How do you find someone to ask?
Don’t worry about that I’ve found a few young guys who have 80 staff and managed to leverage their time (replacing their income within 3 months). The sum total of their experience (100,000 articles, 1000 websites, a 30 person SEO team in India). Introducing….
Marc Lindsay, (James Schramko) and Daniel Turner
Outsourcing Experts
Daniel Turner and Marc Lindsay are two switched on gents who really understand outsourcing. They run a multi-million dollar business from a small office in Queensland Australia. On this conversation I asked Daniel all sorts of questions I imagined you would like to ask him if you had the chance to get some coaching from him.
Categorize
They break down the online outsourcing into four main categories. (Design, Content, Traffic, Programming). Each of these elements need to be managed as a separate business unit. By setting up team managers the team can be managed effectively with cutting edge software. Daniel and Marcus have developed a business management tool however in the audio Daniel lists alternatives that have since become available.
Where to start?
Once you decide to outsource you can either use an outsourcing management company or you can learn the more advanced outsourcing techniques and do it yourself through a talent aggregation website.
How much should you pay?
You should avoid dealing with the lowest bidder. Also you should be avoiding automatic bidding companies (people who reply to every job without even reading the brief). Look for people with experience in the exact field you are requiring. Check feedback and ratings to make sure they were rated for the same type of work you are requiring. Make sure they are responsive prior to getting the job.
Advanced tip
Post small jobs first to select a few people to do it and then scale up with the winning supplier. If you get a few people to complete the same small job you will be minimizing the risk over the long term.
How do you pay outsources?
Keep the money in the system you are using. So if the network you use (like RentaCoder) uses escrow then continue to use that. If you branch out to friends and referrals from your original designer you may wish to use Paypal or a direct debit / International Bank transfer.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Software is one of the hardest things to get done for you. Daniel works with the rule of 3 to 6. Software usually costs 3 times more than quoted and 6 times longer than quoted! The other common mistake is to delay outsourcing too long. If you value your time then you really need to outsource as soon as possible. Start out small and start early.
On a limited budget?
Pay a little bit more and do your diligence. Spend a little bit more and make sure you have a chance of getting the job back. Post the small jobs to a few people at first and then run with the winners. Measure the results early and go with the most effective supplier. Write great descriptions for your jobs.
What things should you do your self and what should you outsource?
Strategic stuff and relationships should be done by you. If it is tactical stuff like FTP, design, content, traffic, programming, help desk can all be outsourced. Spend your time on your marketing. Look for ways to use system. Anything you hate should be outsourced!.
Is it bad to do things your self?
In the beginning it is ok to do stuff yourself. The trick is to get your outsourcing in motion as soon as you can re-invest in your business. Make sure you record the processes so that you can give the recordings to your outsource worker. This leverages your time. Daniel steps us through his action plan as if he was starting from scratch. Within a week he would be bringing in affiliate commission to re-invest in content. The next investment he would make would be design.
Look to your personal life first to free yourself up for your business
One key to building your business is to outsource the stuff you do at home. Here is a list of some of the things you might look to get others to do for you both at home and in your business:
- lawn mowing
- dry cleaning
- driver (hire car)
- food preparation
- event management
- personal assistant
- help desk
- link building
- keyword research
- spying (research tools)
- ppc management
- design
- recruitment
- management
- backup
- call centre
- copywriting
- newsletters
- pictures
- posting
- travel bookings
S.Y.S.T.E.M
Saves you stress time energy and money. That is what system means to me. If you can make a great system you also have a commercially viable product that others will be interested in. Make sure you set your business up as a system so that it is easy to run. If you are not spending time on the mundane stuff. Look at structuring deals with others to leverage your skills with others. Equity shares allow you to build profit systems for others while you do the things you enjoy the most.
Get Started
Make a goal for yourself to outsource at least one thing this week. Make a comment below and announce it. It is not a question of if you should outsource, it really a question of when. If you are thinking of growing a large online business and you place a high value on your precious time, you should be checking out the Outsource Method.
In 17 minutes, I'll show you exactly how to get your Web marketing completely fired up and bringing in awesome results. It's a FREE report. Proven, tested daily... the exact "get moving NOW" secrets I used to rocket from zero, to quitting my day job:
In 17 minutes, I'll show you exactly how to get your Web marketing completely fired up and bringing in awesome results. Works best for new marketers (and veteran marketers who've hit sticking points) with building traffic and converting leads into real sales. Best part: It's a FREE report. Proven, tested... the exact "profit creation system" secrets I used to rocket from zero, to quitting my day job and earning a fortune online, from home, with zero employees and a cheap computer with wi-fi as my biggest overhead.
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30 Comments
20. Jul, 2009
[...] James created an interesting post today on How To Outsource and Grow Your Internet Marketing Empire …Here’s a short outlineOne key to building your business is to outsource the stuff you do at home. Here is a list of some of the things you might look to get others to do for you both at home and in your business: – lawn mowing – dry cleaning … [...]
20. Jul, 2009
Good advice and a really interesting team behind the story… I am glad they’re not recommending going with the lowest bidder. As a smaller-scale outsourcer, I’ve found that the bottom of the barrel crowd is down there for a reason–lack of reliability and horrible quality.
20. Jul, 2009
John Ruskin once said it is ‘unwise to pay too little”
20. Jul, 2009
I’ve been on the edge of starting to outsource little jobs but kept saying “not just yet maybe next month” for over a year now! That’s it – I’m posting an outsourcing job tonight!
thanks for the kick in the butt!
20. Jul, 2009
@Alex let us know how it goes!!!
20. Jul, 2009
its 1AM now and I finally posted an ad on elance for a virtual assistant to help me with misc things as I need them.
here’s the job description I put down, I think it’s pretty kick ass to be honest and believe this will help me hire the very best VA available
——————-
Are you ambitious, self-motivating, and a dynamic team player that wants to make a positive difference to the world? If you answered ‘yes’, keep reading on because this Virtual Assistant position may be just what you’re looking for…
What type of Virtual Assistant do I want?
In my business I only work with the very best people. If you believe you’re in the TOP 1% of elite VA’s in the world, then I want to work with you.
The elite superstar qualities my VA must have from order of importance are:
- 100% honest and has integrity
- makes good decisions quickly
- creative and thinks outside the box
- communicates excellently with all people
- extremely punctual (always finish tasks before deadline)
- efficient worker (doesn’t waste time – only focuses on task at hand)
- can speak and understand English very well (I only need to tell you instructions once and you should be smart enough to understand exactly what I want without needing to repeat myself)
- have a burning desire to be part of something big that will make a real difference in this world
- cool personality so we can joke around and have fun working together.
Specific expertise/background that I am seeking:
- a basic understanding of the main areas in the internet marketing world so I don’t need to explain them to you. You need to know the basics about the following things: sales pages, copy writing, email marketing, social marketing, PPC advertising, blogs, product launches, affiliate marketing, generating targeted traffic, etc.
What exact tasks do I need you to do?
As my VA, I’ll need you to perform a variety of many different tasks – you won’t be doing the same thing all the time. There will be many things I’ll have to teach you how to do, therefore you need to be able to learn new skills fast. Here are some of the things you’ll be doing:
- research content about certain subjects
- organize content into specific topics
- research a topic and write original articles and short reports
- create an AdWords PPC campaign with AdWords editor
- keyword research
- research PPC ad’s and write your own
- research products/services for best deals
- upload website files through FTP
- basic html skills to edit websites
- quickly find the best answer to my questions
- do nitty gritty work such as data entry
- go over my work and make sure the presentation is good and I have correct grammar and spelling
- answer customer service emails
- install tracking codes and google analytics to websites
- research joint venture partners
- participate in brainstorming ideas for the business
- general Microsoft office skills
- event planning (seminars, teleconferences, meetings, appointments)
- make me laugh, keep me motivated and give me a kick in the ass if I’m not following through on the business goals!
- and many, many more…
Contact: We’ll need to be able to speak almost daily through skype, instant messenger services and email.
I need someone that not only does tasks for me, but acts almost as a partner to improve the performance of the business. If you can help me produce extra results, I will pay you a very fair bonus depending on your performance.
To start with, I’ll hire you on a short trial basis (1-2 weeks) and if you’ve got what it takes to work with me, I’ll create a permanent position for you.
If you like what you see and believe you’re the man (or woman) for the job, I’d love to hear from you!
regards, Alex.
PS: If you’re into personal development that’s a good advantage to have to get this position. If you’re into PD, I’d love to know what your favorite PD book/seminar/product is and what your main life goals are?
22. Jul, 2009
James,
I havent been here for awhile, and just wanted to say, not only kick ass write up and content, but amazing at what a difference a year makes can make, Especially for you. Congrats. Btw, when we were stomping out big money investing in Real Estate and Flipping houses a few years ago we made it all with a simple system that allowed me to Overhaul anything in a 4000 Square foot house or smaller in less than 7 days. A compelete Rebuild if necessary. So systems are the glue to any buisness model. Excellent information today, and thanks for sharing.
Keep rocking it out Superstar.
Regards,
Robert Nelson
22. Jul, 2009
@Robert thanks for stopping by! You are always welcome.
Yes a year makes a difference. Life is awesome. No more J.O.B and plenty of time to follow my passions.
When I was running the last business I had a checklist (I called it Business Accelerator) that could turne a business around from a loss to a profit.
Agreed – systems are it!!
The funny thing is many people need outsourcing but it is a classic catch 22 scenario.
Confidence is king!
22. Jul, 2009
@Alex, how is your project coming along? Would love to know.
23. Jul, 2009
@James: so far I’ve received 8 proposals. So far half of the applicants are individuals, whereas the other half are a VA company where I’d have a team of VA’s doing my tasks (probably a random VA for each task).
Right now I’m leaning towards hiring one superstar individual that I can rely on rather than a team of randoms.
I’ll let the proposals keep coming for a few more days and then I’ll interview the best candidates and make a decision.
Also I’ve decided to stop doing offline consulting and focus on something I’m passionate about in creating an info product I’ve been brainstorming about the past few months.
Time to get Eben Pagan’s Guru Mastermind out and see how to model the benchmark info product business!
28. Jul, 2009
Thanks for this information James. You are the most straight up guy and I really appreciate your frank honesty. Much appreciated. Keep up the good work!
28. Jul, 2009
i’m pritty new to this social media and business modelling but it is something i am being extremely passionate about and I must admit its like coming on to a poker table at 4 am, let hope the game never ends.
James your out of control man!!
30. Jul, 2009
James, you are certainly spot on about systems and business. If you are going to be successful in business you need to be able to build replicable process’ that can be leveraged across multiple uses and applications, and through scaling, offset the cost of building or maintaining it. You are my main man down under. Keep us the amazing job of giving the internet marketing world a great resource (for free).
Cheers,
Jim
30. Jul, 2009
Wow! – @Jimlillig posting on my blog
(Greatest CPA dude in the world, check out http://www.offeratti.com ) – truly an honor!
I will certainly be adding a bunch more free content here.
Perhaps it is time for a CPA network interview!
30. Jul, 2009
James, anytime you want, I am your biggest fan. Just let me know what you think your blog fans would be interested in. And just so your loyal fans know I am not full of crap, here is a completely free link that they can use to get an HonestE account set up for nothing (nada, than means no money). Use of a trust badge can increase conversions up to 7% in some cases. Enjoy: http://budurl.com/honeste
04. Aug, 2009
James, Mimi here, been following you quite awhile and as always your timing is impeccable, just landed 4 SEM Clients and this was perfect as we are outsourcing some of the work. You both nailed it ! Even managing the Outsourcing people can be a job in itself, nothing like having competent people and I agree, paying a bit more can save you hours of frustration. Blessings to you and your staff.!
08. Aug, 2009
Hey James, everything you’ve written and what Marc and Daniel suggest is absolutely correct.
As a financial planner for 20 years, and now into coming up with my own internet products, I realised how important it was to let go by delegating or outsourcing which was either in house – or out.
It allowed me the time to do what I was and am good at. And I would recommend to anyone, do what you are good at, and give over to some-one else the other stuff. It works much faster that way!
Keep up the great info and sharing!
Nobby
18. Aug, 2009
The idea of outsourcing some of the task is very good. There are many skilled people who are willing to work part time or even full time remotely. It just that you need to be very good on selecting personnel on a specific field in order not to waste money and time. Great post by the way!
30. Aug, 2009
James:
Travis here from the Earn1kaday forum;) Always enjoys your posts. Keep up the great work.
I’ve been outsourcing for over a year now and it’s been a total pain in the arse, if I can be honest. I work just as much as I did before but now it’s just different work. Now I’m a manager instead of a worker. This may sound good on paper, but I’m so busy just managing my 2 VA’s that I never have time now to do strategic stuff.
The other thing that has been frustrating is finding good workers. I can’ t tell you how many VA’s and writers I’ve gone through in the past year. They usually end up quitting or they get lazy (or sloppy) so I have to replace them.
I admire guys like you and Marc and Lindsay who have figured out how to make outsourcing actually work, but for me it’s been a struggle. Having said that, it has helped me in that I’m no longer doing all the daily crap I always hated doing. I may not be doing strategic stuff, but at least I’m managing now instead of “working.”
Travis
11. Sep, 2009
These last few weeks I have started to outsource content creation and article writing through Elance.com and I love it!
I really like to do the market research/ keyword research bit but when it comes to creating good content I am really slow, and therefore do not like it much. No I can focus on attacking more keywords/ markets instead. Next step for me is to outsource the link building/ traffic generation but I am a bit concerned about what will happen with my sites since I know from my own experience that aggresive link building can get penalised.
Any tips on how to pick a good provider for link building/ traffic generation except for the obviuos of checking reviews and earlier jobs?
Thanks for a good post!
12. Sep, 2009
Thanks for a fantastic interview – I’m off to sort out my outsourcing budget right now
Definitely need to leverage my time!
18. Sep, 2009
Hi James, Just reporting a technical issue on this one.
Audio plays back fine in the Play Now mode but only your voice is coming through when downloaded and played back.
The other MP3s that I downloaded are playing back fine.
Thanks for the great material.
Cheers,
John (met you WIS Gold Coast 2009)
28. Sep, 2009
Hey James, another nice post.
I’m also outsourcing, and I strongly advise to my subscribers and clients to outsource.
It’s true that putting a system in place is a little more difficult than just “out tasking”.
Thank you for pointing to a good resource.
Franck
29. Sep, 2009
Hi James
In your interview with Daniel and Mark you mentioned an outsourcing provider of design work that actually completes the work up front for you to decide whether you like it. Can you tell me what provider that was? I though you said crowd sourcing but I have been unable to find it.
Many thanks
Scott
16. Oct, 2009
Thanks James and the others for the great info.
The whole BPO Business Process Outsoucing has many benefits and pitfalls.
When people are considering elance, odesk, etc they may also wish to ask others, such as Chambers of Commerces in their own countries who deal with the overseas countries.
Some great advice can be gained from fellow countrymen who have been the pioneers and done the hard yards.
We are happy to answer questions relating to matters like how best deal with people and companies in The Philippines.
Simply email us or visit the website or better still, join us and other members in your http://www.superfastresults.com/ special forum
10. Nov, 2009
Hi,
Can I stress on the topic about the SYSTEM acronym? I actually agree on this because one of the basic targets of outsourcing methods that I got in this content is about time management and how to distribute tasks to leverage time and provide business automation.
Also, as given the opportunity, I also would want to share with you guys how I was also helped by this website which can be checked out at: massoutsource.com having free and interesting videos all compiled by this young Australian guy who is willing to help entrepreneurs in the time management process.
This brought a lot of help and hopefully, this can be one of your interesting resources too in the future.
12. Dec, 2009
@Jonas After this interview I got myself into gear and formalized a wholesale traffic SEO company called:
http://www.SEOpartner.com so people can let my team (based in India) do ALL the link building, content submissions, bookmarking, video and social stuff you don’t want to…
Check out the sample report to see hoe in-depth this service is!
@Scott check out http://www.99designs.com for the crowdsourcied design stuff they rock.
15. Jan, 2010
Thanks James! Need to do this to get more of the links out there and ramp the site up, fingers crossed it will all be running as smoothly as you’ve got it running in a short period of time!
Steve
18. Jan, 2010
Just tried to listen to the interview and can only hear James speaking is that correct?
Cannot hear Daniel’s voice.
23. Jun, 2010
Can’t hear either tried to listen to the interview and all I hear is your voice James.
I’m really interested in this interview, could you look in to this problem or send me the audio??
BTW. I really enjoy your point of view when it comes to internet marketing….Focus on Your Business!
Much Thanks
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