Various aspects of outsourcing might make sense for you and your online business. If you look at the number of hours you spend on tasks that you could outsource for less than you could make if you had those hours available to do something else, it might seem like a very good idea. But, despite the four hour work week fantasy being a little bit unrealistic, there are some distinct disadvantages that can come into play when you outsource some aspects of your online tasks.
Quality Control Concerns
When you have someone working on helping you make your online business a success, there may be issues of quality control. It could take a lot of time and effort to double-check the work that's done by someone else. For some tasks, it might be counter-productive to outsource if you spend an inordinate amount of time checking what someone else has done. There are times when you outsource and the quality doesn't work out. You're out financially and you need to spend time fixing someone else's poor quality. For this reason, outsourcing can take time to get right and it may require some trial and error finding the right people to work on your behalf. Timing can be an issue as well. If you're putting trust into a freelance professional or professional assistant and their reliability (or lack thereof) can impact your project, money and customers can be impacted.
Cost of Outsourcing
From a cost perspective, paying to have work done can be a challenge. In some cases you can pay for work before the work is complete, only to find out that it doesn't meet your needs. You might also choose to use an escrow service to manage this but your funds are tied up in escrow until your project is complete and if there is a dispute there's often a long process of arbitration before your funds can be returned to you.
Losing Touch
As an online entrepreneur, it's important to keep your finger on the pulse of your business. If you outsource too much for too long, you can begin to lose touch. Not being up to speed on the latest in SEO, not keeping your copywriting skills polished, and not following updates to your website management could leave you in a tough position if your assistant suddenly cannot work or disappears. You might find that your profits slip as well if you're not staying up to date on market trends.
When you do decide to weigh the pros and cons of outsourcing, you may find that it still weighs in the favor of outsourcing some of your tasks so that you can free up time to grow your business and have more work / life balance. Taking the time to find the right professional while continuing to stay in tune with every aspect of your business will certainly help increase the effectiveness and profitability of outsourcing. There are some services that can help facilitate this process for you or you could really luck out and make connections with true pros who are an asset to your business.
Learn more about outsourcing.
Review & Recommendations: Top Outsourcing
Odesk ReviewSummary - There are plenty of places to find people to outsource your web development tasks (or become a freelancer yourself), but Odesk is one of my favorites and here's why... Visit Odesk Website...
eLance ReviewSummary - This is the king of all that is Freelance work! There is a lot of technical emphasis on the outside (like website design, etc.), but there is plenty of other jobs (almost anything you can think of) if you look a little bit deeper. You may have to bid a bit lower than you would like due to the competition. Visit eLance Website...
Rent-A-Coder ReviewSummary - Rent-A-Coder is one of the premiere software development freelance websites currently on the internet. There focus is mostly on software development, but many other skill sets are covered for both the freelancer and the buyer. Visit Rent-A-Coder Website...
<< Back to Outsourcing Articles
