OutsourceSurvival.com

This article is for those who don’t have a technical bone in their body, and feel intimidated by the prospect of hiring some guy in India (or wherever)to do it for them. Aside from convincing you that ordering a website IS like ordering a hamburger, this article will give an outline on what you need to know to build your own website.

There is a common misconception that if you don’t know how to muck around with code, you don’t know enough to outsource the building of a website. Let’s just burst that bubble right now- it’s easy. Anyone can do it. Yep anyone, even if you’re still not sure what a blog is, and you think .NET is just a web address

A Website is like a Burger

mmm weburgerlicious...

Ok, here comes my food analogy… it’s late and I haven’t eaten dinner. Bear with me it should eventually make sense. The premise is that you don’t need to know how your favourite hamburger is made to order it or enjoy it. Likewise, you don’t need to know what’s in the guts of a website to have a freelancer build it. In fact, just like with food sometimes it’s nicer not to know. Blissful ignorance can be a powerful thing

However, just like buying a hamburger, it’s up to you to decide what fillings, buns, and sauce you want. Those decisions are your responsibility. There’s nothing worse then waiting for someone to order when they haven’t worked out what they want. They fumble around, change their mind, and keep everyone waiting. Often they’ll ask their friend or the person serving them ‘what should I get?’ Desperately seeking to dodge that tremendous commitment and get someone else to make the decision… then in the heat of the moment, they order something they didn’t really want. Don’t let this be you when it comes time to build your site. Read the rest of this entry

This article discusses how outsourcing can dramatically reduce the cost of launching your startup, sometimes by up to 90%.

So you’re thinking of starting a business. Chances are that you’ve got your business plan (even if that only means a few scribbled notes) and you want tp open your doors and start making money. Right now.

Visual representation of purchasing power

If you’re like me and 99% of entrepreneurs out there, the first thing on your mind is ‘how am I going to get this all done’… followed by a glance at your bank balance, and the thought that another $100k would be nice

But you don’t have it, and you don’t want to keep your day job and save for the next 10 years! So now it’s time to ‘bootstrap’ and cut some corners (Jules Edit: alternatively send your partner out to get a permanent job so she can support you and your business!) and see how far you can stretch your coin.  Cash is king as they say, and you need to preserve it. Read the rest of this entry

There are literally hundreds of websites now where you can hire individual freelancers or contract to full service outsourcing companies. Your choice could make or break your project. So how do you find a good one?

This article is part of the series “How to Find a Great Freelancer Online”.

In this article we will discuss the best websites to find a high quality freelance or outsource service providers. These are the sites that I’ve used, or had personally recommended to me by other entrepreneurs. I consider these to be the market leaders for services, and I really don’t think there’s much need to look further. Just like I don’t really need more then 1 or 2 eBays… the same idea applies.

Without further ado, here are my top 4, in order of preference:

• www.rentacoder.com
• www.guru.com
• www.elance.com
• www.odesk.com

If you think I’ve missed an important one let me know and I’ll add it!

Want to blaze your own trail?

Suppose you don’t like the above four, what should you look for generally? These are the features you want as a minimum: Read the rest of this entry

This is a brief discussion on controlling change within a live outsourcing project; in particular, ‘reducing scope’, or removing or simplifying functionality. This was a topic I was completely unfamiliar with when I first got into using freelancers. Over the course of a 12 month project, small uncontrolled compromises compounded each other, and in the end ‘broke’ many of the business objectives. Expensive rework, flawed functionality and a system that didn’t work as expected were the price I paid for inexperience.

On a smaller project, a few corners cut here and there may seem like no big deal, and sometimes they aren’t. On larger projects (starting at several $K), or projects that extend over longer periods of time (weeks/months) small reductions in functionality or simplifications of requirements can really start to have a negative impact on your finished product.

Why would you want to cut corners?
You’ve done your plan, you’ve worked out what you need, you’ve found a freelancer who has agreed to do the work. The obvious question is why would you want to cut anything out? Well from my experience, once a project (software in particular) gets underway a couple of things happen that will force your hand.

Your outsourcer for the first time actually takes a good look at your requirements. If you’re not careful, up until this point they’ll have been giving your requirements lip service. It seems totally crazy to agree to a project that isn’t understood… but that’s the way many do it. They’ll have been focussed on the sales effort, and will have committed only very limited resources to actually understanding your requirements. Now all of a sudden they’re responsible for building it and payday is guaranteed… all they need to ensure is that they can turn a profit on it. Read the rest of this entry

This post is the first of a series on How to Select a Great Freelancer Online. It specifically discusses how to use past customer feedback and work histories to ‘read between the lines’ and reveal a freelancer’s real performance. You can find the index for the series and the first article here.

Part 1 of How to use customer feedback/ratings covers:

• How to use the average feedback rating (or score) to weed out under-performers
• How to assess past work performance and determine a freelancer’s credibility
• How to avoid being Scammed

Part II of How to use customer feedback/ratings (find it here) covers:

• How to analyse customer comments, what they mean, and reading between the lines
• How to do a background check on your potential outsourcer

So, On With Part 1. Customer Feedback, Past History = Future Performance?

The only way to verify someone’s past performance and identity online is by reviewing their customer feedback and interaction within outsourcing websites. All freelance/online outsource sites have customer feedback because it’s extremely useful for filtering out the trash (scammers, fly-by-nighters, psychos etc.). When using feedback and ratings it’s essential to remember that it isn’t perfect. As any investor will sorely tell you, past history is no guarantee of future performance! Add to this the fact that feedback histories can be gamed/manipulated, you’re left with an information source which is only useful if it’s used with care.

How to analyse customer feedback:

All feedback is not created equal, some reviews should be given more weight then others, and there are hidden stories in the data. Here are a few things to look for to keep you safe. Read the rest of this entry