Sooner or later you will realize that it is simply not possible, nor practical, to do everything yourself. You will realize that in order to run a successful internet business, you will need some outside help. Thankfully,, the internet has very effective systems for hiring outsourcers to help with your business.
One of two things is going to happen: 1) you will realize that you just do not have time to handle everything yourself or 2) you will realize that you do not have the skills you need (writing, programming, etc.) to achieve the success you want. Most likely.you will find a combination of the two. Then, it is time to outsource this work to a skilled specialist, I want to show you the most painless way to go about doing this.
The very first step is to clearly figure out what you need. Before you can hire someone, you must know what their exact role is going to be. My suggestion is to play on your strengths. If you are a good writer but have no design sense - focus on your writing and hire someone else to manage your web design and development. Specifically, I have divided internet marketing business into the following distinct tasks:
Web design Web programming (i.e. php, database, etc) Writing (both content and sales copy) Promotion (many sub categories like PPC and SEO)
I suggest that you find one of those that you are great at doing and let others handle the rest. I'm sure by now you are asking "How the %!&* and I supposed to pay for all this??". And, unfortunately, you may not be able to afford it at first. In that case, the best strategy that I have used goes like this..
First you do everything yourself, it will be tough and you will hate it, and the work won't be world class. So what. As the website gains a little traction and you have some momentum, you start to see that your idea will work and it is time to take it to the next level. Then, you can safely hire others (slowly at first!) to help grow your business. Essentially, you become a jack-of-all-trades when you first start out and as you become more advanced, you can specialize and hire other specialists to do their work. This plan makes complete sense and it has always worked for me.
Next, you have to find these specialists, and my favorite source for doing this is Odesk.com. Odesk gives you hundreds of thousands of providers in every category: from bookkeeping to web design, from programming to seo marketers. Plus, the providers sometimes charge as low as $3 an hour and can do fantastic work. I highly recommend using Odesk to find your outsourcers.
You can either post a project describing what you need or search from the database of providers and personally contact the ones you like. I recommend that you test new contractors with a very small project as a test. When assessing their work you are looking for:
Timeliness - did they get the job done on time? Accuracy - how closely did their work match your description? Quality - does the work meet your standards? Communication - are you able to easily talk with the provider?.
Finally, when you find a real star, hold on tightly. The best are few and far between. Find one that you love, and do whatever you can to keep them happy. They will save you a great deal of stress over the long-term.
Outsourcing can make your life exponentially easier; you can spend more time doing the things you love while letting others handle the rest. Not to mention, your business will be taken to the next level because you have specialists at every turn. Follow the steps above for the smoothest and easiest road to outsourcing success..
