freelancers
Outsourcing Toolkit Launches!
Today we’re officially launching our newest way to help people outsource work more effectively to freelancers and virtual assistants. It’s called the Help Without Hiring Toolkit.
We have created a set of 50 templates, checklists and worksheets to help you:
Decide what to outsource,
Find a qualified person to do the work,
Get that person up to [...]
On Blellow yet?
If you’re a freelancer, consultant or virtual assistant, Blellow is a great place to be. The concept is like Twitter, but the goal is business networking.
It’s focused on people like us - who are looking for gigs or jobs, or who are trying to solve problems and need to ask a quick question or two of an expert.
Very tactical, in other words. Which is just what people who are running their own business need.
I mean, I like Twitter as much as the next person. But there are a whole lot of pointless tweets.
I love Blellow’s kudos concept - that’s very well thought out. It’s nice to be able to thank someone who helps you and raise their status in the community. Provides incentive for everyone to be good.
Outsourcing Conspiracy is bunk - part 2
Continuing with the full head of steam from yesterday’s post…
Here’s where I agree with them…
On page 3, where they say “Outsourcing isn’t magic.”
That’s absolutely correct. It’s not. (Neither is partnering, but that’s another story…)
Nothing is magic. You have to work at all of it.
And I agree when they say that outsourcing isn’t for beginners. When you are just getting started with a business, you are not in a good place to outsource.
But outsourcing is ideal for a successful solo business or small business.
The main reason to outsource is that there is work that needs to be done to run a business that:
- The owner doesn’t like doing,
- The owner doesn’t know how to do,
- The owner doesn’t have time to do.
For the smallest businesses, hiring is not a great option. It’s too big a commitment…
Outsourcing Conspiracy is bunk - part 1
Don’t get me wrong - I’m a fan of Brian Clark and Jon Morrow.
I’m even a charter member of their Partnering Profits program.
But I have a lot of problems with the Outsourcing Conspiracy report they just published.
I understand what they’re doing - they’re setting up outsourcing as a straw man so they can knock it down and make partnering look like the perfect solution.
But there are a lot of flaws in their arguments.
They say “outsourcing really is the perfect solution if:
- you have a budget of at least a few thousand dollars
- you can communicate exactly what you want them to do
- you have time to oversee their work, checking in every so often to make sure they
are doing everything you want
- you are satisfied with merely average or slightly above par work
- you are satisfied with an employee who’s doing the job, but isn’t particularly enthusiastic
about it
- you are capable of replacing them quickly and easily whenever they move on to
another job or fail to meet your expectations
- you feel perfectly secure that nothing you’re doing can be stolen, or if it is stolen,
you can protect yourself”
Almost everything there is wrong.
Let’s go through those items in order…
1. You can outsource for much less than thousands of dollars - I know because…
What is ProResource?
I’ve been getting a lot of questions from people who are asking what ProResource is. What are we trying to do?
We are providing products and services that make outsourcing easier for everyone.
As you can tell by the blog posts, we’re focused on the process.
Not on theory.
Not on strategy.
Solidly on tactics - tips, techniques, templates and [...]
3 best questions to ask freelancers
If you are short on time, here are 3 questions that give you the fastest way to identify whether you are talking to someone who really knows what they are doing.
1. What process do you use when you work with clients?
In other words, what are the steps they are going to go through when they work with you?
Freelancers who have a lot of experience typically have a pretty well-defined system. They are going to need certain information from you, they are going to go through specific steps, they are going to give you certain reports, etc.
The more clearly they can articulate the process, the better.
2. What tools do you use?
