Are Your Current Tasks Worth Your Dollar Value Per Hour?

By Small Business Ideas On May 10, 2010 Under Small Business

In my recent trip to Bali, I met one interesting person, Arthur Carmazzi, who made me realize the power of outsourcing.

He services the world in terms of corporate training, online training material and videos. He owns 4 to 5 websites and lives in Bali. He manages a team of 8 Balinese staff which cost $200 per person per month. Can you imagine the profits he reaps simply from the currency difference? His earnings are in global currency while paying only $ 1,600 per month for his 8 employees. And his websites are all amazing.

A very informative discussion with him taught me the importance of outsourcing properly.There are a lot of business owners who persist in overseeing every detail of their online strategy and who end up doing more non-value added work. This is a shame because they should have been concentrating instead, on marketing techniques that will bring in more sales and value to the company.

In this post, I will answer 2 questions:

1) What to outsource?

When choosing which work to outsource, think about opportunity costs in terms of money value and mental freedom.  If you could spend 1 hour, contacting a prospect and creating a potential sale versus updating a website (when it can be outsourced to a website designer cheaply).  It becomes easy to decide.

These are the questions you should ask yourself before attempting any work:

  • Can I outsource this to someone else who can do a better job and at a lower cost?
  • Is there any other activity that I can work on that will bring more value to the business?
  • Can I grab this time to relax and rejuvenate, to give myself time to ponder on the bigger picture, instead of getting bogged down with menial tasks?

If you said Yes to any of the above questions, then you should seriously think about the benefits of outsourcing. This enables you to concentrate more on being creative or more importantly, on marketing.

2) How to outsource?

Now, if you have decided to outsource your work. Where do I start with outsourcing?

  • Write down your expected results of the task
  • Write down the timeline, job description and expected quality of the task
  • Go to www.elance.com or www.odesk.com to find a suitable virtual assistant or hire an expert in the field who you trust
  • Email them your results, timeline, job description and expected quality of the task
  • If possible, show them a template before starting
  • Ask them if they have any additional questions. (As in some countries, they are uncomfortable to ask any questions, double check before proceeding)
  • Set milestones and check on the progress of the work

After observing the successful and not so successful people, I realize that successful people do the RIGHT THINGS FIRST. All of us have only 24 hours a day, but your success will be determined by how well you manage them.

It is now time for me to wish you luck as you start outsourcing and give yourself the much needed time to concentrate on bringing more value to your business. The most successful people are those who get to enjoy their good fortune because they outsourced work that they know they cannot handle themselves.

If you are now noticing how your website is functioning only as an online brochure, then better consult with a web designer to increase your website conversion. Click here to increase leads generation.

Pamelina Siow is an expert on generating leads through the internet.

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