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What to Outsource – And What Not to Outsource? (12)

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As title says: what would you recommend to do by yourself and what to outsource?

I'd love to hear your toughs on this topic in as much detail as possible.
Gimme your best practices. I am thinking about building a team, but I want it to it right.

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Optional questions to answer:

How many people do you have in your team?
What each one of them does?
How much do you spend on your team?
Freelance/Full-time?
How do you manage your team?
Your traffic source/vertical?

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I covered all these topics in my BKK speech.

Have a look at the video : http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...et-Up-Speeches

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Every business is different, and every entrepreneur is at a different stage of knowledge/development...but here are my general suggestions.

- webmaster work and programming - outsource it
- content writing - outsource it
- sales copy - I personally think it's great to learn to write good sales copy. It affects everything. Then, if you can write it, do it. If not, hire a copywriter.
- social media - outsource it
- customer support - outsource some of it. If you keep a finger in it you'll provide a better experience to your customers and keep a better handle on issues in the business
- design - outsource it
- research - outsource it...but outsource the data gathering. Then be involved in the decision making based off the data. Have them make it easier for you.

I have 15 VA's on my team:
programmers
designers
html/css
customer support
system/data maintenance
hr/recruiting
writers/social media
SEO
manager

They're all full-time in the Philippines (but that's not a surprise coming from me...). Total monthly cost just over $6000.

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That sounds like a great set up.

Any advice on how to manage on a day to day basis? Do you spend most of your time setting them up with work and then reviewing/providing feedback?

If you know of a decent VA design team with spare capacity please let me know!

On a side note I have read http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Free...dp/1939529743/ which I found useful.

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A lot of the outsourcing decision involves understanding both what you want to achieve and what you currently have:

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I guess content writing and programming can be outsourced easy but as long as you have good manager on your side.

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Got a team of 11.

Splitted into angle team (in charge of creatives, banners and landers), campaign team(in charge of setup and optimizing of campaigns on every sources) and 1 PA(in charge of misc stuff like booking of stuff, updating of cost etc).

Majority of our team is from philippines and we always start off paying $300usd per month. If they perform, then we raise their pay accordingly.

All full time. For focus.

Asana for tasks and communication between the teams, they are essentially on autopilot under one guy we made manager because he works super hard and has proven his quality. Of course there is always the question of trust and him running away with your stuff. Well, you pay enough for them to stay, they rather not take the risk of running campaigns themselves. Remember that they are employees looking for a STABLE income. They usually dont have the mindset or risk appetite we have (of course there will always be exceptions).

We step in to ask for some important stuff to be done when it crops up. if not they just run and test stuff themselves.

Currently adult but testing other niches.

Honestly, hiring was one of the best thing we ever did. When you get employees, you start to document and automate stuff more freeing up more time for yourself to focus more on the bigger picture instead of grinding it all by yourself. Just start with one and feel it for yourself.

Hiring is like a campaign. You got to optimize it such that you can get good employees instead of keep getting the crappy ones. One tip I can give is don't have the perception that you NEED a certain prospect. Make them do a test or a task before you even interview them. This filters out 85% of the people who are just spamming employers hoping to hit something. Also track them using hubstaff. Hubstaff has help us fire at least 6 guys who were using facebook more than working.

Good luck with your team building!

APM Jeremy

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Do you recommend hiring people as a newbie? I have currently 12 employees working for me right now but my second job and they all pay off multiple times. I have created list of activities for my future assistant and I think it will really help me to create more campaigns in less time. In Serbia, I can easily find someone to do this for me $200-$300 per month and good thing is I'll have face to face contact which is not a case if I hire someone from Philippines or similar. What I planned my "assistant" to do is following:
1. Setting up tracking
2. Submitting my ads/banners
3. Help on LP (html/css)
4. Image editing
5. Help on marketing research ( collecting data only)
6. Help on choosing an offer (finding on networks, contact with AM)
7. Applying on traffic sources or affiliate networks
8. Tracking costs, revenue, ROI and that kind of stuff
9. Help me in running mu current business (paying bills, checking e-mail etc.)

I think I could get few hours per day more if someone would help me on this.
Anny suggestion appreciated

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Sure, try it out. You really don't have much too lose if it does not work out.

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Thanks for answer Will start one more campaign on myself to see if there is something I missed on this list. I think I'll easily find assistant because I know lot's of really smart students who needs money and could be very helpful

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1.I would recommend outsourcing activities that you do not have a comparative advantage at.

For instance, if you are really good at banner creation and ad angles, retain those, and hire people to manage the testing the targeting, and landing pages on the ad networks for you.

If you are really good at programming lander flows, then stick with that, and bring on some1 good to do the ads n stuff.


2. I would only recommend outsourcing activities where you understand how to speak that professions language.

If you dont know what a nav bar, breakpoints, CSS, HTML Jquery, and all these other terms mean, then you shouldnt be outsourcing web design.

You might want to consider having a business partner instead, or learn the terminology.

To make outsourcing worth your while, you MUST know the basic terminology of whatever it is you are trying to outsource. Otherwise, I found, all parties get frustrated, because nobody speaks each others language.

Hope that helps.

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Simple formula I follow: Whatever holds you back, bores you, wastes your time, and makes you like your work less, outsource. And whatever is beyond your capabilities, outsource till you learn it. Unless you're as lazy as I am and want to keep outsourcing lol

E.g. I love coming up with ad copies and buying media. Do I outsource that? Not yet.
However, I'm very annoyed by routine Facebook account creation. I get bored after creating just 1 account. Do I outsource that? You got that right.

Sometimes you are forced to outsource things that are just beyond your capabilities. Like translation, programming, design...
If you think you can learn them yourself, go ahead. If you don't want to, a programmer/designer is always welcome on the team. and onehourtranslation is just a click away.

The more people you can afford to have on your team, the more time you'll save, and the more money you'll make.
John's setup is pretty good. It's what you want to eventually reach as you grow. But don't rush it. Start your team with what you need, and employ more people as you get bigger.

Hope that helps, peace

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