BradPace.com

Here is my outline of a short presentation I did at the last Rocky Mountain Affiliate Marketing Association last week.

First you have to get yourself in an “Outsourced Mindset”. (Don’t outsource your mind!) Effectively using outsourced resources can change everything from profitability to how much you can pay for a customer.

50s, 60s, and 70s was all about building large all-in-one corporations. The 80s and 90s was about cutting costs using outsourcing. The 2000s will be about partnering with the companies that have the best specialties and the fastest growing knowledge and skill sets.

The books “The world is flat”, “the Only Sustainable Edge”, and “The 4 hour work week” are great books on outsourcing.

What can be outsourced. 2 rules + 1

1) Tasks can be clearly defined and easily communicated

2) Tasks that are time consuming and can be easily broken up

3) Also, have fun with it!

Things to think about

· Do you have short term, unrelated tasks or do you want a trained team with long term projects?

· Do you have someone to manage the tasks and provide direction? You must have good management. This is where most companies fail.

· What form of communication do you need from them (email, phone, written docs)?

· There will be frustrations!

Outsourcing- don’t forget US opportunities

• Part time specialized help (genealogists in specific area), bloggers, PR, IT, content creation, SEO, affiliate recruiting.
• Setup an “advisory panel”.
• Use customers, LinkedIn, social networks, affiliates, etc.
• Find people who are excited about what you do.
• Just ask!

Finding a company to work with

• Ask the right questions and lots of them.
• Types of skilled workers they already have. Specialties?
• Office setup and work environment. Internet connection, utilities, public transit, even health conditions can make a big difference in productivity. Ask for photos.
• Team organization and communication channels
• How are workers compensated? Understand their benefit package. Employee retention rate.
• Times outsources employees will work.
• Who will you interface with? A US manager, overseas manager, or direct with employees?
• Can you interview your workers? Is there a trial period you can use?
• Have them help you understand the differences between overseas workers and US workers.

Outsourcing tools

• Google docs – Best tools ever!
• VOIP and IM
• Source control for developers – cvs, source vault, source safe
• Bug/Task tracking systems. Used bugzilla in the past. Use OnTime now (awesome!)
• 37signals.com products (basecamp and backpack) and many open source solutions
• Amazon’s Mechanical Turk system to outsource tasks to thousands of independent workers.