My Experience
The Story Of Burn Your To Do List
What You Should Outsource (How to pick the most important things)
Deciding What To Outsource (Considering budget, time per task, etc.)
Where To Find People To Hire (Including my opinions)
Creating A Job Ad
After The Job Has Been Accepted
Training Providers
While They’re Working For You
How To Pay Workers
Rewarding Workers
F.A.Q.
Any Questions You Have
What We’re Going To Go Over
Phone calls
Accounting
Research
Follow‐up
Websites/blogs/social media/SEO
Mailing
Writing publishing
Anything that is repetitive
What Can Be Outsourced
What is a VA?
Entrepreneur who specializes in ongoing, one on one support
Not an employee – no taxes, government reporting, insurance, no overhead, no equipment, no overtime, no fringe benefits
You are their client – not their employer
What is a VA? Full or part time
On going duties or project based
Performs research, marketing, telephone support or admin tasks
Creative, Industrious, Flexible
Far Less Expensive than an employee• $3‐$5/hour
What is a VA? Work from their own home
Computer and technologically savvy
Self starters – work independently
Detail Oriented
Experienced in office support
Why a VA?
The Average Small Business Owner spends up to 40% of their time on routine administrative tasks.
• US Small Business Administration
Why a VA?
Do you have a full time job?
Do you have other investment projects?
Are you working in the business – not on the business?
Why a VA?
Are you devoting proper time to marketing and networking?
Are you doing the same thing over and over and over?
Are you by nature NOT a detail person?
Example: Daily To‐Do’s
Buy a domain
Write sales letter
Create a “thank you” page
Post blog comments to foster relationships with potential JVs
Create a survey to see what prospects want
Find a shopping cart
Install shopping cart
Etc.
Example
What do you need to get each one done?
Buy a domain – Might include keyword research
Write sales letter – Need copy skills
Create a “thank you” page – Need website skills
Post blog comments to foster relationships with potential JVs – Need time and knowhow to post intelligent comments
Install shopping cart – Someone good with techy stuff
Example
Factor #1: How often do you need each thing done?
If your business plan only requires one website, you only need to buy a domain ONCE.
Will you need multiple sales pages?
How many pages need to be linked with your shopping cart?
Deciding What To Outsource…
Factor #2: What’s your budget?
If you have more time than money, only outsource the crucial stuff for now.
Do NOT hire before you have the money.
Not only is it putting people’s livelihood at stake but it will only stress you out.
Deciding What To Outsource…
Factor #3: What are your skills?
Can you write copy?
Do you know how to do tech stuff?
Are you great at customer support?
Deciding What To Outsource…
Factor #4: How long does each thing you need done take?
You might be excellent at customer service… but if it takes you 2 hours per day your time may be spent elsewhere.
If keyword research is a one‐time thing you’ll never need done again… it’s a lot faster to do it yourself.
Deciding What To Outsource…
Factor #5: What’s the most important?
What’s making you the most money?
What do you NEED done?
Examples: Customer service, writing articles, making phone calls.
Obviously the most important things should be amongst the first things you consider outsourcing (as long as they’re train‐able).
Don’t go for bells and whistles right away – outsource what you NEED –ESPECIALLY if you’re on a limited budget.
Deciding What To Outsource…
Locating VA’swww.elance.com• No Requirements to Register
• One Time $10 verification fee
• You Post the ad or search for people
• Elance provides statistics
• How Long
• How much paid
• You negotiate the fee
• You pay elance directly
• They charge 6‐7% service fee built into negotiated fee
• Higher quality candidates
• More expensive ‐ $50 minimum bid
• Candidates need to pay in order to apply to jobs so you’re not getting tons of “Spam” bids
• Great for AWESOME premium virtual assistants
Locating VA’s
www.odesk.com• No Requirements to Register
• You Post the ad or search for people
• Odesk provides statistics
• How Many Hours of Odesk Contracts
• Hourly Rate
• You negotiate the fee
• You pay odesk directly –
• They charge 10% of what you pay the VA
• Can find very inexpensive providers
• Quality is inconsistent at best
• Have heard most excuses from this site
• Best for menial type tasks (copying and pasting data, backlinks, etc)
Locating VA’s
www.guru.com• No Requirements or charge to Register
• You Post the ad or search for people
• Guru provides statistics
• How Many Projects quoted during the month
• Total Earnings
• Reviews
• Hourly Rate
• You receive quotes
• You pay guru a deposit and authorize release when completed
• The contractor pays Guru – not you
Locating VA’s
www.va4u.com• No Requirements or charge to Register
• You search for people
• VA4U provides:
• Bio and skills list for each person
• You choose location where you look
• You send the person your job description
• You send the candidate your job description
• You negotiate directly with the candidate
• You pay the candidate directly using PayPal
Craigslist USACan find excellent candidates who don’t know about telecommuting jobs
Can get flagged very easily
Quality is inconsistent
Have found some great article writers here
Where To Find People To Hire
Craigslist PhilippinesCan find extremely inexpensive workers
Hit‐and‐miss (My experience is far more misses, though I know some have had excellent results)
Quality is inconsistent
Can find your super‐cheap workers here
Where To Find People To Hire
Give clear and concise instructions
• Explain all the details and give examples
• Make it clear you’re open for communication (but that you expect not to answer questions twice)
• Give milestone work (this way you can check without getting in “too deep”)
• Ask for progress reports daily
• If you’re training for a custom‐task, make a quick video
If you may want ongoing work explain that this the initial job is a trial so both of you can gauge your satisfaction in working together
After The Job Has Been Awarded
If you’re training for a unique job position…
• Video is great. Jing is free for 5 minute videos or you can get JING Pro for $14.95 a year.
• You can gauge how long each task takes you
• If for some reason things don’t work out with this provider you will have immediate training for a new provider
• People seem to learn a lot easier by watching things in motion versus having to read long explanations
• You can show examples
• Can also get them transcribed
• Always explain in “blanket form”
• You may also consider tests to grasp understanding
• Google Docs is great for multiple choice tests
Training Providers
1.What did you get done today?
2.What obstacles or challenges did you face?
3.Do you have any questions for me?
3 Questions For Providers To Answer Every Day
• Take the time to give feedback so that expectations are clear on both ends
• It takes 300‐500 repetitions of something to master it the “right way”, but if someone learned the WRONG way, it takes 3000‐5000 repetitions to “right” it.
• You don’t want to get stuck later on with performance you’re not happy with but knowing you never said anything
• Since you’ve worked out a trial period, you can legitimately see if the provider can do what you want (or not) – and let them go if they can’t do what you want.
While They’re Working For You…
Always go task basis
• This way people don’t take their time
• Is generally a LOT faster
• You never feel slighted
• There are no surprises
• You have fixed costs you can budget for
How To Pay People
Always go task basis
Pay on time (If you want them to be fast for you, you need to be fast for them.)
Express gratitude for the work they’re doing
Random bonuses (but NOT raises all the time… more on that soon.)
Incentive bonuses can work very well (“I need at least $4,000 a week. I’ll give you 20% of everything above that for the next month.”)
Keys In Paying People
Know their culture
Don’t do anything prematurely
Sometimes words of affirmation may be all they need (so take the time to get to know them)
Special paying time‐limited jobs are another option
Rewarding Workers
Q: What about those Filipino workers that are so cheap?
A: I’ve hired at least 50 – probably closer to 100 – of them.
Pro’s:
• Cheap
• College educated
• Pretty good English
• Decent skills
F.A.Q.