Work ON your business, not IN it.
February 11, 2008
I once made the mistake of hiring a company that specialized in handling technical support for online businesses. The single person assigned to my (smallish) account at the time was a member of MENSA. She was a true-blue certified genius with a technical background.
Who could ask for more, right? Wrong! The woman turned out to be completely unable to handle the support for my business, and after a couple of months of fighting and hoping for the best, I fired the firm.
From that point on I became a bit of a control freak about my business. I mistakenly assumed that if a certified genius with a technical degree was unable to handle my tech support, that I just needed to give up and do it all myself.
After about 18 months of that I was at the point where 80% of my time was used up handling support requests. My business stopped growing. I was chained down by support requests, stuck working in my business instead of on it.
Not long after that Mike Filsaime asked me to give him a call, which I did. We had a long conversation about outsourcing things like support requests.
Mike laid the bare truth on me in a way that only he can. "Jon," he said, "you have two choices: you can burn yourself out doing everything yourself, or you can hire out and watch your business grow."
"But Mike," I protested, "nobody is going to be able to give my customers the kind of support I can! I created these products."
"That may be true," he replied, "but not even you can do what you do for an endless number of customers without killing yourself. At some point you simply will not be able to handle it."
He was right, too. I was already at the point of wanting to chuck it all because I just couldn't keep up with the support requests the way I wanted to — forget about growing my business!
So I did some hard thinking about what I was going to do. Mike told me that he managed to get a very happy customer of his to do support for one of his products in return for a percentage of the profits. That worked very well because the person was not just an employee, but was actually invested in doing a good job.
I decided to give that a try, and ended up hiring Amin Motin, a very active member at one of the support forums I ran. I had already made him a moderator at the forum because of his freely dispensing so much good advice and support to folks there. It seemed only natural to have him do support for my other products.
Amin is also invested in my business. His "salary" comes from a variety of web sites and services which turn a profit for both of us. And you know what? I was very wrong when I said that nobody could give my customers the same level of support that I was giving them. Amin is better than me, more patient and helpful with my customers, and I've read more praise directed at him than I have room to share here.
After bringing Amin on board I suddenly had a huge amount of time to devote both to personal and business pursuits. My net monthly income has increased 40% because of being free to work on other projects and toy with ideas I'd had in the back of my mind — and this increase has come despite Amin's share of the profits and me working fewer hours than I did before (I devote a lot more time to my personal ministry work now).
You see, I had the wrong outlook on my business. I was so afraid to let go of a piece of my business that I had been burned on before that it was strangling its growth (and stressing myself out beyond belief). I also had the mistaken notion that I couldn't afford to pay somebody to handle the support for me. What Mike helped me to see, and what indeed has proven to be true, is that I couldn't afford not to have someone else doing support.
Now I outsource everything. My site design, graphics and logos, my support, my content creation. You name it. If it can be outsourced, I try a few folks out until I find the one who fits the bill and I stick with them.
Doing this has dramatically increased not only my bottom line, but also my peace of mind. My family and I travel on vacation, and I'm not stuck doing support tickets in the evening while we're away. I don't stress about how support is going to get handled, because Amin is so fantastic at it. I never worry about how my next web site or product is going to look, because the guys at GraphicsGenie.com do such a fantastic job on every product I put up.
You may really not be able to afford to hire out just yet, and that's understandable. I was in that position at first also. But I promise you, I promise you, that as soon as you can make room in your budget to start hiring out the services that you do not absolutely have to handle yourself, you will find your business blossoming into something much greater than you could possibly make it by yourself.
Please post your thoughts and questions in a comment below.
Comments
102 Responses to “Work ON your business, not IN it.”
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. 
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That's very interesting Jon. I've also outsourced support for one website and some marketing work for another to a company in the Philippines, but what you said about what Mike does has made me think again. I DO have a customer who is very active on my forum and he instantly sprang to mind when I read that. It was perhaps save me banging my head off the wall for the next few months
Don't forget to monitor Amin's workload. As your empire grows, he may become overloaded as well, and you will need to find someone to help him out! When you've got a good employee, you take care of him/her, as they are harder to come by than the actual profits themselves.
Amin does a great job handling my support request in the past.
Thanks,
Great ideas on outsourcing and let me throw my hat in the ring. I run a virtual office and do a lot of the kinds of jobs for others that you are talking about. Please consider my company the next time you need help.
Great post. It all depends on who you hire. I've talked to Amin in the past and think he does a great job. Do you have any other good recommendations for content development, link building, forum moderator or other SEO services?
I was just talking to a friend yesterday about this. Johnathan noticed you have a grammar error up the top of your page:
Easily Rank in Google
Google wants links. We give Google want they want. 'nuf said.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Aidan
Just to also tip my hat to the guys at graphicsgenie.com. I got onto them through some of Jonathans work and they did a great job for me on one of my projects.
A couple of hundred well spent graphics dollars goes a long way with those guys.
Matt
Aidan:
What's the error?
Jonathan, I've just started and have yet to make money. It will be some time before I can outsource anything. I've found that optimization takes forever. Some day I hope to be able to outsource numerous web sites. Thanks for all you great information.
I agree 100% with you Jon.
We are also starting to outsource stuff now - mainly on the promotion end of things. I just signed on with someone to do a monthly promotion for a site and if it works well we'll ramp it up.
I'm also looking at several overseas options as well. These go through someone else so I don't have to do all the legwork myself. We'll be doing this for our big projects and do the other stuff ourselves for now. We are automating a lot of our other work over time, so the future workload will be a lot less.
Think the Good Lord that your business is growing. Starting out in this internet marketing business is tough stuff. You read what the gurus have to say and then find out it is a bunch of crap.
I hope you keep growing and growing. It is nice to know that someone is making it.
It's the same for me, when I got started, I used to write my own articles and submit my websites to directories… What a burden!!
But once I got the money rolling in, I started to invest in my business, abd growth is almost inevitable.
The mistake most online marketers make is that they don't think like offline businesses.
Yep it's just plain common sense Jon. You can not grow without outsourcing period..Every good CEO has a team behind him so he can further grow and develop the business.
I just got rid of an Ecommerce site that was doing 6 figures a year and I'm tellin you I was stressed out because I did it all myself…I couldn't let go either Jon…and eventually I sold it for a nice chunk of change just a few months ago and now I'm focusing on sites that run themselves…But if I do get back in Ecommerce I will make sure to hire someone to answer calls and emails..
But I remember when I first started out…I was writing my own articles and building my own websites….Now for the most part do neither….I work on SEO and promotion..and finding niches and services to offer…
I still do all my onsite SEO and site structure because I am not comfortable outsourcing SEO….
But yeh Jon If your stuck answering phone calls and emails then you can't grow period…The money you spend hiring help will payoff because you will grow.
James Dean
I used to think I could do it all myself, but in the last 6 months I learned that one thing I just can't do well is design a website. Now, I outsource it without even thinking twice.
I may not be turning much profit yet, but I am beginning to see the benefits of outsourcing more and more every day. I get the ideas, I want them to be reality but with only so many hours in the day I have no choice but to bring others on.
Even for a small business with almost no income, I'm realizing the immense benefits of outsourcing. I just wish I learned this all sooner!
Jon
Once again very informative. You lay it on the line.
Ambrose
Jonathan,
I am at a point where I will probably have to outsource some things as well in order to keep the momo going. My problem isn't faith in hiring a good person or not getting the job from that person that I am paying for.
My problem is the absolute terror in actually taking the first step and "letting go" as some might put it. I know I may need to, but I am afraid to do so. Perhaps it is the fear of not being in control of something that I have controlled for years? I don't know???
Did you have a "letting go" problem and, if so, what did you do to get past it?
Thanks for your time!
Allen Graves
Allen:
I did have a problem letting go. What finally forced me to was the sheer stress of trying to do everything myself, and the crushing weight of the realization that I was not capable of doing so.
Life's a lot better after letting go.
I gotta agree, finding that person to help support the technical questions is going to be hard, one needs to find the right person who shares the same passion as you do.
I gotta admit.. Amin is probably one of the best support guys I have ever come across. Every other product that I have bought, doesn't come close, and you know what, those replies are dreadful from these other guys products why they hired them first without some form of technical background knowledge screening is beyond me, all I know is I wont be buying from those guys again since their support is somewhat yet to be desired…
But Amin, I think the guy deserves a pay rise.
He does an outstanding job. Nice one Jon!
All the best
Loz
I know that burned out feeling,and the want to give your customers the best.
For a fish to grow that lives in a bowl,
he must be moved to a bigger tank, or he always stay the same.
Amin has been great to work with…gives great advice!!!!
Great Post Jon as always!
I totally agree with you. I've been going through the same type of thought process recently for one of my blogs.
I'm getting overwhelmed with emails and the comments. I usually respond to everyone which has helped me in terms of subscriptions and happy returning users.
But I wasn't sure if it was worth outsourcing. But I had to remind myself about other things that I have outsourced in my business (technical) that has definitely helped me make more money.
But I felt like you, no one can really give my personal touch. But that may not be true.
So thanks for just being another source of inspiration that it's ok to let go. lol
Eddy
Thanks Jon,
I too have dealt with Amin once. I was a CS Manager in a former life and I would have done anything to get him on my team! Great CS skills, for sure.
As far as outsourcing goes, I actually feel a lot better just reading this topic and seeing what others have to say as well.
Lookout World, here I come. LOL
AL
I'd be very interested if anyone could point me to an Outsourcing Review page. I've come across bad recommendations and have tried Elance and SitePoint etc.
I/m not just talking 'support' / 'design' / 'content' etc.
I know Keith Baxter was doing something along these lines in India but it seems to have been going very badly.
Cheers,
Amin has been very helpful with the questions I've had…
40% increse eh…Amin…hit Jon up for a raise
Jon,
You're absolutely right. It was you who introduced me to where, why and how to outsource my article writing. If it wasn't for that I only would have built 5 websites in the last 4 months instead of 35. Those websites are paying for themselves so it was entirely worth it and shot my income through the roof. It's a nice reminder that I can outsource more than just article writing…
Heather
Hey Jon,
I think the mistake Aidan is refering to is in your 'Highly Recommended' widget - first item description -
Easily Rank In Google
Google wants links. We give Google want they want. 'nuf said.
Should be We give Google WHAT they want - not want they want!
Regards
Rufus
Rufus:
Thanks! Issue fixed.
Great advice Jon,
If we are to enjoy our businesses, we can not be tied to it 24 hours a day and continue to be happy. Most of us got into internet marketing because we were not happy with having to be somewhere on someone else's terms while making them rich.
Life is short.
Work smart.
Play hard.
Enjoy life!
Ted
Hi Jon,
Though I've been following you for some time now, I think this is the first time I've commented here.
I'm not to the point that I can (or need to) outsource anything yet. I'm sitll in the learning stages. I have given some thought to the day that it will become advantageous however.
I have always been a control freak. I realize that it's one of my weaknesses and know it's something I need to work on. I think that no one can do what I want done as well as I can. Because of realizing that someday (hopefully very soon) I will need to start to let go, your post has been extremely helpful. It makes sense to get your help from someone who has shown an interest in what you're doing and already knows quite a bit about it.
In my logical mind, I know that it's necessary to let go of the things that aren't your biggest moneymakers and concentrate on those that are but, in my "I can do it better" subconscious, the reluctance to let go still lives. I need to work on it.
Thanks
Duane
P.S. I don't see the grammar error either and I have a pretty good background in English. My mother was an English teacher
Jon,
I'm still in my first year of IM and I'm learning a ton but it's still in the struggle phase.
I can't wait to get to the point where I can get people doing what their best at working for me while I come up with new ways to grow my business.
Thanks as always for your excellent, timely content!
Jeff
Now everybody is going to go out, slap up a help desk and outsource the support before they know what they're doing.
People - YOU NEED A PROCESS to monitor your support people. It's wonderful that you think they're great guys, but if you don't know what they're doing, how long it takes them to do it and then receive feedback from your customers, you're headed for disaster.
Too often when the owner receives complaints about the support, the owner will defend the support people before actually knowing what's going on. I've had this happen far too many times.
How long is it taking your support person to open a ticket? How long to resolve the issue? How many times are tickets reopened?
This is the true measurement of the success or failure of your support people - it's not just about being friendly and supportive.
Jon,
Thanks for the information, you're absolutely right. I outsource most of my content writing as well as graphics. I hadn’t really thought of releasing the workload of other aspects of my business. It's an important reminder that you can outsource more than just graphics and content!
Hi John, Thanks for this informative info.
BTW, I have a plan to subscribe to your 3waylink network.
Maybe next month.. thanks
Hey Jon,
Really appreciate all the great info in your blogs and e-books but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing the article writing contact mentioned by Heather. This aspect of the IM game is proving to be a lot more confusing than I initially expected especially if you need "quality" articles.
Dee
jon,
You are absoloutely right, i ve outsourced most of my content and tech work. I only concentrate on marketing my site.
Another great post John, I have been running our site since 2004, a few months ago I outsourced site design and the results have been fantastic. A lot of it is down to our service and SEO but I believe it was also down to the new look and feel which I could never have achieved.
I will now think about outsourcing graphic design and content.
To be honest with you Jon, yours is one of the few IM blogs worth reading. You never try and make us just buy products and ebooks like so many other gurus, thats why I am on your list and not many others.
Keep up the good work!
Andy
UK
Hi Jon
Great post as always.
There is nuffing wrong with your grammar at the top of the page!!
Regards
Chris
Jon
Do you think it was an advatage that you had initially done everything yourself?
In other words when you came to outsourcing you knew what was involved, how long it would take, what you could expect for your money etc..
Paul
Hi Jonathan,
Informative as always! Just wondered if there was a place (previous blog entry, etc) to retrieve the information Heather mentioned regarding your recommendations on outsourcing article writing?
Thanks,
Stephanie
We have using the tips that you put out on your newsletters etc. and things have been shaping up for us as well. In terms of working on the business versus working in it, we have been writing articles like mad men since the middle of October. I'm excited to eventually get up above the water line to be able to hire someone to assist in our article writing. I can see how valuable that will be for us.
We've written 140 articles with completely original content around 140 articles and I'm sitting on another 4 to go into our distribution system. This system optimizes the article with the title, description, and keywords as it's submitted and approved.
Our distribution system is like having someone work on our behalf as we are free to write more and our point of entry is like having our own programmer. You make a great point about leverage.
We are also using your 3waylinks system. The jury is still out, but we know this is a longer term commitment.
Jonathan, this is a post that ALL small business owners should read, whether they have an online business or a brick and mortar one. This is a common struggle for entrepreneurs whether they are a one man online shop or a small offline business with real live employees in an office setting.
Entrepreneurs have a very difficult time letting go and delegating and end up spending more and more time on admin tasks and having their employees run every single task by them first.
If you don't learn to let go of certain tasks, you'll burn out and never make it as an entrepreneur.
Gregg
Jon,
Thanks for the great advice, as I find myself waffling back and forth about hiring someone to help me in my business. Like others have said, it's difficult to give up some control, but I know it's the only way to grow and substantially increase profits. In one way, you thank God for business success, but on the other hand you feel so stressed about the work overload that you start feeling like giving up. Your article was the motivation I needed. It's nice to hear a success story about moving to the "next level" in your business.
Thanks!!
Anne
Thank you for the information, insight, and the nudge Jonathan (and others posting here).
I have yet to do any outsourcing, and will seriously consider it during the upcoming month. Thank you again for all.
Richard
Hi Jon, Great advice as always. I've been following your blog for a couple of months but almost never commented. This post touched me because I realized I was going to feel overwhelmed at some point with one of my websites.
The main problem has been I've doing all the work by myself and being a bit paranoid on taking care of other people's money I did all the code for my sites. That means every time (rarely, thanks God) an issue arises as I know every line of code I can figure out rather quickly what's happening but having to deal with a lot of tasks I have had no time to document all clearly in order to outsource support.
I've learned from that and now I try to outsorce all the no-money related matters in order to focus on marketing and promotion.
Regards
Anthony
We all have a tendency to "check our brains at the door" when we come online. We fondly imagine that online business is somehow different and easier than business offline.
Which is manifestly absurd in the light of day, and once we step back from the daily grind we readily accept intellectually the logical impossibility of growth without delegation..
But emotionally it is still a wrench to let go. The urge for control is a potent combination of ego and fear. NOT easy to overcome.
Most entrepreneurs struggle to let go at first, but the ones that make money are those that build and train teams to leverage their time. It's a discipline and process that quickly gets easier as you do it more and more.
One proviso - you have to delegate not abrogate. Think about the difference - it's important. In the honeymoon of a succesful offload to a competent aide, it's natural to abrogate…until the first major cock up that costs you real money.
There is no magic bullet……You must build in review and control procedures from the start or there will be tears down the pike. Define the limits of authority. Be accessible to determine policy and special cases. Anticipate the need for ongoing training. Document procedures.
Successful delegation is about process design and QA - take it seriously.
Finally - find out what "situational leadership" means - it will save you a heap of grief later. It's about the fact that overall competent folks have areas of expertise mixed with other areas of uncertainy or inexperience.
Their competence is NOT uniform. Learn to identify strengths and weaknesses. Manage and support closely in the weak areas while backing off from their areas of competence. They'll thank you for it and productivity will rocket.
I also face same issues which it is hard to oursource our own work somebody do not know our skill, it need to give some training and take time.
Hi Jonathan,
Like usual a great post and most needed reminder that we can't do it all. It's hard to let go buy absolutely necessary if we are to grow a business and prosper.
Thanks
Terry
Jon,
This post came right in time to me and I relate 100% to your “existence” prior to hiring Amin. I know the exact feeling of false belief that we are giving away a part of us/our business but that is in many ways not trusting others with the job.
I did find out as you did after the first help came along that indeed he did a better job then I did and there was no trade off because of business increase.
Thanks again. for sharing.
I really love all of the awesome info in your blog Jon. Really worth it for a newbies like me.Thanks for sharing. Keep on posting Jon.
Hi Jon,
thanks for the sound advice and this really is a true account of your own experiences.
I appreciate this.
Now, I have been outsourcing my graphics and website design so far. The only other thing I have not outsourced is the content creation in terms of articles.
Yes, include that with submitting articles to certain articles directories too. I have a fear of letting go because I've experienced in the past many writers being hired but they didn't do the job as well as I wanted to.
What do you think?
Cheers,
Vern
I had the pleasure of interacting with Amin a week ago while trying out your 3WayLinks system. Unfortunately, it turned out that I wasn't able to participate, and I was pretty disappointed…even exasperated, at the discovery…after investing the time to get it all set up on my sites…but Amin was very low-key and handled the situation well. I appreciated his positive, encouraging, informative and professional manner. I think you've got a good one there, Jon.
I have not had great luck with finding reliable outsourcing folks. I've tried Elance and some of the other "lances"…and for the most part, I've been let down. It was never about the prices…it was always the work ethic. Especially dealing with folks in India and other cultures…they simply don't share the same work ethic that we do here in the US. I'm not sure theirs is worse, per se…just different. And expecting them to hold to the same standards we do in that regard has been, for me, a fool's errand.
But…I keep trying with different resources. And I will continue to do so. It's a bad thing to be the bottleneck in your own business because you only have so many hours in a day. Good post!
I fully understand the importance of outsourcing, especially after reading "The 4-Hour Work Week" book.
But I am currently unable to do so as my business is still not turning a profit. I am thinking of going back to a 9-5 job for the time being to generate some cash to pay bills as well as outsourcing.
Anyway, I am still optimistic that one day I will achieve the same result as Mike, John and other successful online marketers.
Hello Jon
You are right…..
And this post have helped a lot.
))) Good on’ya Wayne, you made a good point there and made me laugh!
The Gurus; There is definitely a lot of bull out there from the gurus. But GOOD bull sells and that is the sad part of it. Starting a web business; I started what I thought I’d like to do and will see if it’ll work or not. Making a lot of money from a website straight up wasn’t on my mind.
Have been in a completely different industry previously and had no idea about all this.
The only good think about my website is; I have a steady stream of people signing up, can choose and recruit or pass them on. Nothing anyone does is a complete disaster.
I was asked once: Nandor, what do you get out of this? My answer was without hesitation; Intellectual satisfaction! (yes it may sound , well , Intellectual lol)
Who cares?
To your remarks: “I hope you keep growing and growing. It is nice to know that someone is making it.”
If you don’t have the intellectual thing I am talking about? Pull out or sit back for a while, read, get more info, discuss and think it all over where you could go wrong.
Where I probably go wrong is; Not much return – not much input attitude, but I don’t stop completely on it.
Outsourcing or employing is the only way to multiply your self and grow.
But by saying that, it is also a matter of luck I think. Getting the right people can turn into a nightmare as I found out with website design and employees, dismiss them, move on and say ”Next please!
ps. this blog/site/forum is getting better and better
Like Steve Harrison says above you have to delegate and not abrogate. While I won't be copying James Brausch's customer support system, he does have a sustainable system in place to
1. provide training for any outsourcing
2. provide realistic metrics, with your customer in mind
3. constantly review and tweak as necessary
You will get stuck doing work that isn't growing your business and is burning you out in the business.
Thanks for the reminder Jonathan.
Hi Jon, you have hit the bull's eye! Outsourcing is an absolute must! I am now outsourcing more and more of my work out and seeing my returns growing much faster as I work on my projects.
Jon,
Great post! I used to try and be superman and do it all also. Have learned over time that I constantly have to look to outsider to help me as the business grows. There is just too many other more important things we need to be doing to keep the biz growing strong.
Thanks for the reminder!
Justin
Jon,
When you said you outsourced most of the content creation, could you share what kind of content creation you outsourced and where you outsourced them? Do you outsource your ebook creation too?
Thanks,
Welly
To be sure, a great reminder for those who can afford to outsource. It takes income, though, to be able to afford to do it.
I suppose this may have more to do with those who create their own products and market them rather than affiliate marketers. Although affiliate marketers, depending on their projects, can also use outsourcing to help in getting sites up quickly.
I'm not quite at that point yet in my I.M. journey, but I'm definitely working toward it! Have to get the traffic situation squared away.
Thom
Hi Jon,
Very good post. As usual, your articles
are well thought out, and useful.
Thanks!
Laurie
Jonathan,
How right you are! It can become absolutely exhausting doing everything yourself. I can’t wait to get to the place where I can begin to outsource some of the work that goes into Internet marketing. The Internet is a great marketplace with vast opportunities for those willing to learn and apply the lessons for success.
Thank you, for sharing the golden nuggets of your experience and success.
Jon,
I'm still in my six months of internet marketing and I'm learning a lot and still need to learn about the tip of it if I may say so.
Thanks for your excellent notes.
"Johnathan noticed you have a grammar error up the top of your page:
Aidan, I think you will find that's "grammatical error"…
Kevin
Very informative and good post, Jon - as always.
Re Aidan's 'grammatical error' - could it be that Google is treated as third person singular in the first sentence, and plural in the second? Shouldn't it read "Google wants links, we give Google what IT wants?"
But remember - English is NOT my first language.
Cheers
/Curt
Hello Jon,
Good post and nice suggestion on the topic of outsourcing.
I hope i soon reach the level where i can outsource some of the work. Right now its not feasible.
Will keep this in mind.
Thanx
Anish
I"m still handling everything all on my own. My revenues don't allow me to outsource right yet. But, I'm making progress an the outsourcing era is approching for me. I do realise that in order to acheive success, you can't do everything on your own.
Luc
Jon,
I have been helped by Amin a number of times and I can't heap enough cudo's on him. In the age where rude customer service reps seems to be the norm, Amin's efficient and respectful handling of my issues was a breath of fresh air!
Brad
Great post. I completely agree that outsourcing is the way forward - if you can afford it. For example, some of my sites desperately need a re-design, and I know I'm not much of a designer myself (it would take me ages to make it look really good).
Btw, thanks for the GraphicsGenie link, I'll check it out.
Brilliant Jonathan,
I haven't gotten to the point or level you are right now. But at the moment I outsource my content writing (rewrite and new articles) to a nice lady in the US, while I am in Nigeria, Africa.
As my business grows, I can outsource more like you. But will you permit me to ask who outsource you web design to? I might one very soon.
Hi Jon,
Just wanna share my experience with Amin Motin helps me a lot to all my questions and troubles regarding IAW and IAW PRO in the last 7 days - a truly helpful person . . .
2 thumbs up for his service, Jon :o)
JR
Makingyouricher:
GraphicsGenie.com does my web design and graphical work.
Welly:
I outsource my article writing. I create my eBooks on my own, though if I started creating informational products for other niches (non-IM/SEO), I'd probably outsource those, too.
Hi Jonathon - I've been in a similar situation also, so I know how difficult it is to trust someone with a specific job in your business once you've had a real problem with an employee.
Like you, I now outsource quite a bit and I definitely plan to outsource more. It's just no fun trying to do it all yourself. A few years ago, I actually reached a point where I was hallucinating from trying to do too much and not getting enough sleep!
Just a quick note Jon, Amin has been on top of things for me several times. You did well in choosing him. I also must apologize to Amin because I have not taken proper time to respond to every comment request after my problems were resolved.
I too was afraid to take the leap in outsourcing - especially when it came to customer support / care. I too thought that no one could possibly take care of my customers/clients as well as I did. I also figured I wouldn't be able to afford someone. I found out I was wrong - dead wrong.
I started out very small - hiring one girl to work on a bartering system. She took care of a very small amount of my advertisingg and submitting some of my articles to various places. And in return she got free advertising out of it. To me I actually didn't feel she was getting enough in return for her work. So, I also offered her a free copy of any ebook, report etc. It worked out very well for both of us.
Actually really well. So well I was able to free up some time which increased my productivity. I've since added more work to her workload. She now takes care of one portion of my advertising sales and I pay her per advertising she places - actual money - not bartering anymore. Doing it this way gave me an additional benefit something similar to yours - something I hadn't thought about before. Paying her per listing that she places for me enticed her into actually promoting advertising sales!
We're currently in the process of placing a little bit of an automated support system that she will be payed a monthly rate to handle all aspects of my advertising sales. I'm actually in the process of searching for support ticket system that will help us with this.
I will begin w/ her watching me answering most questions, setting up an FAQ section so she can become more familar with how things work for sure - even though she's semi-familiar. Once she's comfortable enough, she'll have full reign on it. I'd like the system to be hosted online so each of us can access it at any time incase she runs into a problem or will be away. This will also open it some incase I need to hire additional help for her even. (If anyone has any recommendations on decent systems - please let me know.)
Sorry for the long reply but you've hit the nail on the head here and it just happens to be right where I'm at right now. I've seen the benefits of outsourcing help and I intend to make it work more and more for me as 2008 progresses.
I also wanted to share with others that yes, you can start out very small and work your way up with your comfort level - and budget.
Oh and a shameless plug for my network of friends - don't forget the work at home mom community when looking for outsourcing help. These can often be your best answer - at a very affordable price
I can always help point you in the right direction too.
Great informative post Jon as always.
I wondered why I was getting so many contact form requests through my site. A quick check on Google Analytics sent me here.
We have worked with you for several months now, and as always your jobs have been a pleasure to work on, both Graphics and Video creation.
It's a little bit strange but Amin and the GraphicsGenie team only live about 5 miles away from each other in the Sunny climates of West Yorkshire, UK. Must be something they put in the water.
Thanks again for your business and friendship, and long may they both flourish.
GraphicsGenie:
I'm glad you're getting some contacts out of this blog post! And yes, Amin told me how close you guys live to each other, which I thought was funny. =)
Jonathan,
I always knew that outsourcing as you grow is the way to go…
I, like you, got burned with my first outsourcing attempt. I had a member from the digitalpoint forums and his "team" code a site for me, which turned out to be a disaster! I was nearly pulling my hair out trying to get them to communicate with me and decided before I had a heart attack it was better to fire them. I am glad I did, but now I have a half finished site and do not know where to turn to get a good coder at an affordable price, which I am starting to think there is no such thing! I am sure all will turn out fine, but finding a person or group your business is compatible with can be difficult.
Regards,
Matt
Hey Jonathan
Your post was awesome!
Could you go into more detail on a pay structure? I have one of my guys I want to do what you did with Amin.
I have NO CLUE where to start on how to pay him a % of the sales.
thanks
Dave
Great article mr.johnathan..very open my eyes! this is my first time visit your blog after last night i talk to Darren from graphicsgenie at Gtalk. he's a great dude.
yeah..our name abit close
. but dont be confuse, we got different style on graphics design. Plus, graphicsgenie are very super on video creation that i unable to do it (hats off)
when i writing this, my mind cant stop thinking about - work on your business, no in it. maybe i need to improving my business to go to next level..
i will keep visiting your blog after this.
Regards
Zaizen G
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the great post again.
I like your way of outsourcing the support work to an active forum participant who has vast interest in your projects as well as a keen user of your software. That is brilliant.
With the profit sharing scheme, definitely, that person will do an excellent job.
By the way, Amin does a wonderful job, I always enjoy contacting him when I hit the wall.
Thanks and God bless.
Keith.
Mr. John sorry i am not responsif, because i studying how speaking english. I am from ASIA. sorry sorry.
But i want to advantage from internet or anything what i say to myblog.
thank's
Jon,
Great post, but I won't lie and say it hasn't depressed me! I am 100% hands on, even down to my content editting AND graphics designs! I can't help it. Simply put, even PLR articles get totally revamped to the point I might as well have written it myself!!! Any suggestions for breaking this habit? I want to see my business grow, but at the same time, I want to be as involved as I can.
Also, and this is strictly a sidenote since I don't do this myself, I read somewhere that outsourcing through elance and the likes (no promotion here!) is really not the best route to go for content. The author suggested that contacting niche experts through forums is not only better, but generally cheaper, as well. Just thought I'd share this with everyone, because if I were to outsource content, I think this is probably the best route!
Great stuff, Jonathan! Looking forward to whatever you're coming out with next (mentioned on a CD I listened to recently). Your 3-way links program is working great.
I like your way of outsourcing the support work to an active forum participant who has vast interest in your projects as well as a keen user of your software. That is brilliant.
With the profit sharing scheme, definitely, that person will do an excellent job.
By the way, Amin does a wonderful job, I always enjoy contacting him when I hit the wall.
Just a quick note Jon, Amin has been on top of things for me several times. You did well in choosing him. I also must apologize to Amin because I have not taken proper time to respond to every comment request after my problems were resolved.
Hiring someone to help work with you really helps a lot. As long as you hire a good and dedicated person to work with you.
Hi Jonathan,
Excellent informative post! I can understand your fear of letting go. When you build something from the ground up yourself, form the trust and relationships with your customers and provide the necessary explemary customer service that your customers become accustomed to, it is very difficult to let go of the reins of any element of it. There is always the concern that the person you entrust it to will not embody the manner in which you run your business and carry out tasks. Whilst I have not reached the point in my own business yet of outsourcing, I can well identify with the concerns and have pre-emted the learning curve involved to successful automate all tasks for my company by identifying a product, second to none, that can assist me with this. What I refer to is James Brausch's Freedom Business System - an automated approach to managing all of my tasks, especially those that can't be handled by a computer. One area where I have always been reluctant to relinquish control is Customer Service. It is an area that I am very passionate about and strive to excel in. Even when I worked in management in a corporate environment, I always liked to stay in control of my customer service team. I think the key is finding the right people to outsource to that you feel comfortable with and trust to maintain the core values of your business. My compliments on your site Jonathan - I will visit often. You have some excellent information here.
Jon,
This is very thoughtful insight. Actually it seems to me that your blog is the best out of many internet marketers' blogs I periodically visit. You always give no hype real life advice.
Thanks, Misha
I read someone's comment that they just started out and they won't be able to outsource for awhile. At this point in your campaign, you really have no need to outsource. If you are conducting an effective marketing campaign, you will want to outsource in the future. But, the beginning launches are always manageable by one to two people max. I've been doing it for my clients for years.
Another interesting tidbit I liked in Jon's article was that he learned that instead of hiring people to do your work, find the people who would be invested. One of my clients is offering me a partnership because I've done a great job for him over the years. That brings me more into the work that is involved and it compels me to want to make sure it's done absolutely right. Not that I didn't do it right before. That's how I got here in the first place. But now, I'm more willing to go the extra mile because there's more at stake for me.
So, what I get is find partners or some kind of way to compensate who you outsource work to other than pay per project. The promise of growth will always attract a good partner.
Outsourcing is a great way of doing the jobs you hate doing.
Writing content is hard and outsourcing is easy, but its hard finding someone whos is good value with good english literacy skills
Some people think that they can't possibly outsource anything.
When you're just getting started that's fine.
But if you want to maximize your profits, reduce your stress, and be able to focus your energy on the tasks that you truly love to do, you've got to learn how to systematize your business, so you can consistently get things done.
This is true whether you delegate to employees, or outsource the task to freelancers.
We all understand the need to use software to make it simpler to do many tasks.
But it's just as important to establishing guidelines and simple processes for various tasks, to make it easier for other people to get those tasks done.
Michael Gerber has been talking about this forever (well, since 1986 or so).
Many people talk about ways to design processes. There are elaborate (and expensive) systems from people like Rich Schefren or Paul Lemberg. Then there are simpler, less expensive systems.
It's not a question of whether we start getting organized, building systems and delegating — it's only a question of when.
I agree 100%. However, it's not just with outsourcing to others. Just look at the principles behind the various software you've produced - IAW saves a ton of time. 3WayLinks is also just another way to outsource my work to you
I'm at the very same point you were at in the beginning Jon. My business has grown and it's still all me. It's very clear that it won't grow any further unless I get some help.
And with the release of my first software product, I know that supporting software products takes up a whole chunk of time!
That was a brilliant idea of hiring Amin to handle your support. I've been getting my customers to do beta testing for new products and this looks like a natural extension of that.
Thanks again for your willingness to share your experience and knowledge here!
Rich Rojas
I agree, outsourcing saves tons of time. Why trade your time for money when you can leverage it?
Great post as always
Your blog is the only SEO blog i read pretty much every post!
I've said this before, but Amin is the best customer service guy i've come across.
Jayen
I have no time to do anything and am going crazy trying to keep up. But how do you find a person who will be good at the work I give them? Really i would like a partner so that we both have an interest in making things work.
So far I am not making huge dollars but I know I could if I had some help. Where do I find it?
I do not want a whole lot of employees and would rather stay small than be an employer!
You're so right - in fact, when I took on a business coach one of the first things she suggested was the I plan to take on someone to help with the stuff that was weighing me down and taking up my time unnecessarily.
I have also received help lately with my 3 way links pages from Amin Motin and I am really impressed of the excellent service! Thanks Motin! Keep on doing this excellent work!
Avraam
[…] Must Read Post #6: Work On Your Business, Not In It […]
Thanks Jonathan for clearing this up for those of us who weren’t better informed about this. As for me, I'd developed a rather 'thick skin' against so-called link popularity or the lock-jam about on-theme / off-theme linking.
After reading your eye-opening report and few other gems here and there, I stopped worrying my head.
However, there is was a question I asked about 3WayLinks.net in one of the previous blog posts which was not answered.
I want more clarification on these issues I read on the sales letter:
a) You said once a site reach 250 links, it will be stopped. But I am wondering why this is so. Does it mean 250 is the maximum links I will get for each site I have in my account and no more? Or do you mean that once I reach 250 links, I will wait for sometimes and resume again later?
b) You wrote that a site will get maximum 5-8 links a day and none for some days. But I want to ask what about a site is already one year old and already has lots of links? I believe an old (one year) can take up to 20 links or more a day. What do you think?
Please reply to these. Thanks.
Jon,
I have purchased many of your products from the instant article wizard to your 3 way links and I think they are some of the best available.
I recently made my first ebook on keyword research that I am giving away for free {snip: no personal urls please}. I have since got a small subscriber list. One in particular offered to take care of my editing for any future books. I also think it is a great idea to turn to my list before outsourcing. In return I am also giving her a free copy of my upcoming book and software.
I also wanted you to know I appreciate all the information you provide on your blog.. thanks!
Chris Derenberger
Hi Jon, a very articulate article written by you. Good job!
I also wanted you to know I appreciate all the information you provide on your blog.. thanks!
It is amazing how much better job an interested helpful person can do compared to a burned out brilliant guy that wants to be doing something else.
Great post
Rick