THE PRINCIPLE

Get others to do what you don’t do well

The internet has totally transformed the process of outsourcing. Although many people still think of the term solely in the context of call centres, these days it’s easy to find people all over the world eager to take on the tasks you don’t want to or can’t do yourself. And they’ll do it for a lot less than you’re likely to pay locally.

Outsourcing fits well with the 80/20 principle that we covered earlier in this part. It makes sense to delegate the tasks that you don’t do well or that don’t represent the greatest value you can give. My list of things that I don’t like and/or don’t do very well includes:

• anything to do with accounts
• networking in person
• selling in person
• website creation
• filing.

Your list may well look totally different, but no matter what you dislike doing, there will be somebody out there who does enjoy it and will do it for you. Yes, it will cost you some money but it will also free up your time to earn money doing what you do (and like) best.

A few tasks, like filing, can be done only by someone who actually is present, but most can be done over the internet. There are hundreds of services where you can list what you want done and get people around the world to bid on it. One of the main ones is www.elance.com. The skills offered there include computer programming, writing and translation, design and multi-media, sales and marketing, administrative support, engineering and manufacturing, finance and management, and more. Some of the suppliers are individuals, others are companies. They could be in the UK, the USA, India, Egypt or anywhere else around the world.

You register and pick the category of help you want. Then you list your job and your fee range (for instance, between $50 and $500) and state for how long a period you want to accept bids. During that time, various people will offer to do the work for a specific sum. You can see their portfolio or references and also how much work they have previously done through the site and how their clients rated their work.

You can choose to award the assignment at any time and put the fee into an escrow account. If the task has several stages, you can release the fee in instalments as each stage is accomplished.

When you’re done, you release the rest of the funds and rate the service you received. The task can be a one-off or it can be an ongoing service such as administrative support.

I’ve gone into detail about Elance because their procedure is similar to that of most other such services, and there are lots to choose from. They include RentACoder.com, HireMyMom.com and Guru.com.

The bottom line: people all over the world are anxious to help you turn your ideas into innovative and lucrative projects and for pay that won’t break the bank.