I was sending an email to somebody about how to outsource, and figured it would make good public information, so here ya go! A quick overview of outsourcing online:
1. Where do the best outsourcers live?
Forget everything you’ve heard about India or Pakistan, Afghanistan or any other place to hire outsourcers. Too often they’ll steal a good idea and go with it on their own if they don’t like working with you. Instead, stick with the Philippines. They consider it an honor to work from home for an American company, and do high-quality work. Nearly everyone you talk to will have a bachelors degree in something; most likely computer science.
2. Best Rates with the Philippines
Not only are they wonderful workers, the pay rate in the Philippines is cheaper than anywhere else as well. For a virtual assistant - someone to do random web tasks like article submissions, backlinking, seo research, etc. - you’re looking at $200-$250 a monthfor full time, 40 hrs a week work. For an article writer, about $200- $250. For a graphics person, $300-350, and $350+ for a programmer.
3. Stay Connected with your Outsourcer almost Daily
To communicate, most everybody over there uses either Skype or gmail chat, so you’ll always be able to interact with them on a daily basis if that’s what you decide to do. Regardless of how often you communicate, stay in touch at least every few days so they are reassured they’re doing what you want and that you are happy with the work - or if you aren’t happy, kindly showing them the correct way to do it.
4. Where to find Great Outsourcers
To find outsourcers, you’ll mainly use this website: http://onlinejobs.ph/. It’s a website where only Filipino workers who have computing skills of some sort who want to work from home for American companies post their skillsets and resumes. Interaction isn’t handled by any company or contractors, so it’s purely you talking to them 1 on 1 - which is why the price is so low. There might be a small fee to pay to get their email addresses - the site is owned by an individual, so he wants to make something from it.
5. What should I expect to pay my outsourcer?
$400 a month is the same as a standard minimum-wage’ish salary here in America, so don’t think your starving anybody. Their economy isvastly different than ours, which just happens to benefit online work relationships between us.
6. Start with an unpaid trial when working with a new outsourcer
When contacting them initially to find the right workers, always require them to give you a 1-2 week unpaid trial period. This is standard for outsourcing and makes sure you find the right people before sending money out. If you feel bad about doing short unpaid trials, you can do a reduced pay for the first month and paid weekly, so they get some money from it yet it’s still the testing period.
7. How to pay your outsourcer
Paypal is the best way to send them money, however this requires them to bank at a place that Paypal approves of, which isn’t always the case. The next best option they like is through a site calledhttp://xoom.com/. For a fee, you send money to them, and they have the options of:
a) to pick it up at a location
b) have it delivered to their house
c) have it deposited into their bank account.
Most ofthe time, they like picking it up at the local bank themselves, so it works out. Xoom is more expensive than paypal by far, and has a new minimum of $50 I think, but it’s the next cheapest option.
8. Reward your outsourcer if they make it to 12 months.
The 13th month is a tradition over there that they’ll expect you to follow. If you hire an outsourcer and keep them for 12 months, it’s a courtesy in their culture to give them an extra month’s wages on their first year anniversary of working for you. The first year is the only time, and you’ll never hear about it from anybody. If you don’t hire them for this long, don’t worry about it.
9. Get extremely clear from the start
Up front, state your realistic expectations. If you want them to work 5 days a week during a certain time, let them know that. Give them your expectations up front once in a nicely-formated email or chat so there isn’t any confusion on what you want from them. Have them tell you when they’ll be out and when they plan on taking vacations. Treat them like you would a normal worker.
10. Be Courteous of the time zone difference
They are 13 hours ahead of me (central time), so unless you have a night-owl, you’ll do most of your communication during the morning.
Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments below!
Hopefully this is enough to get you started : )
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