Overtime I have made enough mistakes enabling me to know what makes Outsourcing successful
JAZ Design is a Website and Internet Marketing company born in 1999 and based near Gettysburg Pennsylvania USA with the motto “We make Businesses Look Great on-line”.
As a start-up, JAZ Design initially resorted to the Philippines marketplace to get Outsourcing services, and Jason ended up realizing that geography, in fact, is irrelevant, meaning independently of getting a freelancer from a nearby town or literally across the world, the main success contributor factors are to nourish and develop a good working relationship while providing assertive crystal clear easy to follow work instructions.
Like in any other activity, been scammed will sooner or later happen and it did, but Jason acknowledges that it was mainly due to his own poor due diligence, by merely having assumed that a given freelancer’s tech profile would result in a great job.
After so many years and having created strong enduring work relationships there is no longer the need of searching for “new blood”.
How to create a good work relationship with someone across the world?
Looking at freelancers as persons and not commodities will foster the establishment of empathy, which then leads to commitment and team spirit. If instead of having an army of unknown resources the focus is to build a team, an efficient work relationship can be established over time leading up to trust and reliability, meaning no need for a constant sourcing quest.
And an e-book on Outsourcing was born; “Outsourcing Demystified” was Jason’s contribution to a broader audience on the entire subject.
How to choose the best fit?
The Myers-Briggs test maps personality, so if someone is found to be more on the “creative side” and the job comprehends mostly repetitive tasks, then that person is likely to not fit in.
JAZ Design currently mainly outsources VA services from the Philippines (given their English proficiency, the acquaintance with US way of life and a cost of living that allows low rates) and Website development, SEO and Design to India. Having these work relationships been going on for several years now, there is the added value of mutual awareness plus an established work process that makes things flow easily and successfully for both parties.
Track and Tracing your Outsourced tasks.
Jason points out the Upwork example that enables the hiring party to check work evolution via screenshot diaries. Nevertheless, there is always the output, meaning something needs to “come out of the hat” and if it’s what you asked for, then the work has been performed successfully. Upwork also enables two very important control “features”: one is the client review over performed work, and that means bad public feedback if the job was poorly handled, implying the freelancer will get fewer chances of being hired in the future (which overall accounts for a positive motivational factor towards excellence and great deliverables); the other is the fact that payments are escrow, so the money is only released upon successful delivery.
Assumption is pointed out as the main trap door for people starting to outsource; one can never just assume that the other part will do it properly, you need to tightly follow-up until trust and momentum are established. Then there is the natural tendency to Outsource too much of your activities, and you end up losing the ability to track work progress as well as managing the interactions amongst the several components. Last, but not least, one potential pain point is to be tempted on Outsourcing the wrong things.
Another referred key point is to establish a proven system of work with solid processes and workflows in place.
Prior to stepping into it, know what you really must Outsource and do proper Due Diligences which may lead to long-term work relationships.