Hi, I’m Nicole Dean and I’ve been invited to discuss “The Five Common Mistakes that Can Sabotage your Outsourcing Success and How to Avoid Them”.
Today’s topic is something that I discuss quite a bit in the Outsource Weekly course.
What is it? Mistake #3: Outsourcing when you should be Automating
Let’s say you need to pay your cable or phone bill every month (who doesn’t) and it’s an annoying task that you oftentimes forget and then end up with late fees.
Would you outsource that task by hiring someone to open your cable bill, write a check, lick a stamp, and drop it in the mail every month?
Of course not. You’d sign up for online bill pay or find out if they have an auto-pay service at the company. That way it’s handed. Free.
Why pay someone for something that can be done automatically by a computer?
Yet, I see people making this outsourcing mistake all the time.
Paying someone to approve their Twitter followers.
Paying someone to sort through spam comments on their blog.
Those are just two of the thousands of ways that you might be outsourcing a task that can be done completely FREE for you by a computer.
The main area that I see this mistake happening is in blogging. There are now WordPress plugins that can pretty much do anything for you. All it requires is a one-time nominal payment to have the plugin installed if you don’t want to do it yourself. Otherwise, it’s totally free.
So, which sounds better to you? Paying a helper every month to weed through your blog comments or automatically having most of the spam completely disappear?
Me? If the results are nearly the same, I’ll usually choose free outsourcing every time over paid outsourcing. Wouldn’t you?
Disclaimer: Of course, I’m not talking about using automation software that would take a step towards the dark or scummy side. I hope that’s obvious, but just in case, I’ve said it.
The other option, of course, is combining outsourcing with automation. Make sure your helpers are on top of all of the best tools for the job so they’re as efficient as possible.
For instance, when submitting articles, you can set up an account at an article submission service like Isnare.com and train your Virtual Assistant to submit your articles there.
When submitting videos, you can find a Virtual Assistant who uses a video submission service like Traffic Geyser so that her job is more efficient and effective.
You wouldn’t use a toothbrush to clean your carpet, would you?
Use the right tool when you’re working in your online business, too. It’ll keep your workload manageable – and decrease your outsourcing bill at the same time!
That’s all for today. I’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Warmly,
Nicole Dean
Nicole on Twitter| Sherice on Twitter | Nicole’s Online Business Success Podcast
PS. If you’d like to learn how to get more done every day in your business so that you can be freed up to enjoy your life, check out “Homepreneur Habits: How To Run A Successful Home Business.”
Tags: blogging, nicole dean, outsourcing
When submitting videos, you can find a Virtual Assistant who uses a video submission service like Traffic Geyser so that her job is more efficient and effective.