Creating my own brand through outsourcing.

[KingDingALing]

Hi guys,

KingDingaLing here. Its been awhile since I've posted and even before I was never very active. I hope to change that and have some success online.

I'm working 60+ hours a week at my current job, so I dont get much spare time. So I decided I would outsource as much of the work as possible. This has the added benefit that by starting from the beginning outsourcing most of the work when I'm able to leave my current job I won't have to work full time on my online projects. They will run themselves with minimal involvement and I will have plenty of free time to do the things I enjoy.

The plan is to find a cheap product under $15 I can rebrand and sell on Amazon, eBay, and my own site. When I find a product I will order a sample to test what sales I can expect. If I have a winner I will slowly increase my order size. Once I have a decent amount of sales I will start the rebranding phase and launch my own branded product. I plan to start on Amazon then once I launch the brand I will create a branded site and eventually sell on eBay as well. Then rinse and repeat.

Today I hired a VA from the Philippines. She speaks fluent English, has worked 1000+ hours and has been paid 20k+. She had excellent reviews and her previous experience has covered everything I want to her to do. The contract is for $4 an hour for 10 hours a week.

Week 1 - 10 hours

My plan for week one is to get a research plan in place. I provided my VA with a few resources as a starting point and asked her to use those as well as Google to research how to the "Product Research" phase. Basically create a step by step process from A to Z on how to find a profitable product. I've also asked her to create an organized spreadsheet with all the references and resources she uses. There won't be to many updates this week as it will be pretty boring and uneventful.

Next Steps

After reviewing this VAs work I will either continue to the next step or terminate the contract and look for another VA. In the event the second happens I'm hoping ill have a somewhat decent starting point for the next VA.

If the VA works out next week I will increase the contract to 20 hours. The VA will make any adjustments or improvements and then use the plan they have created to find a list of possible products.

The third week will be creating the marketing plan. This will include how the product will get promoted from when the first sample order is placed through the rebrand.

Week 4

Week 4 will be going back to make any revisions, placing the sample order and getting preparations in order to launch after the sample product arrives.

This will be a learning experience for me. I'm hoping that by the time I Rebrand my first product my VA will have a good understanding of how it works and be able to find more products faster. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to comment below.

Please forgive any minor mistakes. This was typed out on my phone

 

[W9go]

interesting .... good luck.

 

[KingDingALing]

UPDATE

Since the first post I went and created a new drop box folder. In this file I put instruction and comment files. The VA was instructed to upload her progress to this drop box. I dont know how I forgot this to start.

She put in a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes of work so far and I have to say I'm impressed. Honestly what she has so far I could create an ebook that's more informative then most of those shitty get rich quick ebooks all over the internet.

I can't wait to see what she produces in the allotted 10 hours this week.

Current expenses about $10
Current income $0
Profit/loss -$10

 

[CuriousMe :)]

UPDATE

Since the first post I went and created a new drop box folder. In this file I put instruction and comment files. The VA was instructed to upload her progress to this drop box. I dont know how I forgot this to start.

She put in a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes of work so far and I have to say I'm impressed. Honestly what she has so far I could create an ebook that's more informative then most of those shitty get rich quick ebooks all over the internet.

I can't wait to see what she produces in the allotted 10 hours this week.

Current expenses about $10
Current income $0
Profit/loss -$10

Use google docs and spreadsheets. It would be much more convenient. And don't forget to update this thread every once in awhile.

 

[KingDingALing]

Use google docs and spreadsheets. It would be much more convenient. And don't forget to update this thread every once in awhile.

I will look into this. So far its working well. I plan to update it, but the first few weeks are going to be fairly boring but I'm hoping to get results.

If everything falls apart what she has now I could hire another VA and tell them to use it as a research tool and have a great start. I'm excited to see what else she produces.

 

[payal23j]

Great. I love the way you are giving chance to yourself and VA.
Good Luck

I will look into this. So far its working well. I plan to update it, but the first few weeks are going to be fairly boring but I'm hoping to get results.

If everything falls apart what she has now I could hire another VA and tell them to use it as a research tool and have a great start. I'm excited to see what else she produces.

 

[elbumba]

Suggestion: Create some SOPs. Make training vids, and documents. That way when you need a new VA it's as easy as showing them a video. In my experience VA's tend to not last forever.

 

[Jinyus]

Be careful what you outsource. Because that VAs could easily steal your idea/methods... Having someone do product research is very imo because they can find a nice niche and you don't gear from them again

 

[KingDingALing]

Update

So the work week has finished and I now have a complete product research plan. I am amazed by the work she has produced. I could save it as a pdf and sell it. Its complete with pictures.

Total expenses $40
Toal earned $0
Profit loss -$40

I the VA has been instructed on the tasks for next week.

She was asked to produce a spread sheet of 150 different possible products that can be rebranded.

She was also asked to take the 10 best and create an in depth report on the products as well as create an explination as to why it is a good product as well as create a sales pitch.

Suggestion: Create some SOPs. Make training vids, and documents. That way when you need a new VA it's as easy as showing them a video. In my experience VA's tend to not last forever.

Could you please explain what SOPs are? Sorry for sounding like a noob.

As for the training videos and documents I have plans for those. I want to have the VA create the videos once she has proven she is capable of the task. Training documents are being created as the project progresses.

Be careful what you outsource. Because that VAs could easily steal your idea/methods... Having someone do product research is very imo because they can find a nice niche and you don't gear from them again

I am aware of those concerns. If the VA runs away I will have back ups as far as research information, training material etc to be able to continue. All the information used to create the research plan is freely available on the internet for anyone willing to invest the time to look. As the project begins to go further and my own twists and adjustments are added it will be handled with a lot more care.

I appreciate everyone's input and I am excited to continue in this project. By the the end of this coming week I should have a test product selected.

 

[KingDingALing]

UPDATE

I Learned a valuable lesson reviewing my VA's work. She approached the tasks in a completely different way than i would have. This is one of the benefits of working with someone else. Even when using the same resources people will aproach things differently some times completely different or slightly different. Even if this jouney fails, the knowledge i have gained so far is way more valuable than the money spent.

I am going to modify my inital plan to adapt to the way my VA is approaching this task. This week is going to be about selecting an item to sell, next week will be researching my item to find all my options and then finally selecting the exact product I will sell.

Basically after this week I will know I'm going to be rebranding a widget. Next will be going through all my various options for widgets. What makes widget1 different from widget2. Next week will be selecting the specific widget and finding a supplier.

This may seem obvious to most of you but when I approached this task I was looking in a niche for the exact product I was going to select. Essentially going through everything I could think of for a niche to and finding the exact product to rebrand. Instead the VA has chosen to research all the options for different products within the niche. Then select the product and search for all the options.

I hope you guys understand what I mean by that.

 

[MisterF]

SOP = Standard Operating Procedures.

Good luck with this.

 

[LiquidLeads]

Intresting,
Wish you best luck with this, Im following

 

[eWebmaster]

Following mate,
I'm an entrepreneur, and I know the importance of outsourcing.
I know you will be successful
Best wishes for your journey.

 

[KingDingALing]

Its been awhile since ive posted but I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had time.

I'm getting very good results from my VA. So far she has completed 30 hours of work and I am impressed by what she has provided me with so far. I was planning on increasing her hour limit this week but due to unforseen issues that wont be possible until the new year. This is causing the project to move slower than I had planned.

I've slightly modified my plan. I'm allowing the VA to take next week to finish off her current objectives. At the end of the week I'm going to speak with her and ask her ideas and opinions on how she recommends how to proceed and suggestions she has to my current plan.

I've learned a lot since ive started this journey and I believe taking the time to speak with the VA on her thoughts and opinions will be greatly helpful to the current goal. Initially I was hoping to rush this process and be selling a product rather quickly. However working with the VA and seeing what she can produce taking her time to complete the tasks has shown me that taking my time to do it right will pay off in the end.

 

[KingDingALing]

UPDATE

Sorry for the delay in my posting I've been very busy lately. After reviewing everything my VA has provided so far as well as speaking with her we have decided on a product category witch will be apparel. It is in my opinion rather risky because there is a lot of competition. However if I can plan it out right and pick a good starting niche in this category I believe I will be able to do well. My options to expand the brand later on will be almost unlimited.

So next week is going to be all about research on everything to do with selling apparel. Hopefully the week after I will be able to get started on looking for my specific niche.

I haven't posted this in awhile but my current expenses are $162. That's 3 weeks pay to the VA at $4 an hour for 10 hours plus the fees and conversion. I'm in Canada VA is paid in USD.

 

[Mr. White]

Outsourcing is one of the best strategies. Best of luck dude!

 

[KingDingALing]

Outsourcing is one of the best strategies. Best of luck dude!

Thank you. I am hoping that it brings me success. Outsourcing so far has helped in 2 ways: 1 I usually lose my motivation on a new project rather quickly, or if I have to choose between going to hang out with friends or put the work in I usually choose the latter. My social life is near non existant with the hours I'm putting in at my job. By outsourcing I can still maintain what's left of my social life and still know that the work is being done. 2 because I know that the money is coming out of my account every week, it forces me to take the time to review the work put done. Knowing that I'm losing money right now keeps me focused so that the investment will at least pay for itself in knowledge gained even if the project is a flop.

The VA has produced way better work then I would have in the time frame and I have maintained my motivation to check on the project at least once a day.

 

[Mr. White]

You never fail. You either succeed or you learn. Either way, you are the winner! I am glad it is working out for you so nicely.

All the best.

Thank you. I am hoping that it brings me success. Outsourcing so far has helped in 2 ways: 1 I usually lose my motivation on a new project rather quickly, or if I have to choose between going to hang out with friends or put the work in I usually choose the latter. My social life is near non existant with the hours I'm putting in at my job. By outsourcing I can still maintain what's left of my social life and still know that the work is being done. 2 because I know that the money is coming out of my account every week, it forces me to take the time to review the work put done. Knowing that I'm losing money right now keeps me focused so that the investment will at least pay for itself in knowledge gained even if the project is a flop.

The VA has produced way better work then I would have in the time frame and I have maintained my motivation to check on the project at least once a day.

 

[KingDingALing]

UPDATE

I am sorry for not updating sooner but a lot of what happened was pretty boring and I have been busy with other things. I had to give my VA the week off last week.

We are now back on track and we have found our market as well as our first product. We are going to start by selling variations of our first product and slowing add in new products.

Our tasks for this week is all about researching the market we have chosen as well as brainstorming branding ideas.

I am happy to be back on track and where the project currently is. My goal is to have every reading including reviewing sample orders and be ready to place my first order by March.