Do you do your own work or do you outsource everything?

[gh0stxvx]

With plenty of services offered here at great prices, how many of you spend your own time learning new skills or selling your old ones as a service. This is more a question for those living in countries that charge a higher hourly rate. I only ask because it's obviously not worth my time offering a graphic design service on here for example when you can outsource it for a MUCH lower rate and with some digging find a similar quality.

I know some people start a design agency and just resell services but other than content writing, why would anyone pay more if the job is done just as well for 1/5 of the price elsewhere?

 

[Bar]

I do my own

 

[nikchaing]

I do my own

not anymore

 

[gh0stxvx]

not anymore

Ha! He lasted long before getting banned.

 

[MonsterMag]

With plenty of services offered here at great prices, how many of you spend your own time learning new skills or selling your old ones as a service. This is more a question for those living in countries that charge a higher hourly rate. I only ask because it's obviously not worth my time offering a graphic design service on here for example when you can outsource it for a MUCH lower rate and with some digging find a similar quality.

I know some people start a design agency and just resell services but other than content writing, why would anyone pay more if the job is done just as well for 1/5 of the price elsewhere?

Well, some work has to be done on your own anyway, in some fields you don't have to learn new skills but have to craft the skills you have already and stay up2date with the actual development.

I outsource a lot and would even like to partner more with other people to combine my skills with theirs, but it's REALLY hard to find someone who is capable AND trustworthy at the same time. I outsource because there is a reason why some people are specialized in their fields.

But even outsourcing is hard. I tried to hire a designer recently and sent him a complete and very detailed description of how I want it to look and work. In the description were two examples where features I wanted to have were present. What I got was a 1:1 rip of one of the examples, a few outcommented lines and text-replacements. Even though copied, not even the icons worked - pricepoint: $150 (one page design + login-form) - I seriously thought he's trolling me but wasn't and asked me what I want changed

So even if you'd outsource everything, it's a lot of work just to manage that outsourcing. And when you are an outstanding reliable designer, you will also get hired at a higher pricepoint.

 

[gh0stxvx]

Well, some work has to be done on your own anyway, in some fields you don't have to learn new skills but have to craft the skills you have already and stay up2date with the actual development.

I outsource a lot and would even like to partner more with other people to combine my skills with theirs, but it's REALLY hard to find someone who is capable AND trustworthy at the same time. I outsource because there is a reason why some people are specialized in their fields.

But even outsourcing is hard. I tried to hire a designer recently and sent him a complete and very detailed description of how I want it to look and work. In the description were two examples where features I wanted to have were present. What I got was a 1:1 rip of one of the examples, a few outcommented lines and text-replacements. Even though copied, not even the icons worked - pricepoint: $150 (one page design + login-form) - I seriously thought he's trolling me but wasn't and asked me what I want changed

So even if you'd outsource everything, it's a lot of work just to manage that outsourcing. And when you are an outstanding reliable designer, you will also get hired at a higher pricepoint.

I agree about it being hard to outsource but I do wonder if this is the one skill I should focus on, hiring others to do my work. I'm a good designer, can put a website together efficiently using a WordPress theme etc and I'm happy doing my own design work as I actually enjoy it but it's not a skill I push to sell as not a lot of people want to pay UK rates.

You have a point there, trusting someone to work with is hard but I don't know how you get past that. Coming from a brick and mortar business, having a business partner has been a huge blessing and probably a great approach to IM to be honest. I think that's the guide someone should be making haha.