Need advice on outsourcing

I have a day job and am doing some IM as a sideline.

I would like to free up my time to do more by outsourcing stuff like SEO and content writing, updating blogs, etc. The only thing stopping me from doing it is the fear of someone stealing my ideas/niches and doing a website on their own while learning from me.

Problem is, if the person is good enough (i.e., writes good articles, does good SEO), he/she can easily duplicate the idea. On the other hand by hiring a less experienced person, it wouldn't be really useful as I would still need to do plenty of correction/editing.

Any advice from fellow BHWers on this? How do you outsource efficiently, effectively and safely?

Appreciate all inputs!

It sounds like you have some of the same worries which I had when I first started out in IM; however, you really don't have to worry. You can get excellent people from places such as the Philippines and if you're into coding or software development, you can get first class people from Eastern Europe and India as well.

These people aren't interested in stealing your ideas. They are interested in making wage to support their own family and do their job. It's a different mentality for people say, USA or the UK. Traditionally people from the Philippines, say just don't have entrepreneurial spirit, they just wanna do a good job for you and support their family. You really don't have to worry about people stealing your ideas. Like I said, you can get excellent people at reasonable rates. You can have a greater business expediently.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Rollthedice nailed it.

But if you're still paranoid, then another thing that you can consider is outsourcing different bits to different people (this is what I did back when I started in this industry). So instead of having one guy do your articles, your SEO and your customer support you get 3 different people who each handle one bit. This way it will also be easier for you to find the people as you won't have any problems finding a good writer and a good SEO specialist but finding someone who is good at both can be a bit of a struggle.

Can any of you recommend any great places to find say a coder? A source that you may have used before that you know won't steal.

Any verified recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

I've successfully used the Philippines Craigslist many times before, as I've found Filipinos easy to deal with, and despite being a bit more expensive than freelancers from India and China, the work quality, as well as their language abilities typically compensate this bigtime.

Another tip for you is to be VERY specific when outlining the work that you require your employee to perform. This really is the key to success when outsourcing as even the best coder in the world isn't going to impress you if you're not clear with your instructions in the first place. Always bear in mind that you're hiring a worker, rather than buying a service, so "SEO my site up" isn't going to cut it.

Thank you for your response. I appreciate your recommendations.

Great, thank you for the tip, I will be sure to be very specific, do you know what the average rate I should expect to pay for a good coder from the Philippines?

dkwholesales said:

Thank you for your response. I appreciate your recommendations.

Great, thank you for the tip, I will be sure to be very specific, do you know what the average rate I should expect to pay for a good coder from the Philippines?

Click to expand...

No worries.

Define "good". If you're looking for a PHP/MySQL coder who is able to develop websites, tweak WordPress and come up with simpler applications then you're probably looking at around $400/pcm for a full time worker (this is what I paid a few years ago when I worked with a few Filipino coders). On the other hand a good friend of mine employs two people (both very experienced and with uni education) from the Philippines who take care of the development of his rather large, custom-made ASP project and pays them $1.2k a month. With that said, the latter is considered high-end salary and is very, very competitive even in Manila, the capital.

Haha I am not even sure what good means myself sadly enough.

Basically for my first project I need someone who is familiar with API callings (I believe that is what it is called) and who can make me a script that needs to automatically update daily and broadcast the products on my website in a clear and concise manner, with the prices marked up of course. That is the first project the second is similar, but much larger. I want to get the first one done so I can see the quality and if they could help me with the second.

I can make my own basic wordpress site and have made my own e commerce sites, but I am no pro.

I really appreciate all of your time and help.