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As you grow your business, at some point, you will start to rely on outsourcing in order to get more done requiring your own efforts. Outsourcing can lead to a lot of headache and wasted time if not done correctly. Your first challenge will most likely be communication, many of the outsourcers on Rentacoder.com and Elance.com are from outside the country.

Usually when you start outsourcing, you’re not only looking to save time, but money as well. Writers and software developers outside the country can work for a fraction of the costs of local talent. While they may be less expensive, you need to account for the amount of time lost with rewrites and the quality of development you are getting. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of incredible resources available overseas, however the trick is to find them and then keep them.

Here are a few ways to improve your outsourcing success

1. Be completely clear with your expectations and that you will retain all rights to the end product. Use a subcontractor agreement to document your relationship. Many of the outsourcing websites have standard agreements. You can also find outsourcing companies by posting an ad on Craigslist.com. We have found that many of the companies will actually quote a lesser rate than they do on Rentacoder.com, etc.
2. When your first trying to build your outsourcing team, if you can afford to have multiple contractors work on the same project it will give you a chance to compare their quality. It is always best to start out with a smaller project first.
3. As part of your project documentation that you provide the outsourcer, provide anything that will help them catch the vision of what your trying to accomplish. This can include a screen capture video, powerpoint or word document screen mockups, or a mindmap. A project plan with milestones you expect along the way to chart the projects progress could also be helpful.
4. Lastly, build a team and don’t rely solely on one contractor or outsourcing company. At some point the quality of their work may go down or they may simply not be available when you need them. Once you have enough projects that are ongoing each month, you will get to a point where you will want to start considering bringing the talent in house as an employee.

I hope these tips help you get started with outsourcing some of your projects. You cannot expect yourself to do everything in your business. It is just not realistic, and a fast track to failure. The quickest way to success is to identify your core competencies and outsource the rest.

To your online success,
Kevin