Why We LOVE Outsourcing
Apr 8th, 2008 | By jen | Category: Featured Articles, OutsourcingThe last couple weeks for us has been all about outsourcing tasks and keeping our Virtual Assistants busy. As Erin focuses on her new job and I focus on growing our businesses, utilizing the skills of our VA team has become essential.
Admittedly, Erin was on board with the idea of outsourcing LONG before I was. It’s only just recently that I recognized the value having hiring someone else to handle projects. So last week, I hired a ghostwriter to create 25 niche articles for me. This week, I pulled together a quickie article, a list of article directories and an extensive list of general directories to pass along to our VAs. Their next gig for us will be submitting the article and adding our new web site to a load of niche and general directories. I’ll also use most of the niche articles I get for article submissions; of course, I’ll let our VA team handle the submissions. 
It does take time to plan for using a VA. I probably spent a half hour yesterday creating an email detailing exactly what we needed done. Between the hour I took to write the article and the 30 minutes spent drafting their task list, I’m an hour and a half into this project already.
BUT…I figure it will take them at least five, and more likely seven, hours to submit the articles and get links in those directories.
That’s five to seven hours I can spend watching Real Housewives of New York City or getting my nails done. Oops!…I mean, that’s five to seven hours I can spending working on larger projects, like planning out a marketing plan for our sites or installing Build a Niche Store on another domain, for example. By hiring a VA, I get the luxury of spending time on the duties I enjoy, while they do the drudge work! I’m a convert!
So how did Erin get so smart about outsourcing? She signed up for Alice Seba’s Outsourcing Sweetie membership. (Yes, I know, kids…Alice again. But seriously, the woman knows her stuff.)
Outsourcing Sweetie shares how to find a qualified Virtual Assistant, what tasks you can ask them to do, training manuals, step-by-step to do lists and lots more info to help you get started. Right now, there’s a $10 special to get in, so get started today!
Good post on outsourcing. I have been outsourcing for the past 7 years and it can be a reall time/life saver but you also have to be very careful about who you are hiring and be prepared to go through many bumps in the road because many outsourcing firms will promise you the world and only deliver some poorly written crud. I remember my first article order, I ended up rewriting the articles and it took longer than if I had just written them myself in the first place.