Showing posts with label Small Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Small Business. Show all posts

Monday, July 28, 2025

YOUR Complete Guide To Outsourcing?


The Complete Guide To Outsourcing

In late 2009, 3-time bestselling author, Tim Ferriss released a book called The Four Hour Work Week.



It was one of the first concerted efforts to bring business process automation (BPA) and outsourcing down to a smaller scale for everyday businesses and individual consultants.

That book has been both the best and worst thing to happen to remote work. Ferriss’ book started a trend that many companies, consultants, small business founders, and lifestyle entrepreneurs have been trying to implement since.

This has produced the unfortunate result of a significantly large amount of customers "trying out" outsourcing without having any serious background on the sourcing process, remote interviewing, remote team management and operational procedures needed to become successful with remote employees.

This in-depth article will show you how and where to find the right resources you'll need to properly start outsourcing within your organization and formulate processes for outsourcing in an effective manner.

Table of Contents

--What Is Outsourcing?
--What Should You Outsource?
--Specific Jobs You Can Outsource
--What Are The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing?
--How To Avoid Common Outsourcing Mistakes

Becoming More Productive

--Double Your Own Productivity
--Setup Rituals
--Effective Planning
--Determine Goals
--Set Milestones
--Get Into A Flow State Focus

How To Source Talent

--Where To Find Talented Freelancers
--Where To Find Virtual Assistants
--Top Countries To Outsource
--The Process of Hiring A Freelancer
--How To Write A Job Post



The Selection Process

--3 Qualities To Look For
--Stages Of The Interview Process
--Interview Questions
--Trial Stage
--Common Hiring Misconceptions

The Training Process

--Hold Video Conference
--Create A Training Manual
--Assign Knowledge Building Tasks

Communicating With Freelancers

--Create A Wiki
--Sending Effective Emails And Messages
--Leveraging Project Management Tools
--Other Important Tools
--Create Common Chat Rooms - Slack

Paying Your Freelancers

--How Much Should You Pay?
--How To Send Payments Overseas

How To Scale Your Outsourced Team

--Have A Selective Hiring Process
--Use Multiple Recruiting Methods
--Create An Onboarding Process
--Prioritize Communication
--Streamline Productivity Tools

Process Design

--How To Build Your Process
--Refining Your Process
--Virtual Training Is Different

Building Redundant Processes

--The 4 Main Types of Redundant Processes
--Effective Forum Posting
--Generating Leads Through Twitter
--YouTube Lead Generation And Optimization
--Check That Work Is Done

How To Use This Guide

This smart guide is meant as a starting point for you and your business to use as a baseline framework. It's the framework I've used to build numerous businesses like Staff.com.

Depending on your product/service and industry you will need to add to this guide and can take personalized notes along the way.

It can and should serve both outsourcing newcomers and veterans as a great reference guide and as you work through the process time and time again.

This guide starts with Outsourcing Basics. This section will define what is outsourcing, list the pros and cons of hiring freelancers for certain tasks of your business and identify specific tasks that could be ‘good’ to outsource.

The next section, Becoming More Productive, will focus on an often ignored aspect of outsourcing: your current productivity and organization levels. Just as larger companies organize and streamline their activities and business processes before automating and outsourcing, you too have to better define different areas of your business and personal outputs. This will save you time, money, and set a solid foundation for outsourcing successfully.

The third section, How To Source Talent, will introduce you to the newest and most trustworthy platforms that have been developed and used by millions of businesses since Tim Ferriss first wrote his book. I'll show you how to define your company needs, how to craft a compelling job description to attract world-class talent and what the overall (recommended) process should be when looking to hire.

The fourth section, The Interview Process, will dive deeper into the nuts and bolts of how to run effective interviews. Since you'll most likely be interviewing someone over the phone or through a video service, I'll point out what qualities you should be looking for, what questions to ask, and how to set up a trial phase to make sure both parties are satisfied before anything becomes permanent (if this is what you're looking for. The same process can apply to temporary freelancers).

The fifth section, The Training Process, will provide details on how to ensure that your outsourced team understands and completes tasks within a specific deadline and to required specifications.

The sixth section, Communicating With Freelancers, will walk you through tools and processes to ensure that your remote team delivers high-quality work and that you remain well-connected. Communication often makes the biggest difference in performance and final output.

The seventh section is about Paying Your Outsourced Team. This will give you a great idea of how much you should pay your freelancers. The section will also provide details on some useful online money transfer platforms for paying offshore freelancers.

The eighth section, Scale Your Outsourced Team, will give you the means and the methods to quickly scale up your outsourced team while ensuring a smooth expansion process.

The ninth section is dedicated to Process Design. This will help walk you through the theory of how to design, build, and implement effective business processes to help make your business more effective.

The last section, Building Redundant Processes, will focus on actually applying the theory from the last section to help you create processes that will streamline your operations and make automation of simple or repetitive tasks possible.

Guest Authored By John Larase. John is a Content Marketer/SEO who loves to explore anything under the sun. Follow John on Twitter.


  • Post Crafted By:
    Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Scottsdale, AZ. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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Sunday, June 29, 2025

YOUR Social Media Sales Targets?


Sales is a lucrative career option everywhere including the UAE, but meeting targets takes continuous evolvement and growth. 

That is where social selling comes across..



The question is no longer, “Should I adopt social selling?” but “How can I be the best social seller I can be?”

So what is 'social selling'? Social selling is changing the workflow of traditional sales by giving priority to long-term conversations in comparison to starting with a pitch.

Being able to use social media for these conversations is key for this process and our social media insider, Stefanie Fernandez, Head of Sales Solutions at LinkedIn MENA, has some tips for achieving your sales target effectively and efficiently through social media.

Numbers

Before starting, here are some number from LinkedIn's social selling index - social selling leader are 51 per cent more likely to reach their sales quota and create 48 per cent more opportunities than peers who don't use social media effectively.



Here Are Her Top Tips For 'Social Sellers'

1. Strategy Before Action and Tactics

Most people already have a sales strategy and try to incorporate social selling tactics in to the process or routine. According to Stephanie, while this is a good idea, you will be far more effective when you implement a strategy to back them up. Start by addressing the integration of social activities into your overall sales strategy.

Who are you trying to reach? What is your core message for them? Which platforms do they use? What kind of content will you share and why? How will you manage the information you receive? What are the ultimate outcomes you seek to measure? Answer these questions and more, then build your social strategy plan (including your tactics) and make sure you execute consistently.

2. It's Never Too Early

You will often hear that buyers are already at least 60 per cent through the buying cycle by the time they reach out to a salesperson. This doesn’t mean you should wait around for them. Seek out your prospects sooner rather than later.



These Are The Benefits an Early Bird Gets:

1. First off, if you get in early, you can share ideas, insights and information that can help them achieve their objectives. This positions you as a valuable resource than just another self-serving salesperson.

2. You’ll develop relationships with key people before they start looking, to build a trust advantage.

3. Finally, by getting in early, you’ll be able to impact the decision criteria instead of just responding to them.

3. Priority To Engagement Over Sales

While it is always tempting to pitch the first time you talk or connect with someone on social media, that would be like taking an axe to your relationship then and there. Social media is not an ideal platform for effective sales pitches.

The best advice is to keep sending them educational material and subtly dropping in something compelling about your company, increasing the likelihood that they will click on it. The rationale behind this is simply to build trust.



4. Social Selling is a Habit

Social selling is a process that requires patience and ongoing commitment. You can’t just share one article or favourite one buyer’s tweet and then be done with it. Salespeople must commit to infusing social networking into their daily routines for social activity to have an impact on revenue and sales.

5. Build Your Brand

Your online brand is the one asset you have that differentiates you from the competition. Keep it professional whilst making sure you’re maintaining the human element and being authentic. Your social presence across the networks you choose to publish on should be unique, consistent and compelling. People want to buy from people that educate them, not from robots.

Social selling is an ongoing investment of time and dedication to create relationships, and all sales are soon going to be about just that - relationships and conversations. Start getting social today.

Guest Authored By Dona Cherian. Dona is a writer/reporter for Gulf News Guides. She is an expert in practical UAE life tips and tricks, guides on lifestyle and travel, and rankings from across the globe. She loves digital analytics and is a closet artist. Follow Dona on Twitter.





Social selling is an ongoing investment of time and dedication to create relationships, and all sales are soon going to be about just that - relationships and conversations.

Start getting social today..
  • Authored by:
    Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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Saturday, June 28, 2025

YOUR Offline Business Social Media?


Social Media has become a worldwide phenomenon. The growth in usage statistics is staggering across the numerous platforms that make up this online world. In 2022 alone the number of social media users rose by 176 million bringing the total number of active social media users to 2.3 billion..



Social Media for Offline Businesses

Despite these astonishing statistics, the big question still remains. Does Social Media Belong in Your Business Plan?

The starting point for answering the question “Does social media belong in your business plan?” is the understanding that a business plan is a living, breathing, ever-changing document. It is no secret that too many business owners of small to medium size businesses either don’t develop a business plan at all or if they do, they don’t revisit it periodically to keep it fresh and relevant.


While social media has existed for some time now, its use for business is a rather recent development. This has come about as a result of its increasing acceptance by the population in general, businesses finding ways to capitalize on it, larger businesses dedicating resources to it and the social media platforms offering more business-oriented capabilities.



Those business owners that are keeping their plans current are likely to already have included it as a consideration. For others, this new technology may force them to dust off their current business plan and take a fresh look from a new perspective.

So how should you incorporate social media into your business plan?

To answer that question, let’s examine some of the key elements of a business plan.


Market Analysis

Has social media had an impact on the specific industry related to your business?

For example, if you own a restaurant you need to know whether any of these platforms could help you grow your business. In this case, two immediately come to mind - Yelp and Foursquare.

It would be important to be proactive with the use of these platforms in your business planning.



You must keep in mind that tech is not just a ‘young man’s’ game anymore. We’ve about reached that point where you’re no longer surprised to see a grandma on a smartphone.

This means no matter your demographic, they are tech-savvy. It’s why AARP has such a large social media presence. Everyone is online.

Competitive Analysis

In this section of your business plan have you analyzed how your competitors are using social media platforms? For example, do they have a business page on Facebook? Do they use Facebook ads?

Along these same lines, you need to consider how investing in these platforms can help you with your competitive differentiation. How can you use them to make your business stand out from the rest?

It’s a simple way of assessing your needs. Look at other similar businesses and see if they are getting good results from social media. Business can be very collaborative so even if it’s not apparent how good the company’s ROI is, they may happily share it with you. Just please contribute something in return.




Organization and Management

The use of these technologies requires resources. Consideration needs to be given to whether these will be internal or external.

In addition, social media can provide an effective platform for managing customer service, including issues. It has provided new methods for people to share their opinions about a business and its service.

It is important to follow these developments and pay attention to whether your customers are providing information to their online friends about your business.

Social media also keeps people from asking the same question over and over again. A simple tweet from your company’s social media account may be enough to quell the question of thousands of customers.

Now that’s a good ROI, wouldn’t you agree?




Marketing and Sales

This is a crucial area for those that decide to dedicate time, energy and money to the use of social media. A focused strategy is critical to the success or you may spend thousands of dollars with little return to show for it.

Consistent messages, attracting people to your products and converting them to customers requires proper business planning for successful execution.

It seems like nearly all sales at least start online. Nearly all of us go online before going in-store. Even just to check the general prices on Amazon. With that said, social media ties in nicely. Market and sell to your customers before they go to anyone else.

Financial

Unfortunately, most owners of small to medium size businesses spend money on online services such as a website that is never going to give them a return on their investment because the site is not likely to be found among the millions of websites that exist today. However, these new platforms can provide very cost effective alternatives for promoting your business.




New data released by email marketing software provider Yesmail shows that 91 percent of retail brands use two or more social media channels.

Final Thoughts

In summary, the growth of social media indicates that it is here to stay. That doesn’t mean that every platform will survive, however. It is important to periodically review your business plan to ensure that your business is taking advantage of the growth opportunities that social media has to offer.

This doesn’t mean you need to feel responsible for managing these social media campaigns. There are lots of young people who are eager to prove themselves and all you have to do is give them the keys, a modest budget, and watch the magic.

Okay, well, that’s not all there is to do. But those are ingredients that can lead to big results.

So should your business have a social media presence? Probably. No matter who your target demographic. Even if your demographic is children in Africa. Social media is still useful for letting everyone know what your company is doing for those children. Social media is about giving your company a voice. It’s not about pushing products, singing your praises, or posting funny cat meme’s on Friday’s.

Guest Authored By William Lipovsky. William owns the personal finance website First Quarter Finance. His most embarrassing moment was telling a Microsoft executive, "I'll just Google it." Follow William on Twitter.




So should your business have a social media presence?

Probably. No matter who your target demographic.

Even if your demographic is children in Africa.

Social media is still useful for letting everyone know what your company is doing for those children.

Social media is about giving your company a voice. It’s not about pushing products, singing your praises, or posting funny cat meme’s on Friday’s.

Be there for those you care about..


    • Authored by:
      Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Scottsdale, AZ. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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