Archive for the 'outsourcing' Category

Jul242008

Which side of the curve will you be on?

Ah, one of the things that entrepreneurs like the most - academic research.

…Well, probably not - but I an interesting study came out last year about a subject that I like to talk about a lot - outsourcing.

Last year, Princeton economist Alan S. Blinder published a research paper which concluded that up to 38 million jobs, or 29 percent, of U.S. jobs are potentially offshorable within the next couple of decades. Yes, you read that right: 38 million.

Does this mean that no job is sacred any more?

Perhaps.

Does this mean that you can expect your neighbor to be competing as much against Steve from St. Petersburg, Florida as he will against Sergei from St. Petersburg, Russia?

Maybe.

Is this the real death knell for the American middle class?

Depends.

Nothing is a birthright; not a $100,000 a year job, not two houses, not three cars, not retirement - nothing. You aren’t entitled to anything here on planet earth. You have to earn it (sometimes this gets lost on a lot of people). We have a choice as to which side of the curve we are going to be on: you can be outsourced or you can be the outsourcer.

As much lip service as there is paid to “innovation,” “continuous improvement” and “global competitiveness,” how much are you putting into practice?

For as many things as there are to be outsourced, these are the many things that you can use to your advantage as an entrepreneur or working professional. If you keep taking a step up, if you make a conscious choice each day to leverage your strengths - you will be able to not only survive but thrive in the increasingly competitive global business environment.

So, which side of the curve will you be on?

bell curve

Published
by
Adam Davis
on July 24, 2008
in globalization, offshoring and outsourcing
. 0 Comments
Jul12008

Tuesday Top 5: 5 More Reasons to Start Outsourcing - NOW

If you are still on the fence about outsourcing and making yourself more virtual, the time to get off the fence is now. Outsourcing has become more and more a part of my business and personal life in the last six months - I wonder how I ever got things done before.

I’m pulling out my crystal ball and predicting that there is going to be a growing disparity in the productivity of entrepreneurs and professionals that utilize outsourcing and those that do not. The most obvious spot that this disparity is going to show up is on the bottom line. Businesses that outsource, separate and delegate non-core functions are going to become more significantly more profitable than those that do not in the very near future.

Just for fun, I am kicking out 5 more reasons why you need to start outsourcing right now…

1. Make ‘work from anywhere’ a reality

The Four Hour Work Week need not be just the title of a book. Outsourcing should be one of the main components in your strategy to achieve flexibility and geographical freedom in your business or profession.

If you are tied to employees or an office, it’s pretty hard to manage from a distance for extended period of time. Using outsourcing service providers, on the other hand, will allow you to build your business with an inherent flexibility - you can ‘plug & play’ on certain type of projects, tasks and ongoing operations (just like when the A-Team was getting ready to get things done).

ateam

Increased peace of mind and confidence will befall you when you know you can pick up your computer and work for a few days (or weeks) from the poolside in Las Vegas.

2. Get 10 times as much done

Surprise! Surprise! Unloading tasks from your plate and freeing up your time to put your focus where it needs to be = making money. The more you focus on what you are good at, what you like to do and what makes you money the more higher your personal satisfaction will be and the better your business will perform.

Perhaps this sounds like garbled business cliche to you. Rest assured, it has rung true time and time again in my business. As my businesses have grown, there have been times where I wondered ‘where did this day go?’ It’s often hard to measure your productivity as a business owner - you are forced to wear so many hats. I feel that any advantage I can get from clearing tasks and processes out of my way (or out of the way of my company’s daily internal functions) is going to be beneficial - financially and mentally.

3. Get a global perspective

3d

Just about every entrepreneur I know is either:

a. not focused on taking advantage of the global economy or,

b. blissfully unaware of the effects of globalization on their business.

No matter what business you are in you are affected by the global economy. I think this is a good thing. Entrepreneurs that ignore or fail to take stock of this fact are in for a rude awakening; either in terms of lost opportunities or vanishing customers.

The more you think of your business as a global business, the better off you are going to be. The more you outsource, the more you will come into contact and work with service providers from across the world. When you start working with companies and individuals from countries like: India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, Romania and others you will get a glimpse of what is going on around the world of global business and this will make you a better business leader.

4. Cocktail party conversation

You’ll have something more interesting to talk about at your next chamber of commerce or networking event when you start outsourcing. Gone will be the days of witty banter about the new property tax credit legislation or the donuts they served at the last event. While you might not want to gush the details of your business operations to others, you will definitely be more in tune with the market and your customers because you will have had more time to focus on it (since you are spending less time on the junk, non-value added work).

5. Intellectual growth capital

Outsourcing will force you to learn more about: communication, technology, business processes, management and will make you a better leader of your business. Combine all of these things on an accelerating path and you will have a force to be reckoned with.

Too often, entrepreneurs get caught up in ‘the now’, the actions we have to do today and lose sight of the future and what we will need to do to equip ourselves for success. Although being too busy to read and study is not an excuse, at least by living and breathing new and faster moving changes in the business world you will be able to keep yourself abreast of what is going on and stay ahead of the curve.

***

I hope you now feel compelled to start outsourcing some tasks and business processes right away. Remember: “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single breath.”

Go!

jump

Published
by
Adam Davis
on July 1, 2008
in Productivity, offshoring and outsourcing
. 2 Comments
May62008

Tuesday Top 5: Practical Outsourcing Tips for Part-Time Entrepreneurs

After a brief hiatus, The Weekly “Tuesday Top 5″ is back (hey, give me a break, business is on fire here!)

Some of the qualities that I value most in business are: clarity and focus. This is the impetus for the Tuesday Top 5: it is my attempt to provide some nuggets for you to use right away. If you have noticed from my prior posts, I am a very action oriented person. Having something clear and concise to work with does wonders for my psyche.

Many entrepreneurs start their businesses part time. They work a full time job and run their business at night, from home and through email and cell phone calls during the workweek. What I want to do is to give some practical guidance that will help part-time entrepreneurs be more productive so they can drive revenues higher and fire the boss once and for all.

1. Delegate non-marketing/sales functions

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, marketing is the single most important activity that you will undertake. Therefore, you should start outsourcing any activities that prevent you from spending 75%-80% of your time on marketing and selling. Some of these activities include: accounting/bookkeeping, payroll/human resource management, order fulfillment, inventory management, logistics, etc.

You will find these areas to have more redundancies and you can make them system and process dependent much faster and easier as a small business than the marketing and sales functions.

2. Go for quality over quantity

I often talk about using ‘best cost’ providers instead of ‘lowest cost’ providers. What does this mean? It means that you need to chose service providers that give you the best ‘bang for your buck’ - in terms of price, turnaround time, quality and professionalism and communication. The level to which you ignore this principle will directly correlate to dollars drained out of your bank account. Trust me.

3. Use a consistent method of communication

Chose a communication medium that works well for you and your service provider. Examples are: email, private message board and instant messaging services. I strongly advice you to use the same communication method for all interactions with your service provider. This will come in handy if there are ever any issues or problems because you can refer back to prior conversations to sort out any problems in communication or instructions or feedback.

4. Use escrow payment methods with your service providers

Escrow payment methods can provide protection for you if you feel that your service provider has not performed to the agreed upon terms and metrics. Websites like elance and guru provide this service for free and also provide a good website community.

5. Don’t be afraid to fire your providers

You must demand that your service providers perform to your expectations. Make sure you outline your expectations and performance requirements at the beginning of the business relationship. If your system breaks down with an outsourcing vendor that you are using make sure you fire them right away. After all, you are paying them - not the other way around. There is a big world of potential providers

Remember: always focus on revenue generating activities. As an entrepreneur you have to relentlessly focus on your top line and managing your cash flow. Far too many start-up businesses put the brakes on marketing and sales only to see their pipeline dry up at the most inopportune times. Keep stoking the fire.

The Top 5 for today should give you some serious ammunition that will allow you to focus more on sales and marketing. Don’t forsake this aspect of your business. To me, outsourcing is the best weapon that entrepreneurs to focus on the truly important aspects of building a business.

Here is an example of what I am talking about in action in our real estate investing business:

Our revenue generating activities surround providing both experienced and new real estate investors the best deals that fit their financial parameters and investing goals. Our daily activities focus on obtaining new investor relationships and cultivating existing relationships.

As you might guess, there can be a lot of paperwork and administrative overhead involved with real estate. It is very easy (I know from experience) to get bogged down in the process of buying and selling houses (not our business) instead of focusing on the people (this is our business). Our business is about helping people achieve their wealth accumulation goals through real estate investing. Therefore, we outsource any function we can that does not help us reach more people and bring them closer to what they need with real estate.

Since technology has opened the floodgates of globalization, we can focus more and more on helping our clients. This has the added benefit of increasing our productivity and standard of living (we can work from anywhere if we choose).

My challenge to you is to implement today’s Top 5 with gusto. Give me your feedback and make sure you email me with questions or problems you have in the process.

Published
by
Adam Davis
on May 6, 2008
in Productivity, outsourcing, quitting your job and time management
. 3 Comments
Mar132008

30 Second Thursdays - Volume 9 - Take a Step Back if You Can’t See the Forest Through the Trees

This week brought back to striking reality for me why it’s so important for us to focus on the big picture all the time. It’s important to keep things in perspective and have your goals in clear focus. If you don’t, you simply won’t get anything done of long term consequence.

Recently, I have been preparing for a workshop we are hosting this coming Saturday. When you are singularly focused on a goal, it’s easy to let all of the small, ultimately inconsequential things bounce right off you. To have the success you desire, your prescription of focus must come with a set of blinders.

For this week’s 30 Second Thursday (shot during a break in the action at command central) I go into this a little bit more.

Published
by
Adam Davis
on March 13, 2008
in Entrepreneurship, offshoring and outsourcing
. 0 Comments
Mar62008

30 Second Thursdays - Volume 8 - Check Your Cultural and Country Biases at the Door

Most people that I talk to about outsourcing have stereotypes (maybe unconsciously) about service providers and locales. For example: “India is only good for IT and data entry work.” False. I have found fantastic outsourcing partners in the creative fields from countries like India, China.

This week’s 30 Second Thursday Addresses this critical point:

Published
by
Adam Davis
on March 6, 2008
in Productivity, offshoring and outsourcing
. 0 Comments
Mar52008

Tuesday Top 5: 5 Reasons People Don’t Delegate (and why it hurts them)

Sorry for the belated Top 5.  I was in the middle of drafting this post yesterday when something important pulled me away from my computer and, lo and behold, Wednesday was upon me!

Most of you know that I preach “do what you do best and outsource the rest.” A lot of people understand this and believe it. However, putting this into action, that is, focusing on what drives the true results (e.g. profits) in your business and delegating everything else to 3rd party service providers seems to cause a big disconnect with most small business owners and entrepreneurs.

If you cannot delegate, your business growth will be limited.  Maybe not now, but at some point in the future you will find yourself spinning your wheels.

In this spirit, the Tuesday Top 5 for this week highlights the reasons I have found for why people can’t/won’t delegate. My hope is that you might notice a few of these traits in yourself and take necessary remedial actions.

1. Control Freak-ism

You know this when you see it. This occurs when people absolutely have to be the proverbial chief cook and bottle washer in their business.  This has been expounded upon by countless gurus (think E-myth by Michael Gerber) but it is still a defining characteristic for the American small business owner.

If you always think that you can “do it better yourself,” “nobody can do it better” or “good help is hard to find” you may fall into the category of control freakism.
2. Communication Deficiency

Effective communication (I discussed this in last week’s 30 second Thursday) is a huge reason that people don’t delegate.  For someone to do something for you, they have to know what needs to be done.  If you can’t tell them what needs to be done, or what you want to be done, then it won’t get done.  Herein lies the problem:  Being able to clearly communicate priorities, tasks, processes, what decisions need to be made independently and how problems should be troubleshooted.

If you cannot pour out of your head what you want and how you want it done, you may be hitting communication roadblocks that will prevent you from getting to the next level.

3. Process Breakdown

Not having well documented processes and/or methods for performing tasks in your business will prevent you from being able to delegate and/or outsource these functions.  This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks that I see entrepreneurs trip over.  Many people get caught up in thinking that they need to develop complex flow charts and manuals in order to have effective processes.   However, I think that having a document with bullet points or numbered steps and checklists can be just as effective.

4. People/Vendor Selection

If you have been burned at all by a bad hiring of vendor selection decision, you can quickly develop an aversion to letting other people handle business tasks that are important.  Trust is important in any business relationship, whether you are delegating inside or outside your business.

I encourage everyone to carefully evaluate outsourcing providers before engaging in long term relationships.  The same should be true with employees (think 90 day probationary period).  The ultimate solution to this is to make your processes system dependent, so that you can plug in vendors or employees.  This will help mitigate (but not eliminate) your people risk.  The bottom line is that there are going to be people and vendor problems in your business, the only question is how well you can deal with it and not let it divert your focus.

5. Laziness

This one shouldn’t surprise you. How many people do you know that say things like: “nah…I’ll just take care of it myself.”  This boils down to mental laziness, and reverts back to “control freakism” in a way.  If you are mentally lazy, you won’t take the time to document what you do, what you want done, how you want it done and how you will measure success or failure.  It’s much easier, at first, to say “I’ll just do it” instead of creating a system that allows you to delegate the task to someone else so that you can focus on your core business and enjoying life.

Well, there we have it.  I hope that you can take these things to heart and evaluate them against your own practices.  Incremental improvements can add up quickly.  Make sure you stay a step ahead of your competitors and add more value to you customers by focusing on what you do best and outsourcing the rest!

Published
by
Adam Davis
on March 5, 2008
in Management, offshoring and outsourcing
. 0 Comments
Feb282008

30 Second Thursdays - Volume 7 - Communication and Delegation

If you want to take your business to the next level - outsourcing more and more and working less to make more money - than you need to become progressively more efficient and effective at communicating.

One of my mentors once told me that: “most problems in the world are problems of information or communication.”

Here is this week’s 30 Second Thursday with more to say on this subject:

Published
by
Adam Davis
on February 28, 2008
in Management, outsourcing and time management
. 0 Comments
Feb142008

30 Second Thursdays - Volume 6 - Look at Your Own Backyard for Providers - You May Be Surprised

There is a world full of great outsourcing service providers to help you take your business to the next level. That world includes freelancers right here in the USA. When most people think of outsourcing, they think of rooms full of brand new graduates from colleges in India or a machine shop in China.

The truth is that there is a TON of outsourcing activity going on with freelance service providers in your own backyard as well. There can be advantages to working with someone domestic, particularly on creative projects (graphic, movie, industrial design).

As long as you focus on finding the BEST provider for your needs, you will be clear on your way to more vacations (or mini-retirements) in no time.

Here is this week’s 30 Second Thursday spot to help me illustrate this point a little bit better:

Published
by
Adam Davis
on February 14, 2008
in Productivity, offshoring and outsourcing
. 0 Comments
Feb72008

30 Second Thursdays - Volume 5 - Don’t Always Focus on Cost

Outsourcing your non-core functions, tasks and processes will take your business to new heights. However, far too many people are focused on price alone when choosing a provider. I think this stems from unrealistic (read: unsustainable) price quotes from hungry providers and an overall lack of knowledge of what you REALLY need in an outsourcing partner.

When choosing an outsourcing service provider, take this week’s 30 Second Thursday message into consideration.

Published
by
Adam Davis
on February 7, 2008
in Productivity, offshoring and outsourcing
. 0 Comments
Jan262008

Put Your Business on Autopilot and Enjoy Life

Coming from Michigan (a GREAT state, but just a little bit cold this time of year!), let me tell you how great it is to wake up to sunshine and palm trees.  I have been in Miami for the past few days, working a little and playing A LOT.  You see, one of the mantra’s that I live my life by is: “work hard, play hard.”  

Life is just too short to not enjoy the small things.Building a business that relies heavily on turn-key systems and outsourcing non-core functions has a huge upside: it allows you to be anywhere whenever you want!   

Here are some pics of me enjoying an escape from the Michigan cold and snow and having a good time in Miami.  

Adam - Living it up 

Who says you can’t have what you want in life?!   

Adam and Rebecca

My lovely wife, Rebecca and yours truly. 

Also, my latest podcast is available HERE.  You can listen to it live on the internet or save the file and drop it into your favorite mp3 player or burn it to CD.  

If you want to start building a business that works without you; a business that you can set on autopilot, then this podcast is a must listen for you.  Please send me your feedback.   

Published
by
Adam Davis
on January 26, 2008
in Inspiration, outsourcing and quitting your job
. 1 Comment
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