Outsourcing Case Study – Lisa Schwartz

[...] Outsourcing Case Study – Lisa Schwartz… [...]

Jonas,

I believe that there is something wrong with the MP3 file. I tried to download it today and there was a problem with the download. Additionally, the file will not play from your site.

Can’t wait to listen to the interview. It looks great!!

Neither the player or the link is working for me.

Unfort it doesn’t work for me either, but the notes tell most of it. I wish I could follow a plan and stick to it.

Using people from the Philippines especially, works very well for me. Though I find that Indians are very hard working too and clever.
All work is a kind of bondage isn’t it?

They work for low amounts of $’s but hey, how much does it cost to live there?

I actually don’t have to listen to the case study to tell you if it is good, then it is a rare case. I have lived and worked in Asia, still do and I have 8 Filipino workers, down from 18. They are very well paid, way above what most are getting and I can tell you, 50% of the time they will bail in the middle of a project to go elsewhere for an extra buck and hour. In a lot of cases I have lost the source code and I never get a call or email from them, they are VERY, VERY different from the way we operate and if you don’t believe me, try it. Trust me when I say what you think you are saving you are not. I now use a company on the ground there run by and American and Canadian and they have an office where the staff go to each day. It is the ONLY way this works. Good luck to you. Scott

MP3 dl’d ok for me. Listening to it right now. Thanks John and Lisa!! Great interview. I;m going to start calling you the meat and potatoes marketer. There’s no fluffy sawdust cupcakes from you ever. And a belated thanks for the BTSOS post, mp3 and BC instructions. How’s the golf game?

Great interview John. I learned quite a bit from that. Thanks. Any comments on what Scott posted above?

This was a very good interview, I’ve thought many time about outsourcing but I’ve seen some of the work that was done by overseas folk. I’m fixing alot of work that was done by an indian company right now. I would say that you have to monitor every move, look at every link, read every article or you’ll have some really bad stuff with you company name on it.

wow, great podcast. addressed my concerns. 1 question though. how much is she actually spending per month just to get those people + all her other investments (software, programs, templates etc.). I guess it might come up to more than $1000 right?

John,
Lisa is doing her business just like I’m preparing to do mine. I couldn’t tell from the call but there are two things I’d like to know because I’m debating them myself as I develop my strategy. (1.) Does her staff all work togather in the same location? I wonder about the pro and con of doing that. (2.) Did she hire and train her staff before beginning production? It kind of sounds like she did and I wonder how much time that required.
As usual, great stuff John! Thanksagain,
Jim

I have had some experience with the philipines workers. It is a different culture as scott has mentioned and sometimes you do have to go thru a few workers to find a good one. This has been true in my experience. But as long as you have some defined and measurable goals, then you can do ok. We have all of the people perform some tasks to validate their level of competence. We also give them a wage scale that pays by performance output. It’s not a perfect system by any means, but if you are looking to “replace yourself” it’s a pretty good way to go. I think that Lisa’s point was to mutiply your productivity, (maybe I’m the only one who is crazy busy), and to allow you to achieve your financial goals sooner rather then later.

I love to hear examples and case studies. I hired a few people in the philippines. I learned about it from John. It’s a bit time consuming but they build blogs, seo, create videos. You have to really train them right first but hire slow and fire fast. I now pay like $1.75 per hour for my guys. Thanks for this free info. Your info is awesome.

Preston Rahn

In regards to Scott’s comment I have not had the privilage to have worked with 18+ fillipinos yet, but the 2 that work for me full time are extremely loyal. I discovered a blog post from one of them the other day (unrelated to any of my projects on one of his personal blogs that he did not know I was reading) and he refered to me as “more than just my boss, a mentor and a friend”. So I guess saying that ALL the fillipinos are the “take your money and run kind” is just not true.

I suggest you take a bit more care in the selection process. I advertise on bestjobs.ph and see which one chases me the hardest. Read through the lines and create a conversation with someone before you hire them. Just plain good selection process should eliminate that issue.

As to the actual post, I can ditto John’s comments. I actually had someone contact me from this blog a while back asking me how I started with outsourcing and if it was viable for a newbie. Well, the thing is I have build websites and linked and SEO’d and blackhatted and adsensed and affiliated and got the know all the tricks before settling down to what works for me and now I know exactly what I want and how to outsource it.

So I can now #1. Give good instructions #2. Do quality control.

You have to know your method well and have run the mill with it and have done it yourself to know how it works so you can task your fillipinos correctly and do quality control of the work they have done for you. Unless you hire someone to do this function as well (tasking and quality control) somewhere you are going to have to train someone to make the websites the way it should be according to your system and plan.

Great audio, John.

This was very on-target for me since I am also using the basic minisite strategy that Lisa is using. I’m still a one-man shop and have only graduated to using tools and out-sourcing article writing to spend up the process. I’m currently fine-tuning my processes in preparation for my next outsourcing steps of replacing myself.

Like Kelvin, I would love to know the approximate cost that Lisa is spending for her people.

Ed

Hi John

I really like the Lisa Schwartz audio, I’ve listened to it twice now. I’ve got to the point where I seriously need to consider outsourcing. I agree with Stephen’s post above…you really need to know your system inside and out before you can confidently give it to someone else.

Lisa Schwartz has managed to get her outsourcing team to build 6 websites in 6 weeks but says that she will be able to increase this to 2 or 3 per day within a couple of months. She concentrates on one main strategy that she discovered in Joel Peterson’s ‘Minisite Formula’ course.

I’m going to subscribe to your ‘Replacemyself’ course as this is the final piece of the jigsaw before I embark on my outsourcing journey. I’m sure there will be obstacles to overcome but I hope the rewards will be worth it.

John O’Hara
United Kingdom

@kelvin – Her 3 GUYS probably cost her $300/month each. Plus software/subscriptions of $100-$200/month.

@Jim Vickers – Her GUYS all work from home. They don’t have the same location. I do think they know each other and cooperate/collaborate together (mine all do).
Also, I’m pretty sure she didn’t “train” them before production. Beginning production is part of training.

Has Lisa made any money using the minisite formula? Mr. Jonas have you?

I’m going to buy it today and give you guys my feedback. I would appreciate everyone else doing the same.

Thanks,

Alex

is the blogging to sell on steroids talked about still open for download?
I tried to get it and it look out.

Thanks
Wil

Hi Liza,
I am Ranjith De Silva from Sri Lanka and I like to talk to you on Skype.get your assistance on Internet Marketing
thanks & best regards
Ranjith
SkypeId- wrdesilva

I use four VA, all from the Phillipines. yes, it take time to find the right people. But I have them very loyal, very friendly and I love working with them.

I don’t begrudge them if they find work for a dollar more per hour. When you pay someone 3 dollars and they find work at 4 dollars? Hmm, that’s a 25% raise. If you earn $20 an hour and a competitor offered you $25 I’m sure you would think about changing jobs too.

But I many still like to do odds jobs for me, if I need it. A good example is one of my VA found work at $3/hr more and said he felt he should take the job, at the time he recorded audio voice over for me. I told to of course take the job, that I could not match the pay, but I wish him the best. His response was if I never needed his assistance to please let him know and he’ll try and help. I still send him audios, and pay him the original amount, he always comes through for me. That’s pretty loyal!

John – Lisa mentioned she had looked at a few different models – as well as Joel’s. I’ve been asking my VA’s i’ve hired through your support, to follow your training, and I’ve also purchased and share with them Adam Short’s Niche Profit Classroom videos which seemed to be very methodical and clear too.Some useful keyword tools etc in there which help them do the research etc
Been considering Joel’s programme – but I’m not sure if this would duplicate a lot of what I’ve already got? what’s your opinion?
Also – whilst I know the whole concept is to pass work to our VA’s -(and I am totally convinced of how useful outsourcing to the right team is;)how much do you think we should understand the models and different processes before we hand over to our guys? Lisa sounded as though she was pretty internet savvy – and whilst I’m trying to learn too, I sometimes wonder if I’m abdicating instead of delegating, and whether that might be holding us back a little? Would appreciate your thoughts.

John,

Great interview! I have been reading your blog for some time and am very impressed. I love your passion. I thinking of hiring agentsofvalue – but just need some basic link building outsourced. I have my videos all lined up and have hired through odesk and stuff here and there, but getting really busy these days and need someone more full time. I think you use them, right? From your experience do you find it better to hire a “link builder” from them or a “VM” for link building purposes. I don’t mind paying more if they are more well rounded, you know what I mean. What are you thoughts on this matter?

@Shona – I can’t overstate the importance of understanding what you’re doing.
You have to understand your own business model and processes. If you don’t, nobody else is going to.

If you don’t understand why you’re doing things, maybe you’re having your guys do the wrong things!

It’s SUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPER important.

John

My thoughts are that you’re much more likely to find a good person by using OnlineJobs.ph than you are by using AgentsOfValue.

You can try AOV, but that’s my experience and opinion.

John

Thanks John for taking the time to respond! Appreciate your comments – AND the emphasis!

I think I have been abdicating instead of delegating!! Already putting this right.

Shona

This was great it answered alot of my questions. I did leave understanding you can use alittle bit of everyones business to do your business. And based on your answers there was alot of been there, done that.

I don’t know how she got 6 sites up in six weeks. I have two people working for me in the Phillipines: one for SEO, one a suppossed programmer/website developer. Both are constantly taking days off (which they realize are unpaid) without telling me–despite my several reminders that I must know ahead of time of any days off. These aren’t emergencies, they are weddings on a Monday and “reasons” like that. Our one Skype appointment to go over details, and her mic was suddenly “not working.”
I’m constantly having to remind the web guy of his assignments. I’ll send him one, very clearly described, and he’ll “forget” it.
I’ve tried being nice, I’ve tried being tough. It doesn’t seem to get through to them.

Thanks so much for sharing this useful information. I'll pass it on to the readers of my blog SEO Las Vegas.

This is a great audio John. I'm hoping to join your Replace Myself program when I feel I have enough knowledge myself. I feel this is important, so that one can correctly monitor the work being done by the people that you are employing.

Like most people, time is the enemy (especially with six kids).

There seems to be issues with finding a virtual assistants…

The are many small businesses who go find themselves a freelancer wouldn't want to consider bpo companies just because they cost $700-$1000 each month which most find expensive. However, a lot who go to freelancers came from these companies have all decided to go freelance because they get paid by the hour and make more compared to these bpo companies who pays $less than $300 a month… and having to deal with business people who lowball the service fees often are the ones who demands a lot and wants someone who can be a jack of all trade….and pay less than $300 a month.. if that would've been the case, these freelancers could've stayed with the bpo companies they used to work to if they knew they're gonna make lesser than they used to… seriously, $300/month is a salary of SECURITY GUARDS and not professionals, do your research on wages in the Philippines before yapping around about why your virtual workers left you.

WAKE UP NOTE: BPO Companies charges range from $700-$1000 on IT Outsourcing Services for a designated work expertise while excluding software usage. The fact that you're getting it less cheaper from freelancers means DO NOT LOWBALL your fees to a point of taking advantage of your freelancers and asking them to be jack-of-all-trades! There's a reason why WORK DESIGNATION was created on the first hand. $350 a month is a salary based on your computation is a salary of security guards and not professionals. check on Philippine wages so you won't wonder why they leave and never hear from them again.

I have to say that my experience in hiring my Philippine assistant has been absolutely great. I treat Rea as if she were my own family, and I have always received honest and loyal work from her, often above and beyond my expectations.

For the dissenters who posted, it seems there is a gap between realizing these are human beings with desires, and aspirations of their own, and if you don't connect personally with your employees, they very well may not think twice about leaving for greener pastures.

This blog seems to be a battle of race huh!?

Scott Sez..@ 9:12 am

Quote..

I actually don’t have to listen to the case study to tell you if it is good, then it is a rare case. I have lived and worked in Asia, still do and I have 8 Filipino workers, down from 18. They are very well paid, way above what most are getting and I can tell you, 50% of the time they will bail in the middle of a project to go elsewhere for an extra buck and hour. In a lot of cases I have lost the source code and I never get a call or email from them, they are VERY, VERY different from the way we operate and if you don’t believe me, try it. Trust me when I say what you think you are saving you are not. I now use a company on the ground there run by and American and Canadian and they have an office where the staff go to each day. It is the ONLY way this works. Good luck to you. Scott

End Quote..

Scott, care to share the company you are referring to (American or Canadian)? Thanks for this comment..

Robert C – The Wholesale Products Guy