5 Steps to Outsource For Profitable ROI

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5 Steps to Outsource For Profitable ROI

Step 1: Decide What to Outsource

Unless you have an unlimited budget, your first step is to decide what you’re going to outsource first. You can outsource most anything, including:

• Copywriting (sales letters, ads, press releases).
• Content creation (emails, blog posts, social media posts, reports, etc.)
• Product creation.
• Video production.
• Web design/development.
• Graphic design.
• Marketing (SEO, social media marketing, PPC marketing, etc.)

Pick one task that you would consider outsourcing, and then ask yourself these questions:

How much would it cost you to do this task yourself?

Your time is valuable, so doing a task yourself isn’t “free.” What you need to do is figure out what your time is worth per hour and multiply this by how many hours it would take for you to do a task to figure out how much it costs you to do it yourself.

For example, if your time is worth $75 and a project would take you 10 hours, then it “costs” you $750 to do it yourself.

How much would it cost to hire a freelancer to do it?

You may need to get some quotes, view sites belonging to freelancers, and check freelance job boards (such as Upwork.com) to get an estimate. Once you do, figure out if it’s more costly to do a task yourself or hire someone else.

What is your experience/skill level with this task?

Would a freelancer be able to do a better job? Even if it costs more to hire a freelancer, it’s worth outsourcing a task if a freelancer can do a better job than you. For example, if a freelancer can craft a high-converting sales letter, then your outsourcing investment will pay for itself many times over.

Do you like doing this task?

Do you ever find yourself procrastinating? If you just hate a task, you might choose to outsource rather than struggle through it.

As you ask yourself the above questions for each of the tasks you’re considering outsourcing, it should become clear which tasks to outsource first. You’re basically looking at three factors:

• Does it cost less to hire someone?
• Can a freelancer do a better job?
• Do you hate the task?

You can prioritize tasks according to how many of the above factors match. If a task has one factor, that’s worthy of outsourcing. Then if it matches two of the above factors, it moves up the priority list. If it checks all three of the above boxes, then that’s a task you’ll definitely want to consider outsourcing.
Time of course is another factor, one that can help you break a tie. Namely, how long will it take you to do a task? Low-value, time-consuming tasks are worth outsourcing.

Pick what you’d like to outsource first, and then move on to the next step…

Step 2: Define Your Project

Once you figure out what you’re going to outsource first, then your next step is to define the project. Here you’ll create a detailed project brief. You can use this brief to explain your project to potential freelancers to attract bids and get estimates. (And of course, this brief is what the freelancer will use to create your project.)

The key here is to give as many details as possible. For example, let’s suppose you need some writing done, such as a lead magnet or a blog article. Here are the types of details you would provide:

• Start with a one-sentence overview of what you need, along with a working title for the content.
• The purpose of this content – how will you use it?
• Who will read the content? Define your target audience.
• The format (e.g., article, email, report, etc.).
• The wordcount.
• An exact outline of what you want included in the content.
• What sort of call to action you’d like at the end.
• Any notes on writing style or formatting. (E.G., use a light, conversational tone.)
• Reference/research links to help the writer create the piece.
• Links to examples (and make it clear these are for examples only). For example, you might link to an article where you really like the writing style and let your writer know you’d like something similar. Or you might link to a piece of content with a well-done call to action and point to it as an example of how you’d like yours done. (No copying, just inspiration!)
• Encourage the freelancer to ask questions.

The more details you can provide at this point, the better-qualified freelancer you’ll attract, and the better the result will be.

Step 3: Distribute Your Ad

Your next step is to look for potential freelancers to complete this project. Here are different ways to do it:

Distribute your ad on freelancing sites. Here you take the project brief you just completed, and ad a few details such as desired delivery date and your budget range. You then let freelancers bid on your project. You can do this on sites such as Upwork.com, Freelancer.com, Guru.com and similar.

Search Google. A second way to find a potential freelancer is by searching Google for what you need. For best results, do searches on multiple keywords. You’ll also want to check out not only the organic results, but the sponsored results as well.

For example, if you’re looking for someone to create blog articles for you, you might search for keywords such as:

• Hire ghostwriter
• Hire freelance writer
• Hire blog article writer
• Freelance blog article writer

And similar words.

Ask for recommendations. Another way to find potential freelancers is to start asking around. You can ask your fellow marketing friends if they know any trustworthy freelancers whom they’d recommend. You can also ask your prospects, customers, visitors, and followers if they or someone they know provides the freelancing services you’re seeking.

To that end, you can:

• Mention your needs in an email.
• Blog about it.
• Post on social media (and ask people to share it).

Look locally. If you like the idea of working with someone in your city, then you can look locally for a freelancer. You can do this by:

• Asking local friends if they know anyone.
• Checking the local Chamber of Commerce directory.
• Getting in touch with business-oriented groups, such as entrepreneur meet ups (check MeetUp.com).
• Browsing local ads.
• Placing your own want ad.

As you can see, there are several potential ways to find a freelancer. You may use multiple methods to develop a big list of potential freelancers. Once you have this big list in place, then move on to the next step…

Step 4: Do Your Due Diligence

At this point, you have a list of potential freelancers who can complete your task. Now you need to sift through them and do your due diligence and research to pick the best one for your needs.

Let’s walk through the steps…

Browse the Portfolio

The first thing you want to do is make sure the freelancer does good work. And, ideally, you want to see that the freelancer has experience in the sort of project or niche you have in mind.

For example, if you’re hiring a ghostwriter to create a lead magnet (report) on the topic of Facebook marketing, then ideally you want to hire someone who has experience writing on that specific topic and knows how to structure effective lead magnets.

If a potential freelancer doesn’t have samples on their site or elsewhere, ask for them. Be sure to ask if they’ve done work in your niche as well. This is particularly important if you’re in a niche that requires a good deal of knowledge to write about it, such as a technical topic, a health topic or similar.

For example, any good freelance writer can do some research and create blog articles about training a dog. But when it comes to a topic such as overseas adoption (which is complex and may require a legal understanding), you’ll want to go with someone who has experience with the topic.

Review Feedback/Ratings/Testimonials

The next thing to check is the freelancer’s reviews and ratings. If you found the freelancer on a site where employers can offer feedback, such as upwork.com, then check that they have a good history of providing quality work on time.
Otherwise, check the freelancer’s website for testimonials, paying particular attention to verifiable ones (those with first and last names and website links).

Contact References

Another step you can take is to ask the freelancer for references. If you do this, be sure to follow up with the references. Ask them about their experience with the freelancer, the quality of work, and if they’d work with that freelancer again.

Do a Google Search

If you like what you’re seeing so far with a particular freelancer, then your next step is to research them using Google. You’ll want to do two or three different searches, including:

• A search on their name (first and last).
• A search on their business name.
• A search on their website (if different from their business name or their name).

You may want to add another search term to ensure you’re finding information about the right person. For example, if you’re searching for Jane Doe who’s a writer, you may search for terms such as:

• Jane Doe freelancer
• Jane Doe freelance writing
• Jane Doe writing
• Jane Doe freelancing

What you’re looking for is evidence that the freelancer has an established history of creating high quality work for clients over time. Ideally, you want someone who’s been freelancing for at least a year. Beware of any red flags such as:

• A history of complaints from clients.
• A history of complaints from business partners/associates.
• Any sign that the person used to work under a different name but changed names to cover a poor work history.
• Unprofessional behaviour, such as feuding with clients on social media or other public forums.

The key here is a “history” of complaints. Anyone who’s done a large amount of business is bound to have some complaints. What you’re looking for is an unusual or persistent pattern of complaints, especially those that don’t get resolved.

Compare Prices

The last thing to look at is the freelancer’s pricing and compare it to the pricing of other freelancers that you’re considering. If all else is equal in terms of the freelancers having good reputations and putting out high-quality work, then you can make your final decision based on price. Just don’t make the mistake of shopping with price as your priority, because a really good freelancer is worth any extra they may charge compared to average freelancers.

Who Should You Hire?

If you can’t quite decide which freelancer to choose, then you can hire multiple freelancers to complete a small project for you. This is a great method for choosing freelancers. That’s because sometimes a freelancer looks great on paper – and they do awesome work – but for whatever reason the two of you don’t communicate or work together well. Doing a small project helps you weed out people with whom you may have personality clashes or communication issues.

And finally…

Step 5: Develop a Good Working Relationship

Now that you have at least one freelancer on board, it’s time to work on developing a good relationship with that person. In other words, you’ll want to develop a retention strategy and a good working relationship, as a good freelancer is worth their weight in gold.

Check out these tips…

Create an Agreement

The first thing to do is create and sign a legal agreement with your freelancer which lays out the important points, such as:

• The exact scope of the project.
• How and when the freelancer will get paid.
• Delivery deadlines (including milestone deadlines).
• How revisions will be handled.

And similar issues. A good agreement should protect both you and a freelancer by laying out everything clearly and in writing.

Set Expectations

Lay out your expectations and ask your freelancer about their expectations as well. For example, how often do you want to be updated about a project? Let your freelancers know because they’re not mind readers.

Praise and Criticize Appropriately

When warranted, be sure to praise your freelancer and let them know what you really liked about the project. And likewise, you can offer feedback and criticism as needed too.

There are two points to keep in mind:

• Be sure you’re offering praise and appreciation among any negative feedback. If you only criticize and never praise, your freelancer will feel demoralized.

• Don’t get personal with criticism. E.G., instead of saying, “You did this wrong,” say something such as, “I would like this changed in this way…”

Let the Freelancer Know How Much They’re Valued

A freelancer who understands how important they are to your business and feels valued is one who’s likely to stick around over the long term. To that end, tell your freelancer in specific terms how they contribute to your business. When people feel like they are doing meaningful work, they’ll want to continue working with you.

Encourage Questions

Don’t ever make a freelancer feel like it’s a burden to answer their questions. Instead, encourage questions. And know that as time goes on, your freelancer will get better at understanding and even anticipating your needs.

Stay in Touch

Even if you’re not currently working on a project with the freelancer, you’ll want to drop an email from time to time just to maintain the relationship.

Offer Bonuses

A good way to surprise and delight your freelancer is by offering unexpected bonuses from time to time. You may do this during a holiday (such as a Christmas bonus), or even just after a job well done.
Be sure to write a note of appreciation when you give your freelancers a bonus.

In many cases, you’ll also find that a good freelancer is able to create a better result (and probably do it quicker too). That’s why you’ll want to take this information you just learned so you can start outsourcing in your business, too!

Want some more help with outsourcing the various tasks in your business? Then be sure to take a look at: Freelance Force.

To Your Success!