Outsourcing.io

Business Discovery Network

[outsourcingio-blog]

Why Freelancing is Failing

The current freelancing model is broken. For a few years now, online contracting has been overwhelmed by an increasing amount of supply and in a frenzy of growth, big players are slow to adapt. 

There is so much competition coming from developing countries that rates have been dropping too low for a good part of contractors, removing them from the supply pool. 

Here's why.

The problem lies with a lack of segmentation. The freelancing market needs to be split into smaller, manageable vertices addressing an increasingly complex demand. Case in point, there is no service currently absorbing outsourcing demand from enterprise buyers. The products they require are very different from what you can now buy on freelancing boards. Established businesses need support more than anything else; they need warranties, accountability and reliable services. As long as this product is not in store, no serious business will dare outsource critical systems online.

But a lack of enterprise services is just a small part of what's wrong with the current model. Due to the same lack in segmentation, freelancing boards have become a disaster. They're cluttered with garbage projects and bad requirements, which are bid on by unreliable, low-quality workers. It's impossible for serious work to get done, and professional contractors are slowly abandoning this avenue. Proof of this issue are many projects asking bidders to include a custom sentence in the middle of their offer, thus proving they at least read the details - a feeble attempt at treating a symptom instead of the underlying disease. At the same time, buyers are generally looking for "gurus" willing to work for unreasonable rates, thus feeding the vicious circle.  

No accountability.

Freelancing is failing because the process is simply too easy. Submitting a project or bid is always a free, non-invasive and painless process, having no incentive to think about what you're submitting. 

There's nothing to lose if you waste someone's time and the worst you can get is a slap on the wrist in the form of a bad review. Having little information about other participants doesn't help either. You can easily drop off the grid once you decide you no longer want to work with the other party. This is a classic example of letting the user stab himself with the knife you just sold him. 

We need to take a step back and look at our real-world equivalents. In a race to bring in more money to the table, we've lost contact with how a real-world service auction really works. It's difficult, requires accountability and takes training to master, but it provides real value in return. We're free to improve this design, but removing accountability out of the equation will lead to its implosion and prevent a fair balance. 

What now?

We don't have a proven alternative, and if we don't promote a fair work model, any real talent will soon disappear into full-time employment. 

Good news is the current state hasn't gone unnoticed. There's a new breed of services brewing in stealth mode, and I'm willing to bet towards the end of 2012 we'll be seeing a few startups pushing for new models, fresh ideas and fixes for these problems. 

Use the comments to share your thoughts.

[outsourcingio-blog]

Freelance rate calculator

Found an excellent tool to calculate your hourly rate:

http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/

Use the comments below to let me know what numbers you get!

[outsourcingio-blog]

Do's and Dont's of generating traction for a startup

Good News, Everyone!

On this series of posts I will share what we're doing to promote and get some traction with our startup. I will share what worked and what not, so you won't make the same mistake. 

DO: Submit your startup to http://betali.st/

This has gotten us a surprising level of exposure. I say surprising because I didn't have any hopes about it. However, we got close to 500 visits and over 250 signups, which is more than a 50% conversion rate! Considering this was not part of a combined campaign but a simple post, I'd say the results are very good.

DON'T: Google AdWords and LinkedIn paid advertising.

We had some coupons laying around and we figured we throw them out there, get a feeling on what type of conversion they generate.

Linked in has been showing over 20k impressions with only 2 clicks registered, and Google disabled my AdWords account because I hadn't entered my billing details, though I entered a coupon and had money in my account. My Linkedin impressions are steadily dropping (though the day's limits are not being reached) and I have no hopes for the AdWords to have any effect. LinkedIn recommends $2.11 for a click and AdWords suggests $1.38. Considering even a 10% conversion rate (which is surreal, 2% is much closer to reality), you would pay $15-$20 for a signup. So at the end of the day, it's just not sustainable.

So, even though I didn't submit any money to these services, I still kinda feel cheated overall. It's a waste of time. Note: The above is probably false if you're advertising real products to sell, you'll have to make your own assessment on whether they work for you. My point is that this type of advertising will get you nothing from a startup/signup perspective.

We will post new data as it comes in, so check back often and follow @outsourcing_io on Twitter.

Use the comments to tell us what's been working for you, so we give it a try. And don't forget to signup for an early preview of our service!

[outsourcingio-blog]

An Unbiased Comparison on the PRO's and CON's of Outsourcing

I was preparing to write a lengthy post about the pros and cons of outsourcing, but I realized it would be pointless for me to re-iterate the same boring reasons. You're not interested in them.

So here's a cool perspective. The pros and cons of outsourcing are simple:

PRO: You free your time to focus on your core functions and competencies.

CON: The process is out of your control.

So when is the best time to outsource?

ANSWER: As soon as possible.

You cannot improve your products and services if you’re spending your time and resources on tasks that don’t really grow your business. To add insult to injury, there’s a very good chance that many of the tasks you’re undertaking are not your expertise, so they take longer, are more frustrating and subsequently cost you more.

If you run a small business or starting a new company there’s one thing you should be focused on: sales. Which is enabled by improved products and services, so focus on what your business does best. Everything else is secondary.

So let me know why haven't you outsourced yet ? 

On my next article I will talk about how you should mitigate outsourcing risks. Sign-up to support our startup! I'd like to know you're there.

[outsourcingio-blog]

Welcome

We're very excited to begin preparations for the launch of our most interesting project, outsourcing.io, a hub for enterprise-level service contracting.

The idea has been haunting us for a very long time but based on customer feedback we now feel that it's time to stop talking and start coding.

Development was started in early May, but a lot of time was spent on defining our mision, core values and features. We've been working hard on the user experience and have developed an excellent set of main features: user account, project listing, contractor and portfolio listing, auction process and a minimal API set. An important tool to achieve our goal is the administration panel behind the application, which is now under heavy testing to support a fast and flexible moderation process.

We have many more updates in store, but we've decided to take a new path in terms of development: we'll be letting our users influence the direction we need to focus. Paying users will have an option to suggest or choose and set priority to one of the internal enhancements we're working on. Once a goal is reached, the attached feature becomes top priority.

Our goals for the immediate future are filling in the last bits of content, copy-write, setting-up our marketing strategy and a healty dose of internal testing before issuing invites.

Stay in touch by signing-up for an early invite and follow our blog for regular updates as we get closer to the launch.