How to Outsource for One-off and Part- Time Business Services

The good news is that outsourcing one-off and part-time business services is a brilliant idea and possible for every single potential business service you can think of.

The bad news is, that the recruitment process is the same across all one-off, part-time or full-time services.

When it comes to one-off business services, given the nature of the job is temporary, no one really wants to invest the same amount of energy to find the best person for a one off service.

At the end of the day we want the best price for the best quality without hassles and wasting time.

The less you outsource though, the more prone you are to outsourcing pitfalls.

The most common pitfalls are communication and deadline breakdowns.

If you have recruited well in the first place a skills breakdown is eliminated. If your recruitment skills are not developed a skills breakdown can be common as well.

Even if you are experienced a skills breakdown can still occur.

Let me highlight an example that happened to me earlier this year. I went on fiverr.com to find a designer for my business card. I posted my job add and got many many applicants. I reviewed the portfolios of the applicants and chose a guy from Bangladesh whose designs I liked.

Next I sent him my brief and it was all going well. I was happy with the design of the card.

When it came time to send the design he had sent me, off to the printer, my printer kept sending it back saying there was not enough “bleed” around the file to print it.

I went back to my designer and sent him what the printer had sent me and this is where the trouble started.

He must have sent the file back, what felt like ten times, back and forth it went, without any success.

In the end I gave up and requested the source files. I had to find a graphics person here, that was recommended to me by my printer, to fix up the bleed in order to get the card printed.

The guy from fiverr.com did a great job on the design of the card but we could not overcome the communication breakdown regarding the “bleed”.

Of course this was incredibly frustrating.

Would I use Fiver.com again. Absolutely!

Despite things that go wrong from time to time Fiverr.com is still the best site for outsourcing one off services.

The scope of what you can get outsourced is unbelievable.

See the image above for what services you can get outsourced on fiverr.com.

When it comes to permanent part-time services there are a number of additional pitfalls. As well as communication, deadline and skills breakdowns there are also reliability breakdowns that can occur.

The nature of permanent part-time services for the outsourced contractor is that they have to work for multiple clients in order to make a full time take home wage. This often compromises the reliability of the working relationship. They may get a better offer from someone else and suddenly your job may become low on their priority list for that week.

Full time arrangements are always best and do get the best outcomes.

However if you definitely only need someone part-time, my advice is to still learn the skill-set of how to do your own recruitment, on-boarding and setting up excellent systems, around your job.

Also understand the nature of part-time arrangements with the attitude that when the person becomes unreliable this is a situation you are expecting to happen.

Because you have taken the time to set up systems and you have invested in your outsourcing recruitment education and skill-set, you will easily be able to slot in the next person that can pick up where the previous one left off without too much wasted time and effort.

The advantage will also be that when your business grows and you are now ready for a full time person, you will know how to duplicate what you have learned and easily recruit, onboard and set up systems for your new virtual assistant.

Even when you use an agency for part-time services, often you will not be working with the same team member on a regular basis either. You will be paying a recruitment fee and when the person does not work out you will be disappointed and blame outsourcing and deem it a failure.

Outsourcing always fails due to a lack of education on your part and poor management and systems.

My business is about helping you choose the best outsourcing strategy for your business and where applicable empowering you to maximise wholesale outsourcing rates.

If you would like more information register for my free 60 minute training at www.gotooutsource.com/Freewebinar