Internet Business Lifebuoy

Internet Business Lifebuoy

Posted on 14. Nov, 2009 by Michelle in Work From Home Online

In my last post I discussed the issue of going around in circles looking for the holy grail of make money online methods and the likelihood of you simply not enjoying or being cut out for a lot of the business models on offer.

I believe, as did many who commented, that if you enjoy what you do then you’re more likely to stick at it, see results and keep working at it. Sounds great doesn’t it. But it’s not always easy to know whether a particular money making method is right for you when you don’t really know everything that’s involved or at least the large chunks of work involved in certain methods. What about selling web property? I know a lot of you are interested in it but what does it involve?

Here is a mini profile of the major aspects I’ve experienced selling websites:

  • Significant amount of technical work :|
  • Significant amount of customer service :|
  • Significant amount of volatility :-(
  • Significant amount of profit :)

How does that sound to you? I’m sure the significant amount of profit sounds good to most but how about the technical and customer service components? Sounds awful to a lot of you I know. If there is one thing that stops many people selling sites it’s the fear of the technical aspects. I’m not going to sugar coat it, there are a lot of technical aspects to this business and they often flow over into the customer service area. The customer service isn’t just about communicating the log in details of the site and pushing a domain name. No! You might find you attract newbies who have no clue how to even manage their hosting. (I had a three day long technical nightmare recently with a newbie, thankfully he was a gorgeous customer who I helped no end out of sheer compassion for him.)

So what do you do? Walk away from a high profit opportunity? What if you love working with people, love building and designing websites but despise the technical aspects as much as I despise writing on topics I have no interest in?

Well my last post sure pointed to the idea that we could just keep looking for our perfect match, that method that ticks every box for us. The one where we love every aspect and just jump out of bed every day busting to get to work. Well although it’s possible to find I would suggest that you don’t wait around for it or justify purchasing another ten shiny objects to see if they suit you. No! What I suggest is for you to find something that you love to do in the main and outsource the ugly bits! The bits you can do but don’t want to. The bits you don’t know how to do but that just have to be done.

dreamstime_10975032

Even if you can tolerate ‘most’ functions of a particular method you will drown under the amount of work you need to do to get anywhere. I don’t mean to get anywhere in terms of a hundred bucks here and a hundred bucks there. I mean to get anywhere REALLY! Like a full time plus income! Even if you like it you CANNOT.DO.IT.ALL!

Just because I despise writing do you think that means I’m leaving a heap of AdSense money on the table due to refusing to write the content for my AdSense sites? No way! Do you think that because I cannot write one word on why cats pee on the carpet that I’m not going to create a niche blog around it with loads of content and an awesome eBook on how to solve that problem for people? Of course I’m not! I’m outsourcing it.

Do you want to sell websites but have not once done it because of the technical side? Well you can outsource that component if you don’t like it. You’re hearing about it more and more aren’t you? Outsource, outsource, outsource. It’s becoming almost as common as “The money is in the list”. Why? Because it’s true. The only way forward to stop you drowning in your Internet business is to outsource.

Ok so go do it.

“Huh?”

“But what do I do? What do I outsource? What if they don’t do the ten hours work they said they would? Give them my log ins, are you kidding me?! Ugh, you’ve gone mad Michelle, you make it sound simple but it’s a minefield and you know it!”

Okay you’re right! It isn’t as easy as just saying ‘go outsource your stuff and scale scale scale’. I have only just gotten my outsourcing act together myself BUT being true to form, I had to research it, research it some more and then research it even more. ;)

dreamstime_2965798

There are people who have already woken up and realised they can’t do it all and in fact they don’t want to do it all and have been outsourcing for years! That’s right! Whilst you and I have been slogging it out until 2am. (Okay I admit it, 3am!) these dudes have been getting their beauty sleep! Not to mention having fantastic days doing the bits of their business they’re awesome at and love to do whilst someone else churns through all the other crucial bits.

If there is one thing I wished I’d done sooner it’s outsource. Don’t waste any more time chasing your tail. Pick a method that you know you have some affinity for, choose the bits you need to outsource and then you will really start to get some runs on the board.

Of course during all my research I found someone who I am more than happy to recommend to you for advice on outsourcing. You might have already heard of Tyrone Shum and his free eBook. Tyrone has interviewed three people who you cannot go past in terms of advice for working on your business not in it. When I first downloaded the book and realised it was long with three interviews I groaned a bit. I felt like I would have to read a lot of hype and probably not get anything tangible from it. Well I was mistaken! The entire book is full of practical tips and Jeff Mills, one of the entrepreneurs Tyrone interviews, shared a lot of detail and I hung off every word I read. Here is just one snippet that rang  true for me from Tyrone’s “Secrets Of Outsourcing Experts Revealed”:

On the flipside, what have you not been able to do with outsourcing?

You can’t outsource your portion. Seriously! There’s certain things that you’re good at that you should stay being good at. That gives you joy and makes you happy. If you start outsourcing that, it would change your psyche, it would change your make-up, it would change the way you behave in society and people probably won’t like you much anymore. Keep doing the things you love to do and the things that you’re good at and then outsource the rest. Outsource the stuff you don’t have time to do, outsource the stuff you don’t want to do or don’t know how to do but keep doing what you’re good at.

Jeff Mills – From “Secrets Of Outsourcing Experts Revealed” by Tyrone Shum


If there is one thing you do before you start outsourcing it’s read Tyrone’s free eBook and then watch the free video training series that Tyrone has created himself. If you want to hear from someone who is extremely successful, honestly wants to help you get out of your own way and gives away content that you would no doubt be willing to pay for normally then head over to Mass Outsource.

Oh and you’ll probably notice that Tyrone refers to himself as “The cool Australian entrepreneur”, well he’s not the only one! There are a lot of us entrepreneurs who are Aussie and I reckon’ we’re all pretty cool, Yaro @ Entrepreneurs Journey, Gideon @ Gideon Shalwick, Audrey @ Home Schooling Income, oh and me ;) , to name but a few tee he. :)

But seriously, just because Tyrone is Aussie and cool to boot doesn’t make me biased toward recommending him. For those that know me well you should know that I don’t recommend anything that is not what I consider real value from an honest and ethical marketer. For those that don’t know me so well all I can say is that I’ve seen hype gone mad, marketers who are loud, self proclaimed kings and who at their core don’t really give a damn about much other than a sale and I never recommend them.

Anyway, you be the judge, check out what Tyrone is giving away and use it! Get ready to outsource and take your business to the next level. Don’t push projects aside or leave new products on your hard drive just because there are chunks of work that just don’t suit you. Make a decision on one model you’re going to focus on immediately and get to it with people in the background churning through the bits you don’t want to! AND it doesn’t cost anywhere near what you think, this is truly affordable!

You can grab your free copy of “Secrets Of Outsourcing Experts Revealed” here.

And view the free Mass Outsource training videos here.

buoysmallLet me know what you think? I’d love to hear if you got as much out of Tyrone’s material as I did. Tyrone is opening up his outsourcing membership on Tuesday November 17th so if you’re ultra serious keep track of the countdown timer here!

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18 Responses to “Internet Business Lifebuoy”

  1. TanyaNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    Hi Michelle,

    You know the only problem with outsourcing is that it may backfire. However, I got some great deals on mini site design from warriors forum like $35 per design. I also did some of mine and it was terrible :)

    Anyways, I recently purchased Niche In The Box package. And that has really been a time saver. Cause all the work is done but the only problem is they only release 20 packages per month and this is with 3 products you can sell on your own.

    Tanya

  2. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    Tanya I’m not sure exactly what you mean by outsourcing backfiring. I always recommend mentors and taking advice from others’ experience which is why I mention Tyrone in the post. :) That way you have less chance of things backfiring.

    Of course you need to do what you think is best for you and if that means spending $35 on one design then go for it. ;)

    Thanks for stopping by.

  3. Ruth - Web Career GirlNo Gravatar (12 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    I downloaded that report but have yet to read it, hopefully I’ll have time to do it this weekend. I definitely think outsourcing can really help a business to grow.

  4. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    Ruth I hope you enjoy the report as much as I did. :)

    I see on your blog you’ve been getting ahead of your ebook writing challenge, awesome effort. :)

  5. Peter - PSD to HTMLNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    The “4 hour workweek” by Timothy Ferris stresses this. There is a lot of value in outsourcing if done correctly. and one of them is to sleep peacefully. Outsourcing is a high risk, high reward strategy but taking advise from people is really recommended

  6. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    Peter, Tim Ferris is one of the three people Tyrone interviews and I got a lot out of his responses. I’ve never read Tim’s book and I think it’s definitely time I got a copy. :) I don’t consider outsourcing high risk at all but I guess it depends on how much you commit to spending and whether you seek advice from someone who’s actually done it successfully to reduce the risk.

    Sleep is something I need to get more of that is for certain, thanks for the reminder, I appreciate you leaving a comment.

  7. TammyNo Gravatar (2 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    I actually got Yaro’s email with the info about Tyrone’s ebook so have actually read the report and checked it out. He did an excellent job with his videos and ebook. The concept of outsourcing definately is something to think about in regards to upping your output!

    My question to you is have you personally had much success with using Bestjobs.ph ? I am wondering what with people checking out Tyrone’s links that this one site might become saturated when trying to find an employee since it is ‘free’ were as trying out the other site might be a better option. Any feedback?

  8. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    Tammy it’s great to hear you’ve already read the report and watched the videos, I agree Tyrone did an excellent job of the videos. Your comment about upping your output really strikes a chord with me. Everyone’s time is limited and as a mum of two I find it extremely difficult to get a good solid run up at chunks of work, interruptions and other pressing responsibilities are endless. Employing other people to do a lot of the work, particularly the bits I despise :) , is definitely helping move my business forward.

    I had trouble with the bestjobs log in because I was mistakenly going directly to the site instead of via Tyrone’s link. Because of that and a delay in me sorting it out I tried Odesk and only considered individuals in the Philippines. I’ve found plenty of people seeking work although I feel they are not as focused on a full time role but rather a job by job basis. Now I’ve worked out the bestjobs log in I’ve had a look over the resumes and there are a lot of people looking for jobs, I don’t get the sense it’s saturated. Along with the gentlemen at Odesk I’ll be employing someone via bestjobs so it will be interesting to see if there is any noticeable difference between the two.

    Thanks for your comments and questions.

  9. DavidNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    I’m anxious to read Tyrone’s report. Thanks for this post. I’ve been wondering about outsourcing and decided I needed to get at least a little income coming in order to pay for it. Maybe that thinking is exactly backwards.

    Anyway, I appreciate your “straight shooting”.

  10. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    David I am a straight shooter I know. Perhaps that will rub some people up the wrong way but I just know a few years back I spent a lot of time and energy focusing on things that don’t matter and hope that my experiences will help me guide people via the less rocky path.

    As far as investing in outsourcing before you see much income – I believe it really does depend on your personal situation, knowledge and experience. If you have a reasonable amount of time and can test out a few methods yourself first then you’ll be more confident in what it is you’re asking someone to do and also have some sight of the likely returns you’ll see. Tyrone’s book covers the question of those just starting out with not a lot to invest.

    Thanks for stopping by, it’s great to see you here. :)

  11. AudreyNo Gravatar (4 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    I’m just starting to outsource, and I’ve been giving a few service providers small inexpensive jobs to see how they perform. I’d have to say that as with any group of people, some are diamonds and some are stones, to paraphrase John Denver. I think the secret is to start small and keep looking until you find a good provider, then pay them fairly.
    I’m going to have a look at Tyrone’s report now.

  12. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    14. Nov, 2009

    Hi Audrey, nice to see another cool Aussie entrepreneur here. ;) For certain there are some diamonds and stones and from what I understand, a couple of people who have found some diamonds are paying them some very attractive Christmas bonuses. Paying and treating people fairly and with respect should be a priority, thanks for pointing that out.

  13. GrahamNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    15. Nov, 2009

    I’ve just started my journey in this business, but I’ve always known from day one that outsourcing will play a big part in my plans. It makes perfect sense.

    After all, if I were a property developer, I wouldn’t feel I had to do all the building, plumbing, carpentry and electrical work myself.

    By the way Michelle, it makes a nice change to find somebody like yourself who, unlike many ‘gurus’, doesn’t just throw a bunch of recommended/affiliate links at us, but actually takes the time to write a quality post that puts the subject in to context.

    Maybe I should hire you to write my planned content on why dogs chew your slippers ;)

  14. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    15. Nov, 2009

    Thanks for the feedback Graham. :)

    As far as writing on dogs chewing slippers, ugh, I think I would fall asleep before I got through the first paragraph, lol! I know a writer who recently had to write about why dogs eat their own poo, ewww! I think I’d rather write about slipper chewing if I had too! But then again, I’d just outsource it and you’d never know….now there’s another business model! ;)

    Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

  15. TammyNo Gravatar (2 comments)

    16. Nov, 2009

    It would be interesting to hear how things go with you using project based outsourcers compared to an actual FT staff. I did actually contact 4 people from Bestjobs.ph – didn’t hear anything back though I am not sure how long I need to wait (not my forte:0) I did end up buying a month membership with OnlineJobs.ph, contacted 5 people with only 1 response. I am not sure how long the process takes in regards to getting reponses so not sure if I should jump on this one applicant or wait….ahhh….decisions, decisions.
    I did follow Tyrone’s suggested payscale and the jobs are not anything too horrendous – mostly sought out people that were looking for that type of work.

    I too have two little people and don’t have the time to do the pesky tasks while trying to keep babies happy!

  16. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    21. Nov, 2009

    Tammy I understand what it’s like looking after little people and working at the same time, i’m still perfecting that art!

    I think that finding the right people to outsource too isn’t necessarily going to happen first try but when you do find someone great it will have been worth the wait I’m sure.

  17. valvesNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    08. Dec, 2009

    Michelle, there are your new posts?? )

  18. MichelleNo Gravatar (204 comments)

    08. Dec, 2009

    Not sure I understand the question? If you’re asking where are my new posts since this one they are here and here.