The Question of Outsourcing
Outsourcing has been on my mind a lot: I’ve had to turn down a couple of projects lately that I just didn’t have time to do. I keep thinking that if I could have outsourced at least part of those projects, I could have gotten them done — and gotten the paychecks that went along with them.
The idea of outsourcing is pretty attractive on the surface. If you work with another freelancer in your field — perhaps one with a little less experience — you can take on at least a few more projects than you might manage to otherwise. If you work with freelancers in other fields, you can take on bigger projects: a web designer, for instance, might take on the whole development of a website (including the content) and subcontract the writing to a freelancer who specializes in web copy.
As long as you’re the freelancer who went out looking for the project and arranged to bring in other freelancers, you get paid. Even if you only get a small slice of the pie on a project where someone else does the lion’s share of the work, you still get paid.
The Downsides of Subcontracting and Outsourcing
No matter what you call handing off some work to another freelancer, it has its downsides. The biggest one is that you can’t assume that another person will interpret project specs the same way you do: it’s easy to imagine a project turning into a game of telephone as your client tells you what he wants and you interpret it, and then turn around and tell your subcontractor what you think the client wants and she — in turn — interprets it. This can translate into a situation where you have to fix the work that you subcontracted, which can be a major problem if you’re on a tight schedule.
I asked around and found that this sort of timing question was a big concern for freelancers. Katharine O’Moore-Klopf says, “In 14 years of freelancing, I have never subcontracted. If I did, I’d have to review the subcontractor’s work; I don’t have time for that.”
Another big issue is the question of responsibility: if your name is on a project (whether or not you outsourced the work), it needs to meet your high quality standards. Even small problems can wind up affecting your reputation as a freelancer. And when it doesn’t…well, let’s just hope that you didn’t subcontract to someone who is a close friend.
But There Are Upsides…
As freelancers, we’re contractors ourselves. Every day, our clients choose to outsource designing, writing and other work to us. They choose us by looking for work that meets their needs, as well as reliability and reputation. We can do the same, with equal success. Foo Conner says that while he wanted to keep his projects entirely under his control in the past, his time constraints led him to look to other freelancers — and he was able to put together an overall better product as a result. At least part of his success is due to the way he finds subcontractors: “…it’s through word of mouth. I go for reliability, specifically making deadlines.”
Of course, there are arrangements that may not have an exact label that can be equally helpful. For instance, I have an unofficial agreement with a freelance videographer I know: whenever one of her projects requires a script to be written, she gives her clients my name. And whenever I’m working on content for a project that will need video, I make sure the project winds up on her desk. I wouldn’t call our arrangement subcontracting, but I think we get all of the upsides of that sort of agreement.
How Do You Answer the Question of Outsourcing?
There isn’t a cut-and-dried answer to whether or not you should outsource or subcontract. Sure, there can be financial benefits, but if it doesn’t fit with your normal workflow, such an arrangement could wind up costing you time and money. If you’ve already experimented with outsourcing — or made up your mind it isn’t for you — I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.
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I think outsourcing is great, in case you have the money to do it. If you are a 1 man army, you probably can’t do everything and it helps to have friends in other areas that can help you when you need them. You can’t cut yourself in half do to all the projects, and especially if you work for yourself you are probably in need of a helping hand every once in a while. It’s all a matter of your return of investment, how much do you have to spend and what are you getting out of it? Besides that can you trust the people you give the work to, as those will represent your business.
There’s another downside: if your client fails to pay up, you’re still responsible for paying the person you hired to do the work.
I’ve known people to start up agencies after they got so much work and started sub-contracting, but that really can detract from what you’re trying to do with your own creative business.
On the upside, like you said, more money.
Don’t outsource work. Stick to something you are good at! Have proper project management. That way, you need not worry much about not meeting deadlines.
Indeed, just do what you’re by yourself and. and do it yourself
I outsource everytime I need to. Sometimes in the past it has happened that I had such a huge workflow and new requests comming in that I could not handle it by myself. However, if I know outsourcing would mean lower quality to the final product, I ask the client to see if this project is urgent, or it can be postponed for a week.
If it cannot be postponed I tell him that the end result will have lower quality and I do not want to that, decline, or redirect to a partner. Each time this has happened, after hearing that, the client said: You have that week! I’ll be back. And they always have been.
Cool Article !
It’s rather simple – if you can’t delegate, have issues with control, don’t want to expand your business or have a god complex and think no one can do it as well as you, outsourcing, cross-sourcing and joint ventures aren’t for you.
If you want to find good workers, trust others, delegate effectively, let people do their job and want to grow your business, you’d better believe that you’d best get over the above issues.
And, too, I’m thankful I don’t have these silly doubts in my mind, because I’d have never been able to create a successful team business.
I have to agree with men with pens. Even when working in a team for another company the art of delegation was important. You might think no one can do something better than you, or that you will have to go through it all with a fine tooth comb, but the investment in finding the right team pays dividends. It won’t happen overnight and you might be disappointed by some, but James is right, if you can’t get over these doubts then you will never expand your business into a shape that allows you to run it as a business rather than just an employee to your clients.
I am currently located in Saigon, Vietnam. My business, TOUCHPOINT Consulting supplies outsourcing solutions to various international advertising agencies, in and out of Vietnam. We currently handle the production of flash designs such as interactive banners, page take-overs, microsites, e-commerce platforms, newsletters and so on.
For us what validates this business model is the fact that Ad and Interactive agencies have to compete trying to be the most creative and innovative (economic downturn comes to reinforce that). Thus agencies need to allocate relatively more resources (men, machine, money) to the creative and planning side. This allocation makes a lot of sense as their actual margin comes from being creative (i.e. Creative Agencies). Now, I actually offer them to outsource their Digital Production to TOUCHPOINT. Based on their layout, we output their designs and integrate them into web platforms with our team, here in Saigon. Other benefits also include:
+ Agencies can explore more: Not being limited by a a given production capability, they are able to risk themselves using new ways to go digital (e.g. Social Buzz with API integration and content seeding team)
+ Agencies’ business is safe: We have no interest in approaching their clients, on the contrary. We want them to please their clients so much that they are given more jobs which can in return be outsourced to us.
So far, I get a lot of positive feed-backs from the Industry. I even got some merging acquisition proposition from a group based in Scandinavia. Yet, I believe we have to walk our way and let the idea live on its own.
Now, we are looking at making this business even bigger adding freelancers who are willing to join our network. On the one hand, we plan to continue client servicing, project management, QC in house because that’s what our clients expect from us at this time. On the other hand, we are looking to add experts in the following fields: Flash developers, Flash designers, Animators. Let me know if you are interested and would like to join us…
–
Etienne
Twitter: http://twitter.com/etienne
I think it depends on the type of business and amount of income you want. If you want to do it all and set a limit on your income based on the maximum number of hours you can work without killing yourself, then don’t outsource or subcontract.
There are other ways to outsource without giving up creative control, however. A freelance business isn’t just the writing. It’s also the marketing and the administration. Outsource those and suddenly your available billable hours shoots up. Or set up reciprocal agreements with related professions (designers, coders, etc…) and get a share of the pie on larger projects. Or instead of outsourcing, partner up or create a freelance practice with a variety of professionals/skills sharing a common brand, marketing budget and administrative support.
Oh yeah, and as James said: leave the ego at the door.
Outsourcing is important for increasing productivity and profits. As soon as I could afford it, I hired a virtual assistant to do tasks that are either not worth my time or I don’t enjoy doing.
Now I’m even considering outsourcing to writers too. Some charge pennies for an article. Even if I had to edit their work – and of course I should – at least the research has been done and I’ll get it fone faster than doing everything myself.
Think of how much your time is worth and outsource tasks that aren’t worth your time.
As a virtual assistant, I am of course in favour of outsourcing in general – my livelihood depends on other people’s willingness to outsource.
Aside from that, if a potential new client approaches me about a project that is outside my area of expertise or that requires a faster turnaround than I can provide at that time, I will refer them to someone else. It’s just easier for everyone. However, if an existing client comes to me with a similar request, I’m more likely to subcontract it.
I have found outsourcing to be very successful but only because I have taken the time to find contractors who are trustworthy, produce high quality work, and are on the same wavelength creatively.
I’d start by outsourcing small projects to make sure you have the right ‘fit’ with other freelancers.
I tend to outsource what I call the ‘invisible’ aspects of a project i.e. elements of a project that the client doesn’t evaluate. In the case of web design, clients don’t spend time evaluating the HTML so I’m happy to outsource it to someone else providing they do a good job. They do spend time evaluating the design, however, so I will maintain greater control over this aspect of the project.
The other challenge is to manage costs. When you have a chain of production, everyone in that chain adds their mark-up which can take the final cost above what the client is willing to pay.
The key is really to build long term relationships with people you trust, work well with, and with whom you can negotiate openly on costs so that it’s a win-win-win situation.
You don’t have to outsource the main aspects of your project but you can always outsource small things that take your time or if its not in your expertise area.
If you are a designer, you can outsource coding for the website but you can’t outsource designing as your design flavor can not be matched by anybody else. In design 2+2 is never 4, it can be 5 or 6.
LOL….I simply mean to say that every body has different taste for design, somebody will like very digital looking website and the other one like simple and accessible designs.
Its just the case of how well you manage outsourcing. I’m personally happy with the process of outsourcing. Most of the freelancers get outsourced work….and it will continue…..Do outsource but do it smartly and you will get good results out of it.
Build a team carefully. Trust them to do the job you have hired them to do and your business will thrive. This works for all walks of life – not just freelancers.
Here’s another problem I’ve run into with outsourcing: having the other freelancer to whom I’ve outsourced let slip that they worked on the job. She didn’t do it deliberately – these things can just slip out. But once it’s out, it’s out. Swearing people to secrecy is no guarantee. And I’ve got a couple of touchy clients who don’t like their contractors sub-contracting. So unless I can do it completely openly, I don’t outsource anymore.
Don’t. Just don’t. I outsourced a portion of 1 very large project to a close friend whom I trusted. Unfortunately, said friend plagiarized the work. Now, had I run it through Copyscape I would have caught it–but because I trusted this friend I simply made some minor edits and set it off to the client (I’m not a big Copyscape user since I actually WRITE my work from thoughts in my HEAD rather than thoughts OTHER PEOPLE have already written). Needless to say I was fired and the client did not pay me for the work. That was a huge loss and a blow to my self-esteem. Since then….well, never say never, but I have yet to feel comfortable outsourcing.
Though I don’t subcontract, I do make referrals to colleagues, with the proviso that I am not responsible for the results of my colleagues’ work.
P.S. And when I do refer, I don’t expect to get finder’s fees. It’s just good business to make referrals.
Plus, in my field–copyediting–there usually isn’t much to subcontract on a project. And the client is contracting with me because he or she wants my skills and my work style, things that no one else has.
What’s interesting is that a few commentators note one bad experience with cross-sourcing or outsourcing, and then they paint all people with the same brush. “I got caught… so don’t do it at all.”
The message that promotes is that outsourcing is bad. Um, how is this good for freelancers, who are essentially asking companies and businesses to outsource to them?
“I had one bad experience, so all outsourcing is evil. But guess what? I’m the ONLY outsourcer you can trust for good work…” I don’t think that flies.
It’s important to separate one bad experience from *all* experiences. Otherwise, you’re simply saying, “I found one bad apple in the batch, therefore the whole crate of millions of apples is rotten.”
A great article.
As long as you can mange the time efficiently and you still output quality work, then outsourcing can work. If your communication is good and you know someone who you can trust then it works.
If you expect to bung your ‘outsourcer’ the extra project, then I can’t ever see it working. After all it’s you who determines the quality of your service and deliverables.
Thanks Thursday!
Stu Collett
Totally agree with James and Amy too!
I think that the answer completely depends on you. Are you able to manage other people? Are you able to delegate the project? Also, do you want to stay a freelancer or do you want to expand your business? There are really no right or wrong answers to the questions. You just have to know what you want and how you want to do it.
Best of Luck whichever way you choose!
I have turned down work in the past as well because of schedule conflicts or pricing and I often think about what if I try to outsource this to someone else and just play the part of a project manager. Like you mentioned, if you outsource the project and the quality is not met or if it is not want the client expected, it all falls down on you and your reputation and that’s a pretty big risk to take as a freelancer I think.
I outsource periodically, but only on projects that are not big portfolio pieces or moneymakers. That way I can be sure that the client is getting something done well (because I only outsource to qualified, talented people), but not obsess over it the way I would if I actually were going to put my name on it. A little extra money here and there never hurts, and I know a lot of designers and developers right now that could use the subcontracted work!
Sometimes you spend more time on searching for reliable, affordable and skilled co-workers than doing the work yourself… and when you do, you dont know for how long.
If my demand higher than I can handle, I preffer doing less work and increase my rates
I have to agree with James – although I almost never subcontract personally. He’s absolutely right, we’re all contract workers, and if we cant trust ourselves, who will?
The fact is that there are untrustworthy people out there. If you want to outsource (and after reading this article, and the comments that followed, I’ll be considering it much more seriously), you’ll need to be on the top of your game with making sure your sub’s work is good until you can put together a few people that you know you can trust.
Being a perfectionist by nature, I probably wouldn’t be able to outsource any of the design work. Well… there is a handful of people that I would trust, but not sure if I can afford their services.
On the other hand, I would gladly outsource some of the XHTML / CSS work, if I feel I’m being cornered.
There are so many great companies offering slicing services and a wide range of option, that it might be a good idea to let someone else do some of bits and pieces and maybe focus on the big picture. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time.
I will outsource work. However, I don’t try to keep my client’s in the dark. I just explain that I have someone I work with for certain parts of projects because they are more cost effective than me. I also tell my clients that I mark up the cost of the people I bring in as contractors. No one has ever had a problem with that.
A few reasons this seems to work:
1. I get people who are very very good at what they do.
2. Even after marking up the contractors, they are much less expensive than paying me to do the work.
3. I’m very open and honest. If a client asks, I’d be happy to tell them exactly how much I’m marking up the labor, etc. I don’t mind telling them because I feel like I’m being very fair.
In the past I’ve had some bad experiences with outsourcing, but I haven’t given up on the idea. I’m actually planning on it as my business grows. My previous mistake was letting my biggest client communicate directly with a junior level designer. I ended up loosing the client completely. Lesson learned. Take care of your cash cows.
I would always make sure you get some money from the client before you outsource.
Starting as a freelancer, I was the person who work was being outsourced to. How can I critique that? Now I keep all of the work I get up to the point where I can’t handle any more. Then I face the question of whether I say “no” and turn down future clients or “yes” and find a responsible person to outsource to?
I don’t want to outsource to people who charge pennies though. Honestly, there’s a line I try not to cross and sending work over-seas doesn’t bode well for domestic business opportunity. I’d rather give work to a fellow freelancer who I know around my way. This is also why I decided to stop using oDesk after a little while.
I’ve never found a liable and focused on details guy as me =)
so that’s the reason why I don’t want to outsource any project I get
by the way… if you are looking for a freelance web designer: http://www.behance.net/hernanvionnet
=D
Cheers!!
@ James makes a good point. I think that once you’ve been burned though, it’s sooo hard to entertain it as a possibility
My advice: outsource things that you do not do well yourself. But do not outsource your core competencies. Use outsourcing as a way to avoid being a jack of all trades. But also respect your business and personal goals.
In other words: if you specialize in A but not B, and a customer project comes along that requires B skills, and you have no confidence that you can do B well, then outsource the B task.
But think LONG and HARD about outsourcing work that you would do yourself. If you run into a situation where you don’t have enough time to do everyone’s projects, then that is saying that you should be charging more for your time – not adding subcontractors.
There is one exception to these rules. That is the case where you want to build a practice and have a staff working under you. You may wish to subcontract projects in order to test people that you want to bring in to your organization. In other words, if you ultimately want to run a services company, you need to learn how to delegate.
Most of us can use help with activities, such as administrative tasks, that are well outside our aptitudes and interests and which add no value as far as deliverable work. IE, hire a bookkeeper before you start handing away billable work that you could perform yourself.
http://www.donwallacewriting.com
My advice: outsource things that you do not do well yourself. But do not outsource your core competencies. Use outsourcing as a way to avoid being a jack of all trades. But also respect your business and personal goals.
In other words: if you specialize in A but not B, and a customer project comes along that requires B skills, and you have no confidence that you can do B well, then outsource the B task.
But think LONG and HARD about outsourcing work that you would do yourself. If you run into a situation where you don’t have enough time to do everyone’s projects, then that is saying that you should be charging more for your time – not adding subcontractors.
There is one exception to these rules. That is the case where you want to build a practice and have a staff working under you. You may wish to subcontract projects in order to test people that you want to bring in to your organization. In other words, if you ultimately want to run a services company, you need to learn how to delegate.
Most of us can use help with activities, such as administrative tasks, that are well outside our aptitudes and interests and which add no value as far as deliverable work. IE, hire a bookkeeper before you start handing away billable work that you could perform yourself.
Outsourcing work and collaborating with others is a great option, one that clearly a lot of freelancers are choosing to do. But a problem can be managing the pay, and legal aspects of getting them paid under that contract. One way to make sure you are both compliant is to use a legal infrastructure like the one MBO Partners has for “teams”. The teams platform takes care of contracts, rate splits, billing, accounting, and of course business insurance — you know it can be dangerous if your subcontractor or business partner isn’t covered under your plan for something like E&O. Regardless of how you decide in the end to structure the arrangement, be sure to “CYA” when it comes to the IRS and your business insurance.
Great article, Thursday!
I have had good and bad experiences with outsourcing – it’s one of those things, but overall it has given me the opportunity to take on projects I wouldn’t be able to do alone. I started out as a one-person show, but I’ve now got four or five fantastic people I can rely on when I need to. They have proven their work and I don’t have to worry about it. In fact, I can relax when I hand off something, knowing it’s going to get done right.
If you’re willing to take the time to build up relationships with other freelancers, you will find people who can support your success. It’s tough finding the time to take a break when you run your own business, so having some extra hands mean you can take a few days off and get away from the computer screen!
I noticed one guy is saying “never again” even though he chose his outsourcing worker from his circle of friends — from my experience friends might not do a good job but it is easy to get a great outsourcing system going if you seek talented reliable professionals and prove their reliability before handing off your projects to them.
For the record, Thursday Bram is one writer I’d gladly outsource too, if she wasn’t already looking to outsource herself!
Great article and very timely.
For the last six years my business has been a one-woman studio, but I’m tired of “doing it all” and only being paid for the design work – since that’s my job description. So I’ve decided it’s time to give myself a break and bring onboard several freelancers to help my business grow, leaving me time to do what I want to do – design. However, I am bringing people onboard whom I have worked with during my time as a freelancer. I have built a solid communication and work relationship with them and I’m excited about watching my studio grow in a completely different direction but in a good way.
Thanks for all your comments on this topic! I really appreciate reading what fellow freelancers have experienced and how I can learn from all of you.
I just started the process of outsourcing part of a web project. I’m a web programmer, and I outsourced the PSD to HTML portion of the project. I’m strapped for time and this seemed like a great way to outsource one of the more tedious and time-consuming portions of the project (IMO). This will hopefully allow me to spend my time focusing on the programming and integration. We’ll see how it goes…this is my first experience with outsourcing.
-John
How about advice for freelancers doing the outsourced work?
I’m experiencing my first outsourcing situation, trying to help another designer get more work done. Pretty quickly I’m realizing that there may be some issues with the “telephone” interpretation game that Thursday mentioned. It’s definitely hard jumping on a project with its current designer knowing that you could either step on their toes or make them look bad. At the same time, having a middle-(wo)man interpreter who already understands how the client thinks may be a real benefit to the outsourced freelancer.
Outsourcing is critical with my business, but I have to say, I’d rather have a full time employee any day. Contractors are expensive, and in my experience, hard to get the quality of work I’m looking for.
Although I do most of my work myself, there are times when I outsource because I hate doing/ dealing with certain programs.
I work just for agencies; so many people outsource with us and it is our natural way of life. I don’t really know how it works in other industries, but for web programming most agencies don’t have any choice since many of them are only designers and the customers requires advanced functionalities in their sites.
Great article! I like outsourcing. I have found outsourcing to be very successful.Hiring a virtual assistant is another great way to cut cost. I always choose BPOVIA, the leading Virtual Assistant and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) service provider in China, was named as Finalists for the “Red Herring 100 Asia” Awards 2008. I am attracted by their professional skills and reasonable price. They really help me a lot. I don’t know whether guys here know about it or not. Maybe you can visit the web http://www.bpovia.com. I hope it is useful for you.
Outsourcing is good especially when you have tons of workload on your desk. You can’t only earned from this, you can also help other people earn extra income. I’ve been working in BPO for almost 3 years and enjoyed the nature of this industry. When it comes to money matters, just make sure to have a background check on your prospect clients and don’t forget the contracts if you reach to an agreement.
I am a freelance copywriter and I find outsourcing very helpful. But, as with big companies, it’s important to start by understanding what you’re good at and what your clients pay you for.
In my case, I add value by:
* Understanding my client, their market and their products
* Communicating benefits in a way that matters to end-customers
* Making sure the process doesn’t get in the way of the work, so it is timely, accurate, on brand etc.
* Understanding and documenting exactly what work is required – the brief
This means a mix of research, client management and, of course, good writing. However there are parts of the process that can be outsourced and, indeed, should be outsourced. They enhance the value I give to my clients and let me get more done in the same amount of time. These include:
* Proofreading (this is a critical for me and improves the quality of my work)
* Graphic design (allows me to turn my writing into print-ready documents and presentations)
* Admin support (frees me to do what I do best)
* Very, very occasionally I also outsource some writing. But I work hard on the brief, editing and always make sure that I have a back up plan if my sub-contractors can’t deliver. I do this mainly to meet deadlines on very big projects (e.g. producing 20 x 500 word articles in short order) rather than to reduce my overall workload, so the value to the client is clear – timely delivery of large projects.
There are other kinds of subcontracting which can be helpful, such as marketing, website development and so on but this is more around business development than work for clients.
In short, I recommend outsourcing but only if you do it carefully and it contributes to the value you offer your clients.
I think outsourcing is a good choice if you really got many stuff and you’re struggling time for everything being done in a high standard. I’ve had my own experience of outsourcing with BPOVIA, which is a China company based in Nanjing city. This company is just amazing and they have all range of services that I almost can outsource any sort of work to them. The virtual assistants there are also very professional. I’m impressed with everything they’d offered me.
I’m not sure if you guys know this company or not, but if not, you should definitely have a try. It is highly recommended. Their site is http://www.bpovia.com. They are awesome!
I agree with Don Wallace “My advice: outsource things that you do not do well yourself. But do not outsource your core competencies. Use outsourcing as a way to avoid being a jack of all trades. But also respect your business and personal goals.” I think focus on what you are proficient and good at and outsource those that either you don’t like doing or your not as good so it takes you longer. Focus on the tasks you can bill out to clients not the administrative or customer service aspects.
As a virtual subcontractor it’s very important to prove myself to others. On Linkedin I’ve started a group specific for contractors helping the subcontractors know what they are looking for in a candidate and to help give them resources to learn from. If interested please connect to the Linkedin group Virtual Subcontractors Advice and join.
I agree with what you said. However, it is impossible to have the best of both worlds. Advantages come along with disadvantages. It is up to us how are we going to weight the situation that would favor us most. In every upside, there is always a downside, like the day and night are inseparable cycle. That is why we are working during the day and resting during the night. In application thereto, while we are still in the limelight of our career or our projects, we have to be the best and work our way out to success so that in the end of it, we can have a relaxing, pleasurable rest that would absolutely recharge us for our upcoming jobs. With respect to the quality of the jobs to be outsource, I believe it can be properly remedied by constant communication and updates about the project. Both parties must work as a team to achieve their ever desired work result.
I work as a Virtual Assistant and my focus is to help free up entrepreneurs and business owners time so they can focus on the growth of their business.
I agree with Amiel in that “Both parties must work as a team to achieve their ever desired work.” Being on the same page from the beginning will help eliminate any problems down the road.
I have been lucky that my clients utilize me for not just administrative services, but to bounce ideas off of. This type of communication helps me to see the larger picture and be able to offer relevant suggestions to ensure a successful future.
Outsourcing is a cure and a poison at once. With outsourcing you can leverage you efforts and use a creative power of others. But sometimes it takes to much effort to control and direct the outsourcing stuff. So he truth is out there.
Great article and comments.
I was thinking about looking for help overseas but I am not sure how to go about the legal part of it. Do I deduct that help as expense?
How do you guys declare the money you spent on help from other countries?