I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

Howard

Tags: guru, online, programming, Internet marketing, Web design, ghostwriters, outsourcing, directory submission, , online marketing

Just came across this post, called “Hidden Costs of Outsourcing,” from a guy (”Cranky”) who says his last three jobs were managing offshore programmers. (He doesn’t say over what time period that was - could’ve been three weeks!

Despite the whiny tone, he makes some very good points that all who are considering outsourcing offshore should consider. This blog in general is very pro-outsourcing, but Cranky exposes some all too common warts that can show up in the process, no matter what project you’re doing, or on what scale your outsourcing.

He compares offshore programmer at $12 per hour with a US programmer at $35 an hour, in a side by side table. Some of the hidden costs he mentions are:

Lost time waiting for the programmers to wake up and start their working day: 20 hrs/wk +$240

Discovering that while you were asleep, they couldn’t compile what you sent, so they just sat on it: 35 hrs/wk +$420

Training costs for new programmer when the $12/hr programmer quits for a $13/hr job: 15 hrs/wk +$180

On the opposite side of the table, under employee, is n/a.

Whether or not you agree with his math, if you’ve done much outsourcing at all, you may have encountered one of the costs above, or some of the others you can find on his post: “Hidden Costs of Outsourcing,”

In all fairness, there are some hidden costs with your employee as well. How about taxes, unemployment insurance, vacation days, sick pay, personal time off, maternity leave, and personality differences, to name a few.

Who said outsourcing has to mean trading American jobs for overseas workers. It’s about who can do the job better and in a timely fashion.

Tags: elance, online marketing, article submission, Internet, software, outsourcing, online, autoresponder, directory submission, web graphics

After checking my Google alerts this morning, I came upon a CBS news segment titled, “Average Joes, Janes Outsourcing Tasks” about how individuals or outsourcing personal tasks like wedding plans, travel plans, etc. one guy even went so far as to outsource reading his son a bedtime story!

They included a short excerpt of Tim Ferriss, of “The Four Hour Work Week” fame. ( if you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it!)

What really struck me was the barrage of negative comments about how those people that outsourced should be ashamed of themselves for being “anti-American”!

To all of those out there who are whining about the loss of “American jobs,” it’s time to wake up! Haven’t you ever bought anything manufactured in another country? The world is a much smaller place, due to technology (I don’t just mean computers - I also include cars and planes).

Instead of thinking of yourselves as “victims of foreign influences”, why don’t you just learn a new skill, create value for other people and reap the rewards!

THAT is the great thing about America - it still is a land of opportunity - you just have to get off your lazy butts and seize it!

Tags: Web design, scripts, outsourcing, directory submission, elance, outsourcing online, article submission, software, guru, make Money online

I was recently invited to be the guest expert on Outsourcing for the I5Gold coaching program run by Mike Filsaime, Tom Beal, Paulie Sabol, and Donna Fox. It was an honor to be invited, and did them proud by delivering a 90 minute content-packed webinar!

We covered outsourcing versus out tasking, what you should and should NOT outsource, assessing and systematizing your business, how much of a topic you need to know to effectively outsource it, how to work with freelancers and building your virtual team.  I also gave some really cool outsourcing resources at the end.

In the middle of discussing how men within a virtual team, versus women, wouldn’t you know Donna weighed in with her opinion on the subject.  And what did she think?  Donna felt that women were more detail oriented, and may make better virtual team members.  Your mileage may vary.

The webinar was recorded, however it is for the exclusive benefit of the I5 Gold coaching members.  I will be leaking some tidbits here on this blog, for the benefit of the readers of this blog, so stay tuned!

Tags: online, guru, web graphics, Internet, online marketing, Internet marketing, scripts, Web design, article submission, ghostwriters