Even the most talented and experienced Internet marketer or businessman needs help every once in a while. Graphic or web design that meets your business goals takes commitment and the right amount of skills. Not everyone has what it takes to create banners, promo ads, and websites, which is why graphic design outsourcing has become a popular option for many. There are several factors to be considered in outsourcing graphic design work to ensure that you gain the best quality, competitive pricing, total confidentiality, and unparalleled customer service.

Graphic Design Experience

In the outsourcing business, it would of course be in your best interest to look for an individual or a service that has significant experience in the line of work or aspect of your business you are outsourcing. You will be surprised at the number of companies offering graphic website outsourcing at competitive prices. In choosing a firm, have a look at how many websites the outsourcing company has worked on and whether they fit your standards. See also if the websites they made are search engine-friendly. If outsourcing to an individual, ask for a work portfolio.

Web Design Infrastructure

When we talk about web design infrastructure, we are referring to the tools a graphic design outsourcing company uses. A web design company must have experience working with the latest software and network infrastructure. Its team members must be knowledgeable in different platforms such as Windows, Linux, PHP, ASP, .NET, MySQL, MSSQL, C++, VB, and so on. Choose a service that distinguishes between its art department and customer assistance to allow for better communication.

Graphic Design Team

It is an excellent idea to hire the services of an entire company when graphic design outsourcing because they usually employ a number of skilled professionals to work on your projects. Graphic design is an art but more than that, it is also a form of science. The team you are outsourcing to needs to harbor unique and innovative ideas in software programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, animation programs, CSS, and HTML. They must also be able to execute these ideas well and foster a deep understanding in the importance of striking a balance between aesthetics and functionality.

Professionalism

In graphic design outsourcing, the two transacting parties must establish good communication lines from the very start. If a company does not seem to foster a harmonious relationship with its clients through proper coordination, language proficiency, and constant communication, your projects are bound to fail. Professionalism should be exercised in all aspects such as pricing, communication, and timing. You must be able to express your ideas without having to worry about time constraints, connection problems, and hidden costs.

Maintenance

Maintenance is an essential aspect in graphic design outsourcing, especially in web design. You must choose an outsourcing service that allows you to incorporate changes, make additions, apply corrections, and do other modifications any time it is needed. Come up with a set budget and style sheet once you have chosen a graphic design outsourcing provider. This avoids unnecessary mistakes and some basic problems as you go along.

Personal Outsourcing To An Assistant

In this list we are going to look at 100 different ways you can use an assistant to save you time. Some will work with a virtual as well as an on site assistant, some will only work with on site help. Obviously you need to match the job with the skills of your assistant, but this can provide a valuable starting point of ideas if you are interested in outsourcing some tasks and saving time.
One word of warning. Don’t expect an assistant to save you time on every task at first. Unless your needs are very mundane, you will probably want to invest some time in letting them learn your preferences and the style in which you like things done. As they learn what you need, they can start to make decisions based on how you are likely to make them and this can be one of the greatest time savings of all.

1. Grocery store trip – It may or may not be efficient to send someone to do your detailed shopping, trips to pickup milk, bread and other staples can be handled by someone else.

2. Meal planning – This can be nicely coupled with grocery shopping. You could even set certain targets you want to hit regarding nutrition.

3. Meal preparation – If your assistant can cook, this might be a good time saver for you. Obviously this doesn’t work very well with a virtual assistant.

4. Deposits – With a rubber stamp, you can give someone else the ability to make bank deposits for you. Obviously it needs to be someone you trust.

5. Scanning – If you are trying to implement a paperless office, having someone else do your scanning can save you a lot of time.

6. Filing – If you haven’t gone paperless.

7. Proof reading – A second pair of eyes can often spot issues much faster than you can yourself.

8. Contacts cleanup – If you have a setup that syncs contacts from your computer, phone and other devices, it is likely that you have a bunch of duplicates or incomplete contacts. Let someone else clean them up and make sure your information is up to date and accurate.

9. Send handwritten letters – Using a font like vLetter, you can give someone else the ability to print and send handwritten letters for you.

10. Pay bills – You may or may not want to give someone else access to your online bill payment service. If you still use checks, someone can save you time by getting everything ready so you just have to sign the checks.

11. Get your oil changed – The 30 to 60 minutes it takes to get your oil changed can easily be handed off to someone else.

12. Transcribe voicemail – Depending on your workflow, it might be much more efficient to have your voicemails transcribed and sent as email.
13. Shred sensitive documents – This can be particularly important if you are scanning in a lot of documents that can’t be thrown away due to the information they contain.
14. Buy airline tickets – This can be tricky because there is a lot that usually goes into picking out tickets that requires your personal attention. However, if your needs are simple, this can be a small task that you can delegate.
15. Wait on hold – It is easy to waste a lot of time just waiting for someone else to answer the phone. While you can’t hand off every phone call to an assistant, the ones that you can will save you time.
16. Tech support – If you deal with a lot of electronics you probably spend at least some time fixing problems, working with tech support and getting parts replaced. In some cases these are activities that could be delegated.
17. Mailing letters and packages – It isn’t hard to mail a package, but it can be time consuming and that makes it a great canidate to delegate.
18. Send birthday cards – Sending birthday cards is a great networking tool. An assistant can help by getting the cards ready, addressed, stamped and even signing them using a signature font.
19. Birthday shopping – With a little organization an assistant can help you keep up with your birthday gift giving. If you give them a list of people, birthdays and a list of possible gifts they can make sure you never miss a gift giving opportunity.
20. Finding deals – An assistant can help find the best deal (including shipping and tax charges) on a particular item you need to purchase. American Express’ concierge generally does a good job of this.
21. Answer phone calls – Using something like Google Voice or Ring Central you can forward your phone calls to an assistant so callers get a real person during the times you would normally send them to voice mail.
22. Library run – It is easy to order books off Amazon simply to avoid the inconvenience of going to the library. Sending an assistant to the library is particularly useful if you have a small library where a lot of specific books will need to come through library loan.
23. Proof reading – A second set of eyes to look over things before you send them out can drastically reduce little errors. This can be a bit challenging if you are trying to use someone in India where they speak a slightly different version of English.
24. Phone calls – Sometimes you need to get a message to someone and simply leaving a message won’t do. An assistant can keep calling until the person answers and give the message.
25. Bill collection – If someone owes you money, having an assistant call and inquire about when to expect payment can help keep you out of the bill collector role but still get the payment in the mail.
26. Researching lists – For example, if I want a list of the top 100 peer blogs to Productivity501 along with various stats about them, an assistant can gather that information easily into an document where it can be sorted and analyzed.
27. Interviews – Virtual assistants are great for querying a large number of people and compiling their answers.
28. Organizing personal library – Have you ever wanted to have your home library organized according to the Dewey Decimal system?
29. Book index – If the Dewey Decimal system is to much, you still might like a master index of your library.
30. Listing books on Amazon – If you have a bunch of books you want to get rid of, an assistant can get them listed for you on Amazon.
31. Update phone – If you can’t sync your phone with your computer, consider having an assistant update the contacts.
32. Locate photos and illustrations – A virtual assistant can save you a lot of time by locating pictures to illustrate blog posts and presentations.
33. Transcription – Sometimes you want to have a text copy of an audio file. It could be the recording of a conference call, meeting or even radio broadcast. This time consuming process is a great candidate for outsourcing to an assistant. If you have a tremendous amount of audio to transcribe, you may want to look into using services that specialize in audio transcription.
34. Categorize pictures – An assistant can help you categorize, rate and organize your pictures by adding tags or putting them in different folders.
35. Mail merge – A good assistant should be able to take a spreadsheet and a letter and do a mailing with minimal intervention on your part. This could be anything from sending out your Christmas letter to 50 family members or a huge newsletter mailing for your company.
36. Watering plants – This may seem trivial, but it is one other place that an assistant can save you a few minutes.
37. Setting up appointments – If you need to meet with a large number of people an assistant can setup your meetings and update your schedule.
38. Watching for news – An assistant can monitor various news sources and notify you when something comes up that you need to know about.
39. Garage sale shopping – Garage sales are one of those things that you don’t know what you are looking for until you find it. However if you do know what you are looking for, an assistant can scour the garage sales looking for used books or whatever it is you need.
40. Fill the car with gas – It isn’t a hard task, but it takes up your time. If you can send someone to fill the car up for you it will probably save you 15 to 30 minutes of time.
41. Driving – Letting someone else drive you can free up your time to work on the computer, read, make phone calls safely, etc.
42. Qualify leads – If your business generates leads that then need to be qualified, a virtual assistant can follow up by phone, ask a few questions and schedule a meeting with you. This helps you keep your time focused on the qualified customers.
43. Twitter – Most of our famous quotes on Twitter were researched and scheduled by my assistant.
44. Printing – It doesn’t always make sense, but sometimes it makes more sense to send your assistant a file and let them handle the printing, getting the right paper, printer options, etc.
45. Summarizing data – This can be a great way to use a virtual assistant. Let them send you summaries of news or financial information that you would wade through otherwise.
46. Article clipping – Instead of going through magazines and newspapers yourself, an assistant can clip the parts that are relevant to you.
47. Setting up appointments – If you need to meet with a large number of people an assistant can setup your meetings and update your schedule.
48. Watching for news – An assistant can monitor various news sources and notify you when something comes up that you need to know about.
49. Office supply stocking – An assistant can help make sure that you don’t run out of paper, pens or toner.
50. Reconcile accounts – Trying to find the missing transaction that is keeping your accounts from balancing is a great thing to delegate.
51. Preparing expense reports – You give them your receipts with a note on the back and they handle filling out whatever forms you need.
52. Sending out “good to meet you letters” – A great networking tool is to follow up with a physical letter. An assistant can handle doing this for you.
53. Letter sequence – Similar to the above, but you may want to send people out a sequence of letters. Once again, a great thing to delegate.
54. Wait for cable repair – Most cable companies give you a window of when they will come that is huge and keeps you sitting at home all day wondering when they will show up. Let someone else do the waiting.
55. Wait for important packages – If you have a package coming that needs a signature, you don’t have to be stuck waiting for it.
56. Locate and schedule carpet cleaners – You an give criteria such as: locate 3 carpet cleaners, get and follow up with references, choose the one that sounds like they will do the best job at a reasonable price.
57. Answer emails – I’m not crazy about giving someone else direct access to my email, but there are some situations where it may make sense. In particular it may be good if you are away from email for an extended period of time.
58. Transcribe written notes – Turn your written notes into searchable text.
59. Negotiate – Sometimes having a third party negotiate for you can give you an upper hand. Give them the parameters you are willing to accept and let them try to negotiate for you.
60. Accountability – Asking a virtual assistant to make sure you exercise, or make sure you leave work on time can help give you some accountability to do the things you know are important.
61. Worry – I’ve heard of people delegating their worrying to someone else. The virtual assistant promised to worry about a big contract so he wouldn’t have to. Sounds silly but this person said it was very effective.
62. Walk the dog – Of course this doesn’t help you get any exercise.
63. Pickup medicine from the vet – Simple time saving errand.
64. Mow the yard – Another timesaver.
65. Write letters to politicians – If you want to let your voice be heard on a topic, let your assistant track down everyone who has any political pull in that area and mail them your opinion.
66. Send out resumes – They can handle the printing and mailing part of things.
67. Writing cover letters – Let them help customize your cover letters for each specific company.
68. Customize resume – They can research each company where you want to apply and help tweak and reorder your resume to best appeal to that company.
69. Mail newspaper clippings – A great way to network with people in your town is to clip out anything about them from the local paper and send it to them with a handwritten note of congratulations. An assistant can help identify and clip these for you. (It is best to only do this with positive news. You don’t need to send someone a note saying that you read about their DUI.)
70. Confirm reservations – Let your assistant confirm you car rental, hotel reservation, etc.
71. Send holiday cards – You can get cards for pretty much any time of year. Let your assistant help keep your name in front of clients by sending St. Patrick’s day, Easter, and Groundhogs day cards for you.
72. Sell stuff on eBay – You will probably make a lot more selling old items on eBay than with a garage sale. Your assistant can handle the listing and shipping for you so it doesn’t eat up all of your time.
73. Search craigslist.org – If you need something, have your assistant look for any new listings for that item on craigslist each day.
74. Gather menus – Want to have better information in choosing a restaurant. Ask your assistant to get a copy of the menu from several different places ahead of time for you.
75. Parking and getting the car – This is particularly useful if you live in a place where you can’t park near your house or office.
76. Wait in line for tickets – If you want to get tickets to an event that will require a wait, send your assistant.
77. Wait in other lines – Your assistant probably can’t get a drivers license for you or register your car, but they can wait in line and call you to come when your turn is approaching.
78. Get quotes – Lets say you need to put a new roof on your house. Your assistant can locate a number of roofer and get quotes for you to look over.
79. Transfer your phone – If you need to switch cell phones it can be a time consuming process. Pass it off your your assistant, they can deal with the cellular company and make the changes.
80. Meeting minutes – This may be useful for things other than formal meetings. It might be beneficial to have written minutes of a conference call or other informal meeting.
81. Wakeup call – I’ve heard of some people having a virtual assistant give them a wake up call along with the weather report and reminders of any important things coming up for that day.
82. Keeping home items in stock – This could be your batteries, printer supplies, envelopes, trash bags, flour, light bulbs etc. Delegating responsibility to make sure you don’t run out of these things means you don’t have to think about it anymore.
83. Place Ads to Sell Stuff on Craigslist – They can also filter through the large amount of spam you are likely to get and help qualify people whoa re likely to actually buy.
84. Look for stuff to buy on Craigslist – Lets say you need a lawn mower. Once you determine the model, age and price you are looking for, an assistant can check for one that meets your criteria daily and do the initial contact to make sure that the ad isn’t a scam. (Hint: If they are trying to ship you a riding lawn mower from another country, it is a scam.)
85. Play devils advocate – An assistant can offer valuable feedback by letting you test ideas and taking a contrary point of view. This will help prepare you for likely objections to your ideas and proposals.
86. Get you off of mailing lists – Giving your assistant a stack of mail that you don’t want to get anymore, can save you a lot of time and reduce the amount of paper being used in the world.
87. Creating a Powerpoint presentation – If you can provide the general outline, an assistant can look up relevant statistics and add graphics.
88. Track loyalty program points – They can help you keep track of where you have existing points and how to make best use of them.
89. Identify potential jobs – People without a job probably aren’t the most likely to hire an assistant, but if you are looking for a job and wanting to play the numbers in your favor, getting some help might be useful.
90. Sending out resumes – An assistant can help you tweak your cover letter, mail out resumes and help you track where you’ve sent your information.
91. House sitting – If you are going to be gone for a few days, it may make sense to have someone stay in your house just to keep it occupied.
92. Online presence – Some people have an assistant do their updates to Facebook and Twitter. This might be useful for someone wanting to maintain a particular online image.
93. Personal metrics – An assistant can help you compile and graph personal metrics. This could be anything to how many miles you’ve walked each week, to your weight over time or the number of calories you’ve consumed.
94. Business metrics – Similar to above, they can keep track of how many sales calls you’ve made, how many deals you’ve closed, how many contacts you’ve followed up with, etc.
95. Plan your vacation – It might seem silly to have an assistant plan your vacation, but if they know you and your family well, they may be able to come up with a better schedule and locate more interesting things to do than you could for yourself.
96. Blog posts – If you need to maintain a certain style of online presence, an assistant can help you do that by writing about what you are doing in your voice. Not for everyone, but there are some people who might use this.
97. Conversions – I had an assistant move a bunch of my sites from Drupal to Wordpress. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but it was very time consuming and I had been putting it off.
98. Suggest cultural events – An assistant can keep track of the events in your city and suggest things you might want to attend. If you say, yes, he/she can make the necessary arrangements for you.
99. Comment filtering – An assistant can help you manage comments on your blog and make sure you keep spam out while letting legitimate comments through quickly.
100. Fact checking – If you plan to use a piece of data for a publication or in a presentation and need to verify it, an assistant can do this for you.

Source: Productivity 501

Although outsourcing has been around as long as work specialization has existed, in recent history, companies began employing the outsourcing model to carry out narrow functions, such as payroll, billing and data entry. Those processes could be done more efficiently, and therefore more cost-effectively, by other companies with specialized tools and facilities and specially trained personnel.

Currently, outsourcing takes many forms. Organizations still hire service providers to handle distinct business processes, such as benefits management. But some organizations outsource whole operations. The most common forms are information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO).

Business process outsourcing encompasses call center outsourcing, human resources outsourcing (HRO), finance and accounting outsourcing, and claims processing outsourcing. These outsourcing deals involve multi-year contracts that can run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Frequently, the people performing the work internally for the client firm are transferred and become employees for the service provider. Dominant outsourcing service providers in the information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing fields include IBM, EDS, CSC, HP, ACS, Accenture and Capgemini.

Some nimble companies that are short on time and money, such as start-up software publishers, apply multisourcing — using both internal and service provider staff — in order to speed up the time to launch. They hire a multitude of outsourcing service providers to handle almost all aspects of a new project, from product design, to software coding, to testing, to localization, and even to marketing and sales.

The process of outsourcing generally encompasses four stages: 1) strategic thinking, to develop the organization’s philosophy about the role of outsourcing in its activities; 2) evaluation and selection, to decide on the appropriate outsourcing projects and potential locations for the work to be done and service providers to do it; 3) contract development, to work out the legal, pricing and service level agreement (SLA) terms; and 4) outsourcing management or governance, to refine the ongoing working relationship between the client and outsourcing service providers.

In all cases, outsourcing success depends on three factors: executive-level support in the client organization for the outsourcing mission; ample communication to affected employees; and the client’s ability to manage its service providers. The outsourcing professionals in charge of the work on both the client and provider sides need a combination of skills in such areas as negotiation, communication, project management, the ability to understand the terms and conditions of the contracts and service level agreements (SLAs), and, above all, the willingness to be flexible as business needs change.

The challenges of outsourcing become especially acute when the work is being done in a different country (offshored), since that involves language, cultural and time zone differences.

Forum Responses
(Business and Management Forum)
From contributor J:
Okay, so you’re doing a little market research. My gut reaction to the sort of services you offer is powerfully bad on several levels. That may not mean much, because I’m primarily a custom furniture maker who does very little with the sort of kitchen and bath work you’re positioning yourself to deal with. The little work I have done in that area has gone from quick sketches directly into my shop, no renderings required. I realize this isn’t the world you’re aiming to work for, but hey – I feel like engaging you.

The first thing that strikes me from looking at your site is that I don’t know what you mean by “design.” The specification sheets you use ask your customers to do a lot of what I think of as design work – specifying things like cabinet manufacturer, door style, counter and backsplash materials, etc. These choices are design work, and you’re asking your customers to have already done it before you start working.

Perhaps you mean that you’ll decide which cabinets go where, designing the workflow of a space… except your forms don’t gather any input whatsoever about the clients’ unique needs. I can’t believe many clients would want to turn such decisions over to some remote, anonymous service provider. This is not the engineering of a water treatment plant; my customers care deeply about their homes, and these sorts of decisions grow out conversations. I don’t see how that can be farmed out.

So then, maybe you’re really offering to provide renderings that your customers can use to facilitate these design conversations with their clients. My experience is that customers go through many potential designs before settling on one. It seems like this could quickly rack up one heck of a bill from you. Worse, many cabinet dealers/makers don’t collect any money from their clients until the design is largely settled. Will they really be willing to rack up a bill from you on behalf of a customer they don’t even have yet?

Like I said, the market you’re aiming for is fairly alien to me, but the business model you’re working with strikes me as terribly awkward. I just don’t see where the value you can provide at a distance can possibly make up for the handicaps your process imposes on the relationships between your customers and their clients.

From contributor P:
I don’t really outsource such things, but I do work under a designer quite often. About half of our work is done fulfilling a designer or architect’s drawings or specs. I actually prefer it this way; less stuff for me to have to mess with.

From contributor N:
Contributor P has the right idea. You find your clients, do some design work for them, and then bring the cabinet job to the cabinetmaker. Then with his experience, he will demonstrate how this will work better or that might not work, etc. Often a nice drawing isn’t a real workable design. I had a customer that hired a designer to design a wet bar and an island. She came up with an island that wasn’t feasible, as all the drawers on all sides needed the same space to open and close. The island almost looked good on paper, then I redesigned it so it would work right and make sense. Get the work from your clients and then bring the work to the cabinetmaker, not the other way around. That is unless you have 10 or 20 years of working with or in a cabinet shop building cabinets that will all fit together and work correctly, and still retain the design aspect of the job. I’m not saying you don’t have the experience, but most of us have dealt with designers, and you know the experts that work at Lowe’s or Home Depot.

From contributor A:
First off, the website is generally quite good. Far better than most I’ve seen in your niche. We have outsourced CAD work in the past, with less than desirable results. The main reason? Overloaded with work, and a new, untested sub. In the future, I would pursue the path of developing a relationship with a reliable sub, and let them grow into the ability to handle larger, more time critical jobs. This has a much greater probability of success, in my opinion.

Why would I outsource? Because it can make me more profitable. Plain and simple. But it only makes me money if you can produce the same results for less than it costs me to do it myself. It is beyond me why so many folks on this forum will not think twice about subbing out their cabinet doors, or drawer boxes, but not give the same consideration to shop drawings. If outsourcing shop drawings can save you money and make you more profitable, why on earth would you say no?

Why wouldn’t I outsource? Control. No matter how you market it, I give up some measure of control when I sub out drawings… or drawers. That loss of control can be minimized, with good and constant communication, but not completely eliminated. (There is a marketing strategy for ya!)

This is just another opinion, but what you should be marketing is drafting, or better yet, “engineered shop drawings.” I agree with what the others have said, somewhat. It seems to me that if everything is spec’d (appliances, profiles, basic layout, etc.), then the design work is done. Now comes the engineering. That’s where you come in.

Of course, this depends on your definition of what design and engineering is. I’d submit that (in this industry) design is generally thought of as the form, style, and arrangement of the millwork. Typically also things like appliances, wood species and color, and all the other fluff.

Engineering, on the other hand, is simply taking those designs, and making them work in the real world. So in contributor N’s example above, I’d say he took a flawed design, and (re)engineered it to work in the real world. It’s not rocket science, but it is engineering nonetheless.

From the original questioner:
Contributor A, I think you hit the nail on the head with all of your points. It has become clear to me, especially after viewing contributor J’s comments, that my biggest challenge appears to be crafting my home page text to clearly illustrate and stress the drafting/engineering component of the process.

The tricky part is that I have five primary target customers:
Kitchen and bath showroom owners
Interior designers
Custom cabinet manufacturers
Remodeling contractors
Independent kitchen designers

So it is critical my homepage and services offered speak clearly to all. I also need to make clear that, while it is not my primary function, I do have the experience and background to make design suggestions to issues that always pop up once a project is taken from sketches and concept and put on the computer for engineering in scale.

Thus far my best customers in this current venture have been remodeling contractors who have the ability to purchase wholesale direct from cabinet manufacturers but can’t justify an in-house, full time position. They are comfortable with the process I assume because subcontracting is such a big part of their business.

Perhaps the message on my website needs some tighter focus. My services are of most value as an extension of the on-site designer by handling the drafting portion of the workload, using my 20+ years of experience to troubleshoot and offer solutions to issues as they occur. Good stuff… thanks. Changes will be implemented!

From contributor M:
I agree that contributor A hit the nail on the head. The engineering is critical, and even well engineered plans will have flaws. I would use your service, as I am a one man shop and already have more to do than I should, as long as it’s cost effective. I would like someone that could not only draw a full kitchen, but could draw a piece of furniture like a dining table in 3D for a customer to look at, and again it would have to be cost effective.

From contributor Y:
As a two man shop, I’m a firm believer in outsourcing. While I do all of the cad work myself, there are times I’ve considered outsourcing. However, you need to be aware that if I am like many other cabinet shops, I’m not always … er … ah … “time efficient.” How many times have I waited until the last minute to order drawers? I’m not sure how much time would be saved in the design area because of all of the interaction that would be needed with a designer to get all of the details correct and in the construction manner that I use. It would take quite some time to build up a library of my design criteria with a given designer.

From contributor T:
I normally like to suggest to our small business clients that they strongly consider buying out doors, drawers and other materials to help save them time and money. However, this is one area that I would not suggest that they outsource.

Here is why. The design establishes the price of the job. The engineering establishes much of what the job will cost. If you control this part of the process, you control much of the cost of the job. Job costing is such an important part of the business that I would not suggest putting this in someone else’s hands.

Source: Woodweb

Studies show that nearly 70% of readers here at Graphic Design Blender either own their own freelance design business or hope to start freelancing in the near future. Something that many freelancers fail to do, however, is work effectively with others to reduce workload and increase income.
If you’re anything like me, you started your freelance career with hopes of getting paid to do what you love most while maintaining a fairly flexible schedule. Unfortunately, you only have so many hours in the day. In addition you have some clients who simply want something outside your area of expertise.

Sound Familiar?

When this happens, there are a few options you can take. You can simply turn down work you are not qualified for or don’t have time for. You can refer them to friends you might have that do know how to best meet the clients needs. Or lastly, you can network with others and create outsourcing opportunities.
What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing in freelance design is simply the act of transferring the workload from yourself to another person. If you lack time or skill to complete a particular project for a client, for example, you might hire another freelance designer to do the work for you while you manage the client relationships.
When is it a good idea to start outsourcing?

Outsourcing in design can be a controversial topic. Many designers would argue that, if you are not qualified for the job or don’t have time to complete it, you should refer the client to another designer and get over the fact that you just lost a job or a client.

But what if a long-time client of yours comes to you and asks for something that you may not have time to complete or lack the necessary skills. Are you simply going to reject your client, send them on their way, and burn the relationship bridge you have worked so hard to build with them?

Of course not!

This would be an opportune time to work with other designers or freelancers in order to fulfill the needs of your client. Everyone wins: the other freelancer you work with gets paid, you maintain a client, and the client gets what they need.
How to effectively outsource design work

1PHASE ONE: START YOUR FREELANCE COMPANY
If you haven’t started a freelance design company yet, this is obviously the first step. You need to create a branding platform, begin to find clients, register your business with all the appropriate government entities, and do all the behind-the-scenes work to get your freelance business off the ground.

2 PHASE TWO: FIND SOME GOOD CLIENTS
After you have everything up and running, you should work hard to find some good clients that will be able to support your freelance business. These clients can include large businesses that need a lot of work done, clients that need material (particularly web material) frequently updated, etc. Before you can think about working with other freelancers, you should have a steady flow of work coming in to your business.

3PHASE THREE: MAKE SOME GOOD CONNECTIONS
After you have learned the basics of running a successful freelance design business, it’s important to network with other people-especially others who possess skills you lack. This will open doors and present outsourcing opportunities later on.

There are a million places you can make good connections with people. Stay active on twitter (follow me), facebook, stumbleupon, digg, and other sharing and social media sites. Another tactic you can use is to send messages to your followers inviting them to send their information to you through an online form (I use google docs). These forms can help you organize your contacts and information from other freelancers who might be interested in working with you. Make sure they tell you who they are, where you can see their work, how you can get in contact, what they specialize in, etc.

4PHASE FOUR: MAKE A BID REQUEST OR DELEGATE
After you have begun making good connections with other freelancers, begin delegating the surplus work you have to the freelancers who most qualify for the job. If you are unsure who might offer the best experience and best price, you can also send out a bid request. Essentially, you would send out a message to the potential freelancers informing them of the opportunity and ask them to bid on the project. Have them include time schedule and price. This will help you choose a candidate better.

5PHASE FIVE: WORK AS A LIAISON BETWEEN YOUR CLIENT AND FREELANCER
At this moment, your role changes. Whether you like it or not, you have now become a manager. You work as a account manager-facilitating communication between freelancer and client and assuring everything is completed on time and as expected.

While I love design, I have truly come to love working with other freelance professionals who are more skilled than I am. Managing the relationship between client and freelancer can really make you feel like you are running a legitimate freelance business.

6PHASE SIX: FINISH THE PROJECT, COLLECT, AND PAY
Now the good part. The last step is to work out all the payment between client and freelancer. Make sure that all deliverables are given to the client and that the freelancer also gets paid as promised. Some freelance designers feel guilty about collecting money for themselves on a project like this, but if you have done your job properly, you managed the project well-which is what you will be getting paid for. It’s legitimate.
Last, a word of caution

I would offer a word or two of advice for any freelancer who is interested in adding the art of ourtsourcing to their freelance business. First, remember why you are freelancing in the first place. Don’t get so wrapped up in managing and making money that you have no time to design. You love to design-so be sure to keep the best projects for yourself and really enjoy them. Second, remember how you feel when clients hire you and then treat you poorly. When you hire a freelancer, treat them with the utmost respect, trust their opinion, and work well with them to create a professional product.
Will you be outsourcing soon? Add your opinion

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Is it a good idea to start outsourcing some of the work that you dont have time for or lack the necessary skills to complete? For those of you who have started outsourcing, what tips can you offer the rest of us that might help in our endeavor to take this step in our freelance careers?

Source: Graphic Design Blender

Starting Out

Here are some pointers for launching your outsourcing operation.

1. First, define your core: Don’t hand over the core functions of your business. Consider outsourcing other operations that are not as strategic.

2. Evaluate a service provider like you would a full-time employee: Ask questions, check references and ask for feedback from other clients who have used the provider’s services.

3. Clearly define the scope and schedule for your project: Be up front about your project requirements so that service providers know about schedules and deliverables.

4. Don’t choose a vendor based solely on price: Discard the highest-priced and lowest-priced bid. You want a balance of good value and quality results.

5. Review portfolios and samples: Consider asking the provider to do a quick mock-up or provide a basic outline of a work plan.

6. Look for specific experience fit: You want a company with specific experience with the type of project that your company is undertaking. This is important when outsourcing complex technical projects such as software development.

7. Tie compensation to clearly defined project milestones: Define a work plan for your outsourced project, with clearly defined milestones.

8. Negotiate ownership of the work up front: Make sure that you are clear about who owns the resulting work product and any important components of that product. Make sure that the service provider understands how you intend to use the deliverables that they are agreeing to provide.

9. Don’t forget about support after the project is complete: Draft a support clause that ensures you’ll get continuing support from the vendor after the project is complete.

10. Get it in writing: Keep a written record of project goals, pay schedules and any changes.

11. Start small: Start with a project that is relatively small and simple in scope to give you a better idea of the provider’s style and capabilities.

12. Move slowly and commit incrementally: Don’t sign a five-year contract before testing performance and the relationship. Move slowly and commit gradually.

13. Get specialized and expert help: Browse a site that provides access to professionals around the world in your business’s field.

Skills to Consider Outsourcing

You may be able to outsource these job functions to make your small business run more smoothly.

14. Public-relations services: Most small businesses cannot afford a full-time public-relations pro.

15. Virtual assistants: Virtual assistants, or independent entrepreneurs, provide administrative, creative or technical support by handling tasks like scheduling and filing.

16. Outsource brokers: These brokers, exchanges and networks can recruit, interview and manage the services your company needs.

17. E-commerce solutions: Hire a provider that can turn your business’s Web site into a cash cow.

18. E-mail marketing: Your contractor can be thousands of miles and seven time zones away, but they’ll market your business like they’re in the same room.

19. Writers: Writing can be done from anywhere.

20. IT Professionals:Consultants are cheaper than hiring someone in-house.

Outsourcing Dos and Don’ts

Keep these tips in mind as your orientate yourself to outsourcing.

21. Carefully evaluate what can really be outsourced: Self-contained tasks or projects are more suited to outsourcing, while team tasks are not.

22. Consider management costs: Don’t end up squandering the savings in training and oversight costs.

23. Be prepared for challenges: Even from across an ocean, personalities can clash, and schedules can take a while to sync.

24. Don’t walk in blind: Get guidance in choosing a vendor and keep knowledgeable tabs on performance.

25. Consider having a staff employee(s) act as a liaison: Consider entrusting an in-house manager to oversee the outsourced help.

26. Watch out for hidden costs: Consider everything from layoff-related expenses and telecommunications costs for remote workers.

27. Know the outsourcing ABCs: Alignment: Is outsourcing the right move for your business? Business case: Have you taken all costs into consideration? Culture: Can you bridge the cultural difference between your company and the outsourcer?

Where to Find Outsourcing Candidates

Here are some sites that include professionals who can fill your small business’s needs.

28. Elance Inc.: You’ll find tons of freelance writers and designers on this site.

29. FreelancerNow.com: You’ll get services quickly on this site.

30. Guru.com: Post individual projects on this site and have professional bid on them.

31. SHARPSourcing.com: SHARPSourcing.com is an Indian HR outsourcing service that provides Web-development and Web-design outsourcing services to companies across the globe.

32. RentACoder: You can literally rent a Web coder from this site.

33. my pajamanation: Powered by an India-based blogger, this site offers insight into outsourcing, from events to related news from around the world.

34. ScriptLance: You can post a project on this site, which lists bids in a neatly organized list.

35. Integra Global Solutions:Outsource to this firm to expand your business.

36. GetAFreelancer.com: This site can help you find freelance programmers, Web designers and copywriters in India or any other country.

37. Kasamba: Find experts in a number of different fields on this site.

38. GoforFreelance.com: This site works for both freelancers and employees.

39. osLance.com: Post open-source projects here.

40. Sunday LLC: According to the company, “Sunday gives busy people the resources of a 24/7 personal assistant, travel agent, project assistant and tech-support pro, available via both telephone and Internet.”

41. oDesk Corp.: Outsource and manage programmers, Web designers and more.

42.Get Friday: A virtual-assistant resource that undertakes any task or business that does not require a physical presence.

43. DoMyStuff.com: This site is as simple as posting a task, selecting an assistant and getting stuff done.

44. Amazon Mechanical Turk: This Amazon.com-powered site offers companies ‘artificial’ artificial intelligence.

45. craigslist inc.: Post a job under “gigs” or any of the industry sections, and you can outsource work anywhere.

46. Workaholics4Hire.com: Find people 24/7 on this site people by “a team of workaholics who have a compulsive need to work at odd hours, drink too much coffee, and love meeting impossible deadlines.”

47. BrickworkINDIA: Get a remote executive assistant operating from an India to do your work through email.

48. iFreelance.com: Post your project for free to receive bids from hundreds of professional service providers.

49. Agents of Value: This Webmaster staffing company specializes in finding full-time programmers, graphic designers, journalists, researchers and link builders to help your business grow.

50. Netgear Solutions: Netgear Solutions is an IT-based solution organization with a strong crew of software professionals and Web professionals.

Tips for Outsourcing to a Personal Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants can do your grunt work without taking up office space.

51. Minimize the kickoff effort: Set up a single inbox where your tasks will be dropped for quick assigninment.

52. There’s no such thing as too small: Even five-minute tasks can become cumbersome when they add up. Your assistant can get them done by “batching” them in meaningful ways.

53. Set up recurring tasks: You can have your virtual assistant perform tasks like keeping tabs on the blogs and newsletters of your business’s fans and competitors.

54. Empower the assistant to take further action: Clearly lay out the next steps of tasks and projects.
55. Revisit the to-do list: Basically, hold on to important tasks that you should do and give the support and research tasks to the virtual assistant.

Tools for Tasks and Projects

If you want to keep track of exactly what work an employee needs to do and when they must do it, check out these task organizers.

56. Backpack: Backpack is an information-management and to-do list organizer that can help your outsourced talent get the job done.

57. Wiki.com: Wiki.com features project tracking; searchable discussions; shared calendars; Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF file support; and 256-Bit SSL encryption.

58. Ta-da Lists: Ta-da Lists is the “Web’s simplest and fastest to-do list maker,” and even works on the iPhone.

59. CellTell: Send voiceNotes from your outsourced help from any of your phones straight to your Backpack page

60. Jott: Jott will act like your own personal assistant by supplying free voice-to-text service.

61. Campfire: Especially great for remote teams, Campfire is like instant messaging optimized for groups.

62. VIP Task Manager: VIP Task Manager lets multiple users manage tasks and access the common database.

63. Task Manager: Track personal and shared tasks, jobs and projects with Task Manager, which lets you quickly view all of the duties so you can prevent missing deadlines.

64. Excel: The Multiple Daily Tasks Excel spreadsheet assigns up to 50 tasks, shifts or clients to up to 20 employees.

65. Employee Task Chaser: Develop the execution abilities of your work team and get things done with this tool.

66. Shift Schedules: This tool lets you assign your people to daily shifts, tasks or locations in 30 minute increments.

67. Employee Project Clock: Employee Project Clock is ideal for companies that are involved in control engineering, manufacturing and automation, as well as tool-and-die shops.

68. OfficeView: This Web application includes a messaging system and software to track consultant information.

69. Personnel Organizer Deluxe: Personnel Organizer Deluxe provides an easy way to gather, organize and manage information about all consultants in your company.

70. VIP Simple To Do List: Tell your consultants what they need to get done when with VIP Simple To Do List.

71. Project Tracker: This extensive database program contains suppliers and purchase and estimation modules.

72. Employee Planner: Plan consultant work, schedules, travel, events, vacations, projects or meetings with this easy-to-use tool.

Web Sites

Check out these Web sites, which feature time sheets and scheduling software for overseas employees.

73. Atlas Business Solutions Inc.: This site features inexpensive downloads for consultant scheduling, HR needs and business plans.

74. InTime Solutions Inc.: InTime Solutions provides software downloads, as well as information and news about the automation sphere.

75. i-Staff: This site provides Web-based employee scheduling software.

76. TimeFox: Web-based time- and project-tracking tools make this site a smart place to go.

77. WorkPlace Systems: This treasure trove of business solutions and services features free downloads for workplace management.

78. Kronos Inc.: Choose from a host of time and scheduling software on this site.

79. Celayix Inc.: Scheduling and attendance solutions are available on this site.

80. WorkBuddy Solutions Pyt. Ltd.: WorkBuddy Solutions is your pal for automated workforce-management solutions.

81. Valiant Solutions Inc.: According to the company’s Web site, “Valiant brings Web-enabled, real-time automation through a centralized database to every phase of your workforce management lifecycle.”

82. AceProject: This site provides project-management tools, Web-based time sheets and free time-sheet software.

83. Personnel Scheduling Software: You can choose from a plethora of scheduling software on this site.

84. Michael Greer’s Project Management Links: Michael has taken it upon himself to post dozens of project- management tools on his site.

85. Advanced Time Reports: This whole Web site devoted to time report software is a must-see.

86. Microsoft Office Project 2007: This site gives you the lowdown on Microsoft Office Project 2007 software.

87. Basecamp: Set up headquarters at Basecamp, which lets you log hours and keep track of projects.

88. activeCollab: This site’s motto is “Eliminate Stress. Manage Success.”

Information

These sites offer information about the Indian market and can help you navigate the outsourcing realm.

89. U.S. Department of State Background Note: The Bureau of South Asian Affairs provides information on India’s geography, people, economy and relations with the U.S.

90. The Outsourcing Weblog: Stay on the up-and-up on outsourcing news from around the globe.

91. Doing Business in India: Find information here on investing in India, the country’s economic policy, government and more.

92. Doing Business in India: A Cultural Perspective: Read up on cultural differences between the U.S. and India.

93. Outsourcing to India: Get your legal, logistical and practical questions about doing business in India answered.

94. Country Information About India: Read through reports, surveys, papers, publications, news and more information about India.

95. A Buyer’s Guide to Offshore Outsourcing: Browse a worldwide comparison of prices, risks and other factors you should consider before outsourcing overseas.

96. Center for Global Outsourcing: For $85 per year, you’ll get resources that underscore the benefits of global outsourcing to businesses.

97. Current Realities in Global IT initiatives: This research, conducted by Zinnov Management Consulting, looks at the issues associated with offshore IT initiatives.

98. Outsourcing FAQ: Get all of your outsourcing questions at this Everest Partners LP-sponsored site.

99. Outsourcing Center: Read white papers, articles and research about outsourcing.

100. Offshore Outsourcing: Making It Work: InformIT, a Pearson Education Informant subsidiary, provides you with eight points to consider before moving business operations offshore.

By keeping costs low and intensely evaluating the potential and the plan, you can outsource to help your small business thrive. In no time, your company will be competing with the delivery capabilities of larger organizations, but you’ll still be your own boss.

Source: HR World

Definition of Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the act of obtaining services from an external firm.

Business Process Outsourcing
In the corporate environment, the term “outsourcing” often refers to a particular type of outsourcing, business process outsourcing (BPO). BPO occurs when an organization turns over the management of a particular business process (such as accounting or payroll) to a third party that specializes in that process. The underlying theory is that the BPO firm can complete the process more efficiently, leaving the original firm free to concentrate on its core competency.

Roots of Outsourcing
The concept of outsourcing was first made popular by Ross Perot when we founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 1962. EDS would say to a potential client, “You are good at designing and manufacturing widgets, but we are skilled with managing information technology. We will sell you the IT services that you require, and you can pay us periodically with a minimum commitment of two years.” Today, EDS is a multi-billion dollar company with over 70,000 employees and is only one of many global BPO firms.

Offshore Outsourcing
Offshore outsourcing, or “offshoring”, refers to outsourcing to firms in foreign countries, often to take advantage of labor arbitrage. In the past 10 years, business process outsourcing contracts have increasingly been given to firms in developing countries. Typically educated workers in developing countries, such as India or China, work for a much lower wage than do similarly educated workers in developed countries, such as Japan. Savings from the lower wage rate must exceed the increased costs of management and risk associated with offshore outsourcing for it to be economically viable.

The Politics of “Offshoring”
Offshore outsourcing has recently become a hotly-debated issue in the national media. When the American economy began to pull out of recession in 2001, unemployment did not decrease as expected. Offshore outsourcing was blamed as a contributing factor to this “jobless recovery”. Information Technology was a particularly soft sector, and many American programmers lost their jobs to lower-paid foreign counterparts. Many economists however have recently conjectured that the higher-than-expected unemployment numbers were not the result of offshore outsourcing, and that offshore outsourcing has actually had a positive impact on the American economy. Undoubtedly the debate will continue into the presidential campaign.

Source: The Outsourcing Times

Step 1
Join the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), since it’s the only way you can order items for customers directly from the vendors. You must be a member. It’s a high fee, more than $1,000 a year. However, if you are serious about making good money, it’s the only way to go.

Step 2
Know the benefits. As an ASI member, you will receive 50 percent off everything you order from ad specialty companies. If you work under some else’s membership, you split the 50 percent profit.

Step 3
Get a good supply of samples and catalogues from the ASI vendors. They have plenty of free samples available for new and existing members.

Step 4
Order a nice give-away for yourself. When you call on customers, you want to make a good, creative first impression. The owners and salespeople in the promotional products industry are typically the designer of the clients’ promotions. Larger ad specialty shops may keep an artist/designer on staff, but you will do all your own designs.

Step 5
Hire a professional artist to work on special jobs. Many commercial artists work freelance. Use her to work up spec samples when you’ve landed a big appointment.

Step 6
Take a year and learn the business while working for a larger ad specialty firm before you start your own. Find one that does not require you to sign a non-compete contract, so that when you leave, you can get right to work on your own company.

As Director of Design for Cincinnati-based product development firm Kaleidoscope, Demetrius Romanos leads a team of multidisciplinary specialists in design, strategy and research. Over the past seven years his team has worked with clients that include Motorola, Procter & Gamble, International Trucks, Staples, Evenflo and Ethicon Endo-surgery.

Demetrius recently answered some questions for us on the process of working with a product development firm and on today’s consumer market.

Q: What kinds of details should your customers keep in mind when conceptualizing their products?

A: Different yet similar to the real estate world’s mantra of “location, location, location,” with a product it’s all about positioning, positioning, positioning. Even more basic than that is just being honest enough with yourself to look at your product idea and ask a very blunt “so what?” What’s so great about my product, and why would anyone spend hard earned money for it?

Q: Do you ever have to turn people down and say, “This will never work?”

A: Well, not so much turn down, but try to open their eyes a bit. As consultants we’d be doing our clients a disservice if we didn’t offer solutions to their problems, since that’s what we’re paid to do. A lot of time it’s getting back to the core question of what is their product trying to solve, which you could likely accomplish several different ways.

Q: What are today’s consumers looking for as opposed to consumers 10-15 years ago? How are they different and how should your customers’ product ideas adapt to their changing needs?

A: The biggest difference we’ve seen is that consumers are seeking to make a connection with their products. This makes designing products far more challenging because a gadget alone that does what it says is not good enough. Whether it’s an MP3 player or a toothbrush, a product now also needs a soul.

Q: What effect does a downturning economy have on consumers, and therefore also have on you as a product development firm and the number/type of customers you get?

A: With consumers it comes down to choices. If there is any money left after housing, energy and food costs are covered, what will people spend their money on? That’s a big part of why the connection with a product becomes so critical. As for us, the number of clients can remain the same but will vary in the type of work. The focus shifts to more recession-proof industries like consumer goods and medical equipment.

Q: Is there anything at all that you are doing differently to compensate for or adapt to the current economic situation, or is it business as usual?

A: It’s not quite business as usual for many companies right now so you have to be really focused on what your goals are as an organization. We’ll tend to focus on two areas to grow our business: 1) Recession-proof industries like medical equipment and consumer goods, and 2) development of our own intellectual properties.

Q: At what point in the process do your customers come to you? Do they already have a prototype, or are they just sitting on an idea?

A: Our clients span the range from one side, where they don’t even know what it is they need yet, all the way to other clients having an item that they may just need help getting manufactured. We’ll engage at any point in the process, which is why flexibility and adaptability are so critical in consulting.

Q: Once your customers come to you, where does the process go from there?

A: This depends on where we’re engaged, but the primary point of entry is that a client needs to enter a market with a product. We’ll do research and strategy to define the consumer needs, positioning and business opportunities, with the outcome driving design concepts. We’ll then start broad then focus in on the design and engineer of those concepts, working our way down to the direction for manufacturing. At that point we may even assist in selecting the appropriate vendors and may serve as a liaison during the manufacturing process to maintain design integrity.
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But not many businesses thoroughly understand the benefits of outsourcing. It’s true that outsourcing can save money, but that’s not the only (or even the most important) reason to do it. As many firms discovered during the outsourcing “mania” of the early 1990s, outsourcing too much can be an even bigger mistake than not outsourcing any work at all. The flat economy caused many companies into huge layoffs and subsequently outsourced functions that were better kept in-house. Wise outsourcing, however, can provide a number of long-term benefits:

Control capital costs. Cost-cutting may not be the only reason to outsource, but it’s certainly a major factor. Outsourcing converts fixed costs into variable costs, releases capital for investment elsewhere in your business, and allows you to avoid large expenditures in the early stages of your business. Outsourcing can also make your firm more attractive to investors, since you’re able to pump more capital directly into revenue-producing activities.

Increase efficiency. Companies that do everything themselves have much higher research, development, marketing, and distribution expenses, all of which must be passed on to customers. An outside provider’s cost structure and economy of scale can give your firm an important competitive advantage.

Reduce labor costs. Hiring and training staff for short-term or peripheral projects can be very expensive, and temporary employees don’t always live up to your expectations. Outsourcing lets you focus your human resources where you need them most.

Start new projects quickly. A good outsourcing firm has the resources to start a project right away. Handling the same project in-house might involve taking weeks or months to hire the right people, train them, and provide the support they need. And if a project requires major capital investments (such as building a series of distribution centers), the startup process can be even more difficult.

Focus on your core business. Every business has limited resources, and every manager has limited time and attention. Outsourcing can help your business to shift its focus from peripheral activities toward work that serves the customer, and it can help managers set their priorities more clearly.

Level the playing field. Most small firms simply can’t afford to match the in-house support services that larger companies maintain. Outsourcing can help small firms act “big” by giving them access to the same economies of scale, efficiency, and expertise that large companies enjoy.

Reduce risk. Every business investment carries a certain amount of risk. Markets, competition, government regulations, financial conditions, and technologies all change very quickly. Outsourcing providers assume and manage this risk for you, and they generally are much better at deciding how to avoid risk in their areas of expertise.

Source: allbusiness.com