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I wrote a review of my outsourcing experiences a while ago on the foogie board for Asian webmasters.

Here is the original text:

I do see a post here and there about outsourcing companies, but it is hard to find a decent review of experiences, so I decided to write a short summary of my first 3 months of hiring staff from 2 outsourcing companies. It might be helpful to a few members here to get a better idea about those services.

A few months ago I decided that I had to much work and needed to hire at least one or two people full time to keep up with the websites that I operate (besides producing content). Initially I wanted freelancers, but the search for good freelancers turned out to be not that easy. It would have taken me a few guys to go thru and I was aware that those guys would have probably asked for a substantial pay rise after a few months. To hire people locally was out of the question as I travel to 3 continents every month or two.

Finally, I decided to contact outsourcing companies. I gave them my job descriptions together with my budget and asked them to make offers.

This was easier than I thought. I quickly had picked 2 people from 2 different companies.

1) Designer from IDS Outsourcing
Now, this company is run out of Buenos Aires by a guy named Jey P. He offered me a dedicated designer for my terms and said he had one available that could start right away. The first week was a trial, so if I did not like the work I could just leave after this week without any obligations. So I had nothing to loose and gave it a try.
The first work was to produce galleries. When I got their first proposals I was a bit upset as I felt that they just took some templates out of the drawer and inserted my material. We talked and I explained them what I wanted in all detail and that I was looking to have a unique style of a certain kind and not just a copy. They got some of their other designers as consultants and they worked it all out. After a few days of silence I heard back from them and got great results. They went out of their way to satisfy my demand and I am happy with their work ever since. Sometimes they are a bit hard to communicate with, but I have accepted this. Over all a designer should concentrate on the work without being distracted by ICQ or other messengers.

2) Submitter and Data Entry from XXXOutsourcing
This company is run by Greg who posts on this board frequently. I happened to meet Greg a few times before and we talked about his outsourcing services (before we got drunk). He operates out of SE Asia, so at first I was kind of worried that the people there did not have a proper education to be able to do the job as I have lived in Asia for many years and know first hand how difficult it is to get an acceptable education. Once I realized that Greg is running a real tight ship and has good local management I decided to give it a go and hire a person for him.
I was aware that I would get a complete newbie as my budget was kind of low, but Greg told me from the beginning that they would make sure to pick a guy that has the right potential for the job with a 2 week in-house crash course when starting to work for me.
Still I was a bit disappointed at first. I thought that he would be ready to go to submit an Asian gallery to xxx Asian niche TGPs within a day, but that was not the case. I needed to teach him how to do it, but that was ok. The guy picked it up pretty quick and is doing a good job, now. I also use him for data entry and related stuff and he is doing just great and getting better from week to week. After about 6 weeks of hanging in there I did see that it is going a good direction. My guy there is always available on ICQ and I can contact his shift manager and a few other people besides Greg that will respond within a short time. Sometimes though I needed to be persistent at the very beginning so things did go the way I wanted, but everybody I was in contact with was more than willing to help out as fast as possible. Solutions were found quickly and everybody was friendly and helpful.

On the bottom line these 2 dedicated employees do great work for me and they are getting better as they gain more experience. After the second month I can see that the money I spend on them is a good investment and I will expand to get more employees from them in the near future. I can highly recommend both of these companies.

Of course there are a few down sides. Well, I would not call them downsides, but things to consider. First you need to have a plan on what work you will give them and you need to have it well organized. Second you need to be patient at the beginning and give them the chance to get accustomed with the way you work. After these two things are straight, it is a go as long as you have a constant flow of work.

Feel free to comment on my experiences or ask me questions.

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Asian Babes