Don’t Be Held Hostage By What You Don’t Know
June 11th, 2009
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by BobTheTeacher · Filed Under: Bob The Teacher Training · Business Building · List Building · Productivity · Time Management · Traffic · Web Hosting
I’d like to share a quick story with you about the pitfalls of outsourcing, crowdsourcing and hiring a virtual assistant.
These are buzzwords and big trends in running a business, and I’m a big fan of all 3.
But over-reliance on other people can be a big problem in your business.
Recently, I hired 2 people (virtually) to work in my business, doing tasks like turning transcripts into articles, add content to my Squidoo lenses, edit my video tutorials, etc.
And for a few weeks, everything was awesome. I was very pleased with the work I was getting back, and enjoyed the freedom of time that I was regaining. It was also allowing me to focus on higher ROI activities.
But then something happened, and to be honest, I have no idea what it was. Nevertheless, within 2 weeks of each other, they disappeared. No responses via email at all – cold turkey.
My videos went unedited, and my customers were put off by the delay in getting what they had purchased.
My online content remained stagnant for a week as I gave my outsourcers the benefit of the doubt. What I thought was becoming a well-oiled machine came to a screeching halt.
I was being held hostage by other people’s actions – and it was a feeling that I hate.
Are You Being Held Hostage?
Are you relying on someone else to do work for you, to the point that if it’s not done, your business screeches to a halt?
Most of the time I see this it’s with the technical aspects of running a business. You get a lowball estimate from someone to build a website for you, install a blog, or set up a teleseminar, etc.
And when it works, it works really well. But if you suddenly can’t reach them, what do you do next?
Look, I’ve been very happy with most of the people I’ve ever hired to work with me (my support desk team, especially). But there’s one thing that I’ve learned over the last few years of running my business:
You are responsible for knowing how to run the most important parts of your business – ignorance in key areas costs you time, money, and a lot of unnecessary frustrations.
Things like…
- Editing text on your website
- Changing the price on a Paypal button
- Creating an opt-in form to build your list
- Sending an email out to that list on an automated basis
- Doing your own social networking (with sites like Twitter and Facebook)
- Turning your words into a PDF document and then uploading that file to the web so people around the world (or down the street) can download it.
- Setting up the conference line to do a teleseminar, and knowing how to record the call
This is not a bash about VAs or outsourcing at all. In fact, I encourage you to have people (or at least a person) who can do most if not all of these things for you.
But what happens when that person you are relying on:
- gets sick?
- has a sick kid or parent to take care of?
- gets a job?
- goes on vacation?
- can’t be reached for whatever legitimate (or nefarious) reason?
In a critical moment, will you be able to take up the slack?
If you find yourself shaking your head right about now as you read that last question, then I urge you to let me teach you how to do those fundamental things.
It’s my hope that by doing so, your business will run more profitably than ever before. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll have more confidence that you’re the one who is truly in control of your success.
Equipped with the lessons I can teach you, you’ll know which tools to use when, how to use them, and how much time it truly takes to get these things done.
This way, when you do hire someone to do those things for you, they won’t be able to get away with charging you $500 for what you know is really a 20 minute task (and then take 4 days to get back to you about it).
Be in control of your business – and your success – by knowing how to do those fundamental things in your business. And be confident that if others do disappoint you (or disappear), that your business won’t come to a screeching halt.
Your step-by-step lessons on internet marketing tools and strategies are waiting for you at the IM Success Library.
Bob Jenkins
IMSuccessLibrary.com
p.s. You no longer have to wade through all the muck of crappy tutorials online, and incomplete lessons you find through Google. The IM Success Library has all the most important internet marketing training you need in one place – taught in a way you can understand at your own pace.
p.p.s. My library contains all the basics, but a lot of advanced training, too. You pick and choose exactly what you need, when you need it. In fact, I bet you’ll already feel better with new knowledge within the hour when you get inside!
13 Responses to “Don’t Be Held Hostage By What You Don’t Know”
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| Bob Jenkins is an internet business marketing teacher, with ten years experience teaching teenagers and teachers. He is the creator of several online training courses that teach you how to get better customers and increase your profits. Specializing in social networking strategies for business and creating information products from teleseminars, Bob can help you use internet marketing tools and strategies to promote your business online. |
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Bob–you are so right! It is important that we at least know enough to be able to direct others–and to know what is a realistic expectation for us to have when we do outsource.
You are definitely the “go to guy” for this kind of training. I think you are the best!
Bob – this is so true! It is imperative for any business owner, online or offline, to understand the basics of what it takes to run their business. Then – and only then – can you make informed decisions about outsourcing, crowd sourcing or VA’s. Excellent post!
Bob, it’s unfortunate you had two in 2 weeks vanish off your radar. I’m glad you haven’t written Virtual Assistants off completely. VAs are business owners too, and to have 2 who did not return emails, well, that’s completely unprofessional. Did they return your phone calls? Sometimes email is not the most reliable method to reach someone. I’ve had client emails end up in my spam box on more than one occasion. (But, I scan my spam box regularly – a couple of times a week – before I delete the messages.)
I wish you better luck with your next VAs!
The points you raise are extremely valid points. I think what you ran up against with two assistants dropping out at the same time may be rare, but it’s the kind of
thing even off line businesses sometimes have to deal with.
In the case of an online business it’s worse. All communication is virtual. You probably don’t even have a phone no. to those people.
Great that you shared this with cyberworld. Now we can all be prepared for such an eventuality.
Bob,
This is SOOO true. I do believe in outsourcing so I can work on higher ROI (thanks to pal Melanie Benson Strick!)
However, if you don’t know how to run your business, no matter how good you are at what you do, you will end up failing.
It’s great you’ll be sharing the resources to help people. I suggest those who grab your offer take it one step further: not only learn the tasks, but right them down in an ‘operations manual’ of sorts. I created a wiki online for such things. That way, everyone who works on your projects, including you, will always have the step-by-step template to follow!
Shannon
Hi Bob,
Sorry to hear of your plight but are you sure they are alive or not? Or they might have lost their internet connection. Let us give them the benefit of the doubt or maybe they are one and the same person to have vanished at the same time.
You are too kind for this to happen to you but you will get over it.
Hi Bob,
I, too, have learned the importance of having assistants help you so you can concentrate on growing your business. I had a passion for “doing it all”, but my friend Adam Urbanski got me over that! However, on the other hand, I am glad I know how to do it all. I had a similar situation happen when my graphic designer decided to get a job mid-project.
So with all due respect to assistants, we need to have a contingency plan to be prepared for any circumstance that may arise. In addition to knowing how to complete various tasks, I find having several “backup” assistants to rely on (instead of just one) a feasible alternative.
Thanks for putting together such an impressive library to help others. I also appreciate Shannon’s idea of having an operation manual. Crucial indeed.
Good luck at JV Alert!
Rhonda
@MagneticWoman
This is so basic to a business.
You do need to know how to do everything yourself. How else can you direct someone to help if you don’t? Of course, if you are doing a multi million dollar start up, you “have People”. But that ain’t where most of are.
Hi Bob!
That’s why I’ve never outsourced ANYTHING! I have a hard time trusting ANYONE doing what I already know how to do! (not to mention I don’t make enough….yet…to be able to afford it!) . Sorry to hear about your toubles. Good luck finding replacements!
Great stuff Bob! There are a lot of people claiming to be experts but you have emerged as the real deal and I have found your information useful and immediately applicable. I love the unstoppableblogging.com and the DiscoverCpanel.com in particular. I especially liked the teleseminar on social media you included, useful and very timely. Thanks!
Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed
That was a great post Bob! I am in the process of trying to find people that I can count on, but it is not easy. It is very true, you cannot do it all yourself and and continue to create new products and keep everything fresh. Thanks for sharing your story. We all need to know how to keep our business running in the event of a disaster like you experienced!
Bob,
This is a sticky point for many online entrepreneurs. VAs are wonderful when they work, and it is great once you have a team of trusted and reliable help. I agree with you that many of the technical issues must be mastered to a point by the owner to be able to handle problems in a pinch. I’m sure you know the old adage about not putting all of your eggs in one basket…
Still, it is rough for beginners to know where to start, who to look for and who to trust. Luckily for most of us, we have YOU! And your IM Success Library is a great way to learn what people need to know to run their businesses efficiently.
Best always,
Paul
Hi Bob,
This was a painful lesson. Thanks for sharing. The joys of personnel management!
There are content management companies out there, something I’m in the process of building with my business also, that will manage a VA and freelance writer/webmaster team for clients. They should have enough flexibility built in to be able to cover seemlessly as far as the client is concerned when personnel turnover happens.
These services cost more, but the peace of mind from having contractual guarantees that can be put in place so that the work gets done regardless of personnel turnover, should be worth the expense for many entrepreneurs.
Even when one of these services is used, I agree with you that the entrepreneur still needs to know how to take care of the details of their own business. There is no more helpless feeling than having a service meltdown that you can’t immediately fix.
Liz Nichols