Saving Money with Out Sourcing (using Fiverr and others)

Courtesy of Flickr

By Carl Weiss

Are you looking for new ways to save your business money? Would you love to be able to cut development, marketing and production cost. Would this make you more competitive? Today’s economy is forcing American businesses to change the way it gets things done.

Like it or not, economic pressures have forced major changes in the way Americans do business.  Whether big business or small, outsourcing and freelancing are the name of the game today.  So much so that a number of enterprising entrepreneurs have devised online portals that specifically, cater to this stock in trade.  While some people lament a lack of quality control or even a failure to communicate (due to language differences) with these far-flung resources, the fact is that these services are in ever greater demand as business owners strive to tighten their belts in current economic conditions.  So if you have been thinking about giving online outsourcing a go, below is a list of some of the more prominent resources.

Outsourcing with Fiverr.com

Have a need? Find a “gig on Fiverr.com.". For those new to the site, fiverr.com allows freelancers to post tasks for hire, (called gigs) that if purchased by an individual will be accomplished for just five dollars.  Recent gigs have included such things as royalty-free music creation, life coaching sessions, copywriting, proofreading, video testimonials, flyer distribution, web starter kits and more.  The site even offers a dozen categories that make finding the right gig for you a snap.  Just don’t expect Hollywood special effects in a video that costs five bucks.  Still some of the work turned out by gigsters can help you build your business for pennies on the dollar.  The best way to understand the ins and outs of Fiverr is to go to Youtube and watch the many helpful tutorial videos.  They costs you nothing and are designed to make sure you get your fiver’s worth.

Outsourcing with Tenbux.com and Others

Needless to say, with the success of Fiverr, other sites have popped up to fill the micro job vacuum.  Like fiverr.com, these sites promote offers from freelancers looking to accomplish simple online tasks for a small fee.  However, unlike Fiverr, these sites allow their members to post gigs that range from $5 to as much as $50.  Sporting such monikers as tenbux.com, gigbucks.com, taskarmy.com and fittytown.com, the pricing structure is agreeable, as is the army of freelancers ready, willing and able to get the job done quickly and cheaply.  There’s even a site called fourerr.com that posts tasks for hire for only $4 a pop.  You’ve got to love that competitive spirit.

Outsourcing with eLance.com and Odesk.com

Courtesy of Pixabay

As they say, you only get what you pay for.  While sites like Fiverr can be of use some of the time, when you want to shop a serious project around, there are other online resources that offer to help.  Two such sites are elance.com and odesk.com.  Known as peer-to-peer job sites, the way they work is by helping business owners to hook up with talent needed to take on more complex projects.  While eLance started off as a site touting programming and other technical skills, they have since broadened their offerings to include everything from accounting to architecture, marketing and legal services. Odesk offers many skill sets as well, including technical, writing, translation, sales, marketing and customer service.  Both function as a kind of online temp agency, allowing employers to contract with one or several dozen providers at a time.  Unlike hiring “employees,” these resources allow businesses to work with talented and experienced professionals on a per-project basis.  When the job is complete, you can cut the cord and move on without having to deal with firer’s remorse or unemployment benefits. 

According to Elance data, the number of professionals using their hub to find freelance/remote work opportunities increased 52% over the past year, with hiring by businesses using Elance increasing 60%. Businesses, by the way, report hiring freelancers is faster - taking about 3 days compared to the 20+ days it takes to hire a full-time employee.

The Dilemma

English: Worldwide Offshoring Business Deutsch: Weltweites Offshoring Business (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The real dilemma for many entrepreneurs is the fact that there are now so many different ways to outsource a project that it’s a case of trying to tell the players without a scorecard.  To help you make sense of the many nuances involved in the outsourcing process several resources devoted to the genre are available, including the International Associaton of Outsourcing Professionals, Outsource Magazine, Professional Outsourcing Magazine, HRO Today, Medical Project Outsourcing, and Sourcing Speak just to name a few.

http://outsourcemagazine.co.uk/ http://www.professionaloutsourcingmagazine.net/ http://www.hrotoday.com/  http://www.iaop.org/  http://www.mpo-mag.com/ http://www.sourcingspeak.com

Whether you are looking to outsource tasks, projects or entire departments, either domestically or internationally, there are organizations dedicated to helping you get the right people for the job.  From a business owner’s perspective, outsourcing is no longer the question, it is many times the only affordable answer to staying competitive.

In this article, I discussed how American businesses have had to adapt to the current economic pressures prevalent today. American business has always used some out sourcing, but today the advent of the internet has allowed out sourcing to reach new heights. Companies like Fiverr.com and many others have taken advantage of the easy of delivery that the internet provides. Businesses have taken advantage of these low cost providers, especially for smaller and or simpler projects and it has provided a new way to get things done. If you like this article please share it with your friends. If you want to add to the conversation leave your thoughts in the comment section. 

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Since 1995, Carl Weiss has been helping clients succeed online.  He owns and operates several online marketing businesses, including Working the Web to Win and Jacksonville Video Production. He also co-hosts the weekly radio show, "Working the Web to Win," every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio.com.

 

 

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