One of the core themes (suggestions) of the book “4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferris is the use of outsourcing or virtual assistants to get things done. In my business, I’ve relied on virtual assistants to:
- Assign tasks that fall outside my areas of expertise.
- Delegate time-consuming tasks to others so I can devote more time to revenue producing activities.
Learning to “outsource” is a skill that I’m continuing to hone. I’ve always considered myself a DIYer and generally resisted asking for help. Not a good trait by any means and there is tremendous opportunity for growth in this area. However, when it comes to success, learning to ask for help and delegate tasks is a keystone habit.
Last week I made the decision to transfer (migrate) one of my websites from my current host (Weebly) to WordPress. Maximizing SEO opportunities and integration with my CRM (Ontraport) were the main reasons behind this decision. Normally, I would have spent several hours figuring HOW I would do this (watching videos and reading article after article) and then spend another 10 – 15+ hours doing the transfer (over the course of probably 2 – 3 weeks). Not a good use of my time. I would have enjoyed learning and doing the task – but again, not a good use of my time.
I made the decision to outsource the entire process.
My go to resource for outsourcing is Upwork.com. It’s a company I’ve used a number of times over the years from anything to voice-over work to data entry and HTML programming.
It’s an incredibly seamless and affordable way to get things done. I posted the job description to Upwork on Thursday afternoon. It included a complete description of what’s involved (Weebly to WordPress migration), when it was needed (7-days) and the project budget ($100). I included the link to the website in my post so applicants could see the nature of the work.
Over the next 24 hours I received more than 40 applications all vying for the job. I opted for a website designer in Serbia with consistent 5-star ratings and an impressive portfolio of work.
We traded a couple of emails on Friday to finalize the scope of the project and she was off!
Three days later the job is complete and the initial transfer went perfectly. The final migration process includes testing the new site, embedding the (lead capture) Ontraport forms and behind-the-scenes SEO work… which, I should technically outsource 😉
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