Over the past few months I have outsourced several small projects related to building passive income streams. So far I have had mixed results with the jobs that I have contracted out. Some of these outsourced jobs include: ghost writing articles for niche sites, optimizing a niche site, keyword research, and a customized Thesis WordPress design.
I hired a virtual assistant to complete several of the tasks by posting jobs on oDesk. On a few other occasions I hired a resource directly, thus bypassing any third party platform like oDesk or Elance to post my open jobs. I have not had a problem with either method of hiring out work, but there are some advantages and risks to both.
What NOT to Outsource
Of all the jobs I decided to outsource, the one that really did not make a lot of sense was asking my virtual assistant to conduct keyword research. By no means am I an expert on the topic nor will I ever be. But I found that I still spent a lot of time (2 or 3 hours) detailing the research that I wanted to be completed and the results I was expecting. Add on top of that the $60 ($4 per hour X 15 hours) I paid my VA and I was pushing almost $100 into this project.
In the end I got a list of keywords that I could have easily pulled from any of the free online research tools that are available today. It would have probably taken me no more than 30 minutes to complete this work as I knew what I was looking for.
Is it my virtual assistant’s fault for taking so much time on the project and giving me mixed results? NO! In the end I blame myself for not setting realistic expectations and for thinking I could outsource this job in the first place.
The Virtual Assistant Alternative
In place of hiring a virtual assistant to conduct my keyword research, I have recently purchased the Micro Niche Finder Keyword Software product for less than $100. This tool has not only saved me time, it also has saved me a ton of money compared to hiring a VA to do the same job.
In just over 1 month, I have spent less than 3 hours with this tool and have keyword research results that are far superior to those of my outsourced work. The point here is that sometimes it makes more sense to use a tool instead of hiring out the work to someone else.
Why Virtual Assistants are Still Good
Regardless of my disappointment of outsourcing work to conduct keyword research, I still believe that virtual assistants can be a huge asset to building passive income. They can save you time, money, and a lot of frustration around tedious tasks that you continuously put off.
I believe that there are still jobs that should and can be outsourced when it comes to building passive income. There are also times when purchasing a tool like the Micro Niche Finder makes more sense. Finally, there are other times when it just makes sense to pull up your sleeves and do the work yourself.
Overall, building passive income can be a balancing act. At times, you want to run out and hire every VA you possible can so that you can accelerate your earnings – even when it does not make a lot of sense. In the end, it is all about learning from your mistakes and capitalizing on what works. If you fail to learn anything from these types of situations, then you are almost certain to fail at building passive income.
Related posts:
- The Most Important Thing to Know About Working with your Virtual Assistant
- Why I May NEVER Outsource Again
- Set Detailed Tasks with your Virtual Assistant
- 5 Reasons to Outsource Your Passive Income
- 3 Reasons not to Outsource Your Passive Income
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have never done much outsourcing. Every time I think of using it, I think I would end up spending more time trying to explain what I want done and it would probably be quicker just to do myself.
I do have some articles though that I want written, but not by the usual people who do outsourcing work.
I definitely understand this. With something like keyword research, especially if you have Micro Niche Finder, I really think it’s best doing it yourself. There are definitely loads of other things that will be worth outsourcing though.
Yeah I do all my own Keyword Research (using Market Samurai) – it doesn’t take that long and I do a pretty good job. Using these keywords, I get my VA to do backlink building tasks.
I find the VA comes in most useful on tasks that I would never have the time to complete.