Archive for May, 2010
Outsourcing Strategy – Take 3
Posted by: | CommentsContinuing my outsourcing strategy project . . .
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I signed up at onlinejobs.ph taking the one month subscription for $49.
I then spent 45 minutes looking through the most recently added resumes and emailed 5 likely looking candidates.
The next day I got up early and rushed to my computer expecting to deal with the problem of “which one will I choose”? Instead, of which there was a deafly email silence and, in fact none of these 5 people ever responded.
Trying to shake off my disappointment I returned to the site where I discovered that as well as contacting candidates directly, you can also place an ad. So that’s what I did. Within a couple of hours I had 2 responses, neither of which were of a high enough quality for what I was looking for.
When I got up the next day there were 5 more applications in my inbox and things were looking up. I started to go through each one and write down their standard of English, whether or not they’d followed the very specific instructions I’d given with regard to “How to Apply”, and what wordpress/techie experience they had.
By the end of the fourth application I was beginning to panic that I might have set the bar too high as there was no-one that jumped out at me particularly. Then I read the fifth one and I was sold. His level of english was excellent and he’d made a real effort to impress me and show willing without grovelling. The wage he was asking for was lower than I’d anticipated and he was willing to be trained. So we sent a few emails back and forth and, long story short, he started working for me, for a trail period this morning.
Very exciting!
And a whole ‘nother level of learning has begun.
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A Few Tips – Assuming you’ve written a job and person spec, so you know what you’re looking for:
- Consider going straight for the ad rather than wasting time looking through people’s resumes who may or may not reply to your email.
- Ask applicants to reply in a very specific way so you can get an idea of their attention to detail. For example, I asked them to make the subject of the email “Web Assistant Application – Your Name” and asked them to rate some things and send in an attached word document.
- If language skills are important to you ask them to write a couple of paragraphs about themselves so this will give you extra information to assess them with.
5 CFT Challenge – Critical Focus Time Session 2
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s how I got on with CFT session 2 of Ed Dale’s 5 CFT Challenge:
1.Write draft article suitable for spinning for article directories
Started this while I was waiting for the blog, plug-ins and theme to load.
2. Create blog
The blog is uploaded. As are plug-ins and a theme.
I don’t like the theme I’ve chosen but I’m going to stick with it as I hear Ed Dale’s voice ringing in my ears “don’t be fussy – you don’t have the time”.
I didn’t have time to change plug-in settings or set up categories. In fact it took another CFT block to get this done and then some!
3. Set up and Add Google Analytics
4. Edit earlier draft post and upload to blog
5. Do basic bookmarking of post for indexing purposes
Done. All together this took another 3 blocks of CFT.
So, the running total so far is 5 CT blocks.
Enjoyment rating – medium. Bit frustrated with myself for taking so long over plug-in settings but need to remember this is a learning process!
Onwards and upwards 
5 CFT Challenge – Critical Focus Time Block 1
Posted by: | CommentsHere are the components of Critical Focus Time Block 1 of Ed Dales’s 5 CFT Challenge, and my experience of actually doing it.
1. Pick Market
2 Find a keyword that works
3. Pick some category keywords
I did these 3 fairly easily within the 45 mins, since I’d already done some Market Samauri research for other projects that I hadn’t used.
I found Ed Dale’s words REALLY helped keep me on track, e.g.
“When you’re not sure just run with it”.
“You’re just following a process. Don’t go overboard thinking about this stuff”.
“The action point is really, really simple:
- Think up a fresh topic
- Don’t get your knickers in a twist
- Just pick something and
- GET THE SITE UP!
GO AND MAKE MISTAKES AND GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM
4. Register a Domain Name
This is where it all began to unravel. As my thirteen old son would say . . . “Fail”!
I ran out of time for this and ended up playing around with options whilst watching TV. It was midnight before I knew it and I still hadn’t found a good enough domain.
Moral of the story – don’t attempt this without the clock ticking in the background. It’s just too easy to allow time to expand.
I ended up shifting this task into CFT 2 and ended up going for a domain that I found whilst I was trawling in front of the TV, so all that extra time wasn’t completely wasted after all. Not necessary though. The domain doesn’t meet the visitor numbers criteria but I didn’t want to spend any more time on it. But I’m not happy about it.
5. Write classic beginner draft for first blog post
Again, I found it very hard to follow instructions here, to just whack out some content. In the end I spent what remained of this CFT block, after registering the domain, completing this task.
So the running total so far is 2 CFT blocks. And my enjoyment rating is high.
The 5 CFT Challenge
Posted by: | CommentsLast week Ed Dale challenged his motorees to research, build and initially promote a website, with an eye to selling it 3 to 6 months down the road. No big deal you may be thinking but the twist is that this has to be done within the space of 5 Critical Focus Time sessions.
At first sight this may seem like Ed has joined the “get rick quick/throw it against the wall and see what sticks” brigade but there’s some masterful cunning behind his plan.
Apparently, many of us have been moaning about life in the grind (well, there’s a surprise) so this is one way to add a bit of variety away from our core sites, thus helping us stay motivated.
Secondly, it gives those mentorees who are in full-time jobs, with time for only 1 CFT a day, something to get going quickly on.
Also, it gives us more opportunities to fail in the field and make useful mistakes rather than over thinking things.
But, most importantly, it gives us practice and training at taking action, which will ultimately lead to success.
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So, count me in.
I love the idea of making things happen fast. It’s way too easy for me to get hung up on the details and then stall. With this challenge the focus is on the race against the clock rather than on the end result. More of a “can I get it all done in the space of a CFT block?” rather than “can I get it done exactly right?”.
So “how long is a CFT block?”. Well, Ed works in 30 minute blocks – 25 minutes on and 5 off – but I prefer 1 hour blocks with 45 minutes on and 15 off so that’s what I’ll be sticking with.
Here’s how the challenge breaks down:
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CFT 1
1. Pick Market
2. Find a keyword that works
3. Pick some category keywords
4. Register domain name
5. Write classic beginner draft for first blog post
CFT 2
1. Write draft article suitable for spinning for article directories
2. Create blog
3. Add analytics
4. Edit earlier draft post and upload to blog
5. Do basic bookmarking of post for indexing purposes
CFT 3/4
1. Edit article written previously for spinning and add to Article Marketing Automation (AMA)
2. Set up Google Reader to monitor niche
3. Draft an article to spin and submit to AMA next week
CFT 5
1. Do some by hand backlinking from authority blogs, forums and sites
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Therafter, spin and submit one article per theme keyword, per week until you are ready to sell or develop the site.
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So, that’s it.
Sounds fun to me. I’ll write posts about my progress and add the links here for those who want to follow on. And, if anyone wants to give it ago themselves please leave a comment and let us know how it’s going. Or, if you need a bit of help getting started you can ask your questions here too.
Internet Marketing – My Personal Grist For The Mill
Posted by: | CommentsI am a great believer that whatever we need in life to progress is right there for the taking. Most of the time we simply don’t notice and other times, we choose not to.
I wrote about internet marketing overwhelm a couple of weeks ago and I have been in and out of that until today. There has been a lot of stuff swirling around my brain and I’ve taken a number of false steps to deal with it but, this morning, I feel I am back on track.
Last week I stalled around moving my outsourcing projects forward and, in true “who wants to be a millionaire” style, I phoned a friend. I thought the discussion was going to be about my next step regarding the outsourcing but I ended up realising, that more critical, was my need to do something about the overwhelm and muddled thinking. And right here is an example of a “choosing not to” situation. I’ve been “choosing not to” because I’ve been wanting my external situation to change, without having to change myself/mind.
I was doing well in the early days of the mentoring but, if you’ve followed this blog, you will know that things began to slip fairly rapidly. The last time I sent in a CFT report was 11th May and last time I did a full weeks worth of 5 consecutive days was . . . wait for it . . . week beginning 21st March!!!!!! And, truthfully, I’ve only completed 2 full weeks of CFTs since I started.
Blimey, I thought I was bad but I didn’t realise I was that bad!
But . . . and here’s the good bit . . . I’m learning. And that is why Internet Marketing is my personal grist for the mill. By committing to this year of mentoring and to building an online business I have created a framework within which I can work and learn and develop. Each day I discover more about how I operate, how I sabotage my efforts, which habits I need to replace with better ones, where I’m deceiving myself, what I do well, what I really enjoy etc. etc. And when I take the time to stand back and recognise this, I love it. It’s fun and worthwhile and I’m having a ball.
When I’m stuck in the overwhelm, or boredom, or questioning of why I’m doing this, it feels really naff! But that’s OK. I’m learning and, beginning to accept, that it’s just part of the process.
And today, with the sun streaming through the window and a wonderful weekend spent with family still fresh in my mind, I say “bring it on”!
Internet Marketing Overwhelm Is Kicked Into Touch
Posted by: | CommentsI looked at my inbox first thing and felt my energy drop as I was bombarded with the latest Internet Marketers plying their wares. As I’ve been feeling overwhelmed recently, I’ve not been opening these emails so they’re just sitting there, torturing me.
Here are just a few:
- Really cool opportunity (get in now)
- Life Changing (I Promise)
- Ready to TURBOCHARGE your web visitors and profits??
- Webinar That Will Change You (Seriously)
- I’ve got something BIG I WANT TO GIVE YOU
Why do I do this to myself? Why even read them?
I am haunted by a fear of missing something important – of missing the one big thing that’s going to make the difference. It seems to be part of my cells now, an almost instinctive response that makes it hard to let go. And yet, if I only stop to think about it this fear has no validity whatsoever because THERE IS NO ONE BIG THING.
I know from personal experience that there is always another “life changing” opportunity in internet marketing. Not to mention that, all the ones I’ve signed up for, in the past, never actually changed my life. But that’s all part of the internet marketing dream isn’t it? The magical promise that some product is going to be the big thing that changes everything. It’s the same erroneous mentality as winning the lottery. And we all know that the vast majority of the big “winners” can’t hold onto the money or end up miserable. But still we chase the dream.
Well not me. Not any more!
Behaving as though there is something important out there to miss is slowing me down, confusing me and is counter productive to my achieving what I’m really after. I have caused this internet marketing overwhelm so I can get out of it too. Here’s how:
- take a deep breath.
- unsubscribe from all “just in case I miss something” email lists – not just internet marketing but coaching as well.
- unsubscribe from all teaching lists apart from Ed Dale’s.
- cancel all teaching products apart from Ed Dale’s mentoring.
- filter automated emails from my coach Elese Coit and from Michael Neill so they don’t hit my inbox. Read only when I need a bit of a motivational push.
- DO NOT SIGN UP FOR ANYTHING NEW unless it forms an intrinsic part of my CURRENT (as in RIGHT NOW) web marketing strategy.
- take a deep breath.
. . . Done!
Be The Change You Want To See
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s 8.30 a.m. and I’m already in my favourite cafe ready to go. I’m amazed at how busy it is. I’m often still in my dressing gown at this time of the day!
I’m here so bright and early because I wanted to write a blog post after my coaching session yesterday and recognised that I was unlikely to do it at home or in the co-working space I use. It feels a bit of a challenge and, as I mentioned in my creating a my productive environment post, my best strategy for overcoming my resistance is to take myself off to a caff and work there.
I had a great session with my coach yesterday afternoon. We explored the conflict between my desire to build an internet marketing business and my lack of drive to do so. It feels like I am constantly having to haul myself back onto the path. Constantly fighting resistance and constantly turning it into more of a drama than it really is. But, that’s OK. I’m new at this.
And when I say “this”, I don’t mean internet marketing. I’ve been playing around with that for years. By “this” I mean being truly committed to making a go of it. To really treating it like a business and connecting with it, rather than speaking the words and not acting on them. And when I say “acting on them” I don’t mean simply taking action but taking the right action. Taking the action that someone who was truly committed to building an internet marketing business would take.
The main takeaway from the session was what I’ve advocated on this blog, a number of times, namely, to connect what you are doing with why you are doing it. I keep forgetting to do this. Talk about “you teach best what you most need to learn”!
But there’s a bit of a twist for me. As you know by now, it’s not just about the money. It would be great to be in a financial position whereby my partner could give up his job, but that’s not enough to keep me at it.
I also want to coach and am not clear how that would actually look.
Because I want a successful internet marketing business whilst also wanting to coach, the purposes behind my sites have got a bit blurred. It’s a bit of a struggle to try and get traffic to this site using SEO because internet marketing is a saturated market, filled with experts. So, I need to return to where I started and treat Internet Marketing Coaching Year, primarily as a place where a story is told.
Then, my other sites, become “grist for the mill” for that story.
So what exactly is that story?
It is the story of someone who has been involved in internet marketing for 7 or 8 years without ever making a full-time living from it who is turning it around, not with strategies and tactics, but by transforming herself.
And that is the nub of my coaching. If you are currently unsuccessful at internet marketing, and you’ve been at it for a while, no amount of “better” strategies and tactics will change that. YOU have to change. You have to be the change you want to see.
At the start of each day, rather than asking yourself “What am I going to do today?” ask yourself “Who am I going to be today?” and then act accordingly.
Outsourcing Projects Take 2
Posted by: | CommentsThis weekend I went ahead and placed an ad at bestjobs.ph as mentioned in outsourcing firms reviews.
On Sunday I thought of a couple of other skills I wanted to add and so went back to my submission to add them. What I found, however, was that my account had been deleted. John Reese mentioned in a video interview that you might not be able to use this service from the US but as I’m in the UK I thought I’d give it a go. I emailed bestjobs support to find out why the account had gone but have had not heard back yet. I can only assume that the free ads are not available to UK users although it doesn’t actually say so on the site. I will, of course, keep you updated if I find out more.
So . . . where does that leave me with my outsourcing projects campaign?
The 3 months options for both bestjobs.ph and onlinejobs.ph are similar but, as I want to take someone on asap and I’m only looking for one person at this stage, I’m going to go with the onlinejobs one month offer. Not to mention I’m feeling more than a little miffed with bestjobs for wasting my time! At least, by writing the ad, I know exactly what I’m looking for so that should save a few hours.
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Tip
If you’re going to go straight for a paid service and look at people’s full resumes I recommend that you spend some time writing a job/person specification so you know exactly what you are looking for. Let it sit for a couple of days because you’re sure to think of extra things. BUT, remember fail in the field. So balance your preparation with just getting on with it.
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25.5.10 Update
I signed up to onlinejobs yesterday and spent 45 minutes looking for likely candidates. Then emailed 5 of them.
Outsourcing Firms Reviews
Posted by: | CommentsContinuing my outsourcing project . . .
As explained previously, I am now looking for a full-time worker rather than just taking someone on, on a per project basis which means that the sites I have used in the past, such as Elance and Guru.com will no longer be suitable for my purposes. What I need now is to shift to sites that display people’s resumes.
I have heard great things about workers from the Philippines so I will start my search there. A few places suggested by John Reese are manila.craigslist.com.ph, Onlinejobs.ph and bestjobs.ph.
These are my thoughts about each . . .
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1. Craigslist
You need to go to the “resumes” section of the site to find people looking for work. However, the majority of listings have been added by people looking for workers rather than the workers themselves.
You often can’t tell from the title whether the ad is by an employer or an employee so you waste time opening listings to find out.
Each ad is individually written with no formal structure so it’s hard to compare like with like. Many don’t have all the information you need to make an informed decision. Required salary is often missing, for example.
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2. Onlinejobs.ph
No “how it works” for employers – only for employees – so you need to really hunt around for the information. But see below for what I was able to discover without signing up.
You can see a good amount of information about each potential worker but you need to join to see contact information.
Prices are:
Monthly Subscription – $49
3 months – $105
12 months – $299
So, to all intents and purposes it will cost you a minimum of $49 to employ a single worker, assuming you can do so within a month.
There are 4 additional options available:
Prefound Workers who have been verified as available for work, have a computer, internet connection, etc, and that they want to work from home for an international company.
Finders fee is $350
Tested Workers who have been verified as above but have also taken specific tests that prove their abilities. A score of 60 and above is considered quite good so you are able to compare workers on specific skill areas.
Finders fee is $800
“Done For You” service
For this service they will:
- Recruit multiple potential employees.
- Administer a test with each potential person.
- Work out salary details.
- Figure out employment details (part/full-time, daily hours worked, internet/computer access, start date, …).
- Manage their expectations in working for you.
- Make sure they don’t just quit on you.
- Make sure you’re up and running with an employee who will work for you.
Cost is $800.
University Recruiting Service
With this option you are trading experience for pay. Candidates are university graduates who have not worked before but salaries start at as little as $100 per month. One advantage with this service is you get to teach the person your way of doing things but, obviously, that needs to be balanced by the extra time it will take to get up to speed.
You are able to specify:
- What kind of worker you would like, e.g. “general”, “admin”, “graphics”
- What specific tasks you will you be giving this person
- What skills you would like to see in this person when they start
- Full-time (40 hours a week) or Part-time (20 hrs/week)
Cost is $200 for each person recruited.
Payment is by Paypal and Credit Card.
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3. Bestjobs.ph
– Update as of 31.5.10 – as far as I can tell this service is not available to US and UK subscribers. The free ad definitely isn’t and I suspect the paid service isn’t either. However, they have not replied to my emails so I can’t say for certain.
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You can carry out a resume search by a number of criteria including job category, e.g. marketing and sales, clerical and administration, by resume date and by keywords to give you an idea of candidates in the database.
The resume search search is free but you will need to log-in to access the full details.
This is the information you have access to without registering:
Resume reference:
Date last updated:
Education:
Experience:
Employment situation:
Salary expectations:
Availability:
Type of employment:
Location:
Looking to work in:
Age:
Gender:
Marital status:
Own transport:
Driver’s license:
Citizenship:
Right to work:
English level:
Filipino level:
Free Registration and Basic Service
Offers unlimited job adverts on the website “which gets thousands of visitors every day”.
All vacancies are distributed for free by email to “thousands of job-seekers” who are subscribed to their distribution list.
A Business profile page will be created displaying your business details and list of vacancies, which will be included in the employer directory.
Advanced service
Includes all the features included in the basic service, plus unlimited access to full resumes in the database with contact details.
Also, your vacancies will be highlighted over the rest and they will rank higher on every search.
Costs
- 3 months - 5000 pesos (approx 45 pesos to the US$)
- 6 months - 10000 pesos
- 12 months - 20000 pesos
Payment is by credit or debit card or International bank transfer.
Basic and Advanced Services Compared
The main difference between the paid for advanced service and the free one is that you get access to each candidate’s contact details so you can get in touch with them directly. With the basic service you are reliant on potential candidates responding to your ad.
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From what I’ve discovered I’m going to start with bestjobs.ph and give the free ad a go.
Next Step is to clarify exactly what I’m looking for and then write an ad.
Internet Marketing Overwhelm or Oops! I Did It Again
Posted by: | CommentsAs last week drew to a close and my stress levels increased. I realised I’d made the classic Internet Marketers mistake (again!) and was trying to focus in too many directions.
One of the reasons for joining Ed Dale’s mentoring programme was so I would have a structure to work within that might contain my tendency to jump from one thing to the other. Alas, in the short-term, this has not been the case. I’m still tempted by “shiny new” and, as a result, I find myself in a position of having to make some decisions about what to drop and what to keep.
There’s a fine balance to be drawn between focussing on a single thing (e.g. this website) and bringing other things into the mix to add a bit of variety which helps me stay interested and motivated. However, I need to work at something long enough to create a system around it, so I can outsource it. I’ve reached that point with the link building for this site so I’m ready to add something else into the mix.
Since I’ve never outsourced work full-time before, this process in itself has to be learned and is, therefore, a project in it’s own right.
So, currently I have this website and setting up an outsourcing project to focus on.
But . . . I’ve also been tempted by other stuff since I started the mentoring, some of which I’ve not mentioned before. These include – list control, the free “Take Over Page One” video course, John Reese’s Outsourcing videos, Crowd Mountain and the addition of Ed’s teaching on buying and selling websites. Oh yeah. And then there’s the stuff in 30 Day Challenge+ which is included in the mentoring package. So, with all these things swimming round in my head, you can see why my mind is beginning to get more than a little muddled.
There’s simply not enough time for me to do all those things – soooooo – how do I sort out the mess and narrow down my focus again?
Well, as I said – this website and setting up an internet marketing outsourcing project are in. This website is the current focus for my mentoring and I definitely need to outsource stuff if I want to create a business that I really enjoy. There is only one more John Reese outsourcing video so I’ll watch that later once my CFT is completed and then I can delete that from my list.
The 30 Day Challenge+ I can follow as and when I need it. I have created an index of what is available so I can check there when I have questions or am starting a new process.
List control, which has been on the back burner, will have to be dropped. I don’t have enough traffic to be building a list a this point and it just takes focus from what I need to be doing right now.
The “Take Over Page One” video course will be moved to the back burner. I will look at that once I’m actually in the position of making a video. Seems pretty obvious when you write it down, but it’s so easy to get sucked in and distracted when you have emails tempting you and what you’re currently doing is more than a little tedious!
What else . . .
Crowd Mountain. Hmmmm. Bit tricky this one.
My main motivation for signing up was to have an opportunity to try out the CM tools. However, the sales message was misleading. In the guarantee Michelle McPherson stated that, amongst other things, we would have 30 days to try out the tools. Once inside, this is not the case. Three weeks in and only one tool is available. We won’t have full access until week 6 apparently, so I’m not going to be able to test them out until after the guarantee has passed. That said, I like Michelle’s approach, so I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and pay the money so I can try out the tools.
That results is a bit of a dilemma though. I’m tempted to follow the Crowd Mountain process as well as wait for the tools, which ties in quite nicely with what I’m doing since it has bits in common with the 30 Day Challenge. But there simply aren’t enough hours in a day. I think I’m just going to have to try and fit this is once my critical focus time blocks are completed.
Once I’ve got some outsourcing sorted I’ll be able to spend more time in Crowd Mountain and, possibly, apply the strategy to my old sites.
