Author Archives: 123outsource

The plusses and minuses of Google+

September 11, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Analytics, Social Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I have just started doing a lot on Google+. Yes, it has its pros and cons as well as its pluses and minuses. Should you use Google+? Here is what I think.

(+) If you use Google+ a lot, it will do miracles for your analytics and site traffic. Something magical happens when you hit the 1000 mark on Google+. Your site traffic will spike according to what word on the street is.

(+) Google+’s feature of having circles is so much better than Twitter. You can arrange your followers by category, interest or industry. You can also segment your favorite accounts by creating a favorite or VIP circle. It is amazing the quality of the material in my VIP circle while my industry specific circles are filled with cyber trash. Oh well… At least I can separate them. On Twitter, you would have to create a separate account where you could follow your favorite accounts. On Twitter you can favorite a post, but not an account. At least not as of today — things could change!

(+) Google+ has great communities where you can post content. This feature is very similar to Linked In’s feature where you can have discussion groups or communities. Linked In often has much larger and better groups for business topics, but they tend to be a little too oriented towards self-promoting content and job search while Google+ gets better quality interactions in many cases.

(+) Google+ is a fast way to get clicks to your blog if you use communities and post interesting and relevant content. Twitter and Facebook do not make it easy to get clicks until you have a huge following. You don’t need to have a single follower on Google+ to get a ton of clicks, and those clicks will boost your SEO rankings for your site a lot if they are “quality” clicks.

(-) Google+ doesn’t have that many accounts compared to Twitter or Facebook. I’m not sure what the growth rate is, but Google is going to be promoting Google+ less from now on as well. Maybe they should find a new way to promote it instead of slowing down? Additionally, communities on Google+ tend to be very small except for a few photography and travel groups. In general, Google+ seems to be very much more geared towards visuals than Twitter or Facebook. Google+ allows taller photographs, while Twitter has a one size fits all on your profile page until someone clicks on it.

(-) Google+ makes has a multi-step process to see what your followers posted. If it is that difficult to see what they are publishing, it will be difficult for others to see what you are publishing too!

All in all, Google+ seems like one of the better social media sites out there. There are a few areas that they need improvement and over the next few years, they might make a few renovations and become #1 in the social media industry. We’ll have to wait and see.

The Lamborghini effect in Social Media marketing

September 6, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Popular on Google+, Semi-Popular, Social Media | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

I have been doing marketing for my entire life it seems. I remember as a kid, I marketed my lawn mowing business. I came up with sweat intensive methods for attracting clients in a heartbeat. I used to write an estimate on a flyer and leave it under their door mat if they were not home. I got hired by 10% of the people I left a flyer with. That is phenomenal. But, it is because I used a personal touch, and gave a quick and customized bid to everyone. Being fast at doing accurate estimates has its advantages.

As an adult, I have been running websites for more than a decade. It is hard to run a website, and the marketing keeps changing. Google is basically in charge, so whatever they like, you had better do!

The Lamborghini effect
It sounds like a movie. The Italian Job, The Bridge on the River Quai, The Lamborghini Effect — playing at 5pm, tickets sold at the door. Basically what I am talking about is having a marketing methodology so potent, that if you just tap the gas pedal, you will hear a huge “Voom” sound, and magic will happen. Today, I had a Lamborghini moment, if I may coin that phrase. I published a popular blog entry. But, I had also channeled some traffic to my outsourcing blog (the one you’re reading,) from my newer travel twitter which gets a lot of retweets. The result is that my traffic was more than double for a few days on my blog. Wow! All I did was tweet a few tweets and voom!

Followers are useless, you need results!
Lots of companies and individuals are in social media marketing, and claim to be good at it. You will see offers where they can get you 2000 followers overnight for a low fee, or maybe even 30,000 followers. Followers are useless. You need relevant, active, engaged followers, even if you only have a hundred. Most companies hire people who are not that experienced, and who will not get you amazing results. They will get you some new followers, maybe write a few tweets if they can even write well, and perhaps get you retweeted a few times. There is no focus on results, only on spinning the wheels. I don’t like this. I not only want results, I want to be blown out of the water. Real results are traffic to your site from clicks, and getting new customers — not new dormant followers who just sit there collecting cyber-dust.

My goal
My goal in social media is to learn how to get results so potent that I can help others to promote their social media campaigns. I want one or more twitter accounts, and blogs that get so much active traffic, that one tweet from me, and you won’t know what hit you! It amazes me that my older Twitter accounts have 4000, or 8000 followers, but only get retweeted two dozen times a month, while my newer travel twitter gets two dozen retweets per day, on a bad day. Wow! But, what if I can get my campaign to the point where I am getting hundreds of retweets per day? I think it is possible.

Blogging
As far as blogging is concerned, by blogging more and more, I learn what is popular and what is not. Writing a popular blog entry in a niche market can get you a few thousand clicks over the life of the blog entry. Some entries get a lot of clicks their first week, while others slowly get clicked on and attract search engine traffic over years. Some of my most popular blog entries were written in 2011 by the way! My goal is get better at identifying what people like, and to continue to write more popular blog entries. I want to get so good, that all of my blog entries are popular. We’ll see what happens, but it is going well so far.

Summary
Most social media companies will give you “a” Twitter account and “a” Facebook account and perhaps a blog that is “blahg.” Don’t settle for less. I like it when you get results that are so amazing that you say, “What happened?” That is the Lamborghini effect in Social Media Marketing. Once you’ve experienced it you’ll never forget it!

How to use Twitter to get more BPO & Call Center Clients!

September 1, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Twitter is a mysterious animal. People use it daily to interact with so many other people. It is really baffling. If you run a BPO, Data Entry company or Call Center, you will be equally baffled at the daunting task of finding customers on any medium. It is possible to find customers on Twitter, but it’s not how you think it is.

Don’t sell
Don’t use Twitter to sell. This might be a hard concept to grasp as someone struggling to get your fledgling business going. You use Twitter to network, not sell. So, how do you get clients if you don’t sell? You mingle with them. Get them to feel comfortable with you, and get them to know you. Ask them if you have any questions about your industry.

Give, but don’t ask for anything in return
By answering their questions rather than selling you are being a valuable resource rather than a desperate and pestilent salesperson! Get others to value you by being nice, helpful and a source of reliable knowledge. If they have lots of questions about the technical support industry and you are the smartest person they have talked to in conjunction that industry, they will be likely to buy your services in the future. Maybe not tomorrow, but they will not forget you if you are the most helpful person in the world who gives, but asks for nothing in return.

Indians often feel that you get by pulling
Many people in India feel that the way to get more is to grab, and pull, and use force. This unfortunately has an opposite effect with Americans. If an Indian cab driver says, “Come with me,” and grabs our bag without permission, this is upsetting to us. If the same guy said, “Would you like a ride anywhere or some travel tips for Pune?” I would be much more likely to hire that cab driver because he was polite and helpful unlike the other pushy nitwits. The more sophisticated crowd in India has learned that you get by giving, not by grabbing. Sophisticated Indians have helpful blogs, and will talk to you about their service without being desperate to make a sale. They give, without asking in return.

How do you know if you have a contact person?
If you network, it doesn’t do much good if you’re not networking with a decision maker. It is hard to know who the decision makers are in the sea of hundreds of millions of Twitterers. My suggestion is to find either business owners or managers in large businesses. They will either need similar services in one form or another, or have friends that need those services. They might be doing their call work in-house, but they will have call work that needs doing. If you “get in good” with these people by making friends, they will be likely to use you when they have a need, or refer their friends to you. It is hit and miss finding the right people, but at least start with the right crowd.

Where do you find such people?
There are large Twitter accounts for business oriented people such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, and others. These accounts have over a million followers each. if you look through their followers, you can find lots of great entrepreneurs and decision makers. After mingling with many of them, and you will have to mingle a lot, you will eventually meet some of the right people.

Twitter takes time, and grammar
If you want Twitter to be quick, it is not for you. I think that Twitter is exciting and fun. It’s fun to meet new people and fun to watch your number of followers go up. It is like an addiction in many ways. You also need to make your interactions in clear, and grammatically correct English which will be hard if English is not your native language. If your English is less than perfect, it is always a good idea to take writing lessons. Good communication skills translate into higher incomes statistically, so instead of wishing you made more money — learn to communicate like a polished professional and the money will come more easily.

What is step 1?
Create a Twitter account. Get an attractive picture for your icon, and another attractive picture for you top of page image. If your tweets have beautiful photos attached to them, that helps too. Photos are time consuming and can be expensive, so choose your battles wisely.

Step 2… Be a follower
The next step on Twitter is to start following people. Don’t follow more than a few dozen people per day. If they don’t follow you back after a few days, you should unfollow them. Twitter doesn’t like it if you follow substantially more people than follow you, so be mindful about your number of followers.

Step 3… Be an unfollower — and a leader!
Tweet about interesting things. Don’t just tweet about your services. 95% of your tweets should be valuable information about your industry, and other interesting stuff. Only 5% of your tweets should be about special offers that your company has.

Keep tweeting good stuff and people will follow you. You can retweet valuable information that others post as well.

Happy tweeting and good luck.

Outsource: Steve Jobs Principle: The more people you network w/ Outside your field..

August 28, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Innovation, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Steve Jobs felt that the more people you networked with outside your field, the more connections you will make that could lead to breakthrough ideas.

I have noticed that people in the same profession sometimes tend to think in similar restricted ways. If you only talk to people who think kind of like you, it is difficult to broaden your thinking. If you hang around with lots of different types of people in different fields, industries, cultures, walks of life, etc., you can be exposed to different ways of thinking which will by default, expand your thinking.

Intel sends employees to live in villages in Malaysia and India to see how people live and see the world. These employees often lived with families, ate their food, met their friends, and saw how their daily life was. By understanding how they might use computers and other technological products, they can design products that people will enjoy, and be able to use.

I feel that sometimes companies go overboard with features. If you have too many features you will baffle and overwhelm people, especially the non-technosaavy. I personally feel that technological projects should be simple, nice looking, easy to use without much if any tutorials, and fun. If you make it so complicated that there is always something critical that you are missing — you took it too far. Common sense needs to accompany innovation. Over-innovating can be a bad thing. Just give people enough to solve their problems and work effectively using a new system — that should be enough.

Anthropologists working for Intel learned that dust and electrical outages were serious issues in India, so they designed computers with longer battery life. If it were up to me, I would have detachable batteries, so that you just plug another one in when the first one runs out!

Traveling to many countries, meeting many people, having many hobbies, and studying many different subjects are all great ways to form the foundation that you need to be a great innovator. Of course, if you have an intense desire to innovate, start doing it! The more you do, the better you get at it, especially if mixed with lots of different life experiences to widen your consciousness!

“Widen your consciousness”

Solutions to India’s transportation problems (2014)

August 23, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: India | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

My original blog article in 2011 about Solutions to India’s transportation problems was a huge success. We got thousands of readers and it was fun to write as well. So, I am writing a different version of the same article in 2014 with some new and exciting ideas to help India win the battle of congestion.

My original article had practical ideas like removing the seats from buses so that more people could squeeze in them and have vinal compartments in the buses so that each person would have a private standing area! I hope that idea gets a standing ovation! I wrote about having moving walkways in long indoor corridors like they do at many international airports which would be a fast way to get around downtown areas. Mini-buses were on the list as they could arrive more frequently at designated stops. Luxury buses were my attempted to get the upper class out of their cars and into a more space-efficient mode of transportation that would reduce traffic. My final zany idea was a snake train and you really must read about that.

http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/04/10/solutions-to-indias-transportation-problem/

Here are some more innovative ideas to save India. We’ll start with the more obvious approaches.

A new bus system

Indoor raised platforms at bus stops.
It is a pain in the neck to jump in a bus that wants to start moving before you are in it. Going up those stairs with other human bodies blocking you. The system is designed to make you hate it. But, this is India, at lease these days. I’m looking for a kinder, friendlier India (sorry to sound like George Bush.) What if bus stops were enclosed by glass and were raised up a few feet? That way it would be clearly designated WHICH bus you were waiting for (which is always ambiguous in India,) and you would be able to get in the bus as easily as you would get in a subway train with no stairs. This would be great for children, the elderly, and those who like to take the chaos out of life.

Double decker buses
Since road space is so limited in urban parts of India, double decker buses would save a lot of space on the road. Imagine having elevated docks so that you could exit from the top floor? Additionally, if buses were longer, they would function a bit like a surface train, and on busy streets you could keep those buses coming — one after the next. If you allocated some of the seats (or a closed off section of the bus) to have luxury larger seats, you could command a nice price from upper class customers as well which would help fund the entire system.

Transfer stations for buses
It is a pain in India getting off the bus onto a smelly road with trash everywhere and having to walk anywhere, especially if it means crossing a road which is a complete nightmare and a risk of life and limb. What if you could get off a bus, climb up some clean stairs, and then come down into another glass enclosed waiting area for the bus that you were going to transfer to. India’s population density causes problems, but it could be used as an asset, since it makes it possible to have efficient transportation systems involving trains and buses (which don’t work as well in most parts of America due to the sparse population.)

Standing only buses
Buses in India are notoriously packed full. Having seats bolted in prevents you from squeezing more sardines (human sardines) into the vehicle. Removing seats on some buses will allow more people into the bus. Having vinal separators would allow for individualized standing locations which would make the entire trip a whole lot more comfortable for you (and harder for the pick-pockets.)

Segway & Bike highways
This has always been my dream, but not enough urban planners think outside of the box, or the rick in the case of India. The reason why traffic is such an issue is that cars, rick-shaws, and buses are so large and clunky. If you have a safe way to ride a Segway or bicycle, traffic would flow so much more easily. A Segway is a small device that you stand on. It has two wheels on one axle and balances itself. It is sort of magical, but it’s real. Segways are popular in the United States for giving walking tours of cities since you can have a lot of people follow each other around in congested areas without any danger.

But, imagine an indoor enclosed highway for Segway traffic and bicycles. It could be elevated, so it could pass over roads. Since the highway wouldn’t carry a single heavy vehicle, the weight load on the infrastructure would be light which would mean that it would be a lot less expensive to build than a regular overpass — perhaps only 10% of the cost. There could be refreshment shops, news stands, bicycle repair shops, and internet cafes along the highway for the convenience of the people using it.

Since it is expensive to own a Segway, it might make more sense to have Segways be shared. If you enter the Segway highway, you could see a long line of Segways waiting to be used. You would just jump on one, and take it to the station where you want to get off, and then someone else could use that very same Segway. Theft would not be possible, because the Segways would not be able to exit the indoor passage without setting off an alarm.

The indoor nature of this highway would be convenient if it was hot, or raining. It could be temperature controlled as well if the budget permits. Additionally, it would be a safe way to get around at night!

Bullet Trains for the wealthy
When you think of India, you probably think of poverty, and people who are just skin and bones begging for food by the side of the road. India also has millions of very wealthy people, and those people need transportation. There are many wealthy types in Mumbai who simply need to save time getting around which is why they take the train. But, what if there were a better solution? Imagine a spotlessly clean bullet train system for the wealthy in big metros of India. It would cost a mint, but you would get great meals and refreshments at the stations, have a very fast ride wherever you are going and enjoy the company of other opulent folks at the meticulously maintained stations that all have ample paid parking! What a concept. Typically in India, if there is a rail station there is no parking, and if there is parking, there is no station, and if there are both, then something else is wrong. But, what if you could have it all, and with a clean and comfortable fast ride? I think the rich would pay for that. Bullet trains could be mag-lev trains for short urban commutes as well as from city to city. The security for getting on planes is a real hassle — taking a fast train from Delhi to Mumbai would be a lot nicer if you ask me!

Longer trains (perhaps double deckers)
India’s local rail system (they say rail, not train by the way) is overburdened in many areas. People have to squeeze in and it just isn’t funny. The only way to fix this problem is to either have more trains, longer trains, or double decker trains. Unfortunately, platforms at existing stations are not long enough to allow for longer trains. Should they all be rebuilt? The answer is unclear. But, India needs to adapt to its huge and ever-growing population and adapt its existing train infrastructure.

Tolls for cars to use the main roads.
Although I believe that having separate roads for buses is a sensible idea to help allow those buses to move freely, that is not always easy or possible. It would make sense in areas where buses and cars share the road to have fees for using the road. After all, if you drive on the road, you are taking up space that someone else could be using. There could be yearly fees for being able to use congested roads during certain hours of the day, or daily fees to use those roads. Singapore has yearly fees, and the result is that the locals complain, but there is never congestion in the entire island! Maybe India needs to think more like Singaporeans and permanently solve its transportation problem! If there were fees for using the roads, more people would use buses, and those buses would be able to move quickly since there would be a lot less traffic. I would honestly say, that for Indian urban roads to function well, there needs to be an 80% reduction in the quantity of cars on the road. Reducing the number of cars by half would still be a nightmare.

A web of indoor golf cart routes
This idea is similar to the Segway or Bicycle highway idea and would also function in indoor highways. If you visit many airports, the staff drive around in golf carts. But, what if larger electronic indoor vehicles could be built that would accommodate about eight people that you could just jump on and jump off of. The seats might even be on the outside of the vehicle, so you don’t actually get in. How these vehicles are shaped is a secondary issue, but imagine this reality! There could be stations throughout the line of these indoor highways. Or there could be a web of interconnecting highways. At each station, there could be eight possible directions that you could go, and eight carts waiting for you. Each cart would wait until it was completely filled, or until a certain amount of minutes had passed. This would be a very clean, fast, and convenient way to get around a city. Why can’t someone in Dubai put this idea to use — it is a really cool idea!

If you liked this article you might enjoy reading about my SNAKE TRAIN idea too.
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/02/the-snake-train-revisited-a-solution-to-indias-transport-nightmare/

How to use Linked-In to expand your BPO!

August 22, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: BPO | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Everyone wants to know how to get more business for their BPO. That’s all I hear every day. The answer is that there are many stages in the process of attracting and retaining a BPO client. If they can’t find you, they can’t hire you. But, what if they find you, but don’t think much of you? Hmmm. Be findable and make a good impression. Then, maybe you can catch a few new clients!

Using Linked In in the BPO outsourcing world.
Using Linked In is not as easy as it sounds, especially in outsourcing. There are several dozen prominent outsourcing Linked In discussion groups. Some of these have job postings, while a few post discussions. There are a lot of spammers posting the same job a zillion times too which looks bad.

Since there are so few groups and so few active members in the outsourcing centric groups, you should meander over to general business groups, and try to find members to contact who might be decision makers. To make it in business you have to know how to network. Unfortunately, not all of the people you contact will be relevant to you, and not all will respond to you. But, some of them will, and Linked in is a great way to reach people far away in different countries who you would have no way of talking to in person and a very tough time getting past their secretary on the phone.

(1) Scour all of the larger outsourcing & call center groups and look for process postings.
(2) Try to find decision makers who might need your services in general business groups.

Keep in mind that some of the larger linked in groups might have 30,000 or more members. You will be spending most of your time sorting through the thousands of followers and making your list of who might be a good prospect for you to contact. Does this seem time consuming? It is. You might have better luck training your assistant how to do this. But, you can’t train them until you have mastered the art of sorting and basic introduction messages.

And remember, you will be popular if you can make pleasant small talk instead of going straight for the jugular (the sale)

Happy linking!

How different cultures handle time

August 18, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Of Interest | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

This entry is a little hard for me to write because my personal experience differs completely with what the textbooks say about cultures.

Who is fast & who is slow?
When Americans go to France, they complain that the French are so slow. When Indians deal with the French, they complain that French are so rigid about deadlines. So, which is which? The answer is that sensitivity to time and deadlines is cultural, and it is relevant. Additionally, individuals in particular cultures handle time restraints very differently from others in that same culture which adds another layer of complexity.

Mapping different cultures
While perusing Harvard Business Review’s blog, I came across an article about mapping different cultures. Instead of having a geographical map showing where particular countries are, you have a cultural map showing where cultures are relative to other cultures in particular respects. This was very interesting to me.

Factors in culture mapping
The factors that were considered in management culture included sensitivity to deadlines, how specific you were in communication, how directly you voiced negative feedback, how hierachical society is, how people avoid confrontation, and other factors as well. This particular article is focusing more on how various cultures handle time sensitivity.

If I drew my own map for time sensitivity it would look like this:
Korea; Japan; Germany; Switzerland; Scandinavia; US; Canada; China; France; Italy; Russia; Arabia; Latin America; Southeast Asia; India; Pakistan; Subsaharan Africa.

Koreans just can’t wait.
Koreans in my experience are the most impatient people who exist. There have been studies on Koreans that show particular traits of impatience. It is common for Koreans to hover next to the microwave when making instant noodles counting every second in the count down as if they are watching the space shuttle awaiting for take off. I remember having massage from a Korean grandmother. After the massage was over, she always wanted to barge in with a few dixie cups of water before I had my clothes on. I asked if she could wait 20 seconds, but I was asking too much. In other cultures, they might keep me waiting seven minutes for my water until I got the water myself. And if they microwaved soup in a slower culture, and get into a conversation, and it might be cold by the time it reaches you.

The culture map that I referenced did not have any data on Arabs, or Thais as it only examined six interesting and diverse cultures in so many ways. I wish it had more like two dozen cultures to be more thorough.

My problem with Indians
After looking at all of the differences between cultures, I begin to realize what my problem with Indians is — they have a strict hierarchy. I don’t mind following authority providing they are doing what they are doing what they are supposed to. But, what if they are being hypocrites, causing dysfunction and chaos? I can’t keep my mouth shut under those situations, yet Indians require that I do — hence a huge clash. On a brighter note, I am very relationship oriented like Indians, and value holistic thinking like the Japanese. Overall, I am not really clashing with other cultures any more than I clash with my own.

My experience with faster cultures
America is not one of the faster countries on the list, but overall is faster than average. I find that when I assign work to Americans, there is never any rush to get the work done. It is like living in a very expensive third world country where abandoned construction projects leave a pile of bricks for four months by the side of the road — except that I am in e-business and have the cyber equivalent of what I just described. In my business experience, Americans are not fast to get work done. In fact, I have found that Indians in the IT industry are a little faster than the average Americans in IT. I have also found that Indians like to map projects out point by point and typically won’t get started unless every minute detail is spelled out. Although oral communication with Indians is generally bad, and workmanship is not as tidy as in the US, they tend to get more work done more quickly and with less drama.

Intra-cultural diversity: what does that mean?
Additionally, Arabs have a reputation of never being on time. Sure, they are shrewd in business and impatient, but try getting them to show up for your business meeting at 3pm — they’ll show up at 5 or 6pm if you’re lucky. But, I also know Arabs who are always on time and get tons of work done very quickly. Cultural maps don’t take into consider intra-cultural diversity: the diversity among members of the same culture. Many cultures have huge gaps in the attitudes and behaviors of their members. There is some truth to the idea of the politically correct that “you can’t generalize.” Although, I will say that with Japanese, I’m not sure if there are any slow ones. I think that the samurai killed off all the slow ones a few generations ago leaving a condition that I call: survival of the fastest!

You might also like:

A tool that maps cultural differences
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/04/a-tool-that-maps-out-cultural-differences/

“You’re fired” is NOT when you start looking for a replacement!

August 17, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Hiring & Firing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

You have to work with all types
It is hard working with all types of different people. Some are easier than others to work with, but if you want to get the job done, you have to work with all types. The mistake that I always made was that I started looking for replacements after I fired someone. That is as idiotic as putting your seat belt on after the accident. After a while, I wised up and started to look for replacements after I saw severe warning signs. The problem was that I couldn’t fire someone until the replacement was ready.

Tried & true replacements
As time passed, I learned that a replacement is no good unless they have been tried and tested for a few months. So, the more I learn, the more complicated the equation gets. Big companies have the advantage of having a huge and well qualified HR department that has a huge inventory of screened workers for all departments at all times. Unfortunately, my tiny company doesn’t have that luxury. I am the HR department, bookkeeper, marketing CMO, and cat sitter — all in one!

The first red flag is your cue
After a while, I decided that I should start comparing replacements when there is a small red flag in the behavior of whomever is doing the task at hand. Basically, if a worker has a bad attitude, according to a seasoned manager friend of mine — it’s all downhill from there and time to fire them.

Workers quit on a whim
Finally, I’m realizing that workers can quit on a whim without notice. Additionally, if a worker who starts out nice, starts exhibiting signs of a bad attitude, you need to replace them right away. There is no time to be testing out new companies and new workers if the old ones don’t function. The time to start looking for replacements is before you have any trouble with whomever you are working with.

Exceptions to the rule
If it is just too expensive or just not worth it to look for a backup for someone who has been with you for seven or more years, you might consider otherwise. I had a programmer for six years who just quit. I couldn’t find anyone I liked as much as him to this day. I had a sales person for eleven years. She shows no signs of wanting to quit. But, the others I have hired last between six months and two years. I would say that 80% of the people I have worked with have been in my opinion, short term. You need to have multiple backups for every type of job description that you have, and those backups all need to be tested. If your company has sales, data entry, and customer service positions, you need all three positions backed up by multiple freelancers or outsourcing companies that you have tried out. After all, if someone quits or gets fired, your first choice of a back up might be busy, or have quit them self. There are too many uncertainties, so start backing your labor force up today!

Twitter & Google+, how many of the same techniques work?

August 16, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I have been using Twitter for several years now. I started having my accounts professionally managed by someone else. But, about a year ago, I started my own account. I liked it so much, I got two more accounts for the different facets of my business ventures. In any case, I found Twitter hard to master. The art of the tweet is not for a novice. Tweet writing seems to be the hardest form of writing. There are such rigid space considerations that it is hard to write something popular in such little space and still have room for a link and tags. In any case, after four years, I feel I have finally become adequate at Twitter. Perhaps I’m far from mastery, but I know how to identify and write tweets that get retweeted, and I know how to get lots of followers quickly.

I just started using Google+. The first few days were hard, but now I feel I’m starting to get the hang of it. My question is, how many of my Twitter techniques work for Google+. Let’s take a look.

(1) Posting hot photos on Twitter
This helps you get more followers more quickly. I tried sharing other people’s amazing travel photos of breathtaking shots of amazing tourist destination. This technique works on both mediums. Not all photos are alike in their effectiveness. But, I found that the same stuff that got retweeted on Twitter got shared on Google+. CNN”s “The perfect wave” photo is an example of a winner. I’m not the only one who likes that pic by the way.

(2) Following lots of people.
I learned that on Twitter, you can follow up to 1000 people per day. I found that following around 100-200 people per day was optimal. I could find relevant followers in that quantity easily by querying who was following particular other larger relevant accounts. On Twitter, I get a 25% follow back rate on people I follow (on average.) From some smaller more serious sources, I can get more like 40%, but they don’t have the volume. On Google+, I only get a 10% follow back rate, and they only let me follow about 40 people per day. On Twitter, I can get up to 50 followers a day by following people and unfollowing them after three days if they didn’t follow me back. On Google+ I can only get 4 followers using the same technique. But, four is better than zero.

(3) Posting a lot on Twitter
Posting unique content on Twitter will get you new followers, especially if others favorite or retweet your content. Twitter will introduce you to more people, the more content you share. Google+ doesn’t seem to reward you so much for posting. However, if you post in relevant communities, you can get up to a dozen new followers a day which is not that bad. The posting is the same, but on Google+, you would just not be posting on your own account.

(4) Posting really hot content
On Twitter, if you post a lot of hot content you will get retweeted a lot, and Twitter will introduce you to more followers. But, it takes hours of work to create the content enough to get any significant following based on content unless you have a huge account already with more than 20,000 followers. Posting amazing content on Google+ helps, but only if you post it on communities, and not on your personal page. Why is life so confusing.

(5) Posting tweets with great photos
Photos help on any medium, but Google+ will accept taller diagrams and photos giving the photos more weight. If you have particular posts that are popular, it might make sense to invest in some good artwork!

That is it for now. Twitter and Google+ are very different, but they do have some overlapping characteristics as well. If you are smart at social media, you can probably figure out any medium. Good luck!

24 tech workers for each manager?

August 15, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Of Interest, Software Development | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Too many Indians and not enough chiefs!
I am always amazed by India. India has mastered the art of spreading valuable assets thinly. The meat is tiny pieces in Chinese fried rice in India. The portions of chicken are minute in biryani (to my dismay.) Managers are also spread thin at Indian software companies.

Managers are expensive in India
The reason why the ratio of managers to workers in India is so bad is because the pay rate for managers is very high since managers are in such short supply. In America, a manager might get paid 20-100% more than a worker. But, in India, a manager might get paid 2x to 8x the amount a worker gets in a high tech company for example. I don’t know the exact number, and the numbers change over time — but, this is the approximation of the reality.

You can’t watch your workers
The problem with having too many workers and not enough managers is that you can’t really watch your workers if you are so spread out. If you have self-managing workers, you don’t need to watch them much, and you don’t need to critique their work.

My way of looking at this problem is as follows.
If you have twenty-four workers who are all completely self-sustaining and know exactly what to do with hardly any intervention, then you might be able to have ten or more to a manager. I’m not sure if twenty-four works even under ideal circumstances. But, many workers play tricks, or don’t know how to get things done. If you have a team of twenty-four, it is likely that many will be trouble in some way, shape or form. New workers who have not been screened should ideally be placed in smaller teams so their work can be evaluated. If they do flawless work and can function without intervention, then perhaps they can be transferred to a larger team. New workers and problem workers need to be in smaller teams where you can keep more of an eye on them. In my opinion, the value of a worker is proportional to their productivity minus the amount of hell you go through trying to manage them. In many cases, many workers might have a sub-zero value (put on your sweater and winter hat.)

My personal story
I have too many things to do and several people to manage. I can’t manage them and do my own work at the same time. I have to put something on the back burner since I’m so busy. Unfortunately, it is common for me to get behind trying to manage my programmers. I just wonder how far behind a manager with twenty-four workers gets? Perhaps they just are not really managing those people at all…

Choose a social network and focus on it

August 13, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Many experts have been saying that you should not just jump on the bandwagon for every new social network that comes along. There is some truth to this reasoning, but you need to understand a few things about which network you jump onto.

(1) You won’t know until you try
If you just stick to Facebook because you are doing okay with Facebook, you might be missing the boat. First of all, every time you try a new social network, you evolve along your leaning curve, and expand your thinking. If you were doing well on Facebook before, you might start doing amazingly after you try one or two other networks just because your thought process could have improved. You won’t know if your business does well on Stumbleupon if you never try it. Also, if you try it early in your social media evolution, try it again when you have a little more experience. You might do better the second time around.

(2) Some social networks are better for your general industry
After looking around on many social media sites, I have come to the conclusion that there are many social networks that are good for talking about social media marketing, travel, news, and other topics of more general interest. The problem is that when you have a more specific specialty, many networks don’t have many individuals on the network. On a brighter note, sometimes small communities tend to be warmer. I am now using Google+ where there are very few Realtors. I post articles on Real Estate groups, and my articles get a lot of traffic despite how small the groups are. So, don’t judge a network by its size. Try it out and see what the results are like! I will say that in general, Facebook has the largest collection of active users worldwide, so if you have a specialty niche, Facebook might be a way to drive a lot of traffic to your site and blog, especially if you are smart how you use the PPC program!

(3) Some networks get you traffic right away while others don’t
Through years of trying different things and trying to figure out the mystery of social media, I have learned several things. There are certain networks where you can get tons of quality clicks really easily and other networks where you can’t get clicks unless you build up your following. I recommend starting on Google+ first, and post on lots of communities. This is a fast way to get thousands of quality clicks per month coming to your blog! Twitter is the easiest social media network to manage, but I would try it last as getting big results on Twitter only happens after a year or more of paying your dues building your network.

Twitter: Organic
To use Twitter effectively as a way to boost your blog traffic, you really need 20,000 followers minimum to make a significant dent in your traffic. Twitter is a great way to get long term traffic if you are willing to invest in building your network which requires daily work.

Twitter: PPC
Twitter’s PPC can get you lots of clicks. But, the quality of the blog clicks I got was really bad, averaging several seconds, while organic clicks averaged around two minutes. Google rewards me generously for “quality clicks,” but, doesn’t care one way or the other about quickie clicks. Twitter PPC was not a way for my business to expand quickly, although the bill was high. Organic Twitter has done nice things for my optimization, but takes time.

Facebook: Organic
Facebook also takes time to build your network. Your posts may not even be seen by your followers with the current algorithm. However, if you have a loyal following (I am lucky to have this,) you can get a healthy amount of clicks to your blog. We have about 5000 followers and get about 300 clicks a month to our blog which are quality clicks (duration averaging over two minutes.)

Facebook: PPC
Facebook PPC is also a great tool, but only works well with your most popular posts. Facebook PPC makes you pay based on your exposure, not your results. So, figure out what the top most popular 2% of your blog articles are and promote them regularly on Facebook PPC. You will get lots of clicks and get new followers!

Google+
I am frustrated at how time consuming it is to get followers on Google+. It takes me at least six times as long to get a follower on Google+ than it does on Twitter. I’m not even sure what the value of a Google+ follower is in terms of click traffic. However, I will say that as someone just starting out, I am getting about 50 clicks per day posting on Communities which is amazing. My total clicks from Twitter to my blog was 50 per month a few months ago, so 50 clicks a day is highly welcomed. I might be able to find a way to make that 200 clicks a day if I can grow a few more neurons in my head! I don’t know what the benefit of having a huge Google+ following is, but you can get tons of fast clicks posting on communities, so don’t overlook this network as it offers immediate results at no cost.

Linked In
Linked In’s performance is similar to Google+. You can get immediate clicks posting on their groups. Their groups in business oriented specialties tend to be larger than Google+, so post away, and watch your clicks come in. The quality of a Linked In click is excellent in my experience since the users are often serious business types.

(4) Some networks are growing in momentum while others are shrinking.
Social media networks are moving targets. You can’t assign a permanent judgement to any social media network. First of all their algorithms change over time. Next, their usership can grow or shrink as other social media networks become popular or get phased out. Additionally, your skill at using a particular network tends to grow over time if you are always trying to improve. So, when you take notes assigning scores to the various different networks, have an expiration date of a year after you assign the score. In a year, the playing field could be very different!

(5) Once you have mastered all of the bigger networks…
I am not sure if focusing and sticking to a single social media network is the right approach. But, here is my train of thought. If you have tried all of the networks, built a following in each, and have taken metrics as to how much effort is involved in getting quality clicks (clicks with a duration of more than a minute could be a definition of a quality click,) then it is time to make a decision.

You might find that on Facebook you can get a high volume of cost effective clicks using the PPC program. That has been my experience, but only on my most popular blog entries.

You might find that Twitter offers you the most time-efficient quality clicks, but only after your network has exceeded 30,000 which is not so easy to build.

You might find that Google+ offers you thousands of clicks your first week publishing on communities, but doesn’t match up to the time-efficiency that a mature Twitter community does.

Summary
Basically, you can’t make an informed decision of which social network is best until you have mastered them all, or at least tried them all. If you find that one network offers you overwhelmingly more clicks per hour or dollar spent than the others: then, and only then it might be time to disregard the other networks and focus on that one! If you find a way to get cheap, quality clicks, milk it for what its worth, and let me in on your secret!