Category Archives: Semi-Popular

Types of tweets that win the game!

August 15, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing, Semi-Popular, Social Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many people like Twitter, but being popular on twitter is hard, even for the talented. So, here are a few “twips”.

(1) Don’t write downers on Twitter. Keep it upbeat and happy. Even an informative tweet that has tone in it can repel followers quickly.

(2) If you are going to Tweet about something unpleasant, make it a shocker. People like to be shocked and will be likely to retweet, especially if someone died, was jailed, injured or was maimed.

(3) Many people like it if you tweet about what is illegal or who got in trouble for doing something dangerous or illegal

(4) Then, there is the G-Major tweet. A simplistic tweet stating some very basic information about some subject matter.
i.e. Acupuncture originated in China and is 3000 years old — is an example of a simple yet informative tweet. These tweets generally get some positive attention, especially if they are general enough for a regular person to understand!

(5) Tweets about how to succeed or make more money are often very well accepted.

(6) Tweets that are funny or have an interesting point of view on an issue can get retweeted easily!

(7) Keep it varied, and don’t write the same thing over and over again.

(8) Mixing in some current events, general media info, responses to posts on Facebook or other social media platforms that were interesting, and general industry news is a beneficial mix. The exact mixture needs to be experimented with and decided upon by you.

(9) Interactions are better than tweets. Yes, it is a documented fact, at least with my accounts. Writing really interesting responses on OTHER people’s Twitter accounts can get you noticed fast. If your account only has 100 followers, you can still go to someone’s account with a MILLION followers and write a beautiful rebuttal to someone’s point. Typically what happens is that you will get retweeted systematically, but NOT usually by the account where you posted the remark (if it is a big account). Typically, others that frequent that account to read responses will retweet you, and this will get you fantastic exposure overnight! However, if the account you responded to is in the same industry as you are, then you have a high chance of being retweeted by them. It is interesting to see how the game manifolds itself. Twitter is fun, and if you play your tweets right, you can become a hit sooner than you “thwink”.

Notes
My audience for one of my accounts loves accounts of fraud, crime, punishment, industry news, how to make money fast, etc. But, they don’t like international themes, overseas news, witty points, or philosophical observations. I need to be aware of my crowd to please them. Are you aware of your crowd? Pay attention to what you Tweet and how your audience responds or grows when you tweet stuff they like!

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Tweets:
(1) Don’t write downers on Twitter. It is better to look at the tweet as half full, than half empty.
(2) Even an informative tweet that has tone in it can repel followers quickly.
(3) If you are going to Tweet about something unpleasant, make it a shocker.
(4) Shock, but don’t depress: tweet if someone died, was jailed, injured or was maimed.
(5) When you tweet, make it provocative. Provocation provokes a retweet!

(6) It is hard to ignore a tweet that has an element of shock to it.
(7) Don’t tweet that your lunch made you queasy, tweet that you were food poisoned by the waiter!
(8) Many people like tweets about what is illegal or dangerous!
(9) Many people like tweets about illegal activities that blew up in someone’s face!
(10) Girls are as attracted to dangerous guys as people are to tweets about danger or illegal activity!

(11) A tweet with very basic information or simple facts will be very appreciated by your followers!
(12) If you want your Twitter to be successful — tweet about #success (or #failure). People like this!
(13) Successful tweets are likely to be short, and have at least 2 #hashtags, plus a link. #success
(14) For a successful tweet, tweet about #success (or #failure.) People like succeeding (& watching others fail.)
(15) Tweets that are funny or have an interesting point of view on an issue can get retweeted easily!
(16) Mixing in some current events & quotes from ur FB followers w/ur industry specific tweets gets traffic!

(17) Tweets get lost in the shuffle, but interactions show up in people’s “connect” inbox & if u click “expand”
(18) If u have a small twitter account, you can still get seen by RESPONDING to tweets from bigger accounts!
(19) Are you aware of your crowd? Pay attention to how they respond or grow when you tweet stuff they like!

You might also like:

Active verses dormant followers on Twitter
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/27/active-vs-dormant-followers-on-twitter/

Twitter and the American dream. The chance to make it big is possible
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/12/twitter-the-american-dream-the-chance-to-make-it-big-is-possible/

Motivating workers with competition

August 14, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Motivation, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

There are various techniques for motivating workers with competition. Many workers don’t like competition, because that will show them up if they are underperforming. Other workers who are more confident and capable welcome competition since they know they can beat out any competition. What I have learned is that people always perform better under two circumstances: (1) When they are being watched (or think they are) and (2) When they are competing against someone else.

Competition is a more than just a business concept; it is very emotionally involving as well. People’s pride and dignity are involved when they are being compared to someone else. Can you imagine how a seasoned worker will feel when competing against someone new? What if the new person is more motivated and outperforms them? Imagine the shame that the more experienced worker would feel!

Personally, I like to compare people as well as companies. I like to see who is good at what and how they are overall. There are many components to a particular individuals skill sets. They might be good at work, but be slow. Or, perhaps they are great at communication, but make lots of mistakes. What if they are fast, but sloppy. It is hard to find people who are perfect, so we have to compare apples and oranges, since no two workers have the same attributes.

If you can track the weekly sales of a salesperson — it is easy to compare them to another salesperson. One made $4000 sales in that week, while the other made $3000. Or, perhaps one made more “hard sells”, while the other made more “easy sells”. Some sales are hard to compare. In manufacturing people might make widgets, and one worker might make double the widgets that the fellow next to him might make. It is sometimes really hard to track the performance of one worker against another worker, especially if they are doing different tasks.

The main thing to remember is — even if two individuals are doing different, but related tasks, the fact that they are being compared puts a sort of psychological pressure on them that can lead to better performance. I just put my main saleslady against a newer salesperson and in competition with myself as well. At first I was afraid that there wouldn’t be enough sales to go around. To my very happy surprise, I learned that both ladies were getting plenty of sales, and I made a generous helping of sales myself in record breaking time. As a matter of fact, the next happy surprise was that my main saleslady became BETTER at selling courses after I told her there was competition and that she was being compared. She went from selling a few courses per month to selling a few courses per week. Such a huge improvement. This salesperson complained bitterly about how it was not fair to compare her to someone else, and how loyal she was to the company, etc. Talk is cheap. But, her new and improved performance is proof that competition motivates workers!

Tweets:
(1) Workers perform better when they are being watched (or think they are)
(2) Workers often perform better when they’re competing against someone else.
(3) Competition is a more than just a business concept; it is very emotionally involving as well
(4) People’s pride and dignity are involved when they are being compared to someone else
(5) Can you imagine how a seasoned worker will feel when competing against someone new?

(6) Imagine if a new worker outperforms a seasoned worker… imagine the resentment!
(7) A seasoned worker will be put in their place when a new worker outperforms them.
(8) Being measured against others puts a sort of psychological pressure on you to perform better.
(9) Salespeople might bitterly complain about the unfairness in being compared to others.

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The mindset of a millionaire

August 5, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Semi-Popular, Success | Tagged , | Leave a comment

We all want to be millionaires. It would be wonderful to have enough money, so that nothing was out of reach. But, most of us do not think like millionaires. My interest is to learn to think in new and useful ways and understand wealth consciousness. I learned that being around millionaires and their neighborhoods helps develop wealth consiousness and helps to understand how these interesting people live and think.

Here are some things that I learned about the differences between wealthy and poor people.

Driving habits of the rich
There are many things that I notice from visiting wealthy areas. The way people drive in certain areas is very indicative of their income. People who are wealthy and in the process of generating more wealth tend to drive faster than normal. In many wealthy parts of Los Angeles (near Beverly Hills, but not in beverly Hills) the drivers will tailgate you and I feel like they want to run me off the road. Please keep in mind that if you (the reader) is in India, it is common to tailgate in India and drive inches behind the car ahead of you. But, in America, we feel intimidated if someone is really close behind us if we are going above 35 miles per hour (50km/ hour). It is dangerous as well. I really feel that part of the reason they drive so fast is because they have a lot to do, and are impatient people. I feel that perhaps one of the components of their success is that they feel compelled to get things done really fast. Do these accelerated wealth builders tailgate because they want to overpower others? Are they merely in a huge hurry to get to their next item on their agenda? Or, do they just think fast and act fast — and is that quickness what accounts for their huge success?

On the other hand, in wealthy, but relaxed places like Beverly Hills and Laguna Beach, there are rich people who are more interested in relaxing and spending than in wealth generation. People drive slower in these places and are more polite as well! An interesting distinction!

Driving habits of the economically slow
I notice that in California as a whole, people drive at a moderate rate of speed, but are very selfish and don’t let others into their lane. I also notice that in other states with slower economies, people are really slow. It is common in New Mexico (an American State), that it can take drivers up to 4 seconds to put their foot on the pedal after an opportunity to proceed presents itself. I start honking my horn if they waste my time like this — I feel it is rude to be too slow. On the other hand, it is also rude to drive too close behind others who are obeying the speed limit. I notice that in some of America’s other states, people talk slower, and think slower. I guess that I am used to a particular SPEED of life, and that I have culture shock when I am around slow Europeans, sluggish Indians, or other lackidasical people!

Finding solutions verses feeling flustered
I find that poor people find themselves to be helpless in many situations. A poor person will buckle if the price goes up on something they want (at least my clients do when I raise their prices). The rich are often very confident and feel they can handle these types of situations gracefully– and win! The rich person will first try to negotiate the price, and then compare various options while the poor person will just panic and complain. A very different mindset!!!

A sense of power
There is a certain sense of power that the rich have. Even if they don’t use language that demonstrates their sense of power, their inner confidence is something that you should feel. I love being around millionaires because I can just feel their coolness without them uttering a single word! Wealthy people tend to feel that they are in control. If there is an obstacle to their power, they will calmly find a way to remove that obstacle. Buddhism claims that we are all enlightened, but merely haven’t developed the consciousness to appreciate that fact. Wealthy people similarly feel in control even when they are not — they simply feel that they ARE in control even though they haven’t YET determined how to remove the obstacles to their control — a temporary delay in their already existant power. What a way to think! I like it!

Business planning the poor way
A poor person will have unrealistic expectations in business, lofty goals, and a poor sense of execution or how to pick the right people. The poor person might be tempted to share their future success with friends and family who are poorly suited for the job. The poor person would have a tremendous boost to their ego for “helping out” and “doing a good deed” people who deserved their help. The poor person might criticize the wealthy man for being “mean” or “narrow minded” simply for being calculating and reasonable about who to hire and why. Unfortunately, the poor person is in for some difficult times when they find out what business is really like — and what to do if their friends are lazy or poorly suited to their new jobs — if they even accept those jobs. The poor person would be tempted to “help out” their unemployed friends who deserve help that nobody else would help. The poor person will soon find out that you are not doing anyone a favor by giving them a job. It is the person who is working for you who is doing YOU a favor — assuming they are any good at their work.

Business planning of the rich and famous
A wealthy person will have a more in tune sense of how the business could start, evolve, develop, what needs to be done, and what personality traits would be beneficial for particular types of jobs. A wealthy person will realize how flexible and adaptable they need to be, and not to get attached to any particular methodology or outcome. Additionally, a smart leader will pick good managers below them who can do most of the daily management of the business with little or no intervention. This will free up the owners time to grow the business rather than being bogged down by mundane hassles. A smart business owner will always be looking for ways to expand the business, rather than being complacent. Those who are complacent always remain on the lowest level — but, those who always strive in the upwards direction can attain infinitely!

Spending and dressing habits of the well to do
The irony here is that rich people in America dress like bums. I was intimidated about hanging around in American’s richest neighborhood at first. Then, I went there, and realized that every single person dressed like a bum. T-shirts, ripped jeans, baseball hats. They dressed almost as badly as I do. There are rich people who dress well — many of these are the “New Rich”, or those who aspire to be rich or fashionable. Some people like making a show of themselves and spend a lot on it. But, the people who have the real big bucks often drive very ordinary cars, and wear very ordinary clothes — at least in America. India is a bit like this too, where you will see lower-middle class girls wearing very expensive silk saris and rich girls in Bangalore wearing ripped old jeans. Some people think that the secret to wealth is being used to spending lots of money, or being used to being around expensive things. Drug dealers in the ghetto have this mentality — but, they still live in America’s worst areas and have what I call the “poverty consciousness”. Spending a lot and dressing well might help you develop the wealth consciousness to a certain extent. It is not the most important component of wealth consciousness. But, on the other hand — if you are going to develop wealth consciousness — shouldn’t you be accustomed to handling large amounts of money?

Taking charge and not allowing obstacles
The successful businessman takes charge. They don’t let personal considerations get in the way of business. The poor businessman lets their feelings get in the way, and lets people get in their way. A smart businessman simply makes decisions and sets policies based on sound thinking — he will handle objections confidently. The poor businessman will refuse to make any decision that might rouse any feelings of objection from anyone — and hence cripples themselves.

Looking ahead for evolution and adaptation
The millionaire businessman realizes that he lives in a changing world, and that his business planning will have to change. He therefor is always looking for how to refine his business techniques, and adapt to the current conditions. Whether he is adapting to more modern times, or adapting to the particularities of a current economic condition — he is adapting. The minute you don’t adapt and cling to what you or others are used to out of fear or narrowmindedness, you cheat yourself from the potential benefits of adaptations. Remember, if you are in the computer business, if you are even a few months behind your competitor, you could be out of business and your newly developed product will not sell!

You might also like:

How to sell like a pro — what exactly do they do?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/06/25/how-to-sell-like-a-pro-what-do-the-pros-do/

Why a great CEO is worth 6000 times more than the average worker
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How many salespeople is the perfect number?

July 28, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Hiring & Firing, Sales, Semi-Popular | Tagged | Leave a comment

There are so many ways of looking at this issue. I am convinced that there is no right answer. But, I believe that getting closer to the optimal answer lies in stopping thinking of the question in these terms. How many — stop that thought! Each salesperson is a human being, and each human being has unique characteristics. My goal in hiring people is to find people who have unique ways of thinking that can help me find amazing new ways of doing things that will lead to business growth that I never thought was possible. You will not find this amazement if you simply hire a calculated amount of staff who do the same work every day. Don’t stifle the talent of your hired staff — nurture it!

Basically, what many companies don’t get, is that by banging your head against the wall, trying to get sales out of people, you are missing the point. To get ahead, you need to have a goal of adding value to society and NOT selling things. You should be there to EDUCATE your clients, not to sell to them. Guide them to the best choices for them instead of pushing them around. They will like you a lot more in the short run and the long run and trust you much more. Trust translates into sales. In short, you sell without selling which is a Zen principle!

So, what should you look for in your sales force? I have been selling the same products for years, and my sales techniques were mediocre at best. What I learned is that I needed to spend more time listening to my clients. I needed to learn how they think, what mattered to them, and what makes them tick. Everybody is motivated differently. My mistake was simple. I think in a logical way, therefor, when presenting reasons to others, I use logic and assume that that is the ideal way to motivate others. My mistake was that only 1% of Americans are logical, and the rest think emotionally (if at all). My new sales technique is based on listening to my clients and seeing how they typically react which is emotionally, not rationally. So, I tell them stories (true stories without embelleshment) which make them gasp. I even make myself gasp and say, “Oh My God”. I tell them horror stories of dangerous and stupid things that other people did who didn’t educate themselves enough about the business, and I use this to sell courses. We also give mini quizzes over the phone to highlight what our clients don’t know which can hurt them. Now, our sales have tripled. The root of the increase is all about tuning in, not selling.

The question is — can you hire salespeople who are experts at tuning into your clients and finding out what makes them tick? That is how you adapt your sales techniques, and develop better products that are more catered to what your clients really want.

So, stop thinking about how many salespeople you need, and start thinking about how to get salespeople who tune in and give you information you can use in battle! You might want to have extra salespeople around to give yourself plenty of time to feel out the market and gather critical information which could multiply your business by 100x. I kid you not!

Tweets:
(a) The perfect # of salespeople is that there is no perfect #. It is about tuning into your clients.
(b) It doesn’t matter how many salespeople you have — it is about LISTENING to the clients!
(c) I mistakenly thought that Americans thought logically when 99% think emotionally. Highly illogical captain. #sales
(d) Spock hired a salesforce to sell advertising and found that 97.6% of American consumers were highly illogical. #sales
(e) Trust translates into sales. In short, you sell without selling which is a Zen principle!

(f) You annoy by overselling; Gain trust and you’ll find that sales will go through like a hot knife through butter.
(g) Is it the number of salespeople or the character of the salespeople that really matters?
(h) Don’t count the number of salespeople you have, count the number of sales

You might also like:

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http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/10/the-power-of-knowing-people-for-outsourcing/

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http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/03/capitalizing-on-the-shock-factor-in-sales/

How to sell like a pro, what exactly do they do?
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Mistakes & learning from them

July 24, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Popular on Google+, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Learning from your mistakes

Do you kick yourself when you make mistakes, or do you regard them as a valuable opportunity to learn? Sometimes the value of what you learned from a mistake can be much greater than the financial damage done by the mistake. But, the value of what you can learn from a mistake is directly tied to how much thought you put into thinking about the mistake, and how you can avoid similar mistakes in the future.

A lot of mistakes that I have made were due to a lack of experience in seeing the signs of people’s behavior. I worked with someone who started out being a little bit sloppy. Since my other programmers were also somewhat sloppy, I felt like I had no choice, but to work with people who were sloppy. But, the sloppiness got much worst over time. The types of errors became more and more serious. It got to the point where we had scheduled a server migration when the site still had bugs in it. Then, after a migration of another site, the logout feature was actually broken for a few days which was a huge security risk. So, what should I learn from all of this? It is difficult to interpret if you start looking at the situation from months back. But, it seems very easy to interpret now.

If you hire someone who starts out doing something sloppy, this is really dangerous. Generally, when you start someone out, you are watching them closely and not giving them critical work. But, after you get comfortable with them, then you are in danger. Comfort is dangerous and the worst mistakes I have made in business were when I got comfortable with someone who I shouldn’t have had. The innocent mistakes on things that didn’t matter — down the road translated into dangerous mistakes that risked the integrity of my data on two occasions down the road. My mistake was that I overlooked an obvious sign.

From now on, when I see behavior which is sloppy, angry, questionable, slow, or unacceptable in any other way, I will stop working with that person if the bad behavior is the norm. I can accept 80% good work/attitude and 20% mediocre work/attitude from someone. But, that is as far as I will compromise. When it becomes 60-40 that doesn’t work. Here’s why. If you get to a point in the project where they make more mistakes than good work — and that ratio continues for more than a month, the staff member will not be able to endure your criticism. So remember, that 60% good work doesn’t cut it, because in a bad month it will become 30% good work which means endless unbearable criticism, and the worker will get fired during the bad month. If you start with 80% good work, then in a bad month, the majority of the work will still be good, and on a good month it will be nearly perfect. If you can find 100%, then take it, but if you are offered 80% — that is not bad.

I worked with someone else who avoided me, and was rarely around to answer calls. Since I knew her for years, she was within my comfort zone. She got worse and worse and my project ended up being the endless project from hell. I learned my lesson.

Don’t hire someone mediocre you are comfortable with — hire someone who will get the job done no matter how hard they are to find!

I learned from my mistakes. I hope you learn from your mistakes too! Remember — it is not bad to make mistakes, it is only bad not to learn from your mistakes. If you are really lucky you will learn from OTHER people’s mistakes!

Tweets:
(1) Failure is more important than #success in terms of what you learn from it.
(2) Do you kick yourself when you make mistakes, or do you regard them as a valuable opportunity to learn?
(3) I made many mistakes in business from not being able to read people’s behavior.
(4) People start off w/their best behavior when you 1st meet them.
If their best behavior is sloppiness, you’re in big trouble!
(5) When you start someone out, give them non-critical tasks & watch them closely

(6) Comfort is the most dangerous feeling you can have in business.
If you are too comfortable with someone, you let down your guard.
(7) If I see behavior which is sloppy, angry, questionable, slow or unacceptable in any way, I will cut my losses.
(8) If someone at an #outsourcing company is avoiding you, avoid them back & find a better

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How to ensure that the software company you hired will deliver!

June 22, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Semi-Popular, Software Development | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It is commonplace in America for smaller programming houses to take on new clients when they have no resources to do the actual work. They typically do this either because they can not predict their future workload, or because they intentionally want to have a large backlog of orders so their staff will not be sitting around with nothing to do.

Unfortunately, what these companies typically do is to take on a new client, and immediately put them on the back burner. The client will have to wait months to get one week’s worth of work done. Lies, deceit, and other manipulative exchanges of reasons will accompany the sluggish work. The question is, how do you ensure that your new software company will not put you on the back burner?

(1) First of all, SMALL software companies don’t care about the long term business – by definition. Because if they did, they wouldn’t be small for long. They would treat their customers well, acquire new ones, but not lose the old ones that often. Smaller software companies typically mishandle all of their clients and lose them as fast as they come in. That guarantees that they will remain small (and inept) forever, until the market changes in which case they would simply vanish.

(2) Companies with offices typically get more done than companies where employees work from home. This is not a hard and fast rule, but I have many examples in my mental database of work-at-home scenarios. If the company is a large and reputable company and workers work at home, that might work. But, for small companies that don’t have a solid reputation, you are asking for trouble if people work from home. Companies with 1-5 people tend to be completely un-businesslike and irresponsible. Pair that with working from home and you have a disaster. If they have an office, and the office has not been populated by them for more than five years, they lack what Indians call: “Being well settled”.

On the other hand, companies who have had offices for years and have 6-12 people who work in the office daily, my experience has been that they are not perfect, but will get some serious work done. Companies with 20+ workers will get tons of work done. The size of the population inhabiting the office (during business hours) is directly proportional to how much work will get done on your project.

(3) Companies LIE about how many employees they have. You need to VERIFY that they really have 500 employees. Ask the boss to NAME THEM all and tell you a little about each of them. I am not joking. At least do this with the employees whose business pertains to your work. VISIT their office to make sure it really exists and that they really have 30 Java programmers with 10 years of experience per person, and not 4 Java programmers where the lead programmer has 3 years of experience who is leading a bunch of inept clowns with 1 year of experience.

(4) TEST these companies out. Give them a few test projects. Perhaps ask them for an estimate on a job. See if the amount of hours they need is reasonable. See if they ask good questions. Ask them to do a quick project to see if they actually do anything. How quick? You are paying for your test, so it is as quick as you like. A 1-hour test might be enough to see if they get off their rear!

(5) Getting programmers to deliver is similar to getting building contractors to deliver. They are notoriously late every step of the way, and two month projects generally take two years. A PENALTY contract might be hard to get them to sign, but it is at least something to think about if time is money. There needs to be a distinct penalty for sluggish or uncooperative behavior. They can ruin your company’s development plan for months if they don’t cooperate.

Potential Damages for Carelessness
Imagine that you hire a company who gets you to get involved in a long project and they stall half-way through. You will be put in the position where you have a choice of firing them mid-way (which is expensive and complicated) or waiting indefinitely for them to finish. You are at risk, and most software companies couldn’t care less about stringing you up and keeping you waiting indefinitely. Proceed with caution!

Women programmers in India and the U.S.

June 17, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: India, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A general trend is that there are more and more women programmers in both India and the U.S., but India is ahead. Women in the U.S. make up less than 20% of all undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Engineering, and women studying IT in India are roughly at the same percentage, but India has doubled the number of women enrolled in IT colleges. What motivates a woman to succeed as a programmer or an engineer?

We’ll let the programmers speak for themselves.

Neeta is a 28-year-old Indian programmer who was offered a job upon graduating from BIRLA Institute, a prestigious IT college. “In India, science is promoted as something that can benefit our culture. Also, the literacy rate has improved from 15% in 1971 to 54% currently. This means that all daughters in upscale or average families are well educated; girls who grow up in respectable families get a lot of encouragement in education and career. It is no longer an idea that women can depend on a man or a marriage for everything,” explains this programmer in India. “My brother is an engineer, and now earns 500,000 rupees a year.” How much is that in U.S. dollars? Almost $10,000.

Says Kamala, another female happily employed as a programmer in India, “Women in India are not seen as unattractive in any way if they are good at math and science. India’s percentage of women undergraduates doubled from 1997 to 2000, and is now 20% of undergraduates. In Kerala, 50% of technical college graduates are women,” notes this Indian programmer. “There is no prejudice against women programmers in India, and in fact, in the South, they are often sought after and even offered more money sometimes than men. Some companies fight to hire women programmers. Also, having a career does not hurt a woman’s chances of marrying, as was previously thought,” smiles this Indian programmer. “Everyone in my family encouraged me to be a programmer, and cheered when I won math and science contests. I started at age 10, which is a great time to start.”

Kerry, a programmer in the U.S., tells us, “My parents sent me to summer camp for computers when I was 12. Throughout high school, I gradually realized there was a career in this. I learned programming here and there in high school, and eventually entered a top U.S. college and majored in Computer Science. This whole time, I kept getting encouragement– from my parents, my family, and my teachers. I think that kept me going. Nothing was ever said to discourage me– but the positives–the encouragement–made me succeed as a programmer.”

Sunita, another Indian programmer who graduated from one of the top 20 IT colleges in India, says that, in addition to encouragement, in India programming is seen as a select profession, not lowly like working in a factory. “It is one of the few respectable professions a woman can go into to earn a good living, help support her family, and do good for the country,” this programmer in India adds.

Sudha, an Indian programmer who graduated with top honors in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a prestigious IT and science-oriented college, believes that “In the U.S., the culture produces a certain image of cute women with glamorous careers. Careers in science don’t seem as appealing, and girls don’t choose women mentors who are in a science field. I had a science teacher who mentored me when I was 10. She told me, ‘Smart women can go far in the IT field. You can start as a programmer and end by having your own huge IT company.’ Women in India aren’t all fooled by this air-head, glamour image of what a woman should be,” says this programmer in India. “In India, if there is a chance to get scholarships and get a good career, we take it, no matter if it seems glamorous or not. By 2002, the percentage of female IT college graduates doubled from what it was 6 years earlier. It is still rising.”

According to one study by the University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley, soon the IT workforce in India is expected to be 45% female, and in some IT colleges, 50% of the graduating class are women. There will be a 22% increase in the number of technical jobs in India and the U.S. by 2018. That means we had better start encouraging and rewarding young women for success in the IT field.

Slow-but-good verses Fast & Sloppy programmers

June 16, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Semi-Popular, Software Development | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Programming is a very meticulous task and you can ruin someone’s business if you are sloppy. The programmers I have hired in the past were all sloppy which is why I am changing my hiring algorithm to include a testing process involving a two hour programming test. The test is easy to pass, but most people are not paying attention and fail. But, let’s say that some people do pass the test. Then what?

If one company delivers slow and meticulous work, that is wonderful. But, what type of project do you put them on? If one project is time sensitive and my company will suffer $2000 / day in damages if there is a delay — then slow and meticulous might not be the ideal choice. On the other hand, if I have a very complicated project which doesn’t need to get done for a few months, then slow and meticulous might be a great choice.

Fast & sloppy can work too on a NEW project that doesn’t have any customers or data yet. If they fix their mistakes right away, you might be able to make some real headway, and working on an experimental project might be great with this type of team — once again assuming that they fix their mistakes as quickly as they make them.

But, what about fast and meticulous. Programming companies are so short-staffed, that it seems almost impossible to get fast service at any price. I think you could make a mint if you hired really good programmers and charged insane prices. Some people will pay for it, at least when they are in a bind — which seems to be the case for many companies. If you get a client who is short on time but packed with money, they might like to have someone fast and good who charges 50% more than the market rate for programming services.

The moral of the story here is to think from the perspective of the customer. They are the ones paying you, so try to find a way to cater your programming (or other services) to their needs in terms of speed, accuracy, customer service, or anything else that matters to whomever is paying.

How to create a new corporate culture in 3 easy steps!

May 3, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest, Popular on Google+, Popular on Twitter, Semi-Popular | Tagged | 1 Comment

Creating a new corporate culture is easy with our new powder. Mix with water, get a new corporate culture. It is actually, not that much harder than that, but you need good analytics and cooperation from higher level people at your company to pull this off.

Sometimes, to succeed in a particular market niche, or to be efficient in your company, you need a particular type of corporate culture. If you have a few anti-social types, lazy people, or uncooperative people, that can throw the entire corporate culture off. It is much worse than the fact that those individuals are not producing the types of results you want, they INFLUENCE others in a negative way — and you can’t have that!

Or, maybe the corporate culture you have is uncultural. Let’s say that you can not talk to your employees about Mozart or the finer points of Hungarian literature. Maybe those attributes are important to attracting better future staff members, or perhaps attracting more cultured clients. Remember, high class people are impressed by people who are cultured. On the other hand, most rich people in the United States are culturally illiterate, so maybe culture doesn’t matter.

Putting aside what types of attributes you want in your new culture, you should have good reasons for whatever attributes you want, and a sensible way of gaining them.

If you have a corporation with 300 employees, you might find that people fit your new cultural model to a greater or lesser extent. If you have clearly defined attributes written down, you might find that 100 of your employees fit the model well enough to keep. Perhaps another 100 have a few of the attributes you like and would be worth it to TRAIN to meet some of your other attributes. The remaining 100 employees should ideally be let go — but, not all at once.

Step 1: Start firing the worst 33% of your workforce that doesn’t match your new model

If you have to get rid of 33% of your workforce, you need a timetable for doing so. You need a plan of which types of workers to get rid of first as well. You create an algorithm which takes many factors into consideration. How well someone fits your corporate cultural ideal would account for several of the factors, how well they do their job and contribute in general would account for the other factors.

If you fire roughly 1.5% of your least favorable employees per month, over a period of two years, and rehire people who fit your new corporate cultural ideas to a tee while doing great work as well, you have accomplished much of creating a new corporate culture.

Step 2: Hire new people who meet your cultural and work model to a tee.

Step 3: Culturally mold the employees that you didn’t fire, as well as your new hirees to see if they can match your new model perfectly

Training is the second and potentially more difficult part of the cultural change. You need to INSTILL new corporate values into the workers who you are not going to can. If your new values include being knowledgeable about Mozart as you plan your takeovers, then play Mozart all the time. Give lectures about Mozart to your people. You can write lyrics to Mozart string quartets too.

“We’re going to seize your assets…. I’d like to see you try… Your corporate debt…. It makes me cry… We’ll take you over….. You will see… and in the end…. you’ll understand our decree.”

“Oh no you won’t… we’ll call in the calvary… we know investors… that can turn this around… never mind that our lyrics do not rhyme… you will see that we will save our corporation in thyme!!”

You can play Mozart piano concertos in the morning, sonatas during lunch, string quartets in the early afternoon, and then test employees on their knowledge. Those who can’t deal with the new corporate culture would need to be weeded out slowly over time.

Step 4 (of 3): Continue the process for around three years with any necessary refinements.

The end result after about three years, is that you would have successfully converted your uptight and stuffy corporation into a bunch of music loving nuts who do corporate takeovers and sing silly lyrics to Mozart string quartets. All you need is a vision, a very capable HR department who understands algorithms & counter-harmony, plus a really good corporate training division which hires Russian dissidents who know how to teach music (and chess) really well. A good sound system wouldn’t hurt either.

Good luck!

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How to create a company culture like Google’s and enjoy doing it
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An Indian company learns Japanese culture to boost teamwork
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Is Amazon too touch on their workers?
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I’m going to succeed because I’m crazy enough to think I can?

April 1, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Popular on Google+, Semi-Popular, Success | Tagged | Leave a comment

I read these words on the empowerment network. These words are actually very deeply philosophical despite how simplistic they sound. Most of us do not succeed because we think that we can not. The neighborhood we grow up in has most of the positive and negative attributes that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. If you grow up in a rich area, you assume that you will be rich like your daddy, right? If you grow up in a slum, you assume that as an adult that you will remain there. Sure, we dream of winning the lottery, and many work their way out of poverty. When I turned 23 and graduated from school, I realized that I would be lucky to make a quarter of what my father had made because my skills were not in demand and because I was not valued.

We all have inner blockages within our mind that prevent us from doing many things. So, maybe the topic of this blog entry should be on overcoming those blockages.

I am overweight and have been for years. But, I love nature and love hiking. I go to Yosemite national park in California regularly. It is a long drive, but my passion drives me to go there. I love to hike up the mist trail to Vernal Falls. I feel very winded and exhausted every time I go up that high. Sometimes it is dangerous going down those steps so exhausted because I lose my balance much more easily when tired. My goal had always been to make it to the next waterfall — Nevada Falls. But, I couldn’t picture myself getting that far. So, after several attempts at this monsterous trail, I made it 20 minutes farther than Vernal Falls. The thing which we should note here is that my attempt that got me 20 minutes farther created a new possibility in my mind. The new thought is “I can”. I did not have that thought before that point in time. So, the very next time I went up the mist trail, I made it all the way to the viewpoint for Nevada Falls. I made it! Now, I understand subconsciously that I really can do it, and that consciousness opens up doors to possibilities.

In business most people think that they cannot start a business. Most of them are right because they don’t have the skills. But, many people who do have the skills also think this way. They might need to brush up on marketing and management, but many of these people COULD start a business if they took it seriously. People who do have a business have serious limitations in what they think is possible, or what they are comfortable with. The limitation starts with a thought, or a type of consciousness that you have where the type of success you could achieve doesn’t exist.

So, how do you break this type of limited consciousness. I don’t call it negative consciousness — just limited. You have to try new things. If you want to expand in a particular direction, but going that direction, your consciousness will adapt to include that direction in its set of possible things that you can do. Once you achieve a small success, your consciousness will record that in the consciousness database, and a bigger success will look a lot more possible — just like me reaching the viewpoint of Nevada Falls was not initially possible, and then became thinkable and possible. It was a few months after I thought it was possible that it actually happened.

My parting comment is that I always joke about there being a Starbucks up on the Nevada Falls mountain trail. I always say, “Isn’t there a Starbucks in another 20 minutes or so?”. In real life there are no businesses up there, and only a bathroom building near one of the bridges two miles up. Maybe my goal should be to bring soft drinks up that mountain and sell canned starbucks and coca-cola up there so that my joke comes true. Unfortunately that would be illegal — and I would be responsible for the trash created as well.

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How to start an IT outsourcing company

March 14, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Semi-Popular, Software Development | Tagged , | Leave a comment

There are so many different IT outsourcing companies in India, it makes my head spin — and so does the long flight to India!

But, how do people get these operations off the ground? (no, not the flight… the companies). It is hard to start an IT company. There are many types of skill sets that you need to run one, and you are lucky to have even one of the 20+ skill sets. You need great business skills, great people skills, sales skills, organizational skills, scheduling skills, hiring skills, analytical skills, investment skills, and also technical skills. So, where do you start?

My recommendation is to start an IT outsourcing company in one of two ways.

(1) Work for someone else and get to a management position for many years. Then, you will have technical and management skills. Those are critical for having your own business, although you will need a lot more skills than what you learn on the job. At least you will have some foundation for starting an IT outsourcing company.

(2) Work as a freelancer. Freelancers learn a lot about business skills. You will learn your skill, what to charge, how to organize your time, and maybe even how to hire others to help you when you have an overflow of work. If you hire the wrong person, your reputation will be ruined — so be careful!

What specialty should you choose if you are going to be starting an IT outsourcing company?

If you are smart, you will specialize in whatever you know most about. If you are excellent with databases, then stick to that. If you are an ASP whiz, then specialize in ASP. If you are great with Java script, then specialize in that. If your clients need other languages as well, you might hire additional help with related services so that you can offer one-stop shopping. But, try to offer a more economical deal for your main specialty, so that you can attract and keep more business.

Where should you get an office?
When starting off, there will be many challenges and hurdles. I suggest starting with a low budget. Get a cheaper office and keep your expenses low. To attract good workers, you might keep the office very comfortable and be nice to them. If the office is too horrible, and you treat your workers too horribly, then you will lose them and be out of business!

How many people do I hire when starting out?

Stick to hiring yourself, and use freelancers or on call help until you have enough business to justify hiring the 2nd person. Sure, that is not glamorous advice for someone to hear, but that is the truth, and you can not afford to pay 20 salaries when you have zero clients, right?

Good luck starting your IT outsourcing company.

Be an expert at this field BEFORE even thinking about starting up…

Are you tired of outsourcing to India?

March 5, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: India, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Are you tired of the nonsense?
Anyone who has outsourced to India knows of what I speak… the little tricks, the negligence, the hour padding, the stubbornness, the poor communication habits, and the disinclination to plan for the future and not having any concept of timeliness whatsoever? Me too. India is the king of BPO outsourcing, at least for small and medium companies. So, what are your other more favorable options for fulfilling your outsourcing needs.

You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.
If you deal with Indian BPO outsourcing companies, you will find many distinct cultural behavioral patterns that repeat themselves. Some of these behaviors are very pleasant while others will drive you crazy! If you are lucky, you will link up with one of India’s many responsible people. The problem is that there are also many negligent and crooked people mixed in with the great people that doing business with new companies (or existing companies who hire new staff regularly) can be very unpredictable. Each country has their own unique cultural makeup. Some are more concerned with accuracy, and others stress social skills. If you are tired of doing business with India — try some other countries and compare. But, remember, no matter WHERE you do business, make sure you are working with good people.

Where is the back office?
For programming, there are many outsourcing arrangements between Western countries and popular outsourcing destinations (India, Russia, Belarus, Romania, China, the Philippines, etc.) Finding these companies is no easy task. Looking around on the internet, it is not always easy to see where people are REALLY doing business. Their mailing address on their contact us page and their evasive back office’s location are typically two completely different things. The only real way to make heads or tails of the marketplace is to call local programming companies and ask where their network is (and hope you get a straight answer). However time-consuming, you can learn a lot. Visiting a company in person will tell you if there is a company to begin with (or if you are hiring someone who works out of their bedroom and uses irresponsible freelancers he barely knows).

Even if you bombed in Bombay, you can manage in Manila!
For call center work, there are zillions of call centers in the Philippines. But, finding them is no walk in the park. There are call centers you can find on the internet in the Philippines. However, those are not always the highest end companies that exist. You would have an easier time reaching the DMV by phone than being able to talk to an actual manager at some of these call centers. Most successful offshore companies have a sister company in America, England, or some other Western country. You might have better luck scouring the American market to see who is networking with the Philippines.

East meets West: Goals versus Family
American culture is more goal-oriented while Indian culture is more family-oriented. Americans are often very picky about deadlines. Indians are used to routine and unpredictable electrical outages, floods, riots, strikes, and other types of delays and seem immune to missing deadlines. On a brighter note, Indian companies are generally better staffed, and can give you more hours of work per week, even if their work is not quite as efficient as you hope. Additionally, if you visit India, you will find that although their phone etiquette is atrocious, they are very gracious and hospitable in person.

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