Should you have “a” programmer, or multiple programmers?

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Some programmers are easy to reach while others are not. You never know when they are going to be out sick, or become nonresponsive. Many programmers like to focus on work and not answer phones or emails. But, how will you be alerted to an emergency or problem if you are so removed from real-time communications?

Sometimes it pays to have more than one outsourced programmer on payroll. If you can’t reach one because they are on an airplane from Poland to Chicago, you might be able to reach the other one. Or in my case I couldn’t reach either and had to wait 36 hours to solve a relatively simple situation because nobody even answered texts, emails, phone calls, or contacts by mental telepathy.

It might also make sense to have a programming house in India on payroll because they are awake at night (American time) and can solve situations while the rest of the world is sleeping.

I find American programmers to be better at strategizing, planning, and thinking. For fine tuned work, American programmers have been better in my experience. But, if you need someone who answers the phone at night, India is perfect. You can have certain programmers for certain types of jobs, and others for other types of jobs. Relying on a single programmer your entire life is dumb because they can quit, die, be unavailable, or just not answer calls. Good God!

One outsourcing company advertised on apps & got big business

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How do I advertise my outsourcing business?
How do I advertise for my BPO?
Advertising in the outsourcing business is a tricky thing. There are brokers, directories, websites, word of mouth, networking, and more. I like to ask around to see who is doing what.

One company claimed that they advertised on apps and using banner advertising on relevant websites. This is not a bad idea if you can measure the results from each advertising medium. You basically need tracking for each app, and a different page that each banner forwards clicks to. Then use Google Analytics to see how much page traffic each page got. Measuring results is easy if you use a sensible system as I described.

The hard part is deciding which apps to advertise on? How do you even source them? The solution is to scour the world market for apps, and see which ones might be relevant to your business or attract people who might want to use the type of services that you offer.

Trial and error and measuring ROI is a huge part of being a good advertise or marketer. So, learn to identify all options and research the best options and then compare. The secret to success is in your skill of comparing.

An Outsourcing Directory is the best way to find outsourcing companies

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Many people look around the web for outsourcing companies, but using 123outsource.net outsourcing directory is a much more streamlined way to find good companies. Why is that? 123outsource.net calls every company that is listed with us. We check to see if their phone works, if they communicate well, and if they are helpful. We also check to see how many clicks their listing gets which is an indication of popularity. On top of that, we email all people on our site to make sure they give quality responses to emails.

If you find outsourcing companies on your own, you take the luck of the draw. But, if you find people on 123outsource.net, you are getting companies that have been rigorously filtered by us, not to mention the fact that we have a great selection of companies in so many categories such as inbound call center, BPO, technical support, ePublishing, medical transcriptions, and more…

A client of 123outsource.net’s divulges it’s marketing secrets!

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“To be precise our only avenue to clients has been simply our standards and practices that we adhere to on a daily basis. It is critical from a client’s point of view, that he/she does not worry about his non-core activity and spend too much time and resources in grooming a outsourcing services provider because that is the sole purpose in the first place when it comes to choosing an outsourcing services provider. Binfex is meticulous while approaching a client for an engagement, we believe without the right research and knowledge about the customer’s core business one cannot deliver customer delight and enable the customer to be free of worries with his non-core activity.

There are key ingredients which as a team we always believed that would separate us from the lower quality service providers.
Our unwavered focus and commitment to service delivery, strategic knowledge about customer’s core business function and most importantly a strong and effective campaign management strategy for quality driven performance.

A list of methods that we apply while working approaching.

1. A Strong corporate brochure explaining why we are a value addition to the customer

2. A service portfolio that give absolute clarity on service delivery standards

3. Our quality culture, performance management, employee development practices, data security practices

4. Strong Core Team with in depth knowledge and experience

5. Effective and secure technology infrastructure with high availability.

6. Constant interaction with probable clients who need our service.

These are some of the methods follow and have inculcated as a culture at Binfex and we feel these standards and methods are critical for any service provider’s success.

Do you handle money well?

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A friend tried to introduce me to a woman. But, I learned that the woman wanted to control all of the money. I like to control money because I trust myself and feel I am reasonable at it as well. Also, I feel it is the man’s job to control the money, not the woman’s, but try explaining that to Chinese women who want to control everything!

If you marry a woman, you need to be on the same page about money. And if you run a business, you need to be sensible about handling money as well. Here are my pointers.

1. Don’t acquire debt.
Having debt is bad. Debt requires you to make monthly interest payments which can really zap your resources. Additionally, debt can become runaway debt which is very dangerous. Borrowing money for interest is forbidden in many religions and exactly for this reason as it can cause economic slavery. If you buy a building for your business, in that situation, you might need to borrow. But, try not to borrow a large percentage of the proceeds. Try to have a large portion of the equity to keep yourself stable.

2. Spend in moderation
Some people spend all of their money on nice cars, clothes, frivolities. I am not like this. have fun, travel, and maintain my health and comfort with acupuncture, massage and eating out, etc. However, I save money every month. I keep money in the bank, stocks, bonds, gold, etc. This is a great way to be stable in any economy. If business gets bad, I have money to fall back on for a very long time

3. Have liquid assets.
Every month, I save a little bit and add it to my nest egg. I keep a lot of money liquid instead of putting it all in a house because you never know when you need to take your money out. It makes more sense to buy a house after you have a few hundred thousand in liquid assets. But, others rarely manage their finances this way and they pay for it in the long run. If you lose your job, you still need to make house payments which is hard if you have no savings. So, have lots of liquid assets and be financially stable.
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4. Diversify your savings
My recommendations for diversification includes buying: Stable stocks, gold, having cash, safe bonds, etc. Stocks should be in four or more industries, but I don’t think it is necessary to have stock in all fifteen industries othewise you’ll focus too much on the industry and not enough on which stocks actually make sense to buy.

5. Safe diversification vs. risky diversification
Stock “experts” always want investors to diversify a little too much. It is good to have money in different industries, but there are other points to consider. If you are in 20 different industries in stocks that are all volatile, during the next crash you will lose everything. Some people like buying indexes as it is “safer,” but if your entire index crashes by 80% in the next depression, how safe are you really despite what all your upper middle class educated friends might claim? They are not financial experts despite their PhD. If they were financial experts, they would not be upper middle class, they would be wealthy and hanging around the country club instead of talking to you!

I put my investments in Banking, Food & Beverages, and general Medical manufacturing like Johnson & Johnson. These are stable industries that we always need. I consider the auto industry, transportation, and airlines to be very risky. But, just because you invest in banks doesn’t make you safe. Some banks like Wells Fargo are stable and have a good growth rate while Citibank might fold in the next decade or two.

6. Know your stock metrics
If you invest in stocks, there are several metrics you need to understand to take the guesswork out of the stocks.

Growth: How fast has the industry grown in the last 30 years?

Stability: How stable is your industry in a recession?

Profit margin & return on investment tell you how efficient the management is compared to other companies in the same industry.
P/E ratio is the most important metric as that tells you how much income you get for each dollar invested.

P/B: However, P/B ratio tells you how much the assets of the company are worth compared to the price of the stock which is a good metric as an indication of future growth potential according to the experts.

Equity: I also look at equity ratios as I consider companies that are too high in debt to be risky.

Earnings Stability: Last, companies that have irratic earnings don’t see safe. I look for companies whose income is stable and grows slowly over time.

7. Bonds should be safe
If you are an expert in junk bonds, good for you. But, for the rest of us, we need to be able to bank on our money. Safe bonds might include bonds for nations that are not too high in debt like Chile or Peru. Companies like Disney, Coca Cola, Wells Fargo, etc., are very stable and offer high rates on long term bonds. Wherever you invest, check the credit rating of the company or country. Also, get a few different bonds from different sources just in case one goes belly up.

8. Invest in your business
I believe in investing little by little in my business. I do not make sudden investments. I invest in good writers and pay them by the piece. I invest in programming little by little. I also buy a new computer from time to time. Advertising is a constant expense. When you invest little by little, you can get a better sense of what the investment is getting you rather than betting your life on something that might never happen. if you want to start a huge BPO, instead of investing in a huge office, learn the business from the ground up. Start in your living room and work your way up slowly. That is financially stable. You can get wiped out and lose your life savings if you try to grow too fast!

2 of 50 Print all In new window Guess who got 30,000 followers on Twitter? Me!

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It was a huge hurdle to get my first 10,000 followers on Twitter. I felt a huge sense of success with that accomplishment. So, after that I stuggled to get more and more followers. Getting up to 29,000 was easy with hard work. But, the work bothered my eyes. Getting big on Twitter involves a lot of following, unfollowing, and posting articles you found on the internet. It involves a lot of staring at the screen which can cause stress to your eyes and cause you to feel frazzled.

But, then Twitter changed its rules. You have to be selective how you do your following or Twitter might shut you down! No machines doing following for you anymore. So, now I am getting followers more slowly. I just hope I can get up to 100,000 followers soon.

The strategies for getting big on Twitter have changed. Posting comments on other accounts doesn’t work miracles like it used to. Posting about startups doesn’t work as well either. I’ll have to figure out what works well. I think the fastest way to grow on Twitter is to publish interesting and relevant articles that other people published with great tweet lines and great tags.

So, wish me luck on my Twitter journey. It is a lot of fun and a huge waste of time!

Everyone wants to start a BPO in India, but the labor is in Europe

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Everytime I read the news, I see refugees pouring into Europe. The irony is that many European countries have a 20% unemployment rate, so how will they possibly find jobs for these refugees who don’t even speak the language? Meanwhile in India, everybody wants to start a BPO, but they can’t find good workers. Most BPO companies in India hire workers who have hardly any experience, don’t know what they are doing and jump from job to job.

Perhaps these refugees need to move to India and China which are countries with economies that are growing in the long run despite some temporary set backs. Europe’s economy tends to be sluggish and people are set in their ways there which makes it hard for the region to experience growth. Meanwhile in China, they embrace change and are moving forward with new technology that they are the first to innovate.

My question is, can BPO companies find a way to tap into labor resources in Italy, Spain and North Africa? The labor is there, but there is no training or structure. Is it possible to create structure in a structureless land?

My feeling is that it would be better to create a country for the world’s 50,000,000 refugees and create factories and outsourcing companies for them to work at. Their entire economy could be based on remote labor sourcing for manufacturing, call centers, and other tasks. If training were avaialble, and decent infrastructure were created, a new country could thrive. But, where would such a company be created? Out of the ruins of broken North African states like Chad or Libya.

Regions & countries with stagnant populations have stagnant economies.

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In the United States for example, the states that experience the most immigration have the best economies. States like California, Connecticut, New York, etc. have booming economies. States like Mississippi that have had the same people for the last few hundred years tend to have slower economies. There is a correlation between population movement and wealth. Part of the correlation is that wealth attracts new populations from other regions. The other part of the equation is that people who move tend to be more highly motivated and hence will work harder in most cases than local born people.

In California for example, the first generation Mexicans here will work under the worst conditions for minimal pay in the fields, kitchens, or painting houses for example. Their children are hard workers as well, but prefer cleaner work conditions. People in America who are fourth generation have a work ethic, but are more picky about what they do. But, in sluggish states where people have been in the same region for ten or more generations, sluggishness (and hospitality) seems to be a way of life for many.

Europe’s population seems to be stagnating as well. New ways of doing business are not always embraced. The language differences make international trade more complicated. And last, the national divide and the countries going in and out of unions also make Europe a tough place to get things done. In North America, you can get products from Mexico to Canada in hours by truck. The manufacturing and distribution is very efficient and companies are always using new techniques. We embrace new foods, new cultures and new ways of doing things in America while Europe seems to be stuck in tradition.

The immigrants in Europe offer a hope to boost the decaying population whose growth is negative. But, Europe doesn’t know how to handle immigration. They don’t embrace differences, they don’t accept others, foreigners live in ghettos, and it is harder to find work. If you accept immigrants without assimilating them it creates a polarized society.

The other problem with Europe is that they don’t pick their immigrants well. If you pick hardworking decent people from the Middle East and integrate them into society, you will end up with prosperity. Europe is not intelligent enough to be able to figure this out. Instead, they let in ruffians, terrorists and bums and wonder why their girls are getting raped, and why attacks are happening all over France and other areas. Europe picked the wrong people, segregated them, and then suffered the consequences. Do you think Europe will figure out that they need to pick the right people and be a little more accepting of them?

What are the companies applying to be on 123outsource.net like?

Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Leave a comment

You would be surprised at the kind of companies we get applying to be listed on our outsourcing directory. Many of the companies have their assistants fill out the form to get listed with us. There are spelling mistakes galore, capitalization mistakes, notes sections which leave you in the dark about what the company actually does, omitted contact people (no contact person mentioned), websites that don’t function, and other problems. Many companies don’t even put themselves in the right category. They will say Data Entry when they focus more on call center services.

What companies in India don’t realize is that Americans are watching every detail. If Americans see even one spelling mistake, they will assume you are careless. You can explain that you used your fresher to fill out the form and that your company really is careful, and that the form filler was new, etc. But, nobody will buy that. American companies might still use your company if you are dirt cheap. But, if you want to gain loyalty, respect and make good money, you need to clean up your act.

Your website needs to load within four seconds at the longest and have complete information about your company, what they do, how they can be reached, etc. These days sites need to be mobile friendly.

You need to have people answer the phone who announce the company’s name clearly, speak clearly, and who can answer questions.

You need to have experienced people doing the work who are carefully managed and who meet deadlines and get the work done according to specification. Nobody respects late work.

Most outsourcing companies out there do not have their act together. If you want to succeed in the future, concentrate more on being put together and you might get more work than you can handle in the long run.

How Much is the Transaction Fees for Bitcoin Transfers?

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Transaction fees are always processed and received by the miner. When a new hash is used to generate a successful bitcoin block, all the transactions information is included in the block together with transaction fees which are collected by the miner. The miner is free to assign bitcoin fees as he pleases.

The person making a bitcoin transaction has a voluntary will because he can include any costs to the transactions or not at all. However, no new bitcoin miner necessarily needs to accept transactions and create a new block when created. Therefore, the transaction fees is an incentive levied on the bitcoin user to ensure that a transaction is included in the next generated block.

It is overseen that the collective transaction fees out of cumulative effect allow new block creators to make earn more coins than those mined from new bitcoins that are created from new blocks over time. This is an incentive levied to allow for the trial to create blocks even when the newly created blocks amount to zero in future.

In the past, the sender used to pay the full amount of bitcoin network transactions. The fee was deducted from the received amount. The recipient often considered it as an incomplete transaction.

Network security is one of the most important services miners provide. This big network of hash rates is covered by miners to keep bitcoins safe from hackers and bad actors. These miners need some little cash for this purpose to pay for their hardware costs, electricity and other bills. ASIC mining hardware keeps the bitcoins secure through the working proof. Therefore, these miners get paid through bitcoin’s block combination transaction fees and rewards.

Block rewards is a significant income that provides the miners an income. They start at 50 bitcoins per block the previous number is 20 bitcoins per block. It dropped to 12.5 bitcoins per block this year.

How to Outsource Your Entire Business

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Why Small Businesses Have to Spend Money to Make Money with Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the new buzzword in online business. After all, why do a job yourself when you can get someone else to do it at a lower ultimate price? With around 100,000 e-commerce businesses generating significant income online today, it’s no wonder that people are looking to get more bang for their buck to be in with a chance of topping the competition. But, like with any service that feeds into any business, outsourcing needs to be done properly to work well.

The simple economics of ROI for outsourcing
It’s tempting to just go for the cheapest option available when it comes to outsourcing, thinking that this will give you the biggest profit margin in the long run. But for the process to be effective, you need to think in terms of return on investment for a smart and long-term result. If you choose someone to write content for your website at 1 cent per 200 words, for example, your initial outlay will be small – but do you really think you’ll get highly attractive content that will bring in traffic and encourage conversions? The simple answer is: no. Instead, consider paying 2 or 3 cents per 100 words, increasing your initial expenditure, but creating authority and lasting value for your website visitors that will drive sales, conversions, and shares in the long terms and win you a much better ROI.

A careful selection process
When it comes to choosing a freelancer to outsource work to, it’s better to have a process in place that determines whether an individual fits your specific needs. Rather than a scattergun approach that welcomes applications from all and sundry, focus your requirements, spending the time or money to create a decent advertisement and provide a routine set of questions for candidates to answer. This will save money, time, and stress in the long term.

Contact the specialists
Running the gamut of sifting through the thousands of freelancers available for outsourcing across the globe can be a gruelling process littered with traps for the unsuspecting small business owner. By 2020, one in two business-people may be freelancers, evidence of the growing trend and overwhelming number of potentials to choose from. Consider using the services of a reliable outsourcing agency like ours, with a directory of freelancers, including verified information on past work, proof of qualifications and aptitudes, and a sophisticated system of managing correspondence between you for time-effectiveness.

Can’t find good workers? Hire a refugee!

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Worldwide, it is hard to find good workers. Especially in India, America and the UK, there is a shortage of qualified workers for many tasks. But, what if you could hire a refugee? Workers in America typically say, “I don’t know if I really want to do this.” Refugees don’t talk like that. They have bills to pay and bellies to fee. They will do the most unpleasant work for pennies. But, how do you get a Somali guy to come to India to work at your BPO? And can you train them?

The good news is that many Syrian and African refugees speak English (perhaps better than you do.) If you could train them to do certain tasks for your company, you might have a reliable workforce. In India, it is common for people to quit their jobs on a whim to seek better opportunities. Refugees would be more likely to stick to their job since they have tasted starvation and don’t want any more of it.

On the flip side, having refugees in India would worsen the Hindu-Muslim divide. So, although you might get your work done, there might be more riots, and eventually a civil war. So, in the long run it might not be worth it unless you live in a part of India that is already mostly Muslim.