5 Tips from Entrepreneurs For Starting a Business!

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Many experienced business people wish they could start again: they would make better decisions overall, factor in social media and a stronger advertising budget, and maybe even plan for more family time. So– if you are starting from the beginning–you have the opportunity to get it right the first time! Here are some tips from entrepreneurs who wish they had done what you have the opportunity to do right now:

1) Create a written business plan–before you do anything else. This just means writing down all the business ideas you spend time telling your family or friends. The most brilliant entrepreneurs fail to have a written business plan, and this causes them to just shoot from the hip too much of the time. The plan does not have to be tedious or boring; it can be simple and practical–a big ‘To Do list’–that includes clear and measurable goals for each 6-month and one-year period, and 7-10 ways you propose to achieve them. Then, from there, create your marketing plan (who are your customers?), a plan for finding the right employees (what exactly do you need them to help with, and where can you find them?), and an advertising strategy (where will you be able to get in touch with those customers?). If you take some time to put this down in writing and discuss it with friends or mentors who are in business, you will know exactly what you need to do and spend each step of the way. “Focus on strategy,” says Ari Tulla, Co-founder of BetterDoctor, a site that helps people find and make appointments with doctors. Then, you can revise your plan as you discover more routes to success, more products, and new marketing tools and social media avenues. Sample business plans are available on the web; many good ones are available at score.org, the website of the Small Business Administration (U.S.).

2) Choose very carefully the people you work with and hire. The people you have around you will set the tone for your business and will have a profound effect on your thinking. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn asserted, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” So look for your employees, mentors, and sub-contractors from among people you know and trust. Screen them carefully and get to know them and their circumstances before you hire them.

3) Use time effectively; if you do not have good time management skills, develop them–or you will not last in business. One business owner admits, “When I began working from a daily ‘To Do’ list, everything changed. I was really smart, but I guess I couldn’t remember everything and I would get off track. Now I don’t take on any tasks or meetings unless I finish my To Do list first. Make and implement a To Do list every day…and you will make more money the first year of business!”

4) Speaking of hiring a staff– Don’t just hire people you may have to fire later on. Try a combination of subcontractors, employees, and BPO outsourcing. You need people around you whom you can trust, but you also need fewer expenses and less bookkeeping. Make a list of what work you really need done. Then, make a list of pros and cons–expenses, how much control you have over the process, flexibility of the people you want (hours, ability to multi-task and take on a variety of roles, wages), reliability…and come up with a system that fits your needs. One employer we know made sacrifices to keep his employees…but had he hired a few temps or subcontractors instead of actual employees, he would not have made other bad decisions based solely on his belief that employees would not negotiate about their hours or salaries.

5) Make time to talk to your customers, and really listen to their feedback. Ask them what they like about your business, and what could be better. If your company does not always answer the phone in a professional manner and this annoys potential customers– do something about it. If customers have feedback about products, prices, or customer service issues–listen, respond, and send them a Thank You email. Then, look into the problems. Customers like business owners who are in touch with what people want. One entrepreneur admits, “I always thought some of my customers were complainers who just had nothing else to think about. But one time, someone reported a glitch in the online ordering system, and it turned out to be something far more important than was evident on the surface. Now, I have regular talks with customers and even call them just to chat once in a while. I also send out surveys to get feedback, and they appreciate the attention and refer business to me.”

You might also like:

6 strategies for growing your outsourcing business fast!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/16/6-strategies-for-growing-your-outsourcing-business-fast/

Networking meetings are a great way to grow your business!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/03/networking-meetings-are-a-great-way-to-grow-your-business/

Outsourcing Social Media — what would the dialogue be about?

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

CLIENT: I want to hire someone who is good at social media and not just another pretty Facebook?

MANAGER: That is great, so what would you like to Tweet about today?

CLIENT: Well, I just wanted to let you know how I stumbledupon your company.

MANAGER: Oh, so tell me! Or should I say, share with me.

CLIENT: I was on Linked In, when I found a link to your other social media accounts. I wanted to learn as much about you as possible before I lost Pinterest.

MANAGER: Got it, I understand. Too many networks. It can get complicated.

CLIENT: I just wanted to mention that — or give you a mention.

MANAGER: Right

Social media is not rocket science. It is good if you learn how to use the basic platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to promote your business. The problem is that if you hire an outside company to do your social media, they don’t understand your business (probably) and also rarely know how to create content. A double negative. So, what do you do with this type of company? Ask questions and see who doesn’t fall on their face.

CLIENT: I run a widget company. I want to know what type of content you would put on my Facebook account.

MANAGER: Hmm, that is complicated. We are not familiar with your industry

CLIENT: That is what the last four companies I talked to said which is why I didn’t hire them, but am/was considering hiring yours.

MANAGER: Well, we have never had a client in the widget business. We could familiarize ourselves with the industry though.

CLIENT: Hmm. Instead of continuing this conversation, it would be more interesting to me to give you a little time to browse around our site and the web, and come up with specific ideas of what you would post about. Otherwise, I would not have faith in hiring your company. I need some type of guarantee of competency and results to enter into any type of business relationship.

MANAGER: Hmm, we can’t really do anything like that without a contract.

CLIENT: Well, I can’t sign any contract until I am sure about you. It is sort of like marrying a woman before you sample her cuisine. But, she refuses to cook her tequila korma until you marry her. It is a very dangerous catch-22 and not worth the risk.

Big business people often advise that you are always ready to walk away from a deal. If a deal seems to have question marks of any sort, it is probably good to walk away unless you swear by the individuals who you are dealing with after knowing them for a decade. Even if you have to say no to one hundred companies in a row — do so. Hire the right company who you feel comfortable with.

If the companies you interview are completely useless and unwilling to budge an inch without a contract, outsource your social media to yourself. Learn how to do it and then hire your own people, or find someone inexpensive in India who will follow your instructions rather than getting ripped off by signing a contract that guarantees the transfer of money to the company, but doesn’t guarantee any quality of work for you! I also recommend that any contract you sign should ideally stipulate results like how many unique new visitors you’ll get to your blog, or how many total relevant followers you’ll get. Your host company will probably not be willing to sign such a contract because they are only interested in taking your money and don’t care about results.

At least, you could have an opt-out clause if they fail to meet objectives stipulated. Protect yourself. There are a hundred ways to get ripped off in web business, and very few ways to succeed. In the long run you need to be the expert yourself instead of relying on others who are very weak in their knowledge base, and not looking out for your best interests — to guide you.

Followback strategy for Google+

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Leave a comment

Google+ is a little bit difficult to use if you are not used to it. One of the issues is that you can’t tell who is following you back. On Twitter, you follow, and then unfollow those who didn’t follow you back. Googleplus doesn’t make it possible to do this. They want you to follow people you actually want to follow! But, I have a new technique I invented.

If you follow 100 accounts per day on Google+ for example — you would also unfollow most or all of them a few days or a week later. So, how do you know which ones were following you back? On the posts page of your account, you will see a list of those following you. The accounts that Google will show you tend to be accounts that you are NOT following back. Many of them could have been people you followed, who followed you back who you unfollowed. This way you get them back into your reciprocal circles. But, there’s more.

Create a circle called “Follow Back”
This makes it easier. If you have circles of those you are following, only to unfollow them a few days later in hopes that they will reciprocate, those circles tend to get eliminated systematically as part of the process. However, the follow back circle does not get removed by you if you use my strategy. There are temporary circles and permanent circles.

Another twist on circles
Since I follow people with the intention of unfollowing them a few days later — if I find an account that has many mutual followers in common with me, I put them into the circle that corresponds to where I found them such as a name of a community, etc. But, I also put them in a second circle that I intend not to erase ever such as my “Optimized follower” circle, or my VIP, or “Of interest” circle.

Summary
Basically, the way to grow your social media following is just like a scene from the Karate Kid movie. Wax on, wax off, don’t forget to breathe — very important! But, if you find someone during your outreach who you want to keep for good, put them in a special circle where they won’t get removed by you later on. Additionally, if those in your follow-back folder unfollow you down the road, there are ways to deal with this. You could unfollow your follow-back people, and then look at your posts page on the upper right and follow them back again — the ones who are still following you will show up there.

Twitter strategy — target those who retweet a lot!

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Analytics, Marketing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I do a lot of social media for my business. It is hit and miss, and you have to understand analytics to know if it is helping or working. You need to understand the value of a follower, and how much effort is worth putting in to get a new follower. But, not all followers are created equal. Active followers are not necessarily harder to get, but they are in shorter supply, and worth a hundred times more than a dormant follower on social media.

I target active people on Twitter. I like people who tweet a lot. I like people with really top-notch content. I can retweet top-notch content without sacrificing my quality standards after all. I can also promote the blog articles that I read from other people’s top notch Twitter accounts, but put an original title and tags to accompany their link. That helps me, and helps them.

But, mostly, I like to target new followers who retweet a lot. If you post good content, and you have 1000 followers who love to retweet, your content could go viral, or at least show up on the keyword search results page on Twitter. The problem is that the longer you do outreach, you end up running out of the top notch prospects to follow.

I’m just starting a travel twitter @meander411
Luckily for me, the industry has thousands of active travel lovers who are on Twitter, and the content they promote is often excellent. The sky is the limit. I hope I don’t see the day when I run short of good prospects. We’ll see.

One of the obstacles that I run into is that many followers are from other countries who speak Italian, Spanish, Indonesian, or Hindi. I can’t function in any of those languages. I prefer English speaking followers. Another issue is that those who are not travel focused often retweet travel materials. Should I follow someone who is not relevant simply because they take interest in travel?

It is hard to say. We’ll find out how it goes after a few months!

My atypical lifestyle and ultra-efficiency

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

My lifestyle and efficiency

I have a very nice lifestyle — I admit it.  I own my own business(es) and choose how I live.  Sure, I am virtually handcuffed to the back of a moving train in a sense. My businesses produce more work than I can handle and those I hire seem to not function without me babysitting them.  If I had time to babysit them I wouldn’t have hired them in the first place!  But, I attribute the lifestyle I have to my efficiency.

Those who work in crowded stressful office environments are in an environment that seems to me to be not unlike slavery.  The boss sees how many workers they can cram into a small and unimaginative space, and forces them to do repetative tasks all day long. The workers usually don’t get much recognition for any achievements they make, and don’t feel any connection to the future success of their company since they will most likely move on to another company in a year or two.  Managers just squeeze work out of these grunts and hard work is only rewarded by more punishment.  No wonder so may workers don’t care about their work.

My life is completely different and free.  First of all I choose my hours. I tend  to work weird hours, and lots of hours since I have too much work.  Since nobody can really help with most of my work, I realize that if I don’t work fast then I will never have time to have dinner or sleep!  But, if I make too many mistakes then I will have to repeat tasks and suffer the dishonor of having made a mistake.  So, I tend to make few mistakes to save time and aggravation in the future.  I can also go on short trips if I bring my laptop, so I often will drive a few hours away to go to meditation venues.

I used to have a furry orange cat who would jump on my computer desk and give me a kiss when I was lucky.  The minute I left my chair, she would jump on it and go to sleep in it since she knew that I had inadvertantly warmed it up.  Then, I would have to reason with her about how that was “MY” chair, and it belonged to me, and how she needed to sit in the other chair which was HER chair. To this day, I am still not convinced that felines understand the concept of ownership, but it never hurts to reinforce this idea verbally from time to time. If I were smarter, I would have adopted the strategy of warming up HER chair, so she would know where to sit, but unfortunately my computer was in front of MY chair.

I have a nice view out my window. I can see a variety of trees, species of grass, and a very attractive parking lot which I wouldn’t trade for anything.  I  enjoy the quiet and low-stress environment of being the only person — well at least the only “human” person in my workplace. I have a megascreen moniter for my computer so that I can open infinite windows simultaneously.

Additionally, when I walk outside, there is a cafe, and I know the people who work there. I can enjoy conversations about politics, religion, the economy and many other topics while I take a break from my hectic work schedule which sometimes ends at 3am Pacific Standard Time.

And lastly, since I own my business(es), I am the one who reaps the praise and financial rewards when I succeed.  If I work hard and make a monster out of my businesses, then I will be a multi-millionaire.  If I am lazy and spend all day drinking cherry mochas, I will palpitate my way into pauperhood.  My destiny lays in my hands, not some boss who is only exploiting me as an expendable commodity.

The heaven of my life is so different from the hell that others go through at work.  I think that bosses should consider rewarding star employees with private offices (having their own small and quiet room).  They should get some flexibility in their schedule too. A nice view of trees and grass works wonders for morale.  And having animals can really bring tremendous satisfaction in the work environment. Having a sponsered trip out of town from time to time would be worth it if you have a few overachievers who really deserve it. Workers will work more efficiently if they are appreciated with rewards and a great lifestyle.

Outsourcing Data Entry

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Outsourcing Data Entry
There are various issues involved in outsourcing data entry. Safety of information, boring work conditions, and the ability to hire specialized staff.

Security
By outsourcing data entry and data storage, you are opening yourself up to new opportunities and risks. What if the data entry company compromises you data and sells it (oh my god!). Or, what if your data is guarded with the best technology available to human kind with your new outsourcing company, but your data is not so secure at home with the mother company (hmmm). These are interesting points to consider. Any sensitive information has to be treated with the utmost of care. Servers need backups, and backups need customer service that is responsive, otherwise what good is it? Companies might seem good at first, and then a year later you might have a problem and it might take days to get a half-witted response from them about your critical data!

The main point is to pursue the issue of security of outsourcing data entry with a positive viewpoint: i.e. how can I put outsourcing on the table as an option to consider as a potentially more secure and better way to store and process data? If you are considering a particular company, its wise to ask as many questions about their security measures as possible and interview various employees to double check whether the information is really policy, or just a nice sounding story.

Boredom?
Data Entry jobs can be boring. I personally can only do two hours of data entry per day without wanting to take a three week vacation. If you have in-house workers do this, you have to deal with their boredom, attrition, perhaps even carelessness. By outsourcing data entry jobs, this problem gets transfered to a foreign country, far away. For all you know, they think its fascinating doing data entry and they can’t wait to go to work. Or maybe the work is boring, but their co-workers are fun, plus the samosas and chai served three times daily make the day pleasant. Work conditions are very different on the other side of the ocean.

Errors?
Its quite a job double checking everyone’s work, making sure they have a low rate of errors. In America, that type of work can be stressful. But, in India, there are many who like keeping tabs on others. Its part of the national culture in many ways. The job you hate might be a dream come true for someone else.

Attrition
Data Entry jobs might have high attrition rates. But, if someone lives in another country where this is their only means to make a decent living, they will be less inclined to quit on a whim. The job market in India changes so much, one year people will cut their left arm for a job, and a few years later, they will go job surfing and change jobs several times per year at great expense to the employer.

The Manila Bulletin stated on Aug 29th, 2010, that the attrition rate for data entry operations in the Philippines was only 14% which was lower than other industries. Attrition for data entry jobs might be high in America and India, but not in the Philippines.

Specialized Staff
A company that specializes in outsourcing data entry jobs can hire very specialized staff that a company who is not specialized in data entry would not be able to hire full time. Its a trend these days to focus on core competencies, and outsource the rest to other companies in your country, or in other countries. A company that specializes will also have the knowledge of how to hire the best staff since they know their business intimately, and less specialized companies wouldn’t be as sharp.

Pools of experts.
Sophisticated data entry companies will have a pool of experts who have an in depth business lexicon and technical know-how so that the company can easily deal with even the most challenging assignments. A company who doesn’t have the right mix of skilled employees, will stumble when faced with a similar data entry project.

How to make employers apply to you?

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Getting a Job | Tagged , | Leave a comment

This might sound easier said than done, but employers are tired of the same dumb people applying for jobs. What do employers look for and What are employers looking for? Crafier and more saavy employers do what the industry calls “digging” to find some unusual and more interesting job candidates. Employers are tired of brain-dead applicants faxing their CV or resume. They are tired of boring interviews. They want to hire someone who is exciting and alive.

There was a guy who wrote his own blog, and said that he was looking for a job. His blog was so interesting, and he wrote so much about himself and what he liked to do, that many employers did contact him. For most of us, this strategy wouldn’t work. But, for unique and creative people, it could work. Some employers want to hire someone with a Master’s degree to be a blogger while others prefer to hire someone who has written amazing blogs before? Who would you hire?

By putting your work on the web, prospective employers can check you out before they even talk to you. Great! People want to see what you actually can do, and what you would produce instead of a bunch of unverifiable claims boasting about how great you are. Put your work on the table!

There are also sites where you can post a profile about yourself and what job you are looking for. If you do a nice job with your profile, employers might give you more attention that you might expect. Remember that the OTHER profiles are probably boring and list a bunch of potentially fake qualifications. Make yours really unique and interesting in a good way, and then you might be the one who gets called. Remember, the key is to stand out and show what you have got!

Self-confidence arises from your internal thoughts and image

September 24, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged | Leave a comment

I am reading Jeffrey Gitomer’s sales blog where he talks about confidence. But, it is sounding like what a guru would say, not a regular person. But, his statement is true. Your confidence, and your ability to arouse confidence in others does depend on your internal thoughts and image. So, if you feel that you can’t do something. Find a way to make a small success, and then build on that. Make a slightly bigger success after that, and then a little bigger. Soon, without realizing it, you will have the confidence of a moose with very large antlers.

It is interesting. I can look at someone’s picture and know if they have confidence. What does your picture say about you — besides that you are having a bad hair day.

If you have a poor self-image, start working on that today. A poor self-image starts with the thought, “I can’t”. It arises from a mind with limitation. We all have perceived limitations. But, you need to expand your mind. That is the real solution to poor self-image.

The greatest success is when your self-image is not dependent on what others say. I have people tell me how annoying and stupid I am on a daily basis. I think it is really funny. Because, I think I am annoying and smart. I regard being annoying as a positive trait. I work with people who don’t do what they are supposed to unless you annoy them constantly. So, I developed the trait of being annoying. Luckily, that train comes naturally to me! The minute these nitwits start doing what they are supposed to, I will have no more reason to be annoying. Then, I will have a problem — who will I annoy?

See your negative traits as positive. Do you get angry? Anger is good — to a point. Sure, don’t get mad and kill someone. But, anger can wake peopel up if they are doing the wrong thing. If you are a nice Hindu and tell someone in our nice gentle tone of voice that what they are doing is destructive, they might ignore you. Get angry and tell them, “Knock it off buddy”. You might get better results. So, don’t feel bad about yourself because you are angry sometimes. Anger is good.

What if you are not intellectually astute? This is also not a bad quality. If everyone were smart, there would be so much competition for smart-people type jobs, that smart people wouldn’t be able to get them most of the time. Think of the damage to society if everyone were smart. So, being a blockhead is not a bad thing. Someone has to be a blockhead. Just say, “I am a knucklehead, and that is okay!”

So, to sum things up. Think positively about ALL of your attributes. If others think you are a terrible person, learn to think that is funny. Your attachment to what others think can kill you internally. Also, think of all the positive things that are happening and that could happen. Follow my suggestions, mix with water (if you live in India, then filtered water), and then you will have unlimited confidence — guaranteed!

The Outsourcing Boat

September 24, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

It was a Thursday afternoon, or at least that is what I though in the dream. I was rowing my boat around San Francisco out of the bay and into the ocean. I rowed under the Golden Gate Bridge. There was a huge ship out there. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere. It just sat there — floating. What could it be? I rowed closer and closer. Remember that this is a dream, and I row fast in dreams. My boat glided at what must have been 40 miles per hour with very infrequent pulling on the oars. In about 20 seconds, I made it to the boat. It was in international waters. There was a dotted line in the ocean demarcating where the international lines were. In real life, it would have been a lot further away from land — thank god for dreams!

The boat had lots of people from India and the Philippines on it looking over the railing. They sent down ropes to hoist my boat up. Once I was on deck, I asked what they were doing in the boat. They said, “Oh, this is the Outsourcing Boat, we do outsourcing here. We couldn’t get our H1 to work in America, so we do all of our work in international waters here in this boat. Our clients can come visit us here if they want. They like the comfort of knowing where we are and who we are and meeting all of us.”

I said that it was good that people knew where they were, otherwise they might be thought of as a fly-by-night operation.
Sujata corrected me, “No, we are not a fly-by-night operation… we are a row-by-night operation.. this is the Outsourcing Boat, not the Outsourcing plane.” I said, “Wow, it is sort of like the Love Boat, except you do outsourcing!” Sujata once again corrected me and said, “Well, we love doing outsourcing!” Maybe it should be called the Love Outsourcing Boat or the S.S. H-1.

So, I was given a tour of the boat. The deck was for relaxing and eating, not to mention meeting with clients. I saw many bosses from American companies who were given a complimentary motorboat ride from the docks to meet project managers on the boat. They were enjoying this stylish way of getting their work done. I ordered a lemonade while on deck. Sujata instructed me to call the 800 number to get my lemonade. They didn’t have waiters on this boat, that job was outsourced to their call center downstairs.

Me: “Hi, I would like one lemonade”
Call Center: “No problem, one lemonade coming up”
Me: “Do you need to know what table I am at?”
Call Center: “No, my phone system shows that you are at table 41.”

Then, a guy with a gps-tracking device found my table and delivered my lemonade. Wow! They outsourced a waiter’s job!
Next, Sujata showed me what was going on below deck. We went into an elevator, and went down one floor. This was the IT floor. There were hundreds of smaller rooms filled with geeky looking people staring at computer screens. There were meeting rooms, server rooms, and even a few small kitchen rooms. After that, we went down another floor. That was the outsourced Accounting floor. There were chartered accountants from India specializing in U.S. taxation, payroll, and other bookkeeping tasks. The next floor down was getting closer to the boiler room (no pun intended). This was the call center floor. I met Anna. She was from a small island in the Philippines where they eat rice, fish and coconuts all day long. She wanted a more interesting life, so now she lives on a huge boat. Anna was the one who took my order for a lemonade. The next floor down was the actual boiler room.

Sujata said that every day she looked at the land and wondered what it would be like to step onto land in America. I told here that America is huge and there are so many vastly different places, each one of them very unique. Then I was driving through the desert in New Mexico. This is what happens when you dream — there is no logical connection between different parts of the dream.

When I woke up, I went to my dream journal and documented my whole adventure. I thought that maybe in real life someone should invent something like an Outsourcing Boat. It is a great way to get around the red tape of visa restrictions. Think of how much stronger the American economy could be if anyone could come and work here with no conditions! No more waiting forever for the plumber to come! The next day, I actually needed a plumber — I called the 800 number and the voice who received me said, “Hello, thank you for calling A1 Plumbing, this is Sujata, may I help you?”

You might also like:

If you hire happy people to interact with your staff
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/05/29/if-you-hire-happy-people-to-interact-with-your-staff/

Casual day at a call center in India
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/03/31/casual-day-at-a-call-center-in-india/

Is it better to have a large outsourcing house or a smart business?

September 24, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The concept of having a smart business is largely ignored in the outsourcing world. People focus on being able to do certain tasks such as data entry, .net programming, web design, accounting, inbound call center, etc. But, there doesn’t seem to be much emphasis on being smart about what you do. Maybe there is not much emphasis on intelligence because there isn’t much intelligence out there.

Consultants can make more than a boss of a company with 20 employees very easily. A boss of grunt workers operates on a thin margin, and spends most of his time hiring, firing, and rehiring more grunts who work for minimal wages with very inefficient output. A consultant on the other hand can make $200 or more per hour which can translate into more than half a million per year if they are fine tuned at what they do. To prove yourself as a consultant you need references and a very stable track record!

Many programming or outsourcing houses that have lots of employees could really benefit from having an outsourcing consultant come in and give them a tune-up. A few hours per week could help to identify serious flaws in the organization’s customer service, and work habits. Additionally, a consultant could train management on how to train workers in areas that they are lacking!

Imagine a city with stores that come to you?

September 24, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Innovation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The problem with most urban centers is that they are build along a grid. Grids are no fun. Imagine building a city with internal loops. Downtown could be in a circle around a huge park that you could enjoy a latte in during your break, or just take a very long walk. But, what about residential areas? What if a huge loop that was several miles in circumference was built around high rise apartment buildings. Imagine that the road had stores on it. But, the stores didn’t stand still — they moved.

You could have a railway track and stores on trains. The stores could slowly move at half a mile per hour and make it to your neighborhood. If you worked from home, this would be a convenient way to go shopping. Need a new pair of jeans? The Levi’s store will be in your area at 3:15. Busy at 3:15? You can walk to it at 2:45 and then take a shared cab to your appointment. Everything is possible when we let our imaginations wander like children do. Personally, I go on long drives to other states, and I have plenty to think about!

What if there were miles and miles of gardens that you traversed on your way to wherever you were going? Transportation in cities is no fun. You wait at a dirty bus or train station that smells of urine, get in a cramped bus that has jerky stops, and get off, and have to walk crossing dangerous intersections and waiting for lights. Imagine that you could go wherever you are going by walking through an assortment of unique and beautiful gardens. Imagine that you had a choice of walking, riding a bike on a designated bike highway with no cars to run you off the road, or ride a Segway. Now, imagine that the Segway was something you didn’t need to buy, rent, or fill out paperwork for. You just ride it within the track, and get off after you finished using it and park it next to a wall? For those of you who have never seen a Segway, it is a device with two wheels on an axle that you stand on. Lean forwards and it goes forwards. It manages to stand up and not fall over through an internal balancing system — very high tech and very cool. Sure, it might take longer to get where you are going in the garden system, but it would smell better and be more fun too. Especially if there were different choices of paths you could take to work every day. That way you would see more diverse scenery each time and never get bored.

I also think it would be fun if the stores and cafes we went to were all in an endless sequence of diverse gardens. Who wants to cross pollution infested busy streets, hear honking and risk getting run over. I’d rather take a walk in the park, and buy my Levi’s in a store there.

The issue with small stores on a rotating track in a neighborhood is that they wouldn’t be able to fit much inventory. However, using the several decade old Japanese JIT (Just in Time) inventory distribution technique, they could restock their store several times a day on an as needed basis! Unusual — yes. I think that such a system would be very convenient and fun as well. Additionally, it would stimulate entrepreneurship since all of these tiny stores on the train track would be private businesses under the umbrella of city government management. Interesting idea!

My idea resembles the idea of the taco truck a bit. There is one block in Los Angeles near the museum where there are about eight different food trucks. Get Pho’, tacos, teriyaki, Thai food, or whatever else you can think of. Imagine a city where there is one street, or one part of town where there are one thousand food trucks, and each one of them is unique to a certain extent. Perhaps many serve tacos, but they each have different sauces, or something different about their tacos. In Los Angeles, we have Korean tacos which are the best I’ve had in my life. Forced diversity is interesting because it forces you to innovate. I hope you share my culinary fantasy!

Should you hire a domestic or foreign company?

September 24, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Should you hire a domestic or foreign company?
 
When you need a task done, it’s hard to know who to hire. It’s scary to think about hiring a company in a foreign country. What will they be like?  Will they cheat me?  Do they speak my language?  What I learned is that companies right here in the United States are very likely to cheat you, or have workers who don’t speak or spell properly in English.  Don’t base your judgment of a company based on location — get to know them!
 
Getting to know you!
Companies represent themselves in many ways. Some have a beautiful website, great sales staff, and many brag about the types of services they offer.  But, if you look more deeply you may discover a lot more. I suggest doing a lot of digging.  Some companies may have fantastic staff members for web design, but if you hire them for content development, they might only have one person who is multi-tasking. That one person might not be that great at content development. You need to get to know not only the salesman at the company, but the owners, managers, and whomever the employee is who will be working on your projects.
 
The wall of separation
Many companies like to keep their employees behind an impenetrable wall.  Let’s keep it impersonal, right? This might be a good thing or bad thing depending on what type of project you are working on.  If the workers are doing generic and repetitive tasks and are replaceable, then you might not need to get to know them.  But, what if you are working on a sensitive programming project!  It is imperative that you know the workers well if working on a sensitive project of any type.  If anything goes wrong, there will be a huge communication issue between you and the workers!  
 
To outsource or not to outsource?
This is funny, but I like to outsource certain tasks, while other tasks must stay here in America.  Why?  If I need direct communication with staff members, they have to be in California and they have to be friendly and willing to meet regularly with me.  I interviewed companies about an ASP project.  The companies here who said they did the work in-house turned out to be outsourcing the work to India.  They told me it would be a lot more expensive if I wanted to have regular face-to-face meetings with the programmers and that it would be “difficult”.  Hmmm, looks like they are hiding something.  Their workers are in Hyderabad, and that’s why it’s difficult to see them!  However, I found a good company that really does have an in-house programmer. They are seven hours away, but they are real, and the programmer is a great communicator.
 
Critical projects?
If you are working on work that is not so important, you can risk a newer company, a younger boss, and risk working with strangers in general. If something goes wrong, you won’t lose your business.   But, what about a really critical project? I would get someone who has been in business for a decade and who has staff who have a lot of experience who are not going anywhere.  Even if the company is overseas, a personal visit makes your work with them a lot safer and builds a psychic connection between you which is very important!

Conclusion
The bottom line is to hire a company that you feel very comfortable with no matter where they are.  Don’t let artificial national borders be barriers for your enterprise!