I’m Not Showing You How to Make Money!
October 13, 2008 · Print Post
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So this is the third time this has happened to me and it sucks. I outsource most of my work, design, graphics, banners, content, etc to other people. My outsources are great people and I have a great connection with them. They do excellent work with my images and content. Sometimes I even help them out when they say they want to start affiliate marketing or do some sort of marketing online. Now here is my problem. I have these great outsources and they do such a great job I tend to help them out with whatever marketing questions they may have.
The problem is they tend to stop doing their freelance work because they are making more money in affiliate marketing than their freelance work. Now that sucks! How and where can I find another great outsourcer in which I am accustomed to. The past 2 times I was a little disappointed because I knew my outsourcers for about 8 months and he does a great job with all my graphics and designs. When he told me he was not doing anymore freelance work and thanked me for all the help, I was like noooooo! But he says he would do smaller work for me not just big work for me.
Another great example is one of my good friends and we met up in Boston. Neil’s Web use to do all my landing pages and even help create my popular digital product Premium BANs. Now he is making so much money in affiliate marketing that he just told me to go away, not really. Now me and him are good friends and we meet up all the time at conferences (Boston) and soon at Affiliate Summit West - Vegas.
I went through 2 graphic designers, 1 programmer, 3 LP designers, and 2 content writers. It sucks because I have to start all over and find someone that is better or equivalent to the person doing the specific task. It just kills me that I cant work with that person anymore. I will even sometimes IM (instant message) them asking if they can work on something real quick, but I either get a sorry or they will try.
Now I have a dedicated programmer and graphic designer. These guys love what they are doing and have no intention in getting into affiliate marketing or any sort of marketing. I think the problems is I was looking in the wrong areas or having wrong perspective when looking for outsources.
My first group of outsourcers, I looked for:
- interest in marketing - this made sense then because I wouldn’t have to explain things to them a whole lot.
- knowledge in marketing - made sense at the time because I didn’t want to explain too much stuff to them.
My second choice or when choosing an outsources:
- I look for no interest in marketing but love what they are doing - this tells me they love doing what they do and it isn’t considered work, they want to better themselves with new tasks and projects
You can see the big difference. In the future when I look for more outsourcers, I need to make sure they do not want to learn any aspect of marketing. =P
October 13th, 2008 3:02 pm
I wasn’t sure if you were serious when you told me you were going to post this. I can see where your coming from, but anybody that wants to learn marketing should be able to learn. So don’t bug Ian and come talk to me.
October 13th, 2008 3:08 pm
Stop teaching people how to make money…problem solved…
October 13th, 2008 7:12 pm
I just had to click and read this post. Nice one!
October 13th, 2008 9:10 pm
My partner and I work with outsourced programmers and designers, and have had phenomenal success with Craigs List.
We certainly do not offer them advice on how to make affilliate money-the truth is, our strength is in ecommerce-and that;s a lot of hard work.
Now if our programmers asked us our advice, we would gladly give it, but because they don’t ask, we figure we have a win-win situation.
October 14th, 2008 3:10 am
Well, Ian all I can say is kudos to you for being a good teacher. I understand your point of view, but you should feel happy for those you helped earning more money. And if I was the case, I wouldn’t turned my back on you an maybe recommend you a friend of mine that I trust and that can do my job.
October 14th, 2008 5:06 am
I certainly do not offer them advice on how to make affilliate money-the truth is, our strength is in ecommerce-and that;s a lot of hard work.
October 14th, 2008 9:38 am
Ian,
I think everyone has to use their own strength. that’s why you outsource the areas you are not too good at.
When people start to mix up the work, nothing gets done.
October 14th, 2008 3:50 pm
> Thiago
hmmm its not that I am not good at it because I use to do all the hard stuff when I had no money and it would take days. I am just getting lazier and lazier. Just the writing I admit I am not the best, especially grammar - as you can probably tell from my posts =P
> Andrei
some do smaller work for me but not big work anymore.
> Ad Hustler
yea I started today!
October 14th, 2008 5:18 pm
That’s a tough situation. On the one hand, you genuinely want to help people. On the other hand, you want to keep your outsource folks. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to help people out. However, maybe you could mention that you need help as well. Good luck!
October 17th, 2008 1:49 am
Wow. I always thought programmers and designers suffered from the starving artist syndrome. Only focusing on the job and nothing else.
October 17th, 2008 2:34 pm
yo man Jani G here…
aite i feel what you are sayin bro.
i just hired a few freelancers to work on some of my stuff, and the first thing that actually came accross my mind was “will they steal my idea?, ” or “what if i show them to much and then they just do it for themselves!!”
So i guess its 2 fold.
You could get somone who has no interest in internet marketing who will be good at technical or graphic work,
But then it may be tough when looking for somone who you want to work on other aspects of your business…
Best thing is to keep the relationship mutual and strictly business. Forget about teaching them stuff if they ask…
charge them like $500 per hour to teach them LOL
Jani G