This is a list of experiences I’ve had from outsourcing so far.

Outsourcing on odesk was best for me when I had less than 10 outsourced staff. The advantages over using a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) were that it’s cheaper, there’s unique talent on there who only want to work from home and they often start same day. Other obvious benefits are that they can use their own computer and I don’t need to pay for office space, electricity etc.

Now that my business has more than 10 outsourced staff, I feel having a BPO office is the more scalable option. It helps create a culture and the outsource staff can more easily learn from each other.

In the job advertisement I ask a really simple question so that I know they read the ad and can comprehend what I asked. Examples are: “What is your all time favorite movie?” and “How would you install PHP?”.

I’ve tried 3 times to outsource design work. I’m yet to be successful.

I found out that there is a website out there for non English speakers to see answers to common English questions. 20 applicants answered my question about their favorite movie with the same movie and the same miss-spelling. 

My outsourced staff wages range from just a few dollars and hour up to $20/hr.

Most of my positions where English is important are based in Philippines.

Most of my dev team are still based in India.

The most interesting feature that outsourcing staff has brought for me is 24/7 live chat. I predict that by within a couple of years live chat will be critical on all service websites. Not having it, would be like not having a phone number in the old days.

Is outsourcing worth it for me? Yes. I’ve been outsourcing for many years and without it, my business would be missing out on things that we couldn’t afford to do otherwise.