The OuchSourcing Podcast: Recent Episodes
Aderson Oliveira
A podcast about outsourcing where I (Aderson Oliveira) interview outsourcing specialists on various different types of outsourcing services like web development, design, writing and many more. We will help you taking the pain away from outsourcing. We talk about the do's and don'ts when it comes to outsourcing work to 3rd party companies and freelancers as well as best practices. You will leave each episode knowing a bit more about outsourcing and that it doesn't have to be that hard.
I had the pleasure of talking to Tracey D’Aviero. She is the president of the Canadian Association of Virtual Assistants and we spoke about the VA Opportunity. What does it take to become a VA? The fact that being a VA is not a job, it is a business. You have to take care of marketing and promoting yourself. We spoke about the Canadian Association of Virtual Assistants (CAVA), what it provides to its members and the partners they have access to via the association. A great conversation about what it takes to become a successful Virtual Assistant!
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-40-tracey-daviero-the-va-opportunity
I had a great conversation with Vinay Patankar. He is the CEO of Process Street which is a SAAS Platform that allows business owners to document processes, procedures and checklists. We have discussed about the importance of documenting processes to grow, scale and sell a business. Do you know that your business will be more valuable if you have documented processes in place? That is a fact! We use Process Street a lot on our business as well. I am a big fan! I hope you enjoy the conversation!
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-39-vinay-patankar-process-documentation-with-process-street
I have spoken with the Founder of ScaleMyEmpire.com, Scott Gellatly. He said that as a Virtual CTO he brings the technical expertise to advise and implement systems for clients who may not be in a position to hire a full time professional CTO. He mentioned that whenever you do projects for clients with an outsourced team, you need a local Project Manager or Account manager to be the link between the client and the outsourced team. He is also a big time fan of business systematization not only for his own business, but for his clients too. Have a listen and get inspired to systematize and outsource!
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-38-scott-gellatly-virtual-cto
I have spoken with Rachel Severns from Virtually Done By Rachel about Inbox Zero – What it is and what it is not. We have talked about the email management services that she offers to her clients and how she uses the Inbox Zero strategy to make her clients more productive. Curiosity about Rachel: She lives in Alaska! Have a listen and I hope you enjoy the email management tips.
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-37-rachel-severns-inbox-zero
I have spoken with Jen Shea. She's the Owner of Bohemian Branding where she works with clients to create their Brand and Online presence. We have discussed about what branding is and what process she uses to help her clients define the identity of their businesses. Branding goes way beyond and above logos and colors. That is part but not the only one. Defining a niche and customer avatar is also an integral part. She was also very open by sharing a client horror story with me. Have a listen to learn the nuances of branding!
Full show notes and links:
https://aderson.com/post/interview-36-jen-shea-outsourcing-branding
I have spoken with Meryl Johnston, the Founder of Bean Ninjas. She talked about the time saving benefits of having a bookkeeper working for your business. She went through the dynamics of working with a bookkeeper and what you should expect to get out of the engagement.
She also said that business owners should invest in getting to know more about accounting because it is a fundamental skill and it will drive the success for their business. Have a listen and sharpen your accounting skills!
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-35-meryl-johnston-outsourcing-bookkeeping
I have spoken with Paul Higgins, he is the Founder of Build Live Give which is a community of ex-corporate people looking to build a business they love. An aspect of helping his community is showing how to work effectively with outsourcing providers. He said that a great way to start with outsourcing is by hiring a virtual assistant. He mentioned something quite interesting: He never saw someone who worked with a VA and decided to go back before they had a VA. Work to your strengths and outsource everything else Lastly he said that, on contrary to what people usually think, outsourcing is also a great way to make money for the country you live in.
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-34-paul-higgins-build-live-give
I have spoken with Prayag Narula - CEO of LeadGenius.com about what crowdsourcing is and how it has been the key to LeadGenius success. We have discussed about the human side of crowds and for a crowdsourcing program to work well you have to create a true community for people to be a part of. You have to put names and faces to people. He is also very positive and passionate about the future of work and the opportunities that it is bringing to people all over the globe regardless where they are located. Watch or listen to this to understand more about what Crowdsourcing truly is.
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-33-prayag-narula-crowdsourcing-with-leadgenius
I had a great conversation with Anfernee Chansamooth - He is the founder of Simple Creative Marketing which is a company that provides an Outsourced CMO service for time constrained Business Owners. At the beginning he shared the story about how he moved from a 9 to 5 corporate job to doing his own business. Hint: It involves brain surgery! He went on to explain what a Virtual CMO does and how to select one. He also said that outsourcing is great but you really need to get clear on what your expectations are so everyone involved is on the same page.
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-32-anfernee-chansamooth-outsourced-cmo
I have spoken with Rishon Blumberg. He is the founder of 10 X Management: An agency that represents Tech Freelancers the same way that Hollywood Agents represent actors. It is a very interesting model where they take care of all business aspects for coders that want to go freelancing but don't like negotiating, writing contracts, finding gigs and more. He also spoke about their talent vetting process and lastly he mentioned about current trends and what opportunities in the marketplace are hot right now.
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-31-rishon-blumberg-10x-management-representing-tech-stars
I have spoken with David Nevogt about tracking time and automating payments for remote teams. He says that these are some of the biggest burdens of working with outsourcing teams and he is solving that problem with his platform, Hubstaff. We also talked about Hubstaff Talent, which is a FREE marketplace for clients, agencies and freelancers to work together. All in all, a great conversation with a business owner that has a lot of experience with outsourcing – A term that he doesn’t like and would rather use "remote teams".
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-30-david-nevogt-beyond-time-tracking
I have spoken with Barbara Turley about why it is necessary to train clients and VAs on how to work together. She mentioned what are the key things that will make or break a Virtual Assistant initiative. Finally we spoke about the trends that are currently affecting the VA industry.
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-29-barbara-turley-virtual-angels
I have spoken with the passionate Susan Mershon about the fact that being a proactive person is what makes the difference between an average Virtual Assistant and a Superstart VA. She talked about the most common pitfalls that professionals face when starting their new VA businesses and how to overcome them. She also says that the employee mindset is one of the biggest challenges faced by new VAs.
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-28-susan-mershon-the-techie-mentor-and-va-training
I had an awesome conversation with Venkat Nagaswamy about what Account Based Marketing is and how AI can help to scale ABM initiatives. He also mentioned that one of the key aspects of a successful ABM strategy is content that speaks to the right targeted audience. Lastly he talked about the fact that AI is a bigger change than anything else we have seen before, and we are just getting started.
Full show notes and links: https://aderson.com/post/interview-27-venkat-nagaswamy-account-based-marketing-and-ai
I have spoken with Jonathan Chizick about the connection between AI and Outsourcing. He talked about AppZen and how its AI powered solution is helping to automate some of the back-office administrative tasks like expense report creation, auditing, and compliance; reducing costs and increasing accuracy. In the end he said that humans and their jobs aren’t going away, but AI will certainly be a big part of the future of work.
Full show notes and links: aderson.com/post/interview-26-jonathan-chizick-the-intersection-of-outsourcing-and-ai
I have spoken with Brian Casel about the right way to outsource content marketing and that content creation is just one side of the equation. Distribution is the other part. We have discussed about the interview process he puts his clients through so his team can tailor content that is specific to that business with its own unique voice. Towards the end he changed hats and we talked about his own business outsourcing practices to finding writers, project managers, assistants and developers.
Full show notes and links: aderson.com/post/interview-25-brian-casel-content-marketing-outsourcing
I have a great conversation with Gonzalo Paternoster – The Man Of Systems – He systematizes and outsources everything on his businesses and that's why he is able to run, and be partner of, multiple businesses. He has over 100 outsourcing professionals working for him! He even trains businesses on how to create systems and automate processes with the use of outsourced professionals.
Listen to this and get inspired to act! Full show notes and links: aderson.com/post/interview-24-gonzalo-paternoster-man-of-systems
I have spoken with Armin Tüll about the ins and outs of Paid Media Advertising on Google and Facebook. We have spoken about what's hot right now in terms of ad strategies to get the best ROI. He shared the 2 keys to selecting a great media agency to work with and he mentioned that Results & Communication are the essential aspects to have a successful relationship with an outsourced paid media partner.
Full show notes and links: aderson.com/post/interview-23-armin-tull-outsourcing-paid-media
I have spoken with Alma Abreu about project management, why business owners should consider adopting methodology like Agile to doing business in general and how to project manage an outsourced/remote team. She also talked about the importance of having a product roadmap even if you are running a service business. And finally find out why she recommended business owners to build autonomous and automated teams.
I have spoken with Dean Soto who has a course called Outsourcing Pros and Cons on Udemy. He talked about how important outsourcing is to his many businesses and revenue streams. He was very open and candid about which countries he thinks it's best to outsource to and which are not that great and why. He also went in details about a great technique he uses to document processes to outsource that doesn’t take a lot of his time. As one of his key messages he said to Outsource what is Recurring & Profitable.
I have spoken with LaTonja King about how an Online Business Manager (OBM) can help you to grow your business. She mentioned that she has decided to focus on having woman as clients and why she decided that. She talked about a strategy to hire people via Facebook Groups. She has also shared a horror story about communication with a client going bad and the lessons she learned from that.
Full show notes and links: aderson.com/post/interview-20-latonja-king-online-business-management
I have spoken with Kristjan Raude about outsourcing content creation like articles, blog posts, video and what you should do to select the right partners to help you on that. He also spoke about the fact that content marketing is about talking to your audience and clients, not necessarily talking to your peers. Such an important lesson! In the end he shared a horror story about choosing the wrong marketing automation tool and I went on a rant!
I have spoken with Mark Jamieson about his experience with outsourcing. Mark is from the opinion that outsourcing is about finding partners that can bring value to your business in a cost effective way, and not necessarily just taking your business overseas. He mentioned that we should A/B test outsourcing providers and we should not lunch new projects on Fridays. He also shared a horror story about a company disappearing during holidays.
I have spoken with Karl Diffenderfer about how business leaders have a hard time delegating and how he coaches his clients to let go of tasks they don't like doing. He talked about his Virtual Assistant Company as well and how it attends to business needs at the same time that it help people oversees in economies where it would be hard for them to make a living. He also shared a horror story about a contractor just disappearing on him.
I have spoken with Kevin Dean about why Outsourcing is not a bad thing and you have to do outsourcing at a level that is comfortable to you. If you are not sleeping well and not sure whether or not you will get the project delivered, maybe you pushed too far. He also shared a horror story about a project lost in translation.
I have spoken with colorful Amethyst Storey about a very popular specialty of outsourcing called Virtual Assistants. How she became a VA, what does it take to be a VA and the different types of VAs. As I'm in the market for a VA as well, I asked her how I should approach my selection process. She also shared a horror story with me and the lessons she has learned from it: Hint: Have Contracts and don't work for FREE!
I have spoken with Sean Cummings about the pros and cons of offshoring and how it compares to onshoring. He also talked about the importance of having clear goals when undergoing an outsourced initiative and that one of the key benefits of outsourcing is that not everybody is good at everything. He was also very open about a horror story he shared regarding 2 vendors pointing fingers during a project he was part of.
I have spoken with Carlos Guzman about the importance of planning and team work for any outsourcing initiative to be successful. He also provided insights into how you can go about deciding what you should outsource and what you should keep inside the company. Hint: It’s all about your core. He was also very open about 2 horror stories of outsourcing that went bad and the lessons he has learned from them.
I have spoken with Rob Thomas about “Outsourcing Marketing Automation” and the fact that businesses spend a lot of time choosing “the right software” for Marketing Automation and not enough time planning, developing content and creating campaigns. He has provided some suggestions on how a company should go about selecting an outsourcing partner to work with for their Marketing Automation initiative. He highlighted that when a company is thinking about marketing automation, it’s important to get all stockholders involved (like sales, marketing, customer service) in the process.
I have spoken with my longtime friend Justin Jones about his experience with outsourcing by working with a network of hundreds of consultants and suppliers all over the globe. We went deep about the 3 aspects he finds key to being successful on outsourcing: Documentation, Relationships and Communication.
I have spoken with Nick Kaeshko about why businesses should consider Belarus when thinking about outsourcing and technology. The country has amazing talented technical professionals and the government has been encouraging the development modern technologies with initiatives like the High Tech Park. We also had some fun with "A Tough Call."
I have spoken with Jason Ohrum about his many years of experience with Outsourcing. He talked about the importance of cultivating long lasting relationships with your outsourcing team and how he uses a questionnaire based on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator to help him communicate better with his team.
I have spoken with Keith Loris about outsourcing marketing services, or his version of it called JointSourcing. Very interesting model where they share the risks and rewards with their clients.
We also spoke about what businesses should look for when evaluating a potential Marketing Agency to outsource their marketing initiative to and why the term "outsourcing" has a potential detrimental perception.
I have spoken with Brett Levert from LeVerb Design (leverb.com) about how outsourcing is a key element of his business and that we all need to embrace it if we want to grow our businesses in the future too! We also discussed the tools he uses to manage his outsourcing team and we even had enough time left to do a tough call.
I have spoken with my long-time friend Tiago Tavares. He has a webdesign agency in Brazil called TopDesignTeam and they provide webdesign outsourcing services. We have spoken about why outsourcing to Brazil is an attractive option, what are the benefits and why companies should consider Brazil as an outsourcing destination as well. We also spoke about the challenges of outsourcing to Brazil and how to address them.
I have spoken with Ruby Mehta from Netsmartz.com about outsourcing in large scale with a team of over 1000 professional. She also spoke to the fact that Netsmartz can attend to some many different niches and technologies and what it takes to do that without losing focus in the process. Finally she spoke about the pros and cons about working with Freelancers as compared to larger outsourcing organizations like hers.
I have spoken with Harry Duran from FullCast.co about his company providing outsourcing production services as well as utilizing outsourcing as a way to grow and scale their processes. He talked about his approach to outsourcing and some of the mistakes companies do when trying to use external providers to help them out.
I have spoken with Evaldas Miliauskas from CastSource.net about his company providing transcription services. He went through what you should look for when hiring someone to do transcriptions for you and your business. He spoke about the challenges and opportunities to work with outsourcing providers. We also went through some of the tools and automations that he uses on his business to improve communication and workflows.
I have spoken with Alan Earl from Local-One.com about his company providing Facebook Advertising Outsourcing services. He went through suggestions on how to best evaluate someone you are thinking of hiring for Facebook Ads and what strategies to use to find the right marketing professional. We also spoke about his vast experience as an outsourcer himself and how he goes about hiring freelancers to work on various types of projects and tasks.
He also shared some horror stories and lessons learned from them.
I have spoken with Harry Duran from FullCast.co about his company providing outsourcing production services as well as utilizing outsourcing as a way to grow and scale their processes. He talked about his approach to outsourcing and some of the mistakes companies do when trying to use external providers to help them out.
Find out more at www.OuchSourcing.com/1