Client Magnets Official Blog

Many people want to start outsourcing, but don’t know how to begin locating the right people for the job.

There are lots of different paths you can take to find the right people to help you. And it’s not always the most obvious route. A lot of people think that the best option available to them is advertising in the local classifieds. While this works for some people, it can also create a lot more work for you in the long run if you’re inundated with responses and you don’t know where to start.

One of the best things you can do is to make your search more targeted. Here are three ways to do that:

Online

You aren’t limited to only using assistants who are physically located close to your business. Especially if, like me, you work from home and don’t want to have people visiting you in your house, location isn’t an important criterion.

The Internet is such a valuable tool for connecting you with the right people, whether it’s a team of virtual assistants or expert individuals. The following websites are really useful resources for helping to meet your outsourcing needs:

www.Monster.com
www.Elance.com
www.RentACoder.com
www.WorkaholicsForHire.com
www.Guru.com
www.FreelanceWriting.com
www.SmarterWork.com
www.CareerBuilders.com
www.FreelanceWorkExchange.com
www.AssistU.com

On all of these websites, you can either post a job or you can look at biographies of people bidding for work. You can also post classified ads on many of these sites, saying exactly what you’re looking for in an assistant. You can specify how much you want to pay, or you can leave that undisclosed and ask people to make a bid for your work. Then you can sit back and can wait for people to approach you.

Students

Let’s say you wanted someone to research suitable websites that could be good linking partners to you or may provide you with opportunities for joint ventures. That’s a perfect project for a media or business studies student, who might also really appreciate the idea of working with a small business and getting some practical experience.

Your local university or college might have a careers centre or newspaper where you could advertise your projects. These students don’t necessarily have to be working from your office. Instead, you could arrange to meet them locally whenever you need to discuss the project face-to-face. And the great thing about students is that they normally either have their own computers or they’ve got access to them.

Personal Approach

Approaching people directly is one of the best ways to hire talent for your business. When I was first setting up my website, I had a basic idea of what I wanted, but I didn’t know how to make it happen. I knew that I wanted to set up a website where I could sell digital products that customers could download immediately, but I didn’t know how to go about doing this. It was one of those examples of trying to hire someone to do something you don’t know how to do. I placed a local classified ad, and was inundated with responses. I really did not know where to start deciding who to hire.  In the end I decided to approach the webmaster of a website that I liked. I told him that I needed help with my project and asked if it was something he could help with.

For certain jobs I know what I’m looking for.  I’ll approach a company or individual that seems to be a good fit and I’ll ask them to bid on the job. This approach has actually worked out very well for me. I’ve had a surprising success rate with it. And it’s more time-efficient than just posting an ad and getting a load of inquiries that you have to sift through.

The key to finding the right people for you is to be clear on what you need done, how you want it to be done, and what you’re willing to pay. You’ll need to practise finding the right person, and you might use different approaches for different jobs.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. She publishes a free, weekly newsletter for trainers, speakers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Tweet