We’re not appropriate outsourcing candidates. Are you?

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You might be surprised to learn we actually discourage some people from outsourcing. Nine times out of ten, some of the people we run into are the worst outsourcing candidates we’ve ever seen.  Hell – we’re not even appropriate outsourcing candidates. That’s why we don’t outsource even though we work in the outsourcing industry everyday! Sound strange? It might not be after you think about the following outsourcing questions.

The outsourcing questions below address why some businesses approach outsourcing as a routine commodity and why other businesses shouldn’t touch outsourcing with a 100-ft. pole. We would be one of the latter. How about you? How will you answer these outsourcing questions? Your answers will determine your outsourcing-readiness.

Determine your outsourcing-readiness.

1. Why do you want to outsource? Based on some of the jobs we see over at Rentacoder, we suspect a few people outsource simply because they’ve been told they could. Either that, or because they’ve been told that outsourcing is the “in” thing to do.

   These are of course, the wrong reasons to outsource. The only time you should consider outsourcing is (1) when you can afford it and (2) when you can prove outsourcing will improve some part of your business process.
   

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2. How familiar are you with the outsourcing process? The more knowledgeable you are about outsourcing, the less mistakes you’ll make. Outsourcing service providers are generally a friendly bunch. (They have to be, they’re vying for your business.) But when things get ugly over a stupid mistake that could have been avoided, outsourcing can be a cruel, cruel world.
   

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3. How comfortable are you with letting someone else do your job? Some people have no problem with forking over responsibility to someone else while others struggle with it. We’re the type who struggles with it which means we would probably turn into the very micromanagers that we dislike so much if we dared to outsource. 

   If you’re not comfortable with delegating tasks to others, you’re not going to be comfortable with outsourcing either. Especially since outsourcing takes task delegation to a whole new level!
   

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4. Do you have access to outsourcing experts (legal advisors, experienced comrades, etc.)? You can read all the books about outsourcing you want. But no book will give you the low-down on what really goes on in the outsourcing industry like experience. As an outsourcing noob, you won’t have that experience. So the next best thing is an experienced associate of some sort. It’s best to get your hands on one before you even think about outsourcing.
   

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5. Are you fully-aware of your own work processes?  How much would outsourcing change the way you do things now? Knowing these things beforehand makes the transition into outsourcing much easier. It prevents unwelcome contract changes and it prevents unnecessary business disruptions.
   

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6. How much can you afford to outsource? Or, how big is your outsourcing budget? A lack of sufficient funds is one of the most obvious reasons why anyone shouldn’t outsource, yet we see individuals outsource when they can’t afford to, all the time. In doing so, they insult the contractors that they vet with below-standard budgets and they resort to buying low-quality services for financial reasons. 

   Never outsource without having an appropriately sized budget. An appropriately sized budget is one that wouldn’t hurt your bank account in the event your outsourcing venture failed.
   

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7. Would you handle the outsourcing yourself or would someone else? Outsourcing is supposed to free your time for other things. That’s what all the outsourcing guru’s say, isn’t it? Well, only part of that’s true. The reality is that you will spend a significant amount of time with preparation, vetting, training, measuring, and ending a working relationship in outsourcing. If you don’t have time to make time for outsourcing, outsourcing just won’t work.
   

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We don’t mean to sound like a negative nanny. We merely want to warn you that outsourcing isn’t for everyone even though Internet hype might try to convince you that it is. For even more reasons why you should stay away from outsourcing, read When Outsourcing Is Not a Good Idea. You just might thank us for saving you from a bad business move down the road.