Avoid the Project from Hell when Outsourcing your VA Work
Hey VAs listen up. It is not that I have anything bad to say about outsourcing. In fact, I love it as I want to be able to do EVERYTHING my clients need without them ever having to go elsewhere for services. But, occasionally, I will make a bad outsourcing decision that I will regret and will cost me much in the way of lost time and revenue.
The offer
I was asked to take on the creation of a database that was an add-on to an existing Website. Because I had been a Project Manager of database projects in my former life I had no problem saying yes, even though I knew I would need to outsource it- as I have no database programming skills myself. The money would be good and I would only need to oversee the work of the programmer and the database consultant. I decided to use Rent-a-coder as I had used them quite successfully in the past for short (4 week or less) custom Website projects and was always quite satisfied. Rent-a-coder is fabulous as long as the project is well define, of short duration and you won’t need any follow-up after the project is over.
The Reality
I picked the wrong coder. I had many bids but none of them were in my price range except one. The bid was really low. The coder had just one rating it but it was good one. I figured I would give him a chance. I asked my husband if I should go with someone who had a super low price and just one rating and as a business owner he told me flat out “no” because the project was too large and could potentially drag on forever if the guy was not experienced. Did I listen to him? Of course not. I hired the guy.
The Conclusion
The project was supposed to be done back in early December. It is now late February and he is still working on it. The client is getting irritable. I’m losing money and have learned some valuable lessons.
- Never choose the cheapest person unless time is of absolutely no importance. They are probably cheap because they have little experience and will be learning on the job.
- If you have a big job don’t use someone who has only one testimonial or only one reference. If the job is large go with someone who can prove their experience by providing you with at least 4 or 5 people who can vouch for them.
- If you don’t have any idea of how to do the work yourself, go with someone who can communicate pretty well in English so there will be no misunderstandings about scope or deadlines.
So, as the project drags on and I continue to dread the never ending list of bugs that keep popping up I am thankful that I have now met some great local VAs to outsource to that are providing me with the best of service (i.e- David Burch with VirtuallyYours.com)
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