I wanted to write a short post today to tell you about a recent experience that I had hiring someone to do write some content for me.  I learnt some valuable lessons and I’d like to pass them on.

I wanted to have some articles high quality articles written and I also wanted to have a larger project completed by the same person.  The person that I found is knowledgeable and a well known internet marketer that has them-self published many high quality pieces of work.  In fact, I thought I was extremely lucky to have found this person.

Actually not!

It wasn’t that the quality of the work was poor but the person involved seemed to be completely unable to take on board any constructive criticism or any requests for small changes.   Some of the work was clearly rushed, and not always well organised and the work was not delivered on time.  I politely requested a few changes and this person immediately terminated the project and refunded me the money that I had paid without even replying to my e-mail.

As it happens, I believe that this was a blessing in disguise.  When you hire someone to work for you, you need to be able to do a few things.  The most important of which is communicate honestly and openly about your requirements.  By pure fortune, I had asked to have the articles written first.  If I had jumped straight in with the larger project, then I could have found myself in a very sticky situation.

This is my take away from this experience.

  • If you have some an important project with a new person, make sure you try a small project first.
  • Pay attention to how well they communicate with you.
  • Pay attention to how well they are willing to listen to your requirements.
  • Pay attention to their ability to work to a deadline.
  • Make sure that the work is done to a standard that is acceptable to you!

If you are thinking of outsourcing I hope that you find this article useful.

Filed under: Random Stuff

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