#7 - Interview with Brett Levert on The Need to Embrace Outsourcing

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.

Video

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Long Recap

Transcription

Short Recap

A very enlightening conversation with Brett Levert from LeVerb.com (a Digital Consulting firm) on how outsourcing is a key aspect of his business (both as client and provider), and how we should all embrace it if we want our business to grow in the future. Plus, a very clear landscape layout on how to proceed avoiding highly unpleasant surprises and a great "role play" in a tough call between client and outsourcer, stay tuned!

Timeline

01:07 LeVerb.com
01:47 How the Outsourcing experience started.
03:00 Main Outsourcing Geographic sources.
04:19 Key factors
05:15 The US freelancer profile
06:50 What LeVerb.com outsources (as a client)
07:40 Outsourcing key elements
11:00 The importance of documentation
15:48 The toolkit
18:18 The horror story
21:36 What still does pose a challenge
22:49 Selecting the “best fit”
26:13 Red flags to look out for
29:05 The “tough call” (roll play)
35:00 Message and final thoughts

Key Points

"Getting outsourcing right, is a great way to grow really fast while providing a better service with higher quality standards "

"YTD outsourcing seems to show a country based expertise cluster pattern "

"There is a growing trend in Canada and the US of people who have decided to work remotely and therefore have become freelancers "

"Currently, one outsources from wherever the best resources are "

"The US and Canada provide process-oriented developers while some other countries like India or Pakistan take on a “Wild West” hands-on approach "

"At the end the final product quality may very well not differ between all the geographies, you need to find the right match "

"If you do not know (crystal clear) what your need is, your provider won’t either "

"If you don’t provide a clear roadmap who knows where the road may lead to "

"Take the time to produce a short video along with a short description document which acts as training/ coaching material that conveys what (you need) and How (to do it) "

"If the freelancer’s promise sounds too good to be truth, it usually is "

"Outsourcing and online remote work is the future "

Links Mentioned

Upwork - freelancers and projects outsourcing pool website
Wrike - Online tool for project management and work collaboration
Hubstaff - Time tracking software
Freshdesk - Help Desk Ticketing System
ManageWP - Reporting and tasks automation
Textbroker - Content sourcing

Guest:

I'm an Outsourcerer. I'm a DNN Geek. I help people with their sites @ DeskPal. I'm a #Pomodoro practitioner. I'm a husband and a father of 2 beautiful girls.