Chris Ducker

Expert Business Growth, Virtual Staffing & Personal Branding

What is Outsourcing and How Does it Actually Work, Anyway..?

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what-is-outsourcing

Following on from the last post that I did on outsourcing, I received quite a few emails on the subject, as well as having a TON of visitors signup for my free bootcamp course (make sure you also do this if you haven’t already, at the bottom of this post, or on the top-right side of the site!)…

I thought a quick breakdown on the subject might be welcomed. So, here it is…

Outsourcing is also known as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). This is the process of hiring another individual or company, either domestically or internationally, to handle business activities for you. It has become a common business practice that allows small and medium-sized businesses to gain services and skills they would usually find hard to develop, because of either financial or manpower restrictions, or possibly a combination of both. Meaning, you can grow your business as and when you need to, without any major investment.

It also allows your business to focus on core competencies and, more importantly, cut costs and improve efficiency, all very much hassle-free. As time has gone by over the last decade or so, business owners now realize that there are many reasons that companies, both big and small, outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it saves money.

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How to Identify a Professional Outsourcing Partner

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Location: Starbucks, Cebu – Reading Time: 6mins

I’ve been getting a lot of email lately from people wanting a little more information on outsourcing, and more specifically the different ways to be able to outsource work, systems, processes – you name it. So, here’s a brief run-down on how to identify a good quality outsourcing partner.

If you’re an individual seriously looking into outsourcing life, or even a company owner that wants to offload some of your business routines, or perhaps even all of them, you basically have two pretty major options straight off the bat. One option is to keep things a little closer to home and chose to outsource to a domestically based company, in your own country. At first this might seem like the easier option – same time zone, same language, etc., however, the costing of this type of set-up isn’t going to be all that different than doing things in-house yourself.

Some business owners find it hard to let go, it’s in our entrepreneurial blood, they say. So, if you simply don’t want to rent additional space, or hire the people yourself (but still want, or need the work to be done) then embracing the virtual business way of getting things done might be your best option….

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A Week in the Life of a Virtual Business Lifestyle Executive!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdfoTcAEd_o

Location: Home Office – Reading / Viewing Time: 4-5mins

I shot this video as a “I’m here, so I might as well shoot another…” type of clip when I was filming my Top Ten Virtual Assistant Video Tips a couple of weeks ago, from the island of Boracay here in the Philippines. I have to be honest, after looking at it the first time, I wasn’t going to publish it.

But, I looked over it on Friday, with the weekend approaching, and thought that I would post it for the beginning of the week as a little ‘inspiration’ if nothing else.

I am extremely fortunate to be able to live the lifestyle that I currently (and hope to continue!) living. However, it’s not one that has come about overnight. I have worked extremely hard to be able to:

  • Work a 4-day week only
  • Travel regularly
  • Spend more time with family
  • Empty my mind more
  • Continue to grow my business
  • Work on new opportunities

And of course, I continue to work hard, but just in different ways and with different processes in place to enable the ‘virtual’ part of my business life….

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17 Days ‘Off Work’, Lots of New Business, the King of the Blues and a Kung Fu Legend!

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Working Remotely in San Francisco

Checking my Email over Breakfast at Lori’s Diner in San Francisco!

Location: Company Offices, Reading Time: 4-5mins

For regular readers of the Virtual Business Lifestyle blog, you’ll already know that I have been in the US for the last almost-three-weeks on my most recent ‘Pleasure Trip’. I even posted a video of my ‘mobile office’ before I left. It was probably one of the most successful of my professional life, and I only actually ‘worked’ 6 days of the entire trip! Now I’m back home and back to ‘work’, but wanted to give you a little breakdown of the trip, in case you might be remotely interested!

When I landed in San Francisco after the 13 hour flight from Manila (not fun, even in Business Class – but, its the destination, not the journey, right!?) I was smacked around the face by the cold weather. Yes, I’m originally from London and yes, have experienced cold weather over the last 10 years since I’ve been living in Asia, however, it was cold to the point where I had to go buy gloves, a hat and a new winter jacket! Whilst in San Fran we met with a major client of ours and enjoyed spending time with them for the first time, face-to-face. I also got the chance to meet with an old colleague and fellow entrepreneur, Sanjay Maholtra – he is now SF-based and an angel investor in tech start-up’s. We shot a few videos that will be coming up in the next few weeks here on the blog.

Next stop was Miami, …

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