I was surfing and found this interesting video of a student making money at home. Seems pretty easy. IT’s a referral program. Nice music too! Check it out and comment back with your thoughts.
Cool video of how a student found a way to make money
Tried Outsourcing and found it impossible? Nearshoring might be the solution.
By now, we all know the potential benefits of outsourcing with the potential for saving time and money being at the top of the list (eg People in India will work for less than in many Western countries). But if you have tried it you may have noticed some problems with this work situation. If you have read my last blog on outsourcing problems, you know several of the problems already.
Nearshoring is a derivative of outsourcing, the main difference being that services are sent to a lower-wage country that is in relative close proximity (either by zone or distance and sometimes it’s both). Firms that use this strategy are hoping to capitalize on the on the lower costs of the nearby country without suffering some of the challenges of outsourcing to farther countries.
Examples could include a firm in the United States sending work to Argentina or a Japanese company having services done in China.
What are some of the other advantages of nearshoring?
Often times there are certain cultural beliefs that both countries hold close. This can include similar holidays, work schedules or mindset. Countries that are vastly different in cultural beliefs (like the United States and India for example) face major obstacles in terms of communication right from the beginning.
Time zone similarities also provide advantages over outsourcing. At first with outsourcing we believed that we could just deliver the project scope to the folks in India and the next morning, we’d wake up and presto it would be delivered in our inbox. While that was great in theory the reality was less than stellar (missed deadlines, incomplete work, etc). The benefit of being in the same time zone ultimately mean that through phone communication, chat or email we can keep on the same page in real time with our foreign nearshoring partners. Travel is also easier when a project requires frequent flights from the project site and our home base.
Economic benefits can also abound when nearshoring to some countries. The US dollars unfortunate slide over the past few years mean that companies in places like India are forced to raise their prices. While that problem is true with several nearshoring countries as well (for example Brazil and Mexico), there are other countries that have maintained the same exchange rate with the US dollar despite the decline. Most notably, Argentina has traded at the same rate vs. the US dollar for the last several years.
After outsourcing to India and other Asian countries (with little luck) over the past 18 months. Our US company has been able to develop several succesful projects by nearshoring to Buenos Aires. In addition to advantages of having a partner in the same time zone, the excellent work ethic, education and competitive landscape in Argentina have really paid off.
Our web design services have been completely nearshored to a firm there called Skinzee Designs. Because many of their employees have done stints in ad firms in the US, Singapore and Europe, we could the same quality of work we used to find in our US ad agency. But at 50-70% less in fees. There are other firms we employ for software modules and as we review more of their work, I will report back with the findings and recommendations.
Like alot of us, I’ve been swept up by the Four Hour Work Week revolution and have been outsourcing many project over the last few months. I’ve had some good jobs done and many bad. And have noticed several smaller problems (quality of work, language difficulties, vastly different time schedules and difficulty of explaining a project fully over email). Those to me though are minor. I have gotten better at defining the projects and checking people’s references and portfolio before I start. And using a site like Digital Point (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/) helps as you can check a sellers projects and trust (itrader ratings).
But those are not the fundamental problem. The fundamental problem is that once a project is taken on the timeline gets extended. This used to happen on 90% of my jobs. Something always happens (computer crashed, didn’t see the email, other projects, etc). The computer crashing or “virus problem” is the modern day equivalent of the dog eating the homework. So I have come up with a couple of solutions. The first is of course, to pay 50% upfront, 50% upon completion. It may be an obvious one but necessary to keep them motivated. The second is to follow-up. This is also fairly obvious but if you aren’t sending them emails every few days to politely ask if they need any more help, your project gets pushed to the bottom of the pile. The third is to make sure they know there is more work coming if everything works out well (this motivates people to keep on with it and get finished for the new project).
Have you ever felt like you could go into a panic attack anytime because of the bills left unpaid? You’ve been working so hard yet your budget isn’t just enough for all your finances. Home mortgage, tuition, telephone bill, credit card, auto loan and many types of bill are scattered on your table and no matter how hard you try to compute all these, your meager income isn’t really enough! Now, you are thinking of getting a part-time job but most available jobs do not fit your corporate schedule. Then why don’t you try using your computer to make extra cash for you? Is it possible?
Yes it is! Nowadays, there are a lot of choices over the internet that could help you earn extra income. Browse around the World Wide Web and you’ll find what you are looking for exactly. To help you with your quest, below are some of the best ways to start your search:
· Take surveys online
This is the most possible and easiest way to earn money at your available time. This part-time job doesn’t really require so much of your time. All you have to do is register with one of the paid survey providers. When you have finished registering, the provider will send you surveys. Every survey you fill out or every complete survey you take, you get paid depending on the price the provider gives. There are hundreds of providers around the internet that need the opinion of their consumers. These survey sites won’t make you a millionaire but it will help you earn extra money. Check out http://www.makethatdollar.com for one of the highest paying sites we’ve seen so far. Send others in the comment section.