A small business might think that freelancing is a thing of the past due to large corporations outsourcing most of their help overseas. But, that’s simply not the case. There is plenty of work nationally, plus you can outsource overseas yourself by outsourcing in Canada, UK, Australia, and lots of other countries.

So is there a way a small business can benefit from outsourcing? Yes, there are three specific ways to go about it:

1. Identify the tasks you can outsource

What do you have on your plate right now that you can have someone else take care of, thereby freeing up time for you — things like transcription, article submission, copywriting or copy editing and much more. Make a list and then prioritize them.

2. Systematize tasks

Before you give work to a freelancer, you want to make sure that you write up your instructions so they are clear. One problem I see with clients all the time when they are outsourcing to me is that they skip steps. Not every freelancer will try to fill in the missing step. They will sit there and say “I can’t do that; it doesn’t work.” Be complete and concise in writing out what you want your freelancer to do and avoid any misunderstandings up front.

3. Don’t wait until your workload demands that you get extra help immediately.

The time to go through the process of finding freelancers is now before you end up with a short deadline. Check out the major freelance marketplaces. Need some more encouragement as to how a small business can benefit from outsourcing? Check out this article: What Are the Benefits of Using a Freelance Marketplace For Hiring Virtual Assistants?.

Are there other avenues you can pursue to find good, honest freelancers? Sure there are. If you travel a lot and attend a lot of conventions or seminars, keep your eye out for virtual assistants that may be there, as well. Another option would be to search the internet under keywords like outsourcing, freelancing, virtual assistants, and a wide variety of others such as benefits, freelance marketplace or independent contractors.

Being proactive and taking a look at what you can outsource now, organizing your possibilities, and then looking for good outsource possibilities now will save you time and money in the long-term. Do you need a jump start at making that list? According to this article, Outsourcing: Three Keys to Outsourcing Success by Janet Attard, “When you are a one-person or micro-sized business you not only have to create the product or do the income-producing service, you also need to answer calls from customers, make sales calls, get a website set up, get active in social media, send out invoices, do the bookkeeping, keep marketing your business, and do a whole lot of other things, too. To keep up with it all you could easily work 12 to 14 hours a day , 6 or 7 days a week.” Does that help to kick start you?
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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. She is co-owner of Borlok Virtual Assistants — the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

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If you’ve recently been laid off from a position within a company, and you’ve been pounding the pavement with little or no success at landing an interview, let alone a new job, then listen up. There is hope.

If you have the drive and determination to succeed and work out of your own home, there is an alternative work arrangement that you might want to consider. Besides the flexibility of setting your own hours, there are many more benefits of becoming a virtual assistant, with the ultimate goal of being able to bring in extra money for the bills and to put food on the table, without paying out a lot in the way of equipment.

Now you may be wondering what kind of things a person could possibly do from home – especially if you are used to working in an office. And, just what is this freelancing that I mentioned in the title? You also might be wondering how to get into freelancing. Well, let’s take a look briefly at each question.

What is freelancing?

According to Wikipedia, “A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is a self-employed person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any particular employer. The term was first used by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) in Ivanhoe to describe a “medieval mercenary warrior” or “free-lance”. Some additional synonyms you might hear tossed around are contractor and independent contractor.

How can you get into freelancing?

The easiest way to get into freelancing is through one of the multiple freelance marketplaces that abound on the Internet. The one that I use, in particular, is Looking for work? Sign up at Elance and search over 30,000 jobs today.. Elance has been around since 1998 when it was founded. Privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, California, this company is insistent that it be the most widely used application for Services and Contractor Management. According to their website, more than 200,000 employees are using Elance in all facets of finding, buying, managing and paying external services and contractors from more than 2,000 suppliers across 50+ services categories. You will register with them in the specific niche that you want to pursue. When you are paid, Elance, of course, will take their cut; but they are the one site that I feel has the highest quality standards.

What kind of things can you freelance in?

Elance offers a wide variety of categories that a virtual assistant can mix and match in to complement their abilities and expertise. The two categories that I’m personally signed up for are Admin. Support and Writing & Translation; these will cover a wide array of services that you can specialize in.

I’m not saying you will get rich at freelancing, but I do attest to the fact that you can make money by freelancing. If you work hard, bid reasonably, and maintain high quality standards, you just might enjoy it so much while bringing in an extra income that you’ll want to continue.

Yes, indeed. There are several freelance marketing sites out there where you can post a project and have eager providers bid on the project in the hopes that you will choose them. It is definitely possible to get good help through outsourcing.

Overview

One of those sites is Elance. Elance has been around since 1998 when it was founded. Privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, California, this company had a vision that has allowed it to become the most widely used application for Services and Contractor Management. According to their website, More than 200,000 employees are using Elance in all facets of finding, buying, managing and paying external services and contractors from more than 2,000 suppliers across 50+ services categories.

Why

With over 169,000 expert professionals in Elance as of this writing, you can’t possibly go wrong. You need someone to write articles for you? No problem. Elance has a category for that. Need someone to do website design? Yup, Elance has a category for that, as well. You have a wide variety of professionals that you can choose from. Just take a look at the major categories that you can post a job in:

* Web and Programming
* Design and Multimedia
* Writing and Translation
* Administrative Support
* Sales and Marketing
* Finance and Management
* Legal
* Engineering and Manufacturing

Within each major category, you have a wide array of skills for hire. Let’s look at just five examples in the Design and Multimedia as an example:

* Graphic Design
* Photography
* Animation
* Dreamweaver
* Videography

And this is just a sampling. There are 30 more skills within the Design and Multimedia major category. Are you beginning to see the wide field of opportunity for getting outsourced help easily?

How

It’s easy. With the Elance Work System, it’s a piece of cake to hire professionals with a standardized way to post jobs and receive proposals, hire, manage, and pay for results, and also enables collaboration, tracking progress and providing feedback. What could be easier?

Time is of the essence

As more and more companies are trying to tighten their expenses, outsourcing your jobs out to freelancers only makes sense.  Perhaps you are behind on finalizing your marketing plan or just plain need extra help to fill in for someone that is sick. Well, don’t stress out about it. Now is your opportunity to Find a world of talent online at Elance. Post your job today. now! You won’t be sorry you did.