If I can lose that much weight then any one can. Whatever you do, don’t give up and you WILL
reach all your weight loss goals!
Thanks for reading,
Joan
Most recent blog post: times gi diet

Thank you for the great post! I use oDesk, eLance and Rentacoder too with very good results.

It seems eLance is better for writing jobs and Rentacoder for coding and IT stuff.

I hired somebody to write a content to my company site, and I was more than impressed about the results - and ended paying 3x times more than the original estimate.

My company also provides IT/software outsourcing services, so I know it from the other side too.

BTW, if anyone wants to help with technical stuff, just let me know.

Jozef

Hope the weather is getting better over there, im still over in Malta until monday.

Good to see you posting about outsourcing, i was planning of doing a similar video with elance when i get back, i have used elance quite az bit before for various things, its pretty cool, never tried rentacoder, but gunna give it a shot soon for sure.

Im off now for a ferry cruise to gozo so take care keep up good work bro!

Dan Briffa.

I have used http://www.getafreelancer.com for some of my projects, never had a problem and all have been on time..

If anyone needs there video split up for you tube or trimmed i will do it for you free.

I am offering my service for FREE to any Alex Jeffreys students, all i ask is you join my mailing list and post 1 comment on my blog.

Mark Terrell

http://www.markterrell.co.uk

ps: i can also convert your video into several different formats ie: for your ipod, iphone, walkman video, quicktime mov, mpeg4, ASF

Quite honestly, after reading your post and all these comments, I’ve forgotten alot of what your post was about!! Just kidding.

I have used elance, but haven’t tried rent-a-coder. Guess I thought they were mainly for “programming” types of things. I’ll have to check out exactly what services they offer.

As far as outsourcing blog and forum comments, I hadn’t thought of doing that. Pretty lively debate on it, but I like your 80/20 idea.

Debbie

@ Stephen Bray … I was pointing out brother that GaRRy here on this blog is going to do coaching .. Not G-man Gary

Either way .. Which ever does it I wish every success with it !!

I think I’ll shut up on here now lol, messing with my head .. Craziness peeps !

Speak soon

Dean

Gary

It happens that I write all my own material over at my personal blogs, but I will hire others to write articles for my Family Business School website. Sometimes I send them my drafts to clean up.

The question of who writes what for whom is a vexing one. Whilst politicians may write their own speeches before and when first elected, ministers have teams that both research and draft material for them.

One suspects that Ronald Reagan even had them produce the final draft, and I am sure I’ve no idea who wrote Geroge Bush Jnr’s words. Goeger Bush Snr. perhaps?

If you listened to Glenn Dietzel the other night it’s pretty clear that he wasn’t advocating hours spent over a word processor to produce your New Your Times best seller.

Even successful writers are assisted by editors within their publisher’s house to iron out quirks in their style, as well as I suspect, to revome the obb typografical mastike!

In my experience, however, even when using ‘Rent a Coder’, by far my favourite on-line source for outsourcing work, you get what you pay for.

There is a retired journalist in Manilla whom I happily pay $120 for six articles because I know that I need do nothing but post them.

I consider him cheap, but don’t tell him so, because whenever I’ve tried less experienced writers I’ve frequently needed to coach them, or rewrite their work. Far better to employ people as researchers and then write your own stuff. The researcher feels they’re doing a valuable job without the pressure of having to be word-perfect.

I know nothing of programming but employ a guy, or girl, I know not which in Hanoi who can do things with Drupal that aren’t even solved on the Drupal Forums.

Dean, I think you may have got Gary wrong in his offer of coaching. Gary has been in the Motivation and Self Esteem business for years and in my view he would be a great coach for anyone who is stuck for various reasons.

It happens that I too have a caseload of counsellors and therapists in different parts of the world who come to me from time to time for help. That’s because in a ‘past life’ this was my world. I certainly don’t refuse to speak with them because I am a student of Alex Jeffreys, and so am receiving some Coaching from him.

In fact I need help from wherever I can get it, and I offer help freely too. For example recently I’ve been wondering what to do with the blog that I started as part of Alex Jeffreys’ Program.

Now the Program is winding down, and since I’ve no wish to be an Internet marketer, and joined his Course to be more proficient at marketing on-line I am wondering where to take that blog?

Did you know that I am offering a reward to anyone who helps me over my dilemma by posting a helpful suggestion over at the thread at my place?

It’s some videos about what I have been learning from being on the inside of Google Conquest. You can learn more about my offer by clicking on my name at the head of this comment and following the prompts.

What a long comment

Stephen

lol, seems to have split the crew !! Like you say I think its good to air your thoughts and opinions, at the end of the day it helps us all right ?!!

Big G-man …

I see where you are coming from bro, and I hope we meet soon too !! Hows about you fly big Dean over to your sunshine paradise ?! hehe … All expenses paid sounds perfect
I see what your saying about the commenting on others and outsourcing, Im gunna give it some thought.. I do see both sides

Oh this discussions great !!

Well with that said, Im sorry my original comment caused confusion but hope you see how I now meant it !

Come check my new post, quite a biggy and your input would be good !!

Oh yeah Garry .. Just spotted your offer of personal coaching !! Boy you move quick huh !! Your own coaching program already.. Wow ! You ready for that bro ?? Dont rush things mate, I’d love to hear more on this !

Speak soon

Dean

Blog posting is not the best means of communication in the world. It is easy for confusion and misunderstandings to occur. For example, whilst writing my comment #13 (unlucky for some!) above I got a phone call and there was a delay in posting. I was responding to Gazza’s comment #9 above. I see now that there are two more comments added above mine.

I was agreeing with Gazza that your own blog posts should be written personally. I could also see that Dean wasn’t saying that he would outsource his own blog posts and comments.

As for commenting on other peoples blogs and in forums I think that it would be best to do it yourself. Well thought out constructive comments that add value are good for the blog owner and much more likely to attract traffic back to your own blog.

But, there are many bloggers who have a team of people working for them, including some in the 500. If you take this approach you need to work with people you trust and train them well. I have been thinking about getting my son to help me out. But it’s not something I would want to outsource to a stranger.

I’ve put a post about re-tweeting on my blog:

http://www.infobizo.com/re-tweeting-on-twitter.php

I hope it helps.
Ken

I have found http://odesk.com to be pretty cool and had a similiar experience to Garry.

What I like about it is that there is a process to approve YOU and it is very secure…which I like. It’s not an immediate access things as you have to confirm codes with you CC statment…but worth it in long run as you get total control….more about this on their site.

It seems to have a lot [probably the same as rentacoder etc] of candidates and there is also a way to manage them in that they have to log in to the odesk system to get paid so you know wxactly how long they have spent and you can get screen shots of where they are [if you request it]…also if you are not happy you do not have to pay [which may happen, I do not pay for cr@p].

For those who get the $1 SEO book on my site they also get a free article written by someone i found on odesk and she applies special rates on my request [as there are so many of us] to students of AJ. If anyone is interested in getting articles written for as little as 0.06 cent a word let me know and i can pass on her details.

Hope this helps!

Harry
http://harryharrisblog.com

Yeah, reading back I can see how you could read Dean’s comment not the way he intended but he has made that very clear now. He is talking about other blogs/forums rather than his own which is the way I initially interpreted it anyway.

Gary, referring to your comment:

“puts up some useless comment at my blog and I detect it then I will remove it”

I think everyone would agree with you there, but a little time and effort spent constructing good comments to post wouldn’t take long and would have a positive effect. If done correctly you would have little chance in spotting them I feel. Particularly, if soon afterwards they are followed up with ‘real’ personal interaction if the blog/forum targeted had resulted in a positive outcome –ie. Traffic directed to your site.

@Ken A,

Thanks for Re-tweeting my message. Can you (anyone) explain what re-tweeting is all about? It is not something I have done and maybe should be.

I notice you say you agree with Gazza 100% but you mention you are considering getting your son to comment on blogs outside the F500. Slight contradiction there, LOL, but I agree if you are going to go down the outsourcing route getting a family member to do it would add more of a personal touch than someone you don’t know. In fact someone has commented above that our mentor Alex Jeffreys did exactly that – used family members!!

@Dean,

Thanks for popping back and clarifying your original intention. I bet you wish you hadn’t commented now, LOL.

Seriously though I think it is good to air ideas as you get valuable feedback which can help decide the best way forward. In the end, I think you are right it looks as though it is something that will “divide the peeps” as you say But then I would say there are NO hard and fast rules in this game and your own personality will dictate what is right and wrong for you. This will differ from person to person.

@Angela,

Looks as though Microsoft have sorted the IE7 problem now so I guess you can go back to using that if you are not happy with Firefox. I personally use both.

Glad you got your access problems sorted out and found Gary’s and others comments useful to you.

@Michael,
Thanks for adding to the discussion. (Did you get my email?)

And hey, if you sign up with Rentacoder appreciate it if you do it through my link above. Like I said above, costs you nothing but I can make a little out of it

@Gary,

Yes, applying the 80/20 rule before you even consider posting on a blog/forum is essential but that should be taken a stage further regardless of if you add comments personally, outsourced or via a family member.

Alex Jeffreys has told us previously to use GA to analyse our traffic sources and apply the 80/20 rule there too. Just a reminder for those that have missed that previously.

Thanks for clearing that up.

However, I STILL would not “out-source” this activity. Posting and commenting is PERSONAL. To do otherwise is just SO false.

If you are concerned about the 80/20 rule then a quick look on the proposed blog that you are considering interacting with is all you will need to do. I check dates, activity, interaction of the blog owner - that sort of thing. I apply MY 80/20 rule BEFORE I even lay one word down.

Regarding “brothers”… Dean, we (ie you and I) have never met in person. I hope to rectify that at some stage this year - whether that be in that cess-pit called Las Vegas or even in London or anywhere else.

All I know about you is what I get to see from time to time on the blogs. I know what you mean, so please DON’T take this the wrong way (yourself - ie personally) but… SOME of the “brothers” and “sisters” do some very “un-brotherly-like” and “un-sisterly-like” things to fellow “brothers” and “sisters” at times… if you get my drift.

Gary

I finally realize that the amount of time I spent looking for plugins and trying each of them out should have been spent on my business, not the techie stuff.

Thanks for the great resource. I tried elance.com but I think rentacoder might be the way to go for this one.

And Dean, I believe social networking is important enough to write all of my posts and responses even on other sites.

I mean, what if somebody commented or emailed you about one of your comments that was hired out? I’d feel like an idiot.

Maybe articles and such about specific topics is what I would hire out to get traffic from EzineArticles or to creat an ebook.

Outsourcing has it’s place but in the beginning, I personally prefer learning a lot of it myself. When I push myself that’s when the best of me shines through.

Just a thought.

Michael J Ottman

Sorry to hear that so many were having trouble with IE7 and glad you’ve managed to sort it all out. My server isn’t the most reliable and IE was always crashing on me and causing weird things to happen - so I moved over to FireFox a while back. Not that thrilled with it, but it works.

All of you at Alex’s Students have been a real help and your suggestions I have taken to heart. Unfortunately I lost my password to access my blog (I tossed out a bunch of papers when I had a cleaning fit) and to my dismay realized my error too late. I tried for weeks and finally contacted you Garry, but it sent the password link to somewhere in lala land.

Thank goodness today my fiddling around managed to hit it right - only to discover that many of you had come to visit and a few of you girls also at Gary Simpsom’s request before I had made my decision! (Thank you Gary - I can’t access your site, but wanted to thank you personally - and no I don’t take offense to useful criticism)

Sorry to hear about Nigel I thought he was doing fabulous.

All the best,
Angela

Hey peeps

Let me straighten this out 100% …

NEVER .. and I do mean NEVER would I pay someone to write my own personal blog posts !!

When I said ‘posts’ above I was refering to forum posts… Sorry for the confusion but I call forum work ‘posting’ i.e - Post in a forum

The commenting refered to commenting on the blogs outside of the students i.e - New blogs that not visited before

Let me just confirm my reason for raising this…..

Now that everything is going forward I am starting to review how my working time is spent. I really dont get many hours left in a day right now lol ….So What I am saying is that to spread my name and go out doing the whole social thing takes up every spare time I get.. Yes I realise this is the important task of promotion but I actually really like the idea Garry has put forward above !!

Heck … Wouldnt you pay to know what blogs would send you traffic if you took part in them ??!! Seems to make perfect sense to me, get a hired worker to contribute in other blogs for you, analize the traffic and then personally take over those bringing good results !!

Hope that clears up my point, I wouldnt dream of ever outsourcing my own blog !! Geez Big G .. Should know a brother better man

I gets a feeling this one may divide peeps !!

Dean

Just picked up your tweet about this post. Re-tweeted it for you. I have yet to use outsourcing for anything but I know it will be the way to go eventually.

It will depend on what it is for but it seems that you can get some things done fairly cheaply. As you say, there aren’t enough hours in the day. The time will come when the only way to progress will be to outsource. Some are probably already in that situation.

The point you make about having an urgent problem to resolve is a good one. It could be useful to have a rescue service for emergencies.

I agree it’s definitely worth getting your feet wet with some small jobs to start off.

The Gazzman is feisty today. I agree with him entirely even though he misunderstood. I have also been considering getting my son to make comments on my behalf on blogs outside the 500.
Cheers
Ken

I do feel that someone else posting in my name would loose the personal touch as well as change the tone of the blog. Instead of being my blog it would become some weird hybrid of my thoughts and what the ghost writer put forth as my thought.

Just my opinion

Ken

Maybe I misunderstood it. But this is what he said:

“You see Im thinking that outsourcing some regular forum posting would relieve a lot of time ..**BUT** Then would you lose the personal touch of doing your own posting / commenting ???”

To me, a “post” is pretty much your own blog post. A comment is something that you (or in this case - your “proposed” army of hired femme-bots or whatever) leave on somebody else’s blog or forum.

OK. Let me make MY stance perfectly clear. If a femme-bot or a roboman-bot puts up some useless comment at my blog and I detect it then I will remove it and inform the Overlord NEVER to bother doing it again.

I wouldn’t do this SH*T to somebody else and I really hope that they wouldn’t do it to me. Though… seeing what goes on around the place from time to time, I think some people will do ANYTHING to make a quick buck.

Gary

Dean isn’t suggesting someone write posts or comments on his own blog (not the way I read it anyway) that would be totally wrong. He is on about commenting on the 1000’s of blogs out there in the IM niche to build up back-links and traffic to is own blog.

My reply has gone up at exactly the same time as yours so hopefully my comment above makes Dean’s intention a bit clearer.

@Theresa,
I guess that is a possibility for some and certainly those that wanted to make a bit of money could register with Rentacoder as a provider. For me that would be an impossibility at this time unless someone invents a 36 hour day, LOL But for others I guess it is something to consider.

Thanks for that suggestion.

My opinion about having some rent-a-person writing your blog posts and comments is that it would be so damn false it would render your blog useless, along with your name.

I know it takes up a lot of time but personally I would NEVER do it. If I detected that somebody else was writing blog posts for the owner then I would never go back to that blog. They could jam it IMHO.

Gary