Entrepreneur Blog

So everyone accepts that saying “You get what you pay for”. Well is that really true? I say Yes and No. It all depends on how hard and willing you are to do a lot of digging to find a good deal. Now there are a lot of new ways to get artistic and technical jobs outsourced such as: www.elance.com , www.guru.com , or www.rentacoder.com and you can find any level of contractor you are seeking. However there are no guarantees when trying to find a deal.

Let me explain my situation. I’ve been trying to get a back end program created for my foreign language lessons business in order to stream line and reduce the administrative work involved so that I can focus on my customers. Obviously because we are a new start up we are always trying to get big things done on a tight budget. So far we’ve been really good at it and I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish in the past year. For example our great website that was designed by a great website designer out of California and we got a great deal. I am extremely please with the end product and was able to get it done without breaking the bank.

However, developing this new admin program has been a completely different story. I’ve had 2 developers, lost about $300, and 5 months of time. I would hardly say at this point that I’ve been able to get a good deal and would probably say that I’ve gotten what I paid for. That is the cold hard truth that when you are looking for a deal you are also taking a chance that what you want and what you get will not be in line.

So the short and sweet of it is that if you are looking for a deal then you have to do your homework. Second, you have to be willing to risk not getting what you want the first time around. On the other hand when it does go well like it did with my website designer it’s a great thing. So here’s a short list of pointers that I’ve picked up over the past year that has been a extreme boot camp in boostrapping 101.

In no particular order:

1. Dig, Dig, Dig. Someone knows someone who knows someone who does good work at an affordable price.
   - Don’t be so excited to find a deal that you forget your common sense. Do your homework and make sure they are capable of doing what you want.
2. Help your contractors help you by preparing as much info as possible about the project before so you don’t waste time and money
3. Get everything in a contract
   - What you expect the contractor to do
   - What you are expected to do
   - The consequences if either of you don’t meet those expectations
4. If it’s super important to your business don’t skimp. Pay someone you know is qualified to do the work.
5. Be patient, Be patient, Be patient