This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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All right, all right, Chris Guillebeau here. Welcome to Cytosol School. Thanks for tuning in today. I'm so glad you're out there. This is a daily podcast, all about how to make extra money without quitting your job.
We've got people all over the world doing this in all sorts of ways. We're all about case studies, actionable information, something you can take and apply right away so that you can, in fact, create freedom, not just extra money, but ultimately freedom and the chance to do more of what matters to you. So today, let's talk briefly about outsourcing. Outsourcing, hiring a contractor, a virtual assistant. This is a mythological concept in some circles.
It can solve everything according to some people. And in other circles, it is a disaster in the making. Lots of people hire contractors, virtual assistants, they end up with all sorts of bad experiences. So it's either the best thing in the world or it's an unmitigated disaster. I am somewhere in the middle of that.
I have worked with lots of contractors over the years, some good, some not so good. Sometimes the fault is not of the contractor, but of me in terms of the direction I provide. So today, our caller is starting a second side hustle. One of our listeners, apparently their first side hustle is going well enough to give him some profits to work with. So that's great.
And he wants to know where to find the best virtual assistants and other contractors. So let's see if we can help him out. Got a message from our sponsor and then we'll dive right in. [Music]
What's up, Chris and team? I've been enjoying the show and I'm making steps towards my second side hustle.
My question today is about hiring contractors. Where's the best place to do that? I think you've mentioned Fiverr and at least one other one, but I'm not sure of the ideal starting point. Also, any tips when contracting my first virtual assistant? I know this is important to get right, so I don't want to mess this up.
Thanks, have a great day. [Music]
All right, congratulations on your first hustle and taking those steps toward your second side hustle. So yes, I do have some tips and recommendations here. I'll be really quick, but hopefully helpful as well. So you have a few options, all of which can be good depending on your needs.
Okay, so there's probably more of these, but I'm just gonna give you three because three's a lot. Hopefully that'll be helpful for some of our other listeners as well. Three platforms, Fiverr, Upwork and OnlineJobs.ph. Now I've talked about all three of these at different points, but let's go into them really quickly and look at the differences, okay? So Fiverr.com, which I think has two Rs, like Fiverr, Upwork.com and OnlineJobs.ph.
The differences are based somewhat on how long you want to hire someone for, okay? So they're somewhat interchangeable in that you can find people to do virtual assistant work or any specialized technical work, lots of different stuff from any of these platforms. But the difference is, one of the main differences is how long you want to hire someone for. So Fiverr is great for just really quick things. I got a simple project.
I got a simple thing that needs to be done tomorrow. Great, I'm gonna go to Fiverr. I'm gonna find someone. They're gonna do it for probably a pretty small amount of money and most likely they're gonna do it fairly well. There's a review system.
You can kind of see someone's history. You can look at their portfolio before you make a purchase. So it's great for really quick things. Upwork is good for something medium term. Like you can find someone for the quick thing, but it's usually good for something that's a little bit more project-based, not just like a one-day project, but something that might take a week or two, maybe a month or two.
And you can find someone for full-time or long-term there, but really for a long-term virtual assistant, onlinejobs.ph might be your best bet. And they are focused entirely on the long-term. It's not so much project-based, freelance-based. It's like, if you want someone to be a virtual assistant, hopefully for many months or years, then that's where you go. So they all kind of specialize in these things.
And as I said, you can go to any of them for any of it. But if you know that in advance, you're gonna get the best results. If you know in terms of what they focus on, what they specialize in, you'll get the best results. For best results, the number one tip I have, thing I would suggest is to be really clear on what you want this person to do, okay? Take some time to create really detailed notes or short walkthrough videos.
Loom is a great resource for that. I think they have a paid version, but you can also just make free videos using Loom. It's like a screen capture software, L-O-O-M. Make these videos and this training, whatever you do, as simple as possible, but as I said, detailed. Training goes a long way for these kinds of roles.
So don't just throw somebody in the deep end of the pool, expect them to learn how to swim. If I think about the successes and failures I've had with contractors, I tend to have much more success when I have taken the time to provide some detailed training. And that doesn't always work well for me, for my personality, because I'm kind of like, just go figure it out. But if you want to invest in this for the longterm, that's what you need to do. So there you go, some resources and a tip, at fiverrupworkonlinejobs.ph, check it out.
And if you've got a question, listeners, sidehustleschool.com/questions, we'll continue to feature them throughout the year. We've got a new episode every day, lots of case studies, all kinds of fun stuff. It's all completely free. I hope you'll continue to join me, maybe pass it on to a friend as well. My name is Chris Guillebeau, you're listening to Side Hustle School.
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From the Onward Project.
