Well, I was not that active for awhile but I finally completed my second quest. Be Thumbed is #1 in the keyphrase “Offshore IT Staff Leasing”. It took me longer than I have expected but I did make it in 11 days to be exact.

It will be a little while before I go on another quest, I have a lot of work piling up. hmmm… so much to do, so little time. Anyway, here’s a screenshot from google:

If you have been following my posts, you must have a pretty good idea of what offshore IT staff leasing is now. You might have a fairly basic idea of how it works and how you will be able to profit from it. If you are an enterprising individual like me, you might want to know how profitable it is and how to start an Offshore IT Staff Leasing Firm. Take it from me, it is not that easy. It takes a determined person to make it work.

Anyway, here are the bare facts:

• You do not have to be that “Tech-savvy”, meaning, you do not need to know all programming languages, nor to know how to use all the applications used by your employees, nor to be an SEO guru or goddess, for that matter. But you do need to at least know what they are and how they work so that you would be able to know what to tell your prospective clients. Take for example this scenario:
  • Prospect: Hi, I am looking to hire a web developer with experience in PHP and mySQL. The person must be comfortable with Linux as well. Do you have someone with that qualifications?
  • Now, what the heck are PHP, mySQL and Linux? No, they are not alien words. But they may as well be alien to you if you have not done your research. So what do you say to the caller? Um, sir, can I call you back? I need to find out what those words are. Eeeeek! Not only will you lose the sale, word will go out fast! Before you know it, that caller may be blogging on how inefficient your company is.
• You do not need a large capital to start an Offshore IT Staff Leasing firm. If you really do not have the funds, but have the resources and know people who might want to work for you, then you’re one step closer to building your own company in the comfort of your own home. All you need is a fast internet connection, a dependable computer and the willingness to learn. And VOIP, you can just use skype though. Its free to call toll-free numbers…
• You do not have to be a marketing whiz to find clients.But you do need to sound convincing and it helps if you have connection preferably in the US. It helps, a lot! Marketing your Offshore IT Staff Leasing firm would most likely be a nightmare if you do not have the guts and a so-so marketing skill at most.
• You have to build a good impression for your company, meaning, you must have a website. This is the first most important thing that you need to have. Prospects will laugh at you if you do not have a website that is professional looking. How can you tell prospects that you have developers and designers for hire when you could not even have a decent website built?
• A portfolio is good. But if you are just starting out, your website would be a good start. You might want to make some sample sites and host it in your website for added bonus.
• You must have a decent knowledge on how to set your price tags. You do not want to be too cheap just to get clients, you could not set too low a price tag to the kind of talents that you are marketing. Nor would you want to set a very high price tag for your talents, remember you are just starting out and do not have a name to boast of – yet. Try to research and compare the prices on other offshore IT staff leasing firms and set a workable price, somewhere along the lines of not being too cheap, yet not thoroughly pricey. Be on the safe side. Work up a pricing table that would give you enough profit to jumpstart your business.

There you go folks, good advice from someone who profess to know what she is doing. One more thing, its a jungle out there.

Offshoring, can be defined as relocation of business processes (including production/manufacturing) to a lower cost location.

In layman’s term:

Paying pennies for work worth much more… But who’s complaining?

What gives? 

To consider offshoring is to make the most out of what you have and to get the best at a fraction of the cost it would have cost them if they hire upfront employees in their own countries. Companies and individuals who consider offshoring their work load are taking advantage of the vast manpower of so-called “underdeveloped” countries who offer experienced IT professionals to “first-class” countries at a very low price.

Some may call it “systematic slavery” but the reality is, what may seem like pennies to those who hire them are actually more than enough to compensate for the cost of living in these underdeveloped countries. To hire professionals from these countries will not only save clients money, they will get quality professionals as well. It is a known fact that IT professionals from these countries such as the Philippines and India have what it takes to compete in the global market in terms of experience and expertise and undiscovered, raw talent.

There are many untapped talents waiting to be explored and it takes a company with an eye for talent to turn a rock into a gem. It takes a company like Virtulance to provide these talents an outlet to let their creativity run free. We, at Virtulance, value our workers above all and we make sure that they are happy and well-compensated. Hiring an IT professional from Virtulance gives you the assurance of having the best worker for your projects. If you want to consider Offshoring, choose Virtulance and you won’t regret it.

Why pay more for an upfront employee to do a job that can be done exactly the same by someone thousands of miles away for half the price? The answer is easy, the employee is tangible, the communication line is open, the work is presented to you as soon as you want it. Most employees have this fear of being cheated, of not getting exactly what they have paid for, that is why an upfront employee is very important for these kinds of employees. They are the cautious type.

Cautious but uninformed. Hiring an Offshore IT Staff is the answer to your prayers if:

a. you are a small start-up company with a tight budget

b. you are adventurous and willing to give Offshore IT Staff Leasing a try just for the heck of it

c. you are finally tired of freelancers and their excuses

d. you are tired of your upfront employees and their excuses

Offshore IT Staff Leasing? What the heck am I talking about? Is Offshore IT Staff Leasing the same as Outsourcing? Too many questions…

Outsourcing is not the same as Offshore IT Staff Leasing. Although fundamentally the same, they are different both in definition and in essence. Take a look at the differences between Outsourcing and Offshore IT Staff Leasing as pointed out in the Virtulance website:

Outsourcing is an agreement with a third party to perform a service for a particular organization. With outsourcing, the company remains a third party with no obligation to your company other than the agreed service. Whereas, in offshoring, the hired agent/s in a particular company is an extension of your company. The person/s that you have hired is working directly for you and is a part of your company although s/he is located in another country. An offshore company is an extension of your company, giving you that personal involvement often needed in sensitive areas of work particularly in web development.

Get the point now? To hire an Offshore Employee is to hire your own employee, the only difference is that the employee is not tangible. But, the work quality is the same if not better, communication is as easy as ever what with the various iMing services and VOIP services mushrooming everyday, and you are updated daily about what your employee is doing since daily reports are a must with companies like Virtulance.

Plus, you get more than what you paid for for less than half the amount you are paying your upfront employees. Hiring an Offshore IT Staff from an Offshore IT Staff Leasing Firm, gives you not one, not two but three employees. You get your agent, plus a project manager/supervisor and a quality checker all for the price of one!

So, is Offshore IT Staff Leasing a viable option for employers? Definitely! But do not take my word for it, try it out and see if it is for you. You might want to start with Virtulance…

After a two week (almost) hiatus, I am getting back on the horse and try out for another leap. I am getting a little bit aggressive and will try out for “offshore IT staff leasing” with over 1,700,000 competitors. Think I can make it? I wonder how long it would take me this time…

And of course, together with my new quest is my new topic for the month of September. Offshore IT Staff Leasing! Very original, eh?

Anyway, my articles for this month may seem like shameless self-advertisement. I have an Offshore IT Staff Leasing Company called Virtulance and it would be okay for me to advertise, right? I own this website and I co-own the company, its just natural. I am not being defensive or anything, I am just trying to clear things up. Who knows, I might say something that might be a little itty bitty like ADVERTISEMENT. It is a fact of the online world. If you have a company, advertise or stay at home and sleep.

Its as simple as that.

To kick off the month, although I am 5 days late, I will be starting with optimizing Be Thumbed to be number 1 in the keyphrase “Offshore IT Staff Leasing”. Stay with me, who knows, you might learn something new.