After my last post about the Art and Science of SEO, I got
an email from a Mr Tyler DeWitt of http://www.dewittsmedia.com/seo-blogs/
asking me some questions about setting up an outsourcing company in India. As
luck would have it his question fit in nicely with my plan to write about the
SEO processes I set up and why I moved the entire operation to India. So, with
Tyler’s permission,(complete with his ads and phone number BTW), I’ll post his
questions and my response here as the second in the series about building the
ART OF SEO into a scientific process.
QUESTION ABOUT SETTING UP AN OUTSOURCING OPERATION FROM DEWITT MEDIA
Hey this is Tyler Dewitt I know Aaron, and Jim pretty well. I actually never even
heard of you I read about you on Aaron blogs, but anyways I notice your moving
to india. I was wanting to ask you a few question what do you think of out
sourcing work to india the reason I ask is because I plan on flying over there
one day and setting up out source companies for the us to India. Which not to
many people will know about it as I speak I have a few people over there now,
but I'm thinking of building it pretty large, or as large as I can.
What do you think of that you seem to have been around
for awhile. I know that it's a pretty big thing now days, also I seen john
scott on your blogroll I know him to he offered me a job over in toyko, but
I urned it down awhile back. Anyways
you think that's a good field to get into from your experience cause I notice a
big majority of IT companies are out sourcing which its not talked about that
much, but if I was to out source I would build the companies under our company
and not outsource to other companies if you get what I'm saying.
Tyler Dewitt (CEO of DeWitt's Media Company)
765-274-6877
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Ok for the first question:
>what do you think of out sourcing work to india<
Well, obviously I think it is good enough that I would endure multiple 30+ hour
plane rides complete with body cavity searches and rectal probes,(be
fore-warned though, the rectal probes cost extra), malaria, typhoid fever,
salmonella and just the weirdness of sticking out like a raisin in a bowl of
milk to be able to do it.
>Anyways you think that's a good field to get into
from your experience cause I notice a big majority of IT companies are out
sourcing which its not talked about that much,<
Yes, a lot of IT companies are outsourcing.
I don’t know that I would say a majority
but there is no question there are a lot.
The trick is that you have to have two things to really make
it worth it. First you need the volume.
In the US, any programmer with even a Bachelor’s degree is going to cost about
$40,000 per year. At that salary you can be pretty sure the employee is gone at
the first job offer that pays $40,005. You are paying the least and of course
there are exceptions to the rule but the rule remains you get what you pay for.
In terms of talent, education, focus, loyalty and just about every other aspect
of a good employee.
In India $8000 a year is a good job. $1000 a month is a GREAT job and you are
now interviewing people with Master’s degrees and 3+ years experience. $24,000
a year and you have the best of the best.
There are also cultural differences that provide benefits to
an employer. Again, I’m speaking in generalities and every culture or country
has it’s good, bad and ugly but as a rule, reputation means a lot to Indians.
This fosters an environment of a little higher sense of duty and doing what you
say you will do. There are certain accepted practices to leaving one job to
start another that simply do not exist in the US job market.
So, yes, reduced salaries by as much as 50 to 70% can be very attractive BUT,
when you still have to cover the expense of the travel, the rental for suitable, (suitable being a VERY subjective term), temporary living quarters, hiring
reliable financial and legal counsel, the re-location of key organization
people, the cost can still be prohibitive to some companies who do not have the
revenue to justify spending several thousands of dollars to be able to save 60%
on salaries.
A good way to look at what I mean is that if your total cost in labor last year
was $100,000, (not counting your own salary of course unless you want to reduce
that by 70% as well),and you can save $60,000 next year by moving the bulk of
your labor requirements but it will cost some $40,000 to go there, get the
counsel you need, set up an office, buy the furniture, interview and hire the
people BUT,(and this is the big but), you only made a profit of $20,000 on
sales of $200,000 last year, you can’t afford to save the $60,000 next year.
That is why the first trick is you have to have a company with the volume to
justify the initial expense of moving there and getting set up.
TO MAKE OUTSOURCING WORK, YOU NEED TO HAVE THE MANAGEMENT IN PLACE
The second trick is, you need someone you KNOW you can trust to be there to
manage the operation. It’s not that you can’t trust the lower level staff
members, it’s that with any new company there are a lot of things that need to
be defined and without a strong leader/leaders in place that you are confident
understand and share your vision, the whole train can easily take the wrong
track.
In my case, I had worked with several people in India for over two years and I
had started thinking of making the move a good year and a half before I
mentioned it to anyone. I started doing things to kind of test certain people
that I thought displayed management ability.
I found someone that I felt fit the bill and began a slow, tedious process of
kind of grooming them to become my partner. I got lucky and found the right man
for the job. Someone who has a high sense of ethics coupled with the education
in management and the experience of running several large teams over the past
10 years.
I had considered moving someone from my Oklahoma staff there
but no one was jumping at the opportunity to move 10,000 miles away to an
exotic land that few knew much about. So, instead, I slowly started shifting
more and more of the “process” I keep talking about to other companies over
there. I was actually recruiting kind of.
So, if you have the volume and the management, (assuming you’re not prepared to
go yourself and do it), then you just have a lot of problems to overcome BUT it
can be a very good move. The thing to remember is not to be afraid of the
problems. You are going to have those in India or in Oklahoma City. It still
boils down to the same basic principles of business anywhere on the globe.
I’m very happy with my decision. I now have a staff of 18 for about 1/3 of what
a staff of 7 was costing me before the move. I now have a staff that is
motivated, well educated, focused and well managed. Amish Vyas, our SEO manager
alone has a MBA from one of the most prestigious business schools in India as
well as a Bachelors in electronics and telecommunications. http://outsource.techndu.com/meet_your_new_employees.html
Plus I am now able to rent out most of the office space we had in our building
in Oklahoma City and reduce our cost in utilities, payroll taxes, health
insurance and so forth. All in all, we have cut our expenses by more than 50%
overall.
Of course I will have to travel to India at least twice a year and stay for 2
to 3 months at a time. That can be a hardship on some. For Kathi and I, we love
it. We see it as an opportunity few others ever get to experience. We get to
not only travel to but live in a place that is exotic and beautiful with a very
old history that we can’t wait to explore and learn more about. What a life
adventure!
BEST OF ALL – WE’RE ACTUALLY LIVIN THE DREAM
With our laptops, our expert staff in India and our new Aircard 875U
http://laptoping.com/att-sierra-wireless-aircard-875u-usb-modem.html
We really can live the dream that most SEO’s have only talked about. We could
run our business from the steps of the Taj Mahal, (we actually did do that 
We were surprised the Taj was so small. I always thought it was bigger ), to
lying naked on the beach in some remote part of Tahiti, (yikes—there’s a mental
NO ONE needs to see).
Next I’ll start describing the actual processes I’ve developed and why they
work so well. I’ll start with the DSS or Directory Submission Service.
Ronnie! Quit picking your nose at the dinner table
Peace Y’all