Take the subject of writing, as you have in this post. If the quality of work done for you is not up to the level that you can produce yourself, or at least 90% close to it, so its easy for you to tweak, then I say that there is probably absolutely no reason to outsource the task to someone else.

Outsourcing is a great way to help grow your business and engage yourself in the Virtual Lifestyle that so many entrepreneurs crave. But, honestly speaking, I see no reason at all why it should benefit you, financially or otherwise, if the reputation you work hard to build up is shot down due to poor work that has your name attached to it.

Use Outsourcing wisely and you, generally, cant go wrong, but, also use common sense, too!

Congratulations on a very relevant and worthwhile article.

As a newbie to the freelancer’s world (and by newbie I mean under two years), I really appreciate every bit of information that was shared. I am a sponge and love to soak up knowledge as much as possible, as often as possible so this post has really helped and even inspired me to look at my work a little different. Thank you once again.

Early in my freelance writing career, I outsourced a project without giving it much thought. As James said, I didn’t think the client would care as long as the project was done on time and to the quality standard he desired. But, when he “found out” I had outsourced several articles, he went berserk and severed our working relationship. I was dumbfounded because I honestly didn’t think it would be an issue. To make matters worse, I had other writers involved in the fiasco attempt to sabotage my reputation by trying to make me look like an inferior writer because I had outsourced my work.

After that incident happened, I made sure to state clearly on my website that I do outsource work on occassion and I make certain to clear it with the client first. I have found that some clients really DO want only my work and do not want it to be outsourced, while others are glad that I have several other writers who I can call upon to help them complete large projects, to lend their expertise or simply to provide them with a variety of different writing styles on the articles we complete for them. In fact, having these contacts with dozens of other writers has helped me land some gigs I otherwise may not have won.

That’s not to say that I don’t think James’ business model doesn’t work – I know other writers who outsource regularly with great results. I have discussed possibly outsourcing some projects to other writers with one client (his suggestion), so I’ll probably try it again once more at some point. For now, however, I’m doing more of what Jen advises by writing for myself. Great discussion.

Much-needed, thank you. The truth: word ratio is off the charts here and it needed to be said.

And another point that you alluded to, but don’t know if you wrote outright, is that there are only 168 hours in a week. If one doesn’t outsource some items, revenue is limited to hourly rate times number of hours worked. Outsourcing (as in your e-book example) enables one to leverage the working hours. Law firms, cpa firms, etc., all do this by charging one rate, but paying non-partners a lower rate. Partners share in the profit that comes from the difference.

James – that’s precisely why I mentioned at the end of my post that there was more to come next week covering other aspects that specifically tie some of our points together, and why I said you may have jumped the gun on making it personal in any way at this point, which as we can see in the comments here does little but lead others to make even more premature assumptions and judgments.

Yes, my opinions are strong. If anything, I was a complete kitten in that post though. I’m actually more known as a hard-ass with a tough love approach – no coddling, no settling for less than what people are worth, and certainly no advocating for bunny slippers. Now you know. Offense (even if not intended) aside, I’ll be nice next week – I stand by what I said in my post about reasonable people being able to disagree James. The fact that we have different approaches, doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t have similar end goals.