DIY, Local or Outsourced?

As a person who has attempted to start several web companies, ranging from blogs, blog networks, social networking sites and a web app, I understand why people want to do it and to an extent, what it takes. Am I an expert? Probably not. But because I have tried to tackle so many different markets and ideas, I have gained an immense knowledge base regarding the topic. The big question many people face right off the bat is,”How do I get my idea off paper and onto the web”?

The answer for this question is either to outsource the project, pay someone local to do it or to do it yourself. I can tell you this right now, the best option from that list is to do everything yourself. You know what you want. You know what you need. No one else knows. BUT, and this is a big but, I do understand that not everyone is capable of building a blog or designing a logo. This is fine and it shouldn’t be a factor at all. If you do need someone else to build your idea, I would prefer to work locally ten out of ten times, given the choice. 

There is nothing wrong with outsourcing your project, but it does come with several obstacles you must be willing to overcome. You have some obvious things like the language barrier and the time differences. But you also have to think about the cultural differences and the legal ramifications. 

When working with a team in another country, you are going to have to try to articulate things very carefully. You likely won’t be able to say something like, “Hey make it look like the Starbucks logo” and have them know what you are talking about. This is probably a good thing, because it forces you really to think your ideas out. Flesh them out fully, make sure you completely understand them. If you can do this, you should have no problem getting your point across to someone else. 

The legal part is what keeps many people from outsourcing their work. If you pay someone in California to design your website and they take your money and disappear (never pay 100% upfront, and definitely always use an escrow service) you can take legal actions to recoup your loses. Unfortunately it isn’t so simple when you take everything overseas. International law is a completely different beast. I’m no lawyer, and I definitely don’t claim to know much about law, but I do know that if we played out that same scenario with a Sri Lankan designer I probably would never see my money again. 

As I stated above, the best choice is to do everything yourself if you are capable. You will do the best job. You will create the perfect product. If you can afford to pay a local team to do the work, and are incapable of doing it yourself, then definitely go that route. You will pay more, yes, but you will get better work, have easier communications and have legal protection. And if you need to outsource the job, don’t fret. Just do your research and choose wisely. Look through their portfolio, get references and look at their history. You will pay much less, still get a good end product and will likely learn a lot in the process. 

All three options have their own pros and cons and while I can’t make the decision for you, I have hopefully given you a very basic overview of the process and given you some information to help you make a well-educated decision. 

Finally, the most important advice I have for you is extremely simple: Don’t give up. Those three words are the ultimate key to success in my mind. While some people would see my past ventures as failures, I see them as grand learning experiences. While they never went where I envisioned them going, they did teach me so much about the entire experience. So if your first idea flops, and your second idea is a bust, just keep going. If you are truly passionate about being a web entrepreneur you will stay in the game as long as you have to. Defeat should never be an option.

Finding Your Passion

For Christmas I received Gary Vaynerchuck’s book, Crush It!, as a present from my parents. I delayed reading it for a while, and boy did that turn out to be a mistake. That book literally opened my eyes to new possibilities and to the reality of what it is going to take for me to achieve my dreams.

While I have taken a few steps to following Gary’s plan for success, I still have many to go. The one point he talked about that really got me thinking was when he wrote about finding your passion in life and following through on it. Becoming the best at what you love most. I had always wanted to wear many different hats and try to take on many different subjects in my past endeavors. That fact probably explains why none of them went where I envisioned them going. It took me a long time to really narrow my interests down to just one thing. Even now I feel like I am cheating a bit. My passions are with web design, the Internet, sports and movies. I love all of those things. Ask any of my friends. I can talk for hours on any one of those topics. But which one of those things am I going to crush it in?

Movies? I have watched hundreds of movies and I do watch a few new (to me anyways) movies every week. I do follow a number of movie blogs such as /film, Film School Rejects and The A.V. Club. I listen to film-related podcasts and I enjoy discussing movies with my friends. Sounds like a great fit for me, right? Probably not. I can’t see myself writing movie reviews for the next 30 years. I love movies as a hobby, not as a job.

So what about sports? I’m an avid sports fan (Eagles, Lakers, Dodgers and Longhorns, FYI). I can spout off most every NFL, NBA and MLB teams rosters, give you historical facts and debate you for hours on any sports related topic. But just like movies, I love sports as a release. I use sports as an escape for everything else. I don’t think I could enjoy sports like I do if I were to undertake a job which made them work and not recreational.

So that leaves web design and the Internet. This is the one passion that I have where I could see myself doing it for the rest of my life no problem. I get on the web every day. I majored in web design in school. I register for every new social networking site that pops up (anyone need a Blippy invite? justin@justincoleman.com while they last). I love to read up on the latest web standards and the latest techniques. I subscribe to more web design/Internet related blogs than any other topics.

I absolutely love this stuff. I would do it for free (obviously I prefer to get paid :) ). So from here-on-out, my goal is crush the web design field. I plan on doing this by providing a different perspective on the whole industry with my blog. I plan on doing this by refining my design skills so that I am world-class. At some point in the near future, I will open my own freelance web design company and take it to the top of the list. Ambitious? You bet. I always tell my mom that I set my goals in everything extremely high, because that is what pushes me to do my best. Why settle for good when you can be great?

Now I pose this question to you. What is your passion and what are you going to do about it?