Want to buy a product from China?

Do you have a small business or even maybe a small eBay business that you want to grow by offering new products, however you are getting bent over by local distributors. Finding out how to work directly with manufacturers in China, India, Philippines, and other locations around the world is often thought of as a difficult undertaking and risky adventure especially for a small business owner. However with today's access to people through the internet and online outsourcing companies like oDesk that provide checks and balances and reliability it is possible to hire someone on the ground for a very reasonable hourly rate or fixed rate to help source product ideas for you with manufacturers in China.

When hiring an outsourced individual to support your needs with sourcing products it is best for your first time to use someone that has a great reputation in community and logged lots of hours and completed many similar projects. This way the person you are hiring will already know many of the questions to ask you that you may not know about the process.

If you have a great idea and want to see it materialized into a product and shipped to your door but are unsure how to do it all start looking around oDesk and other outsourcing websites and you will find someone that can help get your ideas in front of the right people so you can receive quotes, designs, etc.

Make sure that your sourcing agent is knowledgeable about the product in its entirety. I recommend providing a bonus option if the person meets all of your objectives including price, any project oversight, and general assistance to ensure that the transaction goes according to plans.

Additional articles for entrepreneurs that are looking for professionals available for hire online.

Set Up Salesforce With Support From Online Outsourced Developers

If you are thinking about setting up salesforce for use at your start up company consider having an expert help you with the set up process. You can hire a developer that has lots of experience setting up new companies onto online customer relationship management systems like Salesforce, zoho, SugarCRM and many other platforms that support companies manage their sales team and customer relationships.

Rather than spending the time required to set up all the features you need to use for your workflow get a developer to do it right and then instruct you and your team with how to utilize the tool according to your business needs.

Make sure when you are selecting a person to hire that they are asking you lots of questions about how your business operates, how many people will need accounts, what type of information you need to store in the system, what product details are important, how many accounts and contacts you will be importing etc. If they do not have any questions for you regarding getting you set up it is best to find someone else a little more knowledgeable about actually implementing a CRM system for a new company. You will need to be actively involved in the set up process so the system meets your requirements, otherwise you may end up needing to have lots of changes later down the road or before the CRM system is really usable.

Need an iPhone Developer for your Business

Many companies are evaluating whether their business can benefit from having a presence on the Apple iPhone or iPad. If you have a business that already heavily uses the web to interact with customers than thinking of a mobile strategy to either service your customers or provide them additional value is a strong strategy that should be evaluated immediately before competition makes a stronger presence on these platforms than you do. Set up a time to meet with a business professional that has experience in the mobile application space for a business evaluation concerning the viability of developing a mobile application.

Developing creative mobile advertisements is another play for small businesses and entrepreneurs to evaluate and consider as a possible way to market and brand your company to your target demographic based on the types of apps you choose to run ads on. An engaging ad that has features of a mobile app are strong way to engage with your customer through a mobile advertisement.

Either path can be a successful strategy to increase your business by using mobile as a platform for reaching your customers. A online outsourced team or individual that has experience developing iPhone apps can help you with the development of a basic app. If you have an existing software program work with seasoned veterans at an outsourcing company to have them help you port the software to the new app that you can then place in the Apple app store.

Consider Consulting Online to Other Companies to Generate Revenue

If you have a specific skill that you can contract out to other businesses, this can be a great way to fund your own start up company without stopping your regular day job or asking family and friends for seed capital to get a new product developed and out to market. Take a look through projects available on oDesk, Go Freeland, eLance, and Guru to see if there are jobs available for yourself to complete.

No matter your level of expertise in a specific industry you should be able to find jobs that you can bid on to earn a few extra dollars to support your own plans for starting a company. Helping others do there basic business tasks such as market research, Social Media strategies, or doing some coding or engineering if you have those skill sets can help you refine your approach to starting your own company.

If you bid on a new project everyday you should be able to get at a minimum of a few extra hours of work per week which can be a big help when first developing a new company with all of the paperwork that must be filed and initial start up costs. Utilize online jobs to suppliment your early revenues for the company and if you are in the business services industry using these sites to begin to build a client base in an excellent option. If you are a bookkeeper looking to start a practice getting some early clients through an online outsourcing site may not earn you the ideal hourly rate you would like to earn but you will be busy with work and be developing clients that you can work with in the future and use as references for future clients.




By generating revenue early you will help avoid a small business failure of waiting too long for the right clients rather than taking the business in that you are able to attract.