New Setup with Surf Shelf

It’s been a month since I setup my treadmill desk so I thought I’d share what I’ve learned so far.

Setup Changes with Cost and Height Updates

In the original setup, the monitors were too far away. So, I ordered a SurfShelf Treadmill Desk and Laptop Holder from Amazon and now, it’s much better. It only holds my laptop so I don’t have my second monitor. Surprisingly, I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would.

With the new surf shelf, I got to take everything back to Home Depot except the shelf for my keyboard. That made my total setup cost about $50, not including the treadmill.

A note about the right setup for you. I’m 5’1″ and the monitor and keyboard are at a perfect height for me. If you’re tall, this setup may not work for you. A 6’3″ friend used the desk and he was more comfortable using the keyboard on the laptop instead of  the one I use on the shelf across the treadmill handlebars. Of course, this meant he was looking down at the screen, which isn’t ideal. Also, the treadmill deck (mine is 55″) was a little short for him with the keyboard on a shelf across the handlebars. So, finding the right setup for you may take some adjustments.

Stats, including Weight Loss

In total, I walked 20 days out of the month. I logged a little over 65 miles which averages to 3.25 for each day that I walked. The least I walked one of those days was .6 miles. The most I walked in one day was 6.66. I almost always walk at 1 mph since I’ve found it’s the best rate for me.

I’m estimating that I burn about 125 calories per mile walked, therefore 65 miles is 8125 calories burned. Since 1 lb = 3500 calories, I should have lost about 2.3 lbs. I lost a little more than that, around 4 pounds. I think that’s because my cravings have changed so I’ve been eating differently. It’s weird but when I walk for a long time on the treadmill, I’m not as hungry that day. And when I am hungry, I crave meat and veggies instead of my normal sugar cravings.

Other Observations

Besides the change in my cravings, I’ve noticed a few other things that are interesting.

• My skin looks much healthier. I haven’t been wearing makeup as much lately because I don’t feel like I need to… and I’ve had men comment on how good my skin or makeup looks! Woot!
• I’m sleeping much better. I’ve always been a good sleeper but in the past month, I’ve noticed I feel ready to sleep at bedtime instead of staying up watching tv or reading. As a result, I wake up much more refreshed.
• I have more energy overall. That’s been really great.
• My knees don’t hurt as much as they did when I was sitting all day. Now, if I sit for too long, my bootie starts hurting!
• I shower more often.  Since I work from home, if I wasn’t meeting people, I might skip showing for the day. That doesn’t happen if I log several hours on the treadmill.

Overall, it’s been awesome! I really, really love my treadmill desk and recommend it to anyone that can do it.

FAQs

People have been asking me all kinds of questions so I’m going to answer them here. If you have more questions, write it in the comment and I’ll do my best to answer it.

How fast do you walk?

I’ve tried several speeds and 1 mph works well for me. At that pace, I don’t really notice that I’m walking and it doesn’t affect what I’m doing.

What is the fastest you can go and still actually do something?

2.5 mph is the fastest for me. Faster than that and I can’t read.

Aren’t you distracted by the walking?

Sometimes. I find that I can easily do stuff I have figured out but if I need to think or solve a serious problem, I have to stop the treadmill. Other than that, it’s not distracting at all.

How loud is it?

It’s not that loud. There’s a low hum the entire time, sorta like white noise. It’s not distracting and I don’t usually turn my music up any higher than I used to. I’ve also done speaker phone calls without a problem.

Does it make your electric bill go up?

If it does, it’s not significant. My electric bill for the month I had the treadmill was less than the previous month (and I was out of town for a full week the previous month). However, I haven’t been in this apartment for over a year so I can’t compare to last year’s bill.

Can you  really get work done or just surf the web?

You can really get stuff done. A lot of it actually. I’ve been very productive in this month, launching and supporting 3 different websites, one that was fully coded during that time. I think the treadmill desk helps with productivity.

That’s it for now! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments.

First, the URL is wrong. The base should be http://www.imnicamail.com/v4/api.php – not what they have listed.

Second, if you use the JSON result, they add a “true(” to the beginning and “)” at the end (both without quotes). Again, no where in their documentation.

Third, you need the List ID, not the name. While this is mentioned, it’s confusing and sorta hard to find if you’re not technically inclined. Here’s how you find it. Navigate to you list and then grab it off the url. Show in this screenshot:

So, I thought I’d try and save you some time and give you the code I used to integrate as I didn’t find any when I googled.

Here it is. You’ll need to get a JSON deserializer, I used SimpleJson which you can install with NuGet.

One more note: This will return true if the user is a new subscriber or already subscribed.

//API Reference: http://support.imnica.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=32&nav=0,4
private bool ImnicaSubscribe(string email, string listID)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(email) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(listID))
    {
	return false;
    }

    //This variable is specific to Rackspace Cloud Sites, you may want to use another
    string ip = string.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP"]) ? "127.0.0.1" : Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP"].Trim().ToLower();

    string url = "http://www.imnicamail.com/v4/api.php";
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    sb.Append("Command=Subscriber.Subscribe&ResponseFormat=JSON&JSONPCallBack=true&ListID=");
    sb.Append(listID);
    sb.Append("&EmailAddress=");
    sb.Append(email);
    sb.Append("&IPAddress=");
    sb.Append(ip);

    string sret = string.Empty;

    try
    {
	WebClient client = new WebClient();
	client.Headers["Content-type"] = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
	byte[] bret = client.UploadData(url, "POST", System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(sb.ToString()));
	sret = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bret);

	//Imnicamail likes to wrap its JSON in a "true()" so let's remove it
	if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(sret) && sret.Length > 7)
	{
	    int l = sret.Length - 6;
	    sret = sret.Substring(5, l);
	}
	else
	{
	    throw new Exception("value returned is formatted incorrectly = " + sret);
	}

	//Deserialize the JSON
	dynamic a = SimpleJson.SimpleJson.DeserializeObject(sret);
	if (a["Success"])
	{
	     return true;
	}
	else if (!a["Success"] && a["ErrorCode"] == 9) //9 is already subscribed so it's ok
	{
	    return true;
	}
	else
	{
	    throw new Exception("Imnica Mail Exception - " + a.ErrorCode);
	}
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
	//log for manual investigation
    }

    return false;
}

Hope that helps! If you can make the code better, please feel free to leave it in the comments.

Https Issues

Launching an ASP.NET MVC3 site on Rackspace Cloud Sites has been mostly easy. Mostly. There are a few ‘gotchas’ that make it painful. There’s no need for you to waste time I’ve already spent figuring this stuff out so here’s what I’ve learned the hard way.

ASP.NET 4.0 isn’t the Default

You’ll see this manifest itself with an ugly configuration error when you try to visit your site. This one is easily fixed, just open a ticket or start a chat and ask them to move your site to ASP.NET 4.0. It takes them about 10 minutes if you ask via chat.

You Must Do an MVC Bin Deploy

Another ugly configuration error will happen when you try to visit your site. Luckily, VS2010 has added a feature specifically for including the MVC deployable assemblies. Right click on the project and select ‘Add Deployable Assemblies’ and you’ll see the dialog. If you have any problems, follow the instructions in this Haacked.com article. Phil did a great job writing that up so I don’t feel the need to repeat it.

Get the User’s IP Address

This was another fun one. I kept trying to use Request.ServerVariables["REMOTE_ADDR"] or Request.ServerVariables["X_FORWARDED_FOR"]. Neither worked. Finally, I wrote a little method that looped through all the variables on the server and found the one that worked.

Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_CLUSTER_CLIENT_IP"] is the one you want to use to get the client’s IP address.

Email Limits

I didn’t read the Acceptable Use Policy closely enough to see that there are limits of 5,000 emails per day and 250 per 20 minutes. I found that out the hard way when I launched something that generated lot of confirmation and welcome emails. Enough to break that AUP. That night, I answered a LOT of support tickets from unhappy customers and eventually took out the account confirmation until the traffic died down. Live, learn and use Sendgrid.  Rackspace Cloud Sites has a special deal set up with Sendgrid for 40,000 emails per month. Use it. Sendgrid takes about 24 hours to get all set up and provisioned but it’s worth it. The email insight is very helpful and you can see who’s blocked you and get all that sorted out.

Get HTTPS Working

The first thing you need to do is install your certificate. This is pretty straightforward in your admin area. Click the security tab for your domain and follow the instructions.

Then it gets tricky. I naively thought that simply adding the [RequireHttps] attribute would work. Boy, was I wrong.  I keep getting This webpage has a redirect loop” error in Google Chrome or “Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.”  in Firefox. Some googling led me to figure out that it has something to do with proxy servers but nothing on how to fix it.

After much searching, I finally found an article on Rackspace’s Knowledge Base, How to Force SSL on My ASP.NET Cloud Sites article. I tried to follow the third set of instructions for MVC3 to be able to use the [RequireHttps] attribute. That failed miserably and I was still getting redirect errors.

So, of course I start up a chat with the usually very helpful Rackspace. This time, not so helpful. The first help desk person I got that thought code went in the web.config file. Um, wrong. It took me a while to figure out that’s what he thought. Once I asked for someone else, I got it resolved quickly.

Here’s How to Get it Working

Use the first set of instructions and include the web.config code from the knowlegebase article. In my VS2010, it shows this as an error but do it anyway. Then remove any [RequireHttps] attribute that you had in your code. This will force your entire site into Https. I still haven’t figured out how to only do certain parts in https. For now, I’m fine with that but if you know a solution, please leave it in the comments.

Hope this helped you deploy your ASP.NET MVC3 site on Rackspace Clouds. If you have any other tips, please add them in the comments.

See Magazine Feb 2012

My dear friend, Lori Lewis, has created a new digital magazine, See Magazine. Its mission is  ”celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of strong girls and women the world over and the pursuit of mass media reform to correct inaccurate and damaging representations of girls and women.”

Check the magazine out along with “Diary of a Startup Gal”, a new monthly installment by me that covers my journey into entrepreneurship. This month is all about facing fears. It starts on page 16.

I’m honored to be part of it and hope you will enjoy it!

Great Round 1

It took almost all day, but my Treadmill Desk is complete! There are some adjustments I need to make, but overall, a fantastic first start. I’ve been walking for about 30 minutes between 1 and 1.5 mph now and haven’t really noticed.

The Idea

I sit all day, every day at a desk. Sometimes, I don’t even leave my apartment for days in a row. Code has a way of crawling into your brain and not letting go for hours. I’ll look at the clock and hours have passed and I haven’t moved. This alone has made me want a treadmill desk for a while but I never quite got around to doing it.

But lately, a new problem has reared its ugly head that motivated me to actually go through with the treadmill desk idea. You see, most of the time I spend sitting is with my legs criss-crossed since I’m too short for normal desks and chairs. My knees are protesting. Loudly!

That was enough to push me over the hump and treadmill shopping.

The Setup

First, I obviously needed a treadmill. A few things were important to me. It needed to be quiet since I’d be on it a lot. The arms needed to be as close to parallel to the ground as possible so that I didn’t have to worry about a keyboard sliding off. It had to be able to run under 1 mph. And it needed to be less than $800. The Proform 505 CST Treadmill was the winner! I paid $599 and Amazon delivered inside my two story apartment for free. Yay for Amazon Prime!

My mom got me a wireless keyboard and mouse for Christmas, which I needed to be able to set the keyboard on a board across the treadmill arms. It makes it a really good level to type easily.  (Thanks Mom!)

Now, I assumed that there would be times that I would want to sit down to work. So, I wanted to keep my desk. The idea of building a desk topper that would raise my monitors and be easily removable was born. Off to Home Depot.

But first, some measurement questions…  How high do the monitors need to be? How wide did something need to be to set the monitors on? How long did the board need to be to go across the treadmill arms? I should have also measured the width of my desk but didn’t think of it until I was in Home Depot searching for a way to raise my monitors high enough. This was the hardest part. There weren’t any great options so I ended up with two step stools and a board (thanks Dad for the  idea). I also grabbed a shelf to go across the treadmill arms. Total: $35.

That’s it. I put it all together and hopped on!

Thoughts so Far

My monitors are too far away from me. I’m squinting or zooming which is very annoying. To fix this, I ordered a laptop holder from Amazon ($39) that is supposed to attach directly to your treadmill. That may sorta solve the monitor problem, but it give me another on since it will only bring one monitor close. I may end up building shelves an putting my treadmill closer to the wall but that would make swapping from desk to treadmill harder. I’ll have to see how things progress.

I’m now at 1:15 minutes and 1.425 miles. Wow! This may also help me keep track of time. I really haven’t any problems. I’m walking barefoot so that’s kinda fun. I sorta feel like I’m swaying…. there’s a nice rhythm to it.

Also check out the 1 Month Update

The Countdown is ON!

It has all the makings of a great party… loud music, loud people, all the tech gear you can think of, food, beer, movies, more men than women (good for me!), frantic atmosphere, cameras, video recorders, and a whole lot of fun. But, instead of being a raging night, it was 2.5 days of everyone hustling to make the next great company.

Friday

Startup Weekend kicks off on Friday night with everyone pitching their ideas rapid-fire style. 60 seconds is all you have and yes, there is a timer ticking. 34 pitches later, it was time to vote. 12 (or was it 14?) ideas made the cut and teams began forming. Developers were in high demand, especially iOS devs and common web languages such as PHP. Designers that rock were in even higher demand.

Lesson #1: Start pitching and forming your team before the official pitches begin.  Get a designer and dev(s) on-board early.

I joined team Swaydar because I loved the idea and I love the team. We were pretty well balanced… Jon – the idea master, Keenahn – the ninja dev, Jay – the wise designer, Nick – the hustler, & Me – the marketer (yes, yes, I know I’m a techie but Keenahn & I code different languages so marketing was a better fit for the team).

Post-It Notes Fly

We jumped right in to building Swaydar. The post-it notes were flying! We didn’t leave until we were kicked out and then we kept going on the street. Good for us, bad for the neighbors ‘cause I’m loud. I finally made it to bed around 3 am but of course my mind was all a flutter with excitement about Swaydar so sleep didn’t come easily.

What is Swaydar? Let me tell you. Actually, let me let our landing page tell you:

Isn't it pretty?

Cool idea, right? Yeah, I think so too. Sign up if you want to learn more but for now, back to Startup Weekend.

Saturday

Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed at 7 am because my commute to the event is 40 minutes and they were opening the doors at 9.

Lesson #2: Come to Startup Weekend well rested and stay nearby because you aren’t getting much sleep.

Saturday was a blur of work.

"Here's What I Think..."

Keenahn and Jay started creating a damn sexy product and got lots of help from Rahim, a Twilio expert.  The rest of us got to work on proving that there was a market. Brian, a jack-of-all-trades showed up at some point and joined the team.

After creating our unique selling proposition and marketing message, Jon and Nick pounded the pavement looking for any business owners they could talk to while Brian and I began the online blitz – video, survey, landing page, and Tweets!

Between the four of us, we validated the market – what kind of business they own, how they want to be contacted, and how much they’d pay.

We used that info and put our ask in gear and signed our first paying customer by the end of Saturday! That’s right, we were profitable within 24 hours. Coffee is for Closers people.

Lesson #3: Hustle pays.

Bleary-eyed and caffeine-fueled, we were kicked out again but our faithful street was still there. Bed time was around 3 am again… with the mind churning. It’s such a crazy environment during the day that it was impossible for my mind to stop.

You see, Startup Weekend is awesome but also very rowdy. It’s loud. Like, really loud. You’ll want your headache medicine of choice. There are cameras and people taking video at all times. That may not bother you but it added a thread of questions that constantly ran through my mind. Am I sitting up straight? Is my hair ok? Am I dropping too many f-bombs? You get the idea. Add that to the fact that you’re trying to win a competition and you can see how it’s hard to fall asleep.

Sunday

The lack of sleep mixed with a non-stop brain action and the deadline made Sunday even more of a blur. The presentation was the focus of the day and it was a mad rush. What to put in it? What to leave out? So many questions. I won’t lie… it got intense. So intense that I ended up outside for some fresh air and a quiet place to cry (thank you to my friend that fielded the teary call).

The crying came to relieve the stress. And there was stress… the normal things happen in a startup still happen but much more quickly and with an immediate deadline looming.  Decisions must be made quickly. Personalities come into play and you don’t know these people well enough to work with their quirks in a productive way.  Some group decisions were hard for me to accept at the time, especially when I got outvoted.  There are so many questions and you don’t have the answers.

Thank God we had Jay there. He not only make our preso look ah-may-zing but he knew what to put in and keep out because he’d done Startup Weekend before. His wisdom was invaluable.

Lesson #4: Having a Startup Weekend alum on your team pays off.

With our deck ready, we found some quiet space at a diner and Jon practiced non-stop (about an hour) until it was time for all the presentations.

Presentations

As I watched the presentations I was FLOORED at the amount of talent in the room. Just floored.

Healthy Surprise made over $500 that weekend. Drugkick really made life easier for people who wanted help.  Escrow Snap’s design was stunning.  I couldn’t believe the Look.io tech guys got so much done so quickly. I was signing up on Omaze and Skilloop as they spoke. Everyone was just really impressive.

We were up last. Jon killed it. Of course, so did several others so I had no idea if we would place. This competition was fiercer than Christian Siriano.

Check out all the presentations yourself on TechZulu.com (Swaydar is on video #2 & 3).

The Results

Swaydar Team

When the judges came back and announced us as 4th place honorable mention, with a “the judges wanted to make sure we got these guys up there”, we were super excited!!!

3rd place went to Omaze

2nd place to Skilloop

1st place to Look.io

After that, we all headed to the bar where I drank delicious lychee martinis and met so many more amazing people…

The People

The people rocked! Everyone is friendly and supporting. I felt so blessed to be around them. The quality and amount of help we received was incredible. Everyone gave insightful feedback – from the Coloft owners (the always incredible Cam & Avesta), to VCs, to successful entrepreneurs, to Startup Weekend Alums. The support and teamwork inspired us and made Swaydar better. I have no doubt that the people I met will solve the world’s problems.

Lesson #5: Talk to all the people in the room smarter than you. There are plenty.

Final Thoughts

Is Startup Weekend insane? Yes. Bottom line is you are in a competition and the stakes are high. Your idea and work is being broadcast to 50,000+ people. You want to impress. You want to win.

Is Startup Weekend worth the time, money & energy? YES!!!

If you’re reading this far that means you’re not a normal person… Normal people don’t spend their weekends trying to start a company. They go to the beach or watch movies. Not you. You make things happen. So do whatever it takes to get yourself to Startup Weekend. Even if you don’t move forward with your project, you will learn so much in one weekend your head will spin. And that’s always worth it!

1) Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

2) Multiple Ways to Contact the Business

3) Clear Navigation

Here’s the list:

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.

I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. I hear people say, “But I’m concerned about security.” My response to that is simple: “Security is for cadavers.”

2. Never give up.

Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.

3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.

There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.

Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.”

5. Focus on what you want to have happen.

Remember that old saying, “As you think, so shall you be.”

6. Take things a day at a time.

No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward.

Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide.

Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

9. Measure everything of significance

. I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.

If you want to uncover problems you don’t know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven’t examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.

When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around.

In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you’re doing as anyone else, provided that what you’re doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair.

Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks. You’ll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems.

You’ll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you’ll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others.” There’s also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: “A wise man keeps his own counsel.”

15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There’s always a reason to smile. Find it.

After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time; we’re here for a good time.”

The above rules for survival is included with the permission of Bob Parsons (http://www.bobparsons.com) and is Copyright © 2004-2006 by Bob Parsons. All rights reserved.

What do you think? What rules would you add? Subtract?

1. Stop what you’re doing. SMILE. One of those big, goofy grins that make people think you’re up to no good. Now, doesn’t that feel better??
2. Singing Joy to the World. Al the boys and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. JOY to you and me!
3. Have you hugged someone today? No? Time to go a-huggin!
4. Tell someone you love them right now.
5. When was the last time you sent joyful snail mail for no reason? Try it, you’ll like it.

What do you do to spread joy on your social networks?

There are definitely ways to do it right and there are ways you can lose money. This post will give you an introduction to outsourcing and help you do it right.

Outsourcing Services

I outsource all kinds of tasks to oDesk.com (affiliate link). It is usually my first choice for outsourcing. My current oDesk team is 3 people… a designer that worked on Toddler Train Crash and now JAFOU, an assistant/writer, and another designer for a not-yet-announced project. oDesk is great because they allow any size project. A lot of freelancing sites have a minimum price but oDesk doesn’t.

Fiverr is also great! Every job on there is $5 so even if you don’t like the results, you’re not out much money. This site has a wide range of things so browse around. I’ve had logos designed, press releases written, comic strips created, and a lot of articles written all successfully and for $5 each.

For logo and website design, I’ve used both 99 Designs and Crowdspring . I liked them both.

I’ve had friends I trust a lot tell me that Elance.com(affiliate link) is great too. One of my closest friends successfully outsources a lot of software development through Elance and she highly recommends it. She had to resolve an issue with a contractor and Elance helped her resolve it quickly.

What Can You Do with Outsourcing?

Really, the sky is the limit. Anything you can write a description for, you can get outsourced. Think of things you either don’t like to do, can’t do, repetitive, or are $5/hour work. These are perfect for outsourcing.

Here are some of the ways I’ve used outsourcing:

1. converting a graphic file that I couldn’t open to a png with a transparent background ($3)
2. categorizing contest entries from my website ($5)
3. research for articles (~$3/article)
4. writing articles ($3-5/500 word article)
5. logo design for Printable Today on Fiverr ($5)
6. converting an existing website into a CMS for a client ($750)
7. logo & website design for Social Mason ($800)
8. graphics for Toddler Train Crash iPhone & iPad game ($275)

Figuring Out Cost

If you’re not sure what job description to write or how much to budget, search through the jobs that have ended. This way you can see how many people applied for a similar job, see how long the job took, how much was paid for the job, and how the final reviews. Open jobs don’t provide as much information.

Be Very, Very Specific About What You Want

Be as specific in your request as possible. The more details you give, the easier it will be for the right people to find you. It will also be easier for you to interview candidates since you know exactly what you want.

Bad Example: I need help researching party ideas.

Good Example: I need research for a luau party. Your research should be 500-750 words and include games, decorations, invitations, and music ideas. Please include urls or descriptions of all sources used.

If hiring for a larger project, like a website or software, write out the details of the project. Start with sketching the screens (pen & paper or powerpoint work well). Then, write down how the user will go from screen to screen along with any rules. For example, a user must be logged in to reach this screen.

You don’t have to give your sketches and flows/rules out in the job description but you can give out high-level details like “I need a website with 10 screens developed and complex workflows.”

Ask for Something in Your Job Posting

Add a small task in the job description for them to do when they send you a cover letter. This way you know if they read your letter. For example, I needed 100 party facts. In my job opening I asked for them to give me one fact. You would be surprised how many people didn’t do that and could eliminate those candidates immediately. The ones that did were great and allowed me to see their style before hiring.

Interview by Hiring

Start small and hire multiple people to see how they work. I did this for researchers by opening a job for 1 research paper on the same topic and hired 5 people for $3 each. Then I picked my favorite and worked out a deal with her for a longer term project. Sure, it cost me $15 but there isn’t a better interview than the actual work.

For Bigger Projects, Make Sure the Candidates are Asking Questions

When interviewing for a bigger/longer project, give the person a chance to ask you questions. If they don’t ask any, they probably aren’t paying attention, don’t understand the job and you probably shouldn’t hire them. Find someone who asks questions to clarify your job description.

Set Clear Deadlines

Set clear deadlines, preferably in the job description. However, don’t expect the work to be done on time. I’ve had about 80% of my work completed when I expected it to, which is good but not great.

Get Regular Progress Reports/Deliverables

For bigger/longer projects (such as the CMS conversion I did), ask for a regular progress report (weekly or daily) so that you are getting the communication you need to know what is happening. This will help you catch any mistakes or misunderstandings early.

Also, if it makes sense for your project, get the deliverables in stages. Be sure to add this as a requirement in your job description so that it is expected from the beginning.

Review the Deliverables Thoroughly

This is especially important in software development. Even if you don’t code or understand code, look at it. I once had someone deliver “final” project code with “not implemented yet” written in several places. Ha! You can bet that wasn’t coded right.

That’s it! Have you outsourced before? If so, leave your outsourcing lessons in the comments.