Category: Office Talk

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Silent Executioner & Hesitant Player: RBI – Paypal India Issue

The RBI – Pay pal issue has been discussed at length since their notification on Jan 2011, or perhaps, should I say since Feb 2010. However, here is a short recap.

Paypal claims that RBI regulations have forced them to make such a management decision, while RBI implies that Paypal is not complying with the rules and regulations needed to conduct business in India. However, the problem is, there seems to be no “official word” from RBI’s spokesperson in this matter. Never mind, we have money matters of concern here.
So, according to the latest Paypal Notice on Jan 2011

  1. Any remittance to paypal account should be withdrawn within 7 days of remittance.
  2. Indian users cannot accept payment for more than 500$
  3. Indian users cannot use existing paypal balance to pay for goods & services
  4. All payments should be routed through CCard > Paypal

This has raised two vital questions amongst the Indian paypal community.

  1. What will happen to my funds if I don’t withdraw within 7 days?
  2. Paypal withdrawal page clearly mentions that any withdrawal less than 7000/- will incur an additional service charge of 50/-

After repeated messages through “Contact us” @ Paypal, finally they have responded to my (our) queries. Here, I copy paste my queries and Paypal’s response

Sometimes, I receive as little as 5 $. It would be impossible to withdraw this amount given your service charge & conversion rate.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY FUNDS IF I DONOT WITHDRAW TO MY BANK ACCOUNT IN 7 DAYS?
Hello, my name is Joanna Marie from PayPal Customer Service.
To ensure full compliance with the RBI and all applicable India
regulations, we will be monitoring accounts closely as we expect our
PayPal members registered in India to withdraw their funds within 7 days
from the date the payment is received.
If funds are not withdrawn within
the said timeframe, we may take appropriate actions such as limiting
account features.
I donot understand. I have a verified paypal account. What limitations am I looking at?
Will my (non-withdrawn) funds be still be available
at a later date when i get a reasonable amount for withdrawal ?
Hello, my name is Joe Marie from PayPal Customer Services.
……. If you will not transfer the funds on the given time frame, our
system will automatically transfer the funds to your bank account.
If your balance is less than $10.00 USD (minimum withdrawal amount), our
system will not be able to automatically transfer the funds to your bank
account. Therefore, you will need to wait until your balance is enough
or more than the minimum withdrawal amount before you can transfer them
to your bank account.
………
The withdrawal section of paypal page says that,
Paypal charges a 50Rs fee on all withdrawals, where the final withdrawal amount is less than 7000 Rs.
So, given the min 10$ , roughly 10 * 42 = 420 Rs. (.. lets assume the exchange rate is 1$ = 42 Rs for this calculation)
Does that mean, I will be receiving only 420 – 50 = 370 Rupees only ?
Hello, my name is Ric from PayPal Customer Service.
….
In order to comply with RBI, we will be waiving all fees on withdrawals.
Even if you will be transferring funds lower than 50.00 INR, rest
assured that you will not incur any withdrawal fees.
….
There is no mention of this on the website, or anywhere else.
IS IT TRUE THAT THERE WILL BE BE NO “WITHDRWAL FEE” @ PAYPAL
EVEN IF THE FINAL WITHDRAWAL AMOUNT IS LESS THAN FIFTY RUPEES.
Sorry for the caps, but I have to ask for your confirmation again on this.
Hello, my name is Arnold from PayPal Customer Service.
The previous representative, Ric, is right. Let me confirm to you that
there will be no more withdrawal fee when you transfer funds to your
bank account. This is regardless of the amount.
Can u please direct me to the paypal’s page where these information is available to the public.
I have been searching for over a 4 weeks, and did not find the above information in paypal page.
Hello. My name is Paolo from PayPal Customer Service.
Just in case that you have questions please don’t
hesitate to ask us through the contact us link at the bottom of the
page.

I am not sure whether to breathe a sigh of relief, or wait with bated breath what their next “critical notice” would contain. The fact that, this waiver of fee is not a public info raises some serious red flags in my mind. But then, it might be just me & my paranoia.
For those who are interested to know more,

I am sure that other freelance forums are filled with rants and accusations against RBI as a knee-jerk reaction towards this notice ( A simple google search will give you more rants to read). At the same time, we also have arguments stating that Paypal has been violating RBI rules/ FEMA , and the latest notification is an attempt to wriggle their way out of complying with RBI guidelines.
Indian paypal user’s PAN card is lined to Paypal. There is practically no exchange of hard-cash. This should be proof enough to “trace” any transaction back to user.
That said, Do I have my own set of rants against Paypal & RBI ? Yes, I do.

  1. @Paypal: For every forced withdrawal, I am going to lose terribly on exchange rates. It is not secret that Paypal exchange rates are rip -off
  2. @Paypal: For every payment I make via my CC > Paypal; I incur additional service charge & also suffer the horrible exchange rate twice Earlier, when we make payment from paypal balance, the service fee is zero.
  3. @RBI : Is it so hard to issue an official response to the online-work-force who procure and deliver work via the internet?
  4. @RBI : Give us a date for public meting, we will be there personally with our queries. Help us understand your decision, try us, we (freelancers, SMBs) are far more sensible than you guys give us credit for.


PS: I am aware that, I am very seriously violating RBI’s “rules” @ their Disclaimer page
Yet, I am left with no choice. If the guys @ RBI can chart out regulations on online payment gateways; then, I guess you can very well understand why these two rules are just impossible to follow. “Or, do you need me to explain explicitly to you”?

Linking to the Home Page – You may link to the Home Page of this Web Site, http://www.rbi.org.in upon notifying RBI in writing.

For hyper-Linking to an internal page of this Web Site (not being the Home Page) the user must make a specific request for, and secure permission from RBI prior to hyper-linking to, or framing, this Web Site or any of the contents, or engaging in similar activities. RBI reserves the right to impose conditions when permitting any hyper-linking to, or framing of this Web Site or any of the contents.

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Homepreneurial opportunities: Age old concept, before the (i)nternet age.

It had been awfully cold this winter at Bangalore. I was down and out with a severe bout of cold – sore throat and breathlessness on account of blocked nose. Yet another time of the year, to remind my waking soul, about the “goodness”(read convenience) of being a homepreneur. This also gave me enough time to think about the crux of this post.
If you are someone who grew up watching regional cinemas (..regional movies from India..), I am sure you would agree that its rather easy to identify the plot of a movie, when the first few frames depict a frail woman (single parent) with malnourished kids trying to feed her children a decent meal, without trading her dignity & honour. In the next frame, you would see her hard at work on a sewing machine / Tanpura … the camera zooms in (.. to indicate passage of time…) , and soon she is an old lady & ( those malnourished) kids are now all grown up, and want to “give a life of dignity” to their mother…”Oh! Mother…. I salute thee… !”.
Plots such as these used to be the staple of almost all regional cinemas from India ( Hindi – Malayalam – Tamil – Telugu – Kannada – Gujarati – Bhojpuri.. and many more) from 1970’s – to- fag end of 1990’s. May be its the same with other regional cinemas such as French / Spanish / Italian movies. I wouldn’t know.
But, cliché’s & the theatrics apart, this does seem to make sense one way or the other. Here are some of the characters that make me re-think about homepreneurial opportunities. Teachers being predominant on the list

  1. Neighbourhood Music Teacher: We used to gang up at her place every day after school at 5:30 pm for an hour of music lesion, vocal / instrumental.
  2. Tuition Teacher: We used to see all kinds of tuition teachers, All subjects, Math only, Science only, College level Chemistry tuitions undertaken, etc. Some teachers start as early as 5:30 am, so that we kids have just enough time to come home – have breakfast – rush off to school. Some tuition teachers earn a reputation that is envied by schools & their employed staffs.
  3. Summer crafts: The same teacher would be teaching us painting, wax modelling, knitting, embroidery. These classes would typically start at 11:00 am and continue until 2:00 pm, keeping them engrossed during the whole of a (boring) afternoon.
  4. Home-made condiments: – Sometimes, womenfolk would try to supplement their family income by making condiments such as pickles, chips, pappads, snacks, sweets and savouries at home, and sell them in the neighbourhood. The fact that these are prepared at home-by-someone known to us ( ..or known to someone known to us..) add a bit of credibility to the product. Based on the response, they would call in help from their family members to increase production during festive times. Soon, a cottage-industry is born.
  5. Pico work on sarees: I have never seen my mother in salwar kameez, trousers or skirts. I am not sure if saree was her attire of choice or the lack of any other choice. Pico, is getting the edges stitched in a rather special way, so that the threads would not “peel out” from the corner. Sewing machines used for regular mending work cannot do this. (May be the fashion maker of today can do this as well). When a new saree is purchased, she would diligently visit the “pico aunty”, and only after the pico work, the saree is ready to be worn. “Pico aunty” will be in great demand during Diwali / Shakaranti when textile shopping is at its peak.

These are some of the few women I grew up watching. Little did I realise then that, these are the people who were practicing homepreneurship without even realising it all along. Unsurprisingly, I realised this myself just as I was drafting this post…. So much we see around us … yet so little we look at …..
That said, would this explanation convince “Work from home”- wannabes, I guess not. After all, we belong to the i-age… anything from the pre-internet era is Spartan….I am not passing a judgement, just an observation as it is on the face-value
So, for all those minds with -willing to try-attitude (…& with a stable internet connection & basic internet usage knowledge..), I will be coming up with homepreneurial opportunities that can be performed from the comfort of your home; one-per-week. I will try my best to give you an indepth information on the technical expertise needed, the (unwritten) code of conduct to follow, warning signals that might help identify scammers, so an on so forth.
PS: The above list stands true even today, emphasising the fact that, internet is a mere tool, its up to us on what we choose to do with this tool.

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Entrepreneur, Homepreneur, Freelancer, Employee- A comparative study series; Part 3 (Concluding part)

Disclaimer: This analysis/ study is my personal opinion based on the experiences i have had as a freelancer. This is not in any way an authoritative document. However, you are free to discuss your perspective with me. Will be glad to know what you think.
Part1 synopsis:

  1. Becoming a freelancer is a transition, and not a degree/diploma.
  2. Help yourself – Educate yourself – Make informed choices.
  3. When in doubt, google it/him/them.. and… google some more.
  4. Perseverance is the key.


Part 2 Synopsis:

  1. Freelancers and Homepreneurs are indeed (dis)similar.
  2. Their dissimilarity lies in the manner in which they manage their time / priorities.
  3. Look deep into your upbringing, may be you have that homepreneurial spark, waiting to show up.

Couple of months back, I had been to the NASSCOM Product conclave 2010 at Bangalore. As an independent freelancer / homepreneur, I was not associated with any company. My business card read “Freelance Consultant” along with Homepreneur.com as the url. My corporate friends would agree that, formal way of introducing oneself is to say “I am __ from ___ Company.” All I had was, “Hi, I am Deepa & I am a homepreneur”.
This spiked the interest (.. which is good for me… I get to do my sales pitch), and wanted to know more. Here is a small snapshot of our conversation.
I do not have permission to disclose the identity of the fellow attendee, so here is the rest of the conversation.
Fellow Attendee: Hi, I am ___ from ____ (Company), heard about us.
Myself: Yes, I was briefed about your products and services by your colleague Ms.____ a little while ago. It is something very new to me. I should try it out soon.
FA: Great! Sorry I didn’t catch whom you represent.
Myself: :-), I am Deepa & I am a homepreneur. I do freelance consultations for Zoho applications.
FA: Yes, we have been hearing a lot about Zoho at this conclave. So you work with Zohocorp? Is it so?
Myself : Oh No!. I do not work for zohocorp… I am not employed by zohocorp. I do freelance consultations (Customizations, Developments etc) for people using zoho suite of applications. My focus is primarily on Zoho Creator. I develop customized applications in zoho creator for people who want to use a web based database oriented application with their business.
FA: Thats interesting. So what kind of applications have you developed?
— and we chat about it for some more time—

FA: You mentioned that you are a homepreneur. What is this supposed to mean?

Myself: Homepreneur is an Entrepreneur working from home.

FA: So, more like a Garage-Startup? Is it?

Myself : No, not exactly. All start-ups, however small, nourish the dream of growing into something big – have an office space – hire more hands etc. Homepreneur, on the other hand, is contended with being busy (& paid) for the time she can allot herself to work on any given day.

FA: So, you mean to say, homepreneurs don’t dream big? They would not want to have an office for themselves?

Myself: Some homepreneurs move on to become entrepreneurs. Some just remain as homepreneurs. For such enterprising minds, Homepreneurship is a transitory phase.

FA: How exactly do you think homepreneurs and entrepreneurs are different? Coz, As I see it, they are just the same, except for their place of work.

Myself: Indeed, that is the most obvious difference. However,

Homepreneur

Entrepreneur
Place of work Home Office
Nature of work Products / Services that can be predominantly handled by a single person Focuses on products / services as complete packed which involves diverse skill sets.
Delivery of work Physical products: Clients usually drops by to collect items personally. Popular example being Pico work on sarees. Physical products are manufactured & shipped to the clients.
If Services, it is usually delivered electronically. Most services are delivered electronically, but also tends to have a company representative at the client location to set things up.
Team Size Just 1 (oneself – to start with). However, if an ongoing client comes up with additional requirements, other like minded homepreneurs/ freelancers are called in to work as a team. So, Teaming-up is basically the need of the hour and not the essential driving factor. Vary from 5- 15 depending on the nature of the business.
Recruiting new hands Practically non-existent. Entirely based on client’s demands & if existing team members are unable to contribute or does not match the requirements. Aggressive recruitment.
Tends to have at least 2 (skilled) team members on the bench who can start of immediately (ASAP) on a new project.
Working hours Self Chosen.
(- multiple factors determine the exact working hours-)		 An Entrepreneur is forever working. Yet, the general perception of 9 am – 7 pm stands true to almost all of them.
Work Load Takes extra care to accept projects that fit just into her chosen working hours.
Being at home, does not ensure that she is available to work 24x 7.
Most often “Little Less” tends to be “Just Right” for harmony between work and rest of her responsibilities.		 Entrepreneur has a business to run & payroll to attend to. So, every employee on the bench is a resource underutilized && Costs $$ to company without any returns.
Hence aggressively looks for projects (so that CTC is justified)

The gentleman appeared to be convinced about my take on the difference between homepreneur and entrepreneurs. The conversation continued for a little more time, until the conclave volunteer announced the commencement of the next programme in the agenda.
I have to admit, it is this conversation with this gentleman that prompted me to make this comparative series between Employee: Freelancer : Homepreneur and Entrepreneur. It is likely that I missed out on few other things in this comparative study. Do feel free to share them at the comments. Will be glad to know more on your take on the (dis)similarities.

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Entrepreneur, Homepreneur, Freelancer, Employee- A comparative study series; Part 2

Disclaimer: This analysis/ study is my personal opinion based on the experiences i have had as a freelancer. This is not in any way an authoritative document. However, you are free to discuss your perspective with me. Will be glad to know what you think.
Part1 synopsis:

Becoming a freelancer is a transition, and not a degree/diploma.
Help yourself – Educate yourself – Make informed choices.
When in doubt, google it/him/them.. and… google some more.
Perseverance is the key.

Back in those days, when we moved into the suburbs of Chennai, we were the only family who had been to hindi-speaking-states. This was also the time, when schools, in addition to the state language ( Tamil) also allowed students to choose Hindi as the language option. It so happened that our neighbour’s kid wanted some help with her hindi and my mom offered to help…. the kind if favour we extend to neighbours. One thing led to another…soon… my mom had a new title “local Hindi teacher”. Neither she had any formal teacher’s training, nor was she working at some school… but her hindi was good & the kids were scoring good marks, taking part in Hindi essay writing completion et al.
Today, as I write this, it makes me wonder that perhaps this is my first introduction to homepreneurship. Our home was her “work space”, the dining table doubled up as the study table. Every inch of the floor is strewn with books, you could hear Kabir & Rahim’s dohas at every conceivable pitch. The frenzy of activities starts typically at 5:30pm and continues till 7:30 pm every weekday. Exam weeks are the only exception. There are special tests on weekend as well. The time 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm was of paramount importance to my mom. My dad used to back from work at about 8:00 pm, and we had to study as well. No amount of cajoling, lure of higher pay would convince my mom to work out of this schedule.

Typical Freelancer Homeprenuer
  • If he / she is the breadwinner of the family, there is tremendous pressure to get clients – work – get paid. Else, sees this as an additional source of income.
  • Also tend to fall into the trap of ” 24 hrs make a day, I can take work that fill all of this time”… often the realization of “we cannot be actually working all 24 hrs” sets in after he/she bite more than what one can chew.
  • Predominantly takes up solo contracts.
  • Has a great network of people who are great at other things… and team is called in to handle a project that needs wider skill set.
  • Choose their own “Time-to-work”.
  1. Time allotment ‘tend’ to change with each client.
  2. Temperamental with ASAP projects
  1. Has to consider chores at the house, family commitments before allocating time on a daily basis (eg: 1:00 pm – 4:00pm)
  2. Tries to accommodate clients within this time. For they rest, the homepreneur just has to pass.
  3. Accepts ASAP work under exceptional circumstances.

Between a typical freelancer and a homepreneur, the differences are not as stark as it is between an employee and freelancer. The difference lies in how they manage these similarities in their own unique way.

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Employee, Freelancer, Homepreneur, Entrepreneur- Comparative study series; Part 1

CosyEmployeeDisclaimer: This analysis/ study is personal opinion based on the experiences I have had as a freelancer. This is not in any way an authoritative document. However, you are free to discuss your perspective with me. Will be glad to know what you think.
Transitioning from a working professional, to a stay at home home-maker, to freelancer consultant, to a homepreneur has been an exciting journey for me(.. with all the ups and downs…) for the past 3 yrs. Freelancing in India is a highly untapped market. Though many are aware of its presence, no one is ready to “try” for the various “real and perceived” fears that come with the freelancing domain.
We all have our share of manias and phobias. But, it takes a conscious effort to react for / against these manias and phobias, so that we can see tangible measurable results that would in someway reflect in the things that we do every day for ourselves and family. During my early freelancing years, I had a hard time getting to know the concept and how things work. It was “Information Overload” with every Google search, and took atleast a year for me to put things to perspective. Now that I have gained ground, this is my way of giving back to the community, what a stay at home mom / homemaker can achieve with a little bit of discipline and perseverance.
T​o be honest, I was introduced to the term “Freelancer” in some movie (.. forgot which movie ), wherein the protagonist is a freelance journalist who gets caught up in the things that make up the plot of the movie. Then, dutifully like any other ‘movie goer’ I forgot all about this (…until a couple of years ago….)
I believe its safe to assume that we all know what freelancing means. For the uninitiated,

Freelancer is a person who gets paid-by-the-job, or paid-by-the-hour-for the services rendered. In short, Freelancers typically do not have steady income which we commonly know as ​Salary.

Hard hitting differences between an Employee and Freelancer,

Employee Freelancer
Financial Security
  • Absolutely YES.
  • Regular income, SALARY Cheque
  • Perks and other performance based commissions.
  • Paid vacations for self / Family.
  • Reimbursement of bills (fuel, medical etc)
  • Barely, for starters.
  • Established freelancers have steady stream of work.
  • Payment for work / services rendered.
  • No perks
  • No work –> means no payment.
  • so, vacations are financially dry days.
Starter’s Jitters
  • Company provides induction programmes.
  • Team / Mentor acts as support system.
  • Has to be a self starter & self motivator.
  • Freelance community and forums , tread with caution.
Dispute claims and settlements
  • Company takes care of most of the issues.
  • Elicit the help of the operating-freelance-marketplace, in event of a dispute
  • With private clients, be on gaurd.

I agree, this table is kinda scary. Being an employee is nice and cosy, and Freelancer’s realm seems to appear to be chaotic, uncertain, and with a serious margin for con.
But, being a freelancer has its own share of benefits. Here are my top picks

  1. I truly get to pick the days & time to work on.
  2. I get to pick and choose my clients
  3. Any appreciation or blame for my work comes directly to me ( No one is going to steal my credits, and impose their blame on me)

Transition to Freelancer brings up the all important questions,

  • When does one become a freelancer?

Typical answer: “You can become a freelancer any time you want”.

This is the most deceiving and dishonest answer I found to be. You just can’t wake up on a fine sunny day and decide to be a freelancer. Becoming a Freelancer is a transition, and not a title in your business card.

What do we do when a germ of an idea hits us? We ruminate on it, think about it, try to gather as much information as we can about it , so that finally we can make an informed decision… don’t you agree?..

Freelancing is no way different than this. The moment this thought takes seat in your consciousness, take time to research the idea.

  • What should I freelance on?

Typical answer : “You can freelance on absolutely anything”

This is a “grey area”. This is half true, and half false. Let me exemplify.

As human beings, we all are capable of doing all kinds of works. Yet, we need a painter to paint our house … we can as well hold the brush, dip in paint, and run it up and down the wall.. why do we need a painter to do that? …
The simplest reason being, he (painter) has the knowledge and skill that is needed for painting a house.

The trick is to distinguish between, “What you are capable of doing” AND “What you are best doing at ?” AND “What interests you the most? ” (…. which you would be doing anyway, even if no one was paying you…)

These are the hardest times one would face, while transitioning to a freelancer.

  1. Research on the things that you do KNOW.
  2. Explore the ideas that INTERESTS you.
  3. Take time to test and try ; this is a direct measure of your discipline.
  4. Do not feel afraid to ask about things that you don’t know.

A friendly advice :

  1. Get friendly with Google.
  2. Have a sensible email & use it to register at sites you come across during research. (Do not use your personal email)
  3. Spend at least 2 hrs a day (Monday – Friday),on research, documenting your findings.
  4. Reserve weekend for family, refrain from “working”

So, that’s pretty much for starting the series. In the next post, I will be sharing on how freelancers and Homepreneurs are same or different. After all, this is a comparative analysis.. isn’t it?

Freel free to share your thoughts. Your thoughts may prove valuable to an aspiring freelancer.


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NASSCOM product conclave 2010 – Lessons learnt by a Homepreneur

At this NASSCOM conclave, I have had people asking me, what does ‘Homepreneur’ mean?So, here is my definition of it.
HOME – I work from home as an independent consultant / freelancer &
(Entre)preneur – I manage this ‘business’ (of freelancing) on my own.
so, I guess that qualifies to call myself a ‘Homepreneur’ isn’t it.
A couple of years back, I didn’t even care what NASSCOM meant/ did. I had just about begun freelancing and was having a hard time convincing people about could apps as it is, forget convincing them that one-woman-working-from-home could answer their needs as well.
On one such regular (busy/chaotic) day, I had someone fwd me an email about the NASSCOM product conclave 2010 because they saw a mention of “Zoho” in the newsletter and it seems my name popped up in their head. God bless that kind heart…. (psst… thats me being humble.. okay !!).
Now, that caught my attention. I have been working on Zoho Apps since 2008, and here is an event where Mr.Shridar Vembu from ZohoCorp is going to deliver his speech at 3 different sessions. I couldn’t miss this for the life of me. I had to reserve a seat for myself, & I did…. btw, this busted another idea which I had, that “Only Companies” can attend events at NASSCOM. I signed up citing myself as a Freelance Consultant & it felt good too.
The D-Day had arrived, and I was not sure what to expect. But then, that’s the good thing. You go in with a clean slate (… and by the end of the day, I came out with a feeling of so many post-its-stuck-all-over-inside-my-head… Need to get these organized as soon as I finish this blog post…).
I sat through each one of these sessions, (barring a couple as there were parallel sessions happening), and here are some snippets that I found to be inspiring, and some of the things make better sense when we ruminate on them…
Vivek Wadhwa: “Selling is the SINGLE most important skill for entrepreneurs. And selling is a SCIENCE!”
Freelance consultants know this only too well. We work hard at selling the skills, before we comprehend the solution to the client’s problems. Homepreneurs have the added responsibility to sell the idea that, in spite of ‘being home’, we are disciplined about the work that we do.
Mukund : “I gave 1046 demos and closed 2 sales.”
The trick is to ask “qualifying questions” to your potential clients, says Mukund. Every wannabe freelancer (who is more attracted to the prospect of working in pyjamas.. I personally don’t consider them as homepreneur(s)…), jumps in and says “I can do this – I can do that”. Being all over the place, cannot help either of you. So, Stop-ask-evaluate, before committing on one’s services… &… timeline too.
Harsh Manglik: “Innovation is purposeful discovery of solution”
We have heard “Necessity is the mother of Invention”, Now, we must try to remember this alongside as well. I mean.. folks, this says it all.. what’s more to add here ??
Shridhar Vembu : “Not all Eyeballs are equal”
The context being, Unless all of the eyeballs (site visitors) convert into your paying subscriber base, it does not makes sense in “attracting eyeballs”.. the focus should be on “attracting the right-kind of eyeballs”.
As a homepreneur, It is essential that I see my client’s projects to completion on time, and then scout for another client to work for. This leaves me very little time left with to consider “advertising” my skills. Its for this very reason, I have a blog. But would “having a blog” suffice? No, absolutely not.
I guess its time to throw all the “SEO mantras” out of the window and find one’s specific site / forums / boards where the eyeballs really matter. If Homepreneur’s can harness those eyeballs into visiting their sites, it could as well translate into a potential client, or establish our presence in the chosen niche…. worst comes to worst… we still get visitors eh !
I guess this would have intriqued some of the eyeballs on who actually missed out on the Conclave. Fret not!.. NASSCOM_EMERGE has promised to upload it for all of us in a week or so

(btw, NASSCOM means National Association of Software and Services Companies, here is the Wikipedia link ).

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Outsourcing Disasters – 3 Major Conceptual Errors

This is something that outsourcing naysayers would love to rave about, the dreaded Outsourcing Disasters. They are more adept at providing statistical details regarding the number of outsourcing ventures that hit the dirt coupled with heated, critical arguments. So, I will leave the harangues to them.
For a change, why not take a look at this from the perspective of a business? It has been widely known and understood that being in business means to take calculative risks. Much like our first history lesson, “Man is a social being”, I would say , “Business is a social venture”. It is impossible to launch, thrive and flourish a business venture without any association with other businesses. Outsourcing is no different from this, and the businesses that seek outsourcing services are also bound to this principle.
However, listening to the success stories that came out of outsourcing, many enthusiastic business owners started to look at outsourcing as a miracle cure to cut costs and increase productivity. They failed to look deep into the same success stories focusing on the amount of preparation and governance model that was employed, which eventually lead to the success of an outsourcing deal. This eventually led to the germination of misguided outsourcing deals.

  1. Bird’e Eye View :-
    • Most buyers have only the bird’s eye view of the end result. This is fine when you are actively involved with the project. But when this is conveyed to a certain outsourcing partner, a ‘bird’s eye view’ of things is just not sufficient.
    • Most failed ventures will reflect that the buyer has limited the communication to the ‘bird’s eye view’ of things without giving full details
    • Failed ventures will also reveal that ‘multiple mails requesting information’ were looked down upon , and the outsourcing partner stands the risk of being labeled as ‘incompetent’.Beware, you really need an inside scoop to get this information.This reflect the arrogance of the buyer, and not the much hyped incompetence of the outsourcing partner
    • Eventually creating a huge void in communication and leaving everything to assumption
    • Assumptions lead to misguided project management, leading ultimately to the failed venture
  2. The Aspirin Approach :-
    • No one ever thinks twice before popping an aspirin. Same goes for the outlook towards outsourcing among the buyers who want to ‘get things done as fast as possible’.
    • Buyers jump to the conclusion that outsourcing is a quick fix for all their financial problems. Somehow they fail to realize that cost cutting is only a by-product of outsourcing, while the actual objective is to get the process done elsewhere.
    • This requires the buyers to shed the ‘aspirin approach’ to outsourcing and take up the ’surgical approach’ to things.
    • Failed ventures will most certainly showcase haste in outsourcing their project without due the necessary preparation with respect to the governance model required to see the overseeing of the project’s progress.
    • Pop-and-forget may work for aspirin, but attention to detail and extensive preparation is needed when a surgical procedure is being considered. The surgical approach is certainly lacking in failed outsourcing ventures.
  3. Blame the Mailman :-
    • Both parties are dissatisfied at the end of a venture that has failed terribly. The dissatisfied buyer ends up blaming cultural and geographical differences as the reason for failure.
    • I wonder how come these differences did not surface when the deal was being finalized.… Both parties were well aware of the offshore working model. Both parties would have been communicating in the same language (I assume it is English). I am sure that both parties would have had a satisfactory time period before declaring a venture to be a failure.
    • Just as the mailman cannot be blamed for delivering bad news, it is unfair for the buyer and the outsourcing parther to blame each other soley for the failure. Success is result of compatible team-work, but failure seems always to be the result of incompatible teaming with the buyer and the outsourcing partner.
    • With lack of timely communication and information exchange, irrespective of an outsourcing deal or not, any business venture is sure to fail.
    • I would further site ‘ego-centric’ communication within the buyer’s institution as a cause for failure, such as ‘ Since you (outsourcing partner) did not ask for a certain information, I did not think it was necessary to give you’. With this kind of approach, is it fair to blame the mailman ?

Everyone wants to succeed in their business. The buyers want an outsourcing deal to succeed because someone else can do it better for less, and the outsourcing partner wants to ‘be in business’, which is possible only if his client is satisfied with the performance. Both parties aspire for the project to succeed.
My request to the naysayers of outsourcing would be, to consider that every business venture starts out with an aspiration to succeed. It is no different for outsourcing deals. It would be prudent to only look into the actual cause that lead to a certain failure and not thrust the blame solely on the outsourcing partners. I am sure that you will agree that business involves making deals and taking calculative risks. Isn’t this the basic principle of running a business? With every business, there are some great deals and some disaster deals. Then why is it that everyone is coming down heavily on failed outsourcing deals?. Perhaps, that ’s because everyone loves to say “I told you so!”

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Delegate when you are overwhelmed.

Small business owners in their zeal to expand their business, tend to bite off more than they can chew. I am not saying that is wrong or unacceptable. It completely gets them by surprise when more than 5 marketing leads display symptoms of maturing into business deals, all during the same time. The business owner is indeed overwhelmed at the good news of a new business deal, or, should I say “few” new business deals. This is indeed a happy moment for the team.

It is normal to see the in house activities take a backseat during these times. Most times, it is the last minute scramble for getting things done for ourselves when we are overwhelmed at work. I have witnessed that the same goes true for small business owners as well. The fact of the matter is, existing staff is already working on the newest deal and it is difficult to get a new recruit and train him / her within a short time.

I would recommend that you seek virtual assistants who have prior experience in the kind of tasks that is causing a backlog in your business. This does not completely eliminate the training period, at least you now have some one who speaks the same business language. My bet is, with just a couple of mails, outlining , ‘What need to be done’ – ‘ When it has to be done’ – ‘Any particular way in which you want it to be done’. With these, the induction programme is complete.

Think about this, you can be overwhelmed about your new deals without having the nagging thought about in-house backlogs. Now, isn’t that a better way to be overwhelmed?

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Reflection of Success – A Virtual Assistant’s perspective

Most small business owners look out for assistance on their niche area of business. But they are wary of using skilled professionals as their virtual assistants for the fear that , they might have to engage them for a fairly large duration of time ( 100 – 200 hrs ). However, this may be true for some virtual staffing agencies, it definitely does not hold true for most of the independent service providers, aka independent virtual assistants.

Being independent providers, virtual assistants are flexible with their time. Depending on the need of the project, a genuine virtual assistant would provide you an estimate of number of hours required to complete the said project, and also provide you with the projection of “pay per project” cost. Given the choices, it should not be difficult for you to decide the method that suits best for the project , and the urgency of its completion.

Unlike any other business, this too has a catch. This is. . . you need to be completely upfront with the requirements of the project. Make a complete list of requirement and the projected results that you wish to attain from a virtual assistant. Include maximum details that will allow the virtual assistant to work on the project without having to get back to you every other day during the course of its execution. And last but not the least, try to avoid last minute inclusions to the task list by saying, “Can you do this one more thing, and this, and this”. While most Virtual Assistants would comply, it is still a bad business practice.

As a small business owner, I understand how much your business means to you. You have invested more than just money to see it thrive and flourish. Similarly virtual assistants are skilled people who have invested in their time and skill so as to provide services over the internet. Unlike other professionals, Virtual Assistants also have working and non-working hours. We do take our weekends off but we also take our work more seriously, because, the success of your project reflects our success in executing them for you.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Being a Virtual Assistant.

A simple search in google for the term “Virtual Assistant” might lead to a conclusion that anyone with a computer , internet connection and a decent knowledge of MSOffice can be a virtual assistant. However this is the popular notion, this is far from truth. Unlike other profession, this too requires careful deliberation and in-depth research and information gathering – sharing – and eventually learning.

Being a Virtual Assistant almost happened to me by accident. My educational background and academic credentials, did give me a fair chance to involve in the corporate environment. But , for various multiple factors on a personal level, I could not progress with my corporate dream. I was bombarded with advice from self proclaimed know-it-all on do-at-home, data entry jobs. I knew my skills were worth more than that.

A casual glance at this article on Virtual Assistants kindled the spark and I rolled up my sleeves and got into research. I had to separate the chaff from wheat from what Google has placed before me. It was about 2 weeks of rigorous search and cross references, and more googling, when I finally came to a conclusion on what virtual assistance is all about. Having a computer, internet and MSOffice skills does not even begin to define virtual assistance.

MSOffice suite caters to those virtual assistants who are inclined towards publishing articles and e-books. For these Virtual Assistants, MSOffice is indeed the most needed tool for their business. But for the rest, MSword , and MSexcel will allow us to keep track of events for a certain project and compile reports. So you see… there is more to virtual assistance than just MSOffice skills.

Most Virtual Assistants show case their resume which reflects “I – can – do – anything – that – can – be – done – online “.This gives the impression that “They have lot of time – but nothing to do “. I really feel sorry for them, because , either they have been badly advised, or they are less-informed. Friend, take this from one VA to another. Start by being your own virtual assistant, before becoming someone else’s VA. I am sure that you must be have at least three strong marketable skills as a virtual assistant. Tap into those skills and showcase a demo in your profile. You are not begging for job, neither are you a distraught employee. Express confidence in your resume by being self assertive. By deciding to be a virtual assistant, you are stepping into the path of entrepreneurship.

Virtual Assistants are self motivated individuals who have decided to provide services (over the interent )for a decent remuneration. Virtual Assistants, in addition to their respective skills, also have to manage finance, PRO , marketing all by themselves. A Startup company employs at least 5 -10 people to take care of these activities separately. But with virtual assistants, this is a one man / woman show. This should only emphasize the fact that Virtual Assistants are not just “on call or a stand by temp” who is always at your disposal. Virtual Assistants command more respect than that.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance

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