Replace Myself Review
Replace Myself is an Effective Outsourcing System
By Chris Thompson (actual customer)
I’ve posted this review of Replace Myself to explain why I’m promoting this product. I want to be very upfront here and point out that I am an affiliate for John’s system. I’ve put together a comprehensive bonus for anyone who orders through my link. Warning: This system might not be for everyone. I’ll explain more towards the end of my review.
How I got started
I was on a short business trip last fall. I woke up in my hotel room in San Diego very early because I was 3 hours off from my normal time zone. I decided to check Twitter and I noticed I was being followed by this guy “John Jonas”. Since I had set my account to auto-follow people who follow me, I got a direct message from him telling me how to get a free hour-long audio presentation about outsourcing. I had been using Elance in the past with good results, but his message made me curious. So I went over to his website and signed up for his audio. I never imagined that this would lead to me writing this replace myself review. But let’s continue …
Within a minute I had confirmed my subscription to his list, and had the audio lesson playing on my Macbook. I just sat there listening to it, intently. He still gives away this audio for free, and what he teaches will shock you. It changes the way you think about outsourcing.
John struck me as someone who had two important attributes. First, he seemed genuine and honest. Second, he seemed to be able to cut through all of the usual garbage and just provide SOLID content. In that one hour in my hotel room, listening to him speak, I was shifted entirely into a different mindset about outsourcing.
John got me to think about having full time employees, not one-off “task doers”. He got me to realize that by having my own employees I could train them to get better, and add more value to my business. He explained why the Philippines is an ideal place to hire from (primarily excellent English skills and a great culture for doing online work).
A few things struck me as obvious after I closed the lid on my Macbook:
- Outsourcing is 100% necessary. There is no choice here. If I want to grow my business significantly I need full time people working in my business so that I can spend my time working ON my business.
- The fees involved in hiring someone full time are very small. We’re talking $300 per month. If you can’t make a good return on investment with this salary level then you are not working effectively, or you are working on the wrong things. John teaches this at length.
- I absolutely HAD to move forward and get my own employees. Most people running an online business try to do everything themselves. If I simply take the step to start outsourcing then I’ll be far ahead of most others.
I knew that John was selling a system of outsourcing that had a monthly fee attached to it. $97 per month to be exact. I realized that if I was going to hire even one person (which would cost me $300 per month), that this fee was pretty small. I knew there was no recurring commitment involved because I could cancel anytime I wanted. I started doing some reading on Warrior Forum and realized that a lot of people liked the training John provided. I thought to myself, “Well, I can just sign up and after a month I’ll cancel if I’m not getting any new value each month”.
When you sign up you get the following:
- As part of your first month, you get instant access to more training materials. Unlike most of the modules, this material is meant for YOU. It teaches you more about how to go about hiring someone and to start making use of them in your business. This material is very good, and is probably why most people sign up.
- You get an account at a project management website called MyProjectPlans.com – you don’t have to use this service, but it is incredibly good and it’s where the training modules will go that you can give to your employees.
- Every month you get a new training module – these modules are intended for your workers, NOT FOR YOU. John has put together a very good set of training audios, PDFs and videos to teach your employees how to do all of the important tasks related to Internet Marketing. I went through these training modules myself because I wanted to be familiar with what he was teaching. I learned a lot of new stuff including a great article marketing strategy.
- You get access to BestJobs.ph and OnlineJobs.ph, where you can post jobs, review resumes, and get contact information for the Filipino candidates who post their resumes online. Normally it costs $49 per month to access OnlineJobs.ph and you can’t access BestJobs.ph unless you live in the Philippines.
- Most important – as part of the training in the first month you will learn much more about the mindset that you need to be successful with outsourcing. At minimum, this is worth giving the program a shot for at least one month.
I knew this before I signed up, and I figured that my first $97 would educate me, allow me to hire someone, and allow me enough time to know if I wanted to continue. I often hesitate to pay for things and I honestly thought that I’d sign up and end up canceling after one or two months. But that’s now what happened …
That’s when I found out about the “Pro Outsourcer” Up Sell.
An online friend pointed out to me that John offers an up sell as you go through the checkout process. Basically, you pay for your membership and are then presented with an opportunity to upgrade to the pro package. When you do this you become a permanent member with no recurring fees.
Yes – perpetual access to all of the benefits offered by Replace Myself and instant access to ALL of the training modules that John has created. The only “catch” was that this fee is $697, a lot more than the $97 “test money” I planned to spend. I believe John has added even more training modules since the time I originally wrote this Replace Myself Review.
I ended up going with the pro package.
I actually planned to sign up right away to the basic monthly plan, but held back for a couple of days while I considered the one time up sell that I knew I’d be offered. As I said, I ended up dishing out $697 to get perpetual access to John’s system.
Here’s why: I strongly believe that you need to put your money where your mouth is. I had been planning, talking about and masterminding my success in various niche markets but I had not yet outsourced in a “big” way yet. I KNEW I needed to do this. I figured that I could either pay monthly for 1 or 2 months, and spend up to $200, or I could just spend the entire $697 up front and know that I’d always be able to go back to OnlineJobs.ph to post jobs, always have access to project management software, and always have access to the training modules.
I also considered that $697 is about two months salary for an employee. If I was really going to make a serious step towards outsourcing then this amount of money would translate into literally peanuts. I knew that if I plunked down the cash right away, I’d be totally committed to making this “outsourcing thing” a success.
So that’s what led me to become a Replace Myself member.
The Guts of my Replace Myself Review – My Overall Findings and Impressions
When you login to ReplaceMyself.com you will find all of the bonus stuff that John provides to you along with the training modules for you and your employees. The first thing I did was to go through all of the Module 1 stuff, intended for me. This is the stuff that teaches you how to hire, how to pay employees, and generally answers a LOT of questions. It’s a super education in outsourcing.
Module 1 also contains a lot of other general business training that will help you out, and can be given to your employees for their use also. While writing this replace myself review, I logged into my account so I could give you a proper account of what’s in that first module. There’s a LOT. John even added new stuff since I joined. I see a new training section for Twitter, and for LinkedIn (social media). Those didn’t exist when i joined. You get a report on the top 15 activities to give your outsourcer for best return on investment. You get awesome keyword training research (again, useful not only for you but for your outsourcer.) Remember that all of this stuff is geared towards saving you time by training your employee for you. That, along with resume access, are the two biggest reasons to join.
The other training modules (2-11) are for giving to your employee. They cover topics such as Adwords, Building link networks, Video marketing, Article Marketing, Web 2.0 marketing, Getting links to your site, Myspace/Facebook/Squidoo marketing, The MSN Loophole strategy, script installation and SEO training.
John’s training modules are a combination of PDF documents (not too many), audio recordings (several) and video presentations (most often). Your employees will actually access these trainings from a sister site called MyProjectPlans.com rather than going into ReplaceMyself. This just makes good sense. John presents things very clearly and doesn’t spend a lot of time blabbing. He has really done a great job of building these modules.
My Hiring Experiences
- OnlineJobs.ph is the best place to hire right now. I get a lot of responses from people when I use that site, and the salary expectations are very reasonable. My bonus package offers you a lot of extra training on how I go about hiring people.
- The Philippines is very friendly towards outsourcing. The people who post resumes on this site have their own computer and Internet access a lot of the time. There are lots of students looking for part time work, which can be helpful if you don’t want a full time person. But I would caution against part time students because I have found they are generally less reliable. They might work for a few weeks and disappear due to exams or assignments. You really would be better off hiring full time employees.
- Some people will try to work two jobs. They may not admit to you that they have another job. This is certainly not the norm, but I would suggest that you think about how you’ll evaluate the performance of your employees in some way other than measuring hours. What matters is actual output, not hours invested. Set realistic task performance expectations and hold employees accountable.
- Treat people with respect. A lot of times I’ve noticed that employees are surprised how nice I am and how supportive I am. Too many people seem to treat them like low-cost robots, which they are not. They are real people. They have feelings, dreams, and needs.
- Monthly payments are definitely the normal expectation. I’ve had people ask to be paid weekly but I simply refuse. For the first month I will pay people bi-weekly so they know they’ll get paid, but never weekly, and always monthly after the first month. It works well.
- I used to use Xoom.com to pay people but Xoom changed they way they do business. They won’t except non-US payments anymore, and they won’t allow PayPal as a funding source. So what I have done (as have many others) is switch to PayPal. In the Philippines PayPal is extremely common now, and it’s easy for people to get a cyber bank account at a place like UnionBank. If I hire someone I make it clear they need to setup PayPal, and I cover the cost of getting them a UnionBank EON card ($7 or so). I pay them Western Union for the first month and make it clear that I expect them to have PayPal setup for the 2nd month. No problems so far.
Support: I need to say that the support is awesome. John’s partner is a guy named Dan. If you email the support email address you are probably going to get a reply within an hour during regular working hours. Dan is amazing. He operates the way I operate when I deal with my customers. I love that.
Who Should NOT Join Replace Myself: If you don’t know anything about Internet Marketing yet, don’t join. Spend 6 months learning this stuff first. Learn to walk before you run. If you know lots about IM but you are not making any money yet, then again, don’t join. You need to fix what you’re doing first, and prove that you can make money. Outsourcing is just a way to amplify what you get done. If what you are doing is not working then you’ll only amplify your losses. That said, if you can afford to spend some money while you learn, feel free to join. But make sure you are committed to learning. Finally, if you are looking for magic robots to do your work, don’t join. These are real people who will be working for you and you should not treat them like “cheap labor”. Act like you are building a real company. Treat your people well. Train them. Nurture them. Appreciate them. You’ll be glad you did.
Concluding thoughts: I definitely feel I got WAY more than my money’s worth with ReplaceMyself. That is why I’m promoting it. Outsourcing is the ONLY way to grow your business to achieve the dreams that we all have. My bonus package is available to anyone who signs up to ReplaceMyself using my affiliate link.
Ask Questions in the Comment Section Below. I’ll come back as often as I can and either reply via comments, or I’ll update this review with more information.
Make sure you check out the bonus package I’m offering if you order Replace Myself using my link
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Since I launched this bonus package I’ve worked really hard to make it as valuable as possible to people. I setup a “customer only” email list that has grown into a small army of Replace Myself buyers. People absolutely LOVE the content I deliver to them. I’ve had several people tell me that the best part of Replace Myself is my bonus – no, I’m not kidding. It’s because I have gone out of my way to create a fantastic series of autoresponder messages for customers. They are informative, and give you real-world ACTIONABLE ideas – the same ideas I use to make money in my markets.
Chris,
Thank you very much for this article! I am looking to start outsourcing a lot of my business and your article here really helped answer my questions! I will certainly order through your referral link of John Jonas’s replacemyself program!
Best Always,
Eric Henderson
Eric – thanks for your comment. BTW nice video testimonials on your site. Honestly, outsourcing is not some walk in the park but it is absolutely essential to master it. Every day stuff is getting done (and income climbing) as my team does stuff for me. I spend way more time planning my next steps, and getting writers and VAs to do the “work” part. Very cool and fun.
Hi Chris,
I was already initially interested in purchasing ReplaceMyself.com until I stumbled upon some conversation in the product review section of the Warrior Forum of this product.
I guess I need some more feed back about it. I have always been too scared to outsource because of the extra cost and expense I do not have “available” money to do so, until I am currently indirectly forced to do so. I just simply do not have any more time to work in my IM business that I have never even made money from yet! Basically the new job ate up my time and now I have a new born son that I have to help take care of that just completely takes all the time away (especially when he doesn’t go to sleep!)
Just some questions that could help me make a more informed and more confident purchase. I’d like to just know if I would be able to see money coming in within the first month of hiring someone (or how long does it normally take), especial if I followed either John’s teaching or even the bonus you provide if I bought through your aff link (blueprint to give my employee that will help pay for his own salary promoting Amazon products)?
Bottom line I simply can’t afford to be not making money back soon enough especially if I wanted to take advantage of the one time purchase offer for the heavy price tag of ReplaceMyself.com and my current situation. Could you please explain just briefly of what I can expect or what kind of reality I would be facing if I started using ReplaceMyself.com plus your bonus? Thanks a load if you could help me out here please! Also are you available in the future for advice if I purchase through your aff link?
Thanks again,
Chand
Chand – if money is a big hurdle then I wouldn’t YET join ReplaceMyself.com. It sounds like your biggest issue has been proving to yourself that you can actually make money online. John’s system over at ReplaceMyself is about training people to follow a process. He isn’t handing you business models. You need a business model to follow yourself (i.e. building amazon sites is ONE model).
There are so many good proven models described by some of the great people over at Warrior Forum. If you can sit down and implement one, and prove that you can make money from it, then you’ll have the confidence you really need to proceed without worry. t sounds like you’re not ready to do this yet.
The reason I’m telling you to find a model first is that if your past performance suggests you’ll lose money, having employees do what you tell them to do is not going to help. It will amplify your past results. You need to amplify something positive, not a money-losing situation.
I hope you understand what I’m saying here. I’m not telling you to never outsource. Obviously you should. But you need to first get to a point where you have the certainty that you will make money with whatever plan you implement. You do not need to buy John’s system to get a plan. There are so many good plans out there for free. John’s system and my bonus help you outsource the existing profitable plan.
Hi Chris
I need your advice on the following:
Do you think it is okay for me to outsource all activities (wordpress website building, article writing, onsite & offsite SEO) to one VA? I was thinking it might have better continuity since he is doing the whole process from start to finish.
Another reason is I have financial constraint and i thought the most I can afford is only for one VA. Which is costing around $250?
Cheers,
Lester
Hi Lester,
Definitely you can do this but $250 is a bit light on the salary front if you want all of these skills in one person. Let me give you an example of a recent hire that I made. I hired a guy who is an experienced blogger for about 15,000 pesos per month (just over $300 per month). This is low end for his skills and he knows I’ll give him a raise as he performs well. His job is to write product reviews, primarily, but he can also post them to WordPress, he can install wordpress, he can do article marketing, he can create Web2.0 sites, etc. Not a problem.
The most IMPORTANT skill to hire is English writing – no question. The rest is easy to teach and John Jonas’ training material gets the job done in terms of giving you that training material to hand over to an employee.
Hello Chris,
Great reviews and bonuses on outsourcing. I have been looking at Replace Myself for some time now and was excited to see the support you offer which should allow me to successfully enter the internet market. That was until I read your reply to Chand who like me is a newbie to internet marketing. Although my technical computer, FTP, and SEO skills are lacking, I do have many years of entrepreneurial skills in promoting and running my own businesses.
Just two years ago I diversified my contracting business into the greentech design build arena with a website in which I did all of the content and graphic selection for and hired out the tech stuff. I see outsourcing with a full time employee as a similar venture that will enable me to more quickly reach my goals and profits.
I have spent the last four months studying systems from all of the gurus but have yet to find one that strikes a chord or that I feel I have the technical skills to carry out. In that time I spent a little money, a ton of hours, and don’t want to waste anymore of either.
As a result of my latest journey through the world of internet marketing, combined with my years in the business world I have plenty of marketable ideas and a plan to keep a full time employee engaged and on task. Can I please commence, master?
Thank you,
Thadpole Rising
Thad,
Your comment made me go back to read what I said to Chand, and what he had originally said. I edited my reply because I don’t think I did a good job of communicating my point beforehand.
My main point is that outsourcing is an AMPLIFIER. If you are losing money at what you are doing, outsourcing will help you lose more. If you are making money and you can train people effectively, you’ll make more. You need a business model that you feel confident in before you outsource. You need confidence in what you’re doing. Outsourcing isn’t a magic bullet. I’m just being honest and I hope that’s ok!
That said, you clearly have business experience and a grasp of what you CAN and can’t do yourself (technically, etc). That’s perfect. And your green tech business is an existing contracting business, right? So I’m assuming that you are making money and you need a way to promote it (graphics, SEO, lead gen, etc). Yes, outsourcing makes perfect sense and you’d be crazy not to!
I just wanted to be honest with Chand … I would hate to see someone with no clear plan just go spend $700 up front on an outsourcing program. If you have a PLAN, that’s when you outsource. I think we’re on the same page!
(Re: support … lots of people who claim my bonus email me and I always do my best to answer. One of the things I enjoy is helping people)
Hi,
Great review and thanks alot for sharing the information with us.
My question is regarding the business in a box which comes with the ReplaceMyself pack. This appears to be designed to help kick start the programme,however,will this provide a platform to cover initial costs i.e. approx $400per month ?
My situation is that I have recently invested in 2 projects that I have reviewed thoroughly and feel confident about but due to a temporary glitch in my personal life my time is now limited. I dont want to lose momentum hence outsourcing seems to be a good option.
I have grasped the fundamentals of how IM works and have spent most of the past few months reading so I have not started the projects so therefore I have not made any money yet.
What would you advise ?
Many Thanks,
Stephen
Stephen – if you can afford the expense of outsourcing (meaning if you can take the small risk that you’ll not be profitable for a while) then yes, you should do this.
The BIAB (business in a box) strategy is really designed to be something to give your guys when they have nothing on their plate from you. It prevents idle time. I would NOT rely on this strategy as a big money maker, although yes I do think it can make $400+ per month. I have not used it with my guys because there are better strategies out there. BIAB is essentially a direct-linking affiliate marketing strategy. It’s SUPER easy to teach, but does not build you an asset. Even John would tell you this I’m sure.
Hi Chris
Well let’s see how can I make the short and give you an overview of what I’ve been doing so you can get your opinion on whether it’s time for me to invest in John’s tools
I’ve been dabbling in IM for three or four years now and like the old story is wasn’t making money on a couple programs I tried to implement I started to believe you a have to have the right mindset to make it happen. As the new year started I found a business plan that caught my eye and decided this is it I’m doing it I’m gonna beat to death intill it I make it work. Well been four months now I have five websites up now did everything from the SCO writing reviews myself ,loading themes in word press ,FTP, all the good stuff and very time-consuming. My first site which is two months old now is starting to generate between 100 to $150 per month I have only started promoting all the websites with articles in the last couple of weeks but before that with videos and link building my other websites have not made any sales yet. I am very confident they will soon my vision originally was to build 4 websites per month of course the first few took me longer. Now I have it down pat. I found John’s website and course By looking how to make a good resource box for my articles I got blown away by his business plan which seems to be identical to the one I’m beating to death which in turn just boosted my mindset. Tremendously I started outsourcing my reviews and now my article writing and it happens to be to the Philippines through fiverr.com I came to the conclusion if I was going to scale this up I had to start doing the building of the websites the keyword research myself and outsource the things I’m not crazy about doing.
In summary I been in my own business my entire life which is what attracted me to im
an affiliate programs.
With all money I’ve spent in the past on programs one is ways very skeptical to start laying out 600 to $700 so like you when you started I’m on the fence about taking the big plunge but I’m willing to start with the 97 a month like you Each month
I spend close to $1000 in ads for my brick and mortar business I guess you’re right when you say you have to have the confidence that you’re getting a return on your investment before you join this program.
Back to point in your opinion is it time for me to take this step to start outsourcing everything and spending my time on teaching employees how to do it which in turn gives me more time to focus on the more important aspects of building this business big
I don’t know if I’m answered my own question or not guess I’m looking for a second opinion
Thanks steve
Steve – OH MY GOD YES. It sounds like you’ve done EVERYTHING right in terms of building up the confidence to outsource.
Why I say this:
1) You are already taking action.
2) You are already knowledgeable in your own business model
3) You have already seen some results.
Based on this, you are the exact type of person who should be using John’s system. Sure, there are other ways to do what John is teaching, but for me the best part of my $700 was the perpetual access to OnlineJobs. That has been a huge goldmine for me (including finding a guy who does AMAZING videos and prefers to work freelance, so he’s not my employee, but I keep him very busy).
It’s a no brainer once you realize you’ll be spending hundreds of dollars a month on outsourcing. But for those who haven’t “got” there yet, it’s a harder decision. I understand.
Hi,
Like so many others here, I too have been considering ReplaceMyself for a new business venture for some time. I’ve been learning IM for 3 years, tried bit and pieces but never really took the plunge until now. I have my niche, business model, business plan all worked out, I’m doing all the work and its just going too slow. Its truly time to out source.
Ideally I would prefer to buy the upgrade package’s, but its too big of an investment right now. But the never ending monthly package is definitely not appealing. Dont you think a in between package would be more enticing….say 9mths @ $97 = $873.. then thats it. your in for life just like the upgrade package.
What do you think of the project management tool MyProjectPlans. What actually does this tool do, it hard to access its value if you dont know what it does. I have been looking at Hive Desk as a management tool it has some amazing features but it too also has a $15 monthly subscription. Got to keep an eye on those monthly subscriptions, they can quickly get out of control.
For now I am in the wings contemplating my choices, which does not include the endless monthly subscription of $97. Unless I new exactly what order the modules were going to be drip feed and I could still upgrade at a later date.
When I do I will purchase via your affiliate link.
Cheers
PS. On the purchase page their a spot for a coupon code…!! I have looked high and low and I cant find a coupon code anywhere. Do you know what it could be or where I can get one..
Hi Dide,
Yeah, it would be nice if they offered a way to upgrade along the way. Maybe they will let you if you ask nicely to pay the difference? I bet it’s worth a shot. Also, you could try the first month and use that to de-risk it. If you like it, then simply tell them you want to upgrade and maybe it still costs the full price, maybe not. Worst case you spend and extra month worth of membership to test drive it.
Sounds like you have a business model and you’re ready to roll, and given that’s where you are yes it makes sense to start building a team. Even if the team is you plus a full time employee it gives you a LOT of leverage to grow.
Coupon code: They must be hard to find! I also looked when I joined a while back. No luck.
Chris
Chris,
I am new to IM, spent 18 years in the mortgage business including 9 owning my own mortgage company. I know how to sell and how to build a business.
I have a number of ideas for internet based businesses and I am ready to move forward. I have capital to invest. But I do not know the nuts and bolts of how to do the technical parts of the businesses I want to launch…. nor do I honestly want to know. I do not want to do the grunt work of building websites, developing content, building backlinks or the rest of all the backend technical stuff. I want to outsource this… whether that be on project by project basis through elance or odesk or through hiring a full time person from the Phillipines.
I have always looked to hire people who have skills I lack. To a large degree, thats the whole point. I need to deploy certain skills in my business that I do not have and do not have the time to personally acquire so I hire someone with those skills. But, that means I am hiring someone to do things I am not personally capable of doing. In offline business this not typically a big deal as I judge an employee based on results not hours worked or such. But looking at hiring someone in the Phillipines to do things I do not know how to do and expecting the to take directions and actions based on specified results I outline for them…. is this realistic?
I hope this question makes sense. I am to the point of looking to sign up for replacemyself but need to figure out if this will work for my parameters.
Terry
Hi Terry – sorry for the long delay replying. I’ve been on a very long vacation.
Based on what you describe, you need someone who can do things that you do not know how to do. Therefore, how do you measure their work? I think that you need to develop enough knowledge to go hire the right person yourself, OR find someone you trust, who has already done this before, and get their help in recruiting someone.
What you need is probably a programmer who knows web languages, scripts, etc. That is not my forte either, BTW. We use wordpress for pretty much all of our sites and we don’t do programming. I have a freelancer that I use when I need special stuff done, but not enough to justify a full time or even part time position.
That said, I’m not entirely sure what the technical parts of your particular business will be. Maybe they are easily solved in the same way I’ve solved mine? Or maybe they can easily be solved via freelance contracts on elance, etc.
If I were you I would go map out all of the details that need to be done to your business including site construction, content creation and promotion. Then decide how much of the work is technical, and how much is simply mechanical. It’s always easiest to start outsourcing the mechanical stuff, or the stuff that is easily trained. But if you have special requirements, John Jonas’ training might not line up with your needs. That said, I still think OnlineJobs.ph will be a great resource for you to find people to do graphics, wordpress, promotion, link building, and programming.
Hi.
Can I hire someone through this service to build a site from scratch, including SEO and everything?
At this point, I’m interested in buying a one month subscription to see if I like the site, and then if I do, paying for the lifetime package to save money in the long run. I saw in one of your responses to someone else that this may be possible, but you don’t know for sure. Is there any way to find out?
Thanks.
Kyle – Yes, absolutely you can hire someone to do everything for you as long as you are willing to either: 1) Pay up for someone who already knows how to do all the steps; 2) Train them as you go. Hand holding …
Example: I have a writer who built up one of my amazon sites in a niche market related to an item parents buy. She was a parent herself. So she felt that writing reviews on products would be relatively straight forward. And it was. But I had to teach her how to use WordPress, how to post pictures and make them into affiliate links, how to add tags and categories, how to add headlines, and calls to action.
It took her the entire first month to build the site. But I had her do EVERYTHING. I recorded Jing videos to help her along, but I made her fix anything that needed fixing. That’s the best way to train people. She knows how to do this stuff like clockwork now.
Yeah, you can do a one month trial to see how it goes and then buy the big package later if you like. Worst case, you just pay the full price if they won’t let you apply your first month to the pro package. But you can always ask and my bet is they’ll let you upgrade. No promises though, since I don’t control this.
Hi Chris,
I’m slowly getting into outsourcing and might make the plunge very soon with Pro Outsourcing Package at Replacemyself.com.
Based on your experiences of using this system doing it, could you help me answer a few questions?
1. If I hire a Philippine worker to create articles and website content, would I have to teach them how to write content for certain niches? Do you have a module for this? Or, would I have to get a different writer for every niche – one for the health niche, another for travel, another for fitness, etc.?
My other thought is to teach them how to use certain software, or to show them places where they could do their own research and be able to write articles on any niche. What are your thoughts on doing this, since you obviously have a lot of experience?
2. How good are the Philippine people with article spinning?
I am currently paying premium for spinning with a provider who outsources to the Philippines himself. I have no idea what his commission is, but am currently paying $0.045 cents per word to spin a 500-word article’s sentences 3 times. That works to about $400/month to get 18-20 articles spun. Would I get a better rate by cutting out the middleman in my scenario?
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Thanks,
Daniel
Hi Dan,
1) You can hire someone who can write for more than one niche, but remember that any writer would need to learn a bit about the niche to become effective. If you hired me to write about basket weaving, I’d be largely useless without some time to understand the market. You need to train your guys to understand what people are looking for and then to research / write content that helps them.
I do this in a few niche markets. It helps to understand the main niche first, and then hire someone who seems like a good fit. If you’re in the baby parenting market, hire a mother who’s been there and understands the market. If you’re in the fitness niche, hire someone who is into health, nutrition, fitness, etc.
2) Spinning – many of the writers I’ve hired have familiarity with tools like The Best Spinner. This stuff is super easy to teach. Usually you can just give them your login ID to access training material, or make a Jing video to show how to use the tool. NEVER tell someone to robotically spin an article. It will read like complete crap. If you spin, have it all done manually so that the output will be 100% correct English.
As to your example of paying $400/month to get 18-20 spun articles, that’s basically one per day. You should be able to hire a full time writer / VA who can write one of these articles for you every day (and spin it) and still have half a day free to do other tasks for you. Just remember NOBODY really works an 8 hour day, so don’t go overboard on expectations. But yeah, you can do better if you cut out the middleman.
Pat Flynn at SmartPasiveIncome.com has some good advice on spinning, BTW. Read it. He’s genuinely honest and smart.
Hi Chris,
I’ve watched a webinar with John Jonas and am going to buy the lifetime programme. I did some research and really like what you have to offer.
I know it sounds ridiculous but I know I need to get a VA (because I need to continue working full-time) but am not sure what I want them to do initially. Is this an area you can help with?
I’m just starting up my internet business and consequently have limited internet marketing knowledge. This being the case, it feels like the blind leading the blind somewhat with respect to my ability to lead the VAs in the right direction. However, I know that I need to take the leap and just get going with this.
I’d appreciate any advice you can give and should I purchase via your site or do you want to send me payment link
Cheers
Steve (UK)
Hi Stephen – Ok, usually I tell people not to hire someone unless they have a plan. But you have a job, clearly, and if you can afford to do this now go ahead.
The trick will be to make sure you’re committed to LEARNING about online marketing and then using your VA to carry out assignments that you don’t have time to do yourself. Niche research, competitor research, whatever it is you want to do.
Then you have to make a decision QUICKLY about what business you’re going to go after and just do it. Learn as you go. Keep your VA busy with implementation tasks as you learn more about your goals.
Worst case, you spend some money on launching a site and it doesn’t work out. But you’ll learn a lot about outsourcing + site construction.
Hi Chris,
I love building websites but hate doing article marketing and backlinking, so i do it for a little while then i stop. And then i build another site and start the process all over. This has left me with about 12 websites and not much traffic. Do you think it would help if i outsourced using ReplaceMyelf? My websites are mostly affiliate- and adsense-based sites. My biggest concern is that i don’t have an article marketing or backlinking strategy. Does either your bonuses or John’s teaching modules provide something like that? thanks!
ps. i want to add this to my first email. I am making small amounts of money from some of my websites, and some people are subscribing to my newsletters and email courses/reports. And I have extra money to invest into my IM business.
Hi Cat,
From your two comments here are my thoughts.
1) I would refocus on the one site that is showing potential, and if there are several that look like potential winners if you were to invest, I’d look towards the one I felt the most passion towards, personally. It is hard to build up great traffic when you run 12 blogs. I’ve been there too.
2) Build an email list on your primary website and invest in sending out regular value-added content (once per week)
Does John’s training give you what you need? Yes and no. He teaches you how to manage and hire employees. His training modules cover things like back linking, copywriting, Facebook, website promotion, script installation, adwords, and more. These are all, quite honestly, things that you need to wrap your own head around first by creating a business strategy. THEN spend some money on implementing it via outsourcing.
So, I think you need to redefine your own business strategy before spending hundreds of dollars on an outsourcing program. You are a natural starter, but you abandon projects too early because they are not interesting to you personally, right? Then what you need to to is look at taking on a management & training role. Think of yourself as a publisher. Pick the one or two ideas that you really love and pay someone else to create content that you specify. You’ll need to do do keyword research and come up with some sort of system (google alerts?) to notify you on news that you can write about.
Then, look for opportunities to build traffic with long tail keywords and hire someone else to do your content creation. You can start by hiring freelancers if you like, before committing to a full time person that you pay directly. oDesk, iWriter, TextBroker … all of these are worthy options to consider.
You can also hire someone else to do value-added forum posting and blog commenting for you, plus social bookmarking and external blog building (links that point to your sites).
Hi,
I notice most of the comments here are at least a year old–are they still viable? I’m a fiction writer creating and publishing ebooks on Amazon, etc. and need someone to build a social media presence for me, plus update my website using aweber, post blogs, learn to use templates for ebook publishing, etc. Most of the comments I see are IM marketers. Will Replace Myself work for me?
Thanks,
Bobby
The idea of hiring a VA is absolutely still viable and I can’t ever see it not be. Every business is different, but the key to success with a VA is putting the thought into hiring, and then treating your employee well.
Hi Chris,
I’m doing my research to get Replacemyself, my question to you did you update your bounce package specially after all the developments in the IM word and SEO algorithm updates? and what type of bounce do you have now?
Thnx
I haven’t updated it, so the SEO information is out of date. But the real value in the package is the advice on hiring and training your VAs. That’s why people write me back later thanking me for the bonus. That content is evergreen. It will never go out of date.