Shoveling virtual snow

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September 6, 2009

By Greg Bott / guest columnist The Meridian Star Sun Sep 06, 2009, 12:27 AM CDT

I’ll say it again and again—we live in an amazing time in history. As I boy I shoveled snow, sold lemonade, delivered papers, and mowed lawns for extra money. An entrepreneurial child today has those options, but could also shovel virtual snow in Moscow. You yourself could, right now, get a job planning an event for a company in South America and then hire a staff comprised of people from Asia, Europe and New Jersey to complete it..all without leaving the den of your home.

Media is replete with examples of the lightning pace of technological change. And technology does make for interesting news, but technology is NEVER the answer. Our culture, our global culture, must continue to change, accept, and adopt new ways of thinking and acting for technological change to matter.

The technology to create eBay existed long before eBay became a reality. We weren’t waiting for auction technology to arrive so we could sell the junk out of our garage so other people could buy it and store it in their garage. We were waiting for people to change and adopt the mindset of selling stuff on the Web. And despite creepy commercials about personality profiling on various dating sites, the technology for online dating has been around a long time, but it’s only recently that I’ve seen a statistic that one in eight recent marriages were between people who initially met online. That’s amazing.

Another intersection that is having, and will continue to have a profound effect on your life is free agent brokering. I’m not talking about professional sports. I’m talking about virtual assistants, all sorts of administrative work, data entry, legal, financial, web design, anything that can be done digitally or online. If you’re doing something today that can be accomplished online (like writing a technology column), you need to pay attention, because someone in India, China, Australia, or Prague is competing with you…and they’re willing to do it for a fraction of your fee—sometimes as low as $2 - $4 per hour.

One enabler of this competition is Elance. Elance (www.elance.com) offers companies a flexible and cost-effective way to get work done online. For example, let’s say you need a logo—describe it on Elance and you’ll be amazed at how quickly, affordably, and skillfully a logo can be created for you. Need web research done for a product or opportunity? Post a proposal. Data entry, forms processing, blogging, grant writing, preparing financials, or professional services can all be accomplished via Elance and similar sites like oDesk (www.odesk.com), Guru (www.guru.com), and more indirectly LinkedIn, to name a few.

How does it work? Employers post a job and describe the services and skills required and providers bid for the work. Elance makes it easy for employers to select skills and search providers by how they were rated on previous jobs, skill sets, earnings, and how many customers have used them more than once.

Elance makes money by charging payment processing fees on transactions and by charging service fees to providers. Providers (the freelancers) pay a membership fee and also pay a percentage of their earnings (4-6%) based on how much they earn.

So whether you’re an employer, an employee, or an aspiring entrepreneur, get familiar with outsourcing by visiting one of the sites listed above. Good, bad, or otherwise, we are competing on a global scale—take time to understand the marketplace. There will always be a place for people who provide value and leadership.

Technically yours.

Bott Technology Solutions helps small to

midsize businesses with computer technology needs and may be reached via e-mail at

gregbott@bottinc.com or at 601-616-8509. Greg’s professional experience includes consulting for Price Waterhouse’s Strategic Consulting Group, working as a Program Manager for Microsoft Corporation, and serving as Chief Technology Officer for several companies. He has a Master of Science in Software Engineering degree from the University of Texas and has presented at

technical conferences across the world. He has published over a dozen works including the Microsoft Press Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure textbook, Customizing SharePoint, and the Microsoft ASP.Net Security Operations Guide.

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