Brain Storm! Business Podcast: Wikinomics and Outsourcing, sponsored by Online Community Magazines
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In today's Brain Storm! Business Podcast, we will begin a discussion based on the book Wikinomics, as well as the practical uses of outsourcing as partnering.
***as a side note, sorry about the sound quality of the recording. There is intermittent clicking caused by my breaking in of a new USB microphone. It won't happen again, I promise!
I'm enjoying Wikinomics. It's not like studying brain surgery, but more like delving into a topic in which you have a passing understanding. A thought about cooperative projects passes through my mind and then its gone - I don't try to disect it or apply it. This audio book is letting me go deeper so I can then apply it to my business.
Wikinomics is not necessarily outsourcing, although that can be a part of it.
Wikinomics seems to include opening up your information to others, especially outside of your circle, to bring their outside experiences and knowledge to bear on your project. However, as I discuss today, that can happen when you outsource a project. Your vendor can become your partner if he or she is really smart and has a lot to offer you in your blind spots.
We also discuss outsourcing the time-wasting parts of your work.
Pfizer is allowing their employees to send more menial projects to India, so their employees can spend more time doing the things they specialize in (and for which they are paid good money). They had to do a little hand-holding and training on both sides of the ocean, but it seems to be paying off.
Need a new point of view and real time research? Hire a teenager.
That's what a non-profit organization is doing, and the teens are designing clothes, shoes and jewelry, as well as coming up with marketing models as well. If their product does well, they keep royalties. In the meanwhile, participating companies get insight from some of their target demographics.
I discuss the idea of the Internet Marketers Contest I plan on co-hosting with a Women Internet Marketers site.
I was spurred to do it after listening to Wikinomics. I hope that a marketing contest will not only be lucrative for the marketers who want to prove their skills, but also to the product owner (me), the owner of WomenInternetMarketers.tv (Diane Corriette), and the end users who get to run an Online Community Magazine.
Tell me about your wikinomic experiences, or outsourcing stories.
You can call me at 678-459-2437 to share your information. Until then, have a prosperous week, and keep brainstorming to make your business continually better!
Penny Haynes, 1st Podcast Publishing
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