It’s been a few years since I started outsourcing. In that time, I’ve gone through several assistants both technical and non technical including programmers. The ones that continue to work with me are the ones who can anticipate my needs and also those who are able to think beyond the task at hand. What do I mean by that?

A client recently asked me to mark selected resources in her membership site with asterisks and put a legend to explain the asterisk. This would make it easier for members to distinguish which resources are available to them and which aren’t. After considering all the facts and her preferences, I decided to take it further and just create a new category (the resource is managed with WordPress) and fix up the theme so that WordPress will automatically mark the resources when they are put in the correct categories. This accomplishes two things.

1. It is easier for the VA who’s in charge of adding content.
2. It is easier for the staff who will manage the content in the long run. Having categories make it easier to find and sort all those resources.
3. It is easier for members to sort and look up content.
4. It leaves room for future requests. For example if the client wanted a link to list only those selected resource in other parts of the membership site.

In short, by thinking ahead for her, I’ve made things easier and possibly cheaper to manage in the long run.

Photo credit: arte_ram (at SXC.hu)