Being outsourced from an outsourcer.

[Harold Mansfield]

I had a few clients this past year (and they are becoming more frequent) that are supposedly service providers in their own right, but are hiring me to do the job that someone else has hired them to do.

I'm all for it as long as I get my fee. I even practice this in some ways myself, but usually it's a service that they need that I don't provide and can hire someone to do quicker and better. For instance if someone needs some flash work done...I'm going to outsource it.

But what I am seeing is people who proclaim that they are Wordpress specialist, or other web design companies that advertise that they do Wordpress work... hiring me to do the Wordpress work. I'm working for them and they are working for someone else.

Sometimes the trail is 3 deep. Their clients are serving clients.

Makes me wonder how high the mark up is, and how do I by pass all of those middle men and get to those clients that are paying that mark up?
It also makes me wonder if I'm charging enough if my rates can be stepped on 2 times and everyone still makes money.

[Spider]

Sure, you might be able to charge more if you could reach the original client, but then it could cost you to reach them, cost you to go through whatever hoops they need you to jump through, and cost you to wait for payment, etc.

What if the first-in-line client is General Motors, and the second-in-line client was a huge, multi-state dealership, and the third-in-line client was an international advertising agency, and the fourth-in-line client was a friend of fe CEO of the agency and....

A) You likely wouldn't even be considered by GM because of all the political and friendship ties, even if you could get in the front door.
B) What would it cost you in promotion costs to come to the attention of the right people -- even after you have found out who the right people are.
C) And are you prepared for the approval process comprising 10 people in 4 different departments, not to mention the political department and the compliance department and the legal department.
D) And are you prepared to wait 6 months for payment?

You are probably making more money doing it the way you are doing it than trying to get every piece of the pie. Unless, of course, you like brownnosing, networking, playing golf with the right people, etc, more than you like making websites. In which case, go do that and outsource the web work, like the others are doing!


Added: Did you know, Harold, that the most consistent killers on the Serengeti are the cheetahs. But they cannot stand up to the lions, so the cheetahs kill their prey, grab a quick meal and depart as soon as the lions turn up to steal the catch. But the cheetahs rarely go hungry while the lions often do!

[Harold Mansfield]

Well that certainly made the whole thing seem pretty unattractive. I like the Serengeti analogy though.
You are probably right. I am more than likely happier this way than jumping through the other hoops.

[greenoak]

i love wholesale so i probably wouldnt worry about it IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND THE PRICE YOURE GETTING... and try and find more middlemen to use me...i usually think you can make good money at all levels of the pecking order....i might be /no probably am/ making m ore money than the antique dealers all dressed up and selling at a big fancy show at top dollar....and i have 2 actual millionaires in the business who buy worse and lower on the totem pole of old junk than i do...and either one could write a 6 figure , maybe 7 figure check...or buy me out if the mood hit them....

[Harold Mansfield]

I know I have one occasional client that gets me for any Wordpress work and I know he is struggling. Mostly because he doesn't know Wordpress or the web enough to sell it. So consequently I get what falls into his lap if the clients he gets just happens to have a Wordpress set up already.
As far as I know he outsources everything. He strikes me as one of those guys that networks a lot for business, but has no technical skills. He always complains "Man, you're making more on this than I am", and I always think to myself, (You're either full of it, or you're doing it wrong").