Problems Not Working Locally

This morning I woke up and went to the Tucson Underground website to find that our extras section was not loading. This is a huge deal for us as the majority of our updates throughout the week are loaded directly into this section.

Our entire website was created and designed by a company called Mindsmack based out of the east coast. We are based on the west coast. News reports and businesses are always talking about outsourcing, how much money it saves you, how flexible it allows your business to be, etc. It has been a very interesting learning experience to try and do business with people accross the country that I've never met face to face. However, as is true with all learning experiences, there have been many problems.

The major problem is that it is difficult to convey your ideas to someone over the phone or over the internet. You only have so much time and you can only say so much with words. I cannot even imagine trying to deal with companies who speak another language.

Two other problems I have experienced are time differences and really just a lack of understanding of what is going on "on the ground", to use the military term. The time issue is obvious, I find issues with the site at 2pm and it is too late because it is 5pm on the east coast. As far as the situation on the ground, without being able to step into the office and see what is happening, it becomes difficult to know what is really being done.

This is by no means a criticism of Mindsmack. We have had a great experience with them and we would be nowhere without their help. As a first time entrepreneur, this is just one of the many obstacles that we must wrestle with on a daily basis. I am providing this example to perhaps help others to realize that while outsourcing sounds like a good idea, it has it's fair share of pains.

---

Back to Home