Who is in your team?

[Malchy Dorris]

When starting out on my own in business i tried to do everything myself. Three years later i've learnt that was a mistake.

Having always worked better as a team player in my previous employment, i decided to put together a team of contractors to do the work that i've little or no knowledge off. I've no interest in taking on employees so having these people to work with has made a great difference.

Some of these vendors i've got from studying this forum and others from other sites. But because i want people that i can trust and work with for many years to come i'm very picky and know exactely what i want. So i've had to spend hours and hours sifting through forums, threads, websites and trying people out with small jobs to get the people i wanted. This process has been long but worth it.

I've been helped a lot by this forum so in order to give a little bit back and to maybe save someone else some time in trying to find good, trustworthy businesses and contractors, i've decided to list my team of contractors and freelancers below. They all have exceptional products and/or give exceptional service so worth having a look at if you're trying to build your own team around you.

It would be really great if lots of others could also list your preferred contractors or businesses that you use so that we'd all have the opportunity to check them out and see if there's any that could help us in the areas that we still need people in our teams.

Please note i have no affiliation with these guys other than i pay them to provide me with a product/service. I'll get no discounts or rewards for listing them here - just wanted to give a little back to others on here and hope that others are generous enough to do the same!

My Team:

Article/Content Copywriter – Kristina Murphy (Found on Elance)

Sales Copywriter – Writedare (Found on Elance)

Logo Designer – J Brandt Studio of Design (Found on Elance)

Website Designer – (Still Looking)

Virtual Receptionist – No Missed Calls (Found on here - just about to use them)

Marketing Adviser – (Still Looking)

Web Hosts – Vidahost (Found them on here)

Email Marketing Provider – (Still Looking)

 

[Dave Kinnel]

Pretty much all found on Elance eh? Nope, no spam here.

 

[No Missed Calls]

When starting out on my own in business i tried to do everything myself. Three years later i've learnt that was a mistake.

Having always worked better as a team player in my previous employment, i decided to put together a team of contractors to do the work that i've little or no knowledge off. I've no interest in taking on employees so having these people to work with has made a great difference.

Some of these vendors i've got from studying this forum and others from other sites. But because i want people that i can trust and work with for many years to come i'm very picky and know exactely what i want. So i've had to spend hours and hours sifting through forums, threads, websites and trying people out with small jobs to get the people i wanted. This process has been long but worth it.

I've been helped a lot by this forum so in order to give a little bit back and to maybe save someone else some time in trying to find good, trustworthy businesses and contractors, i've decided to list my team of contractors and freelancers below. They all have exceptional products and/or give exceptional service so worth having a look at if you're trying to build your own team around you.

It would be really great if lots of others could also list your preferred contractors or businesses that you use so that we'd all have the opportunity to check them out and see if there's any that could help us in the areas that we still need people in our teams.

Please note i have no affiliation with these guys other than i pay them to provide me with a product/service. I'll get no discounts or rewards for listing them here - just wanted to give a little back to others on here and hope that others are generous enough to do the same!

My Team:

Article/Content Copywriter – Kristina Murphy (Found on Elance)

Sales Copywriter – Writedare (Found on Elance)

Logo Designer – J Brandt Studio of Design (Found on Elance)

Website Designer – (Still Looking)

Virtual Receptionist – No Missed Calls (Found on here - just about to use them)

Marketing Adviser – (Still Looking)

Web Hosts – Vidahost (Found them on here)

Email Marketing Provider – (Still Looking)

Looking forward to working with you!

 

[Malchy Dorris]

Pretty much all found on Elance eh? Nope, no spam here.

Tell me how is 3 out of 8 vendors found on elance "pretty much all of them"? Didn't you see the 2 i've found on here and 3 i'm still looking for?

I've no connection with elance. I'm simply trying to have a positive thread on here for a change that many people may end up getting something useful from if people are generous enough to share.

Maybe you could contribute positively to it as well, so that others could benefit rather than try to rip it apart before it even gets going?

 

[Dave Kinnel]

Tell me how is 3 out of 8 vendors found on elance "pretty much all of them"? Didn't you see the 2 i've found on here and 3 i'm still looking for?

I've no connection with elance. I'm simply trying to have a positive thread on here for a change that many people may end up getting something useful from if people are generous enough to share.

Maybe you could contribute positively to it as well, so that others could benefit rather than try to rip it apart before it even gets going?

Three out of five actually!! By my maths that's 60% so over half and most of them! Why mention Elance? Just mention the ones you got through here as that's relevant.

17 posts in the best part of two years, you haven't exactly been courting suppliers from this forum have you, hence it looks like/is spam i.e recommendation from an unknown source!

 

[Minuteman Press]

What is your business Malchy? Does it have a URL?

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Who is in your team?

Do cats and dogs count?

 

[BeeDub]

I've long since learnt that actually no-one is "in my team" and that I am actaully on my own.

Everyone is out for themselves. Full stop. The sooner the corporate world acknowledges this, the better. My team, my a**e.

 

[Malchy Dorris]

Three out of five actually!! By my maths that's 60% so over half and most of them! Why mention Elance? Just mention the ones you got through here as that's relevant.

17 posts in the best part of two years, you haven't exactly been courting suppliers from this forum have you, hence it looks like/is spam i.e recommendation from an unknown source!

Yep fair enough point about mentioning elance at all - i only mentioned it so that if people wanted to check out the suppliers they could find them - my mistake, should not have mentioned them as they are not part of this forum - that's a fair enough point.

Yes, i may have been a member since Jan 2010 but as you'll notice from my posts they are all fairly recent as i have been making a pretty radical change in my business over the last few months. I read this forum every day and have learned lots from it. You'll also notice that most of my posts have been questions and where i have been able to i've gave helpful answers. I'm also keen to give something to other members as this forum has been a lifeline to me in terms of gaining new knowledge and therefore it's only right to give some back when we can.

The reason i didn't go asking for recommendations from members on a specific area of business (which i have done not too long ago as you'll also see in my fairly recent posts) is that when you do you mostly get lots of suppliers posting about their own businesses and very few recommendations. That's fair enough to find leads for suppliers but it's who other members are using and what they are saying about them that's important.

Ok maybe i've gone about this the wrong way in thinking that it would be good if there was a place where members could recommend who they use as part of their team! I simply thought that it would be good to have it so that me and other people (especially newbies) would have a semi-solid place to start looking at potentially good suppliers especially when the long term, more established members of this forum are using them and so they'd at least be worth a look at.

Oh well guess it was a bad idea - hey ho, i've had a few!

 

[Malchy Dorris]

What is your business Malchy? Does it have a URL?

I create newsletters for small niche sectors - such as dog groomers, natural therapy businesses etc.

No url at the moment as from the first post you'll see i'm still looking for a good web designer.

 

[Malchy Dorris]

Who is in your team?

Do cats and dogs count?

Yep, my three dogs keep me sane

 

[Apprentice Guru]

Where are you based Malchy, I know of an excellent Marketing adviser. She's based in the North West.

 

[Malchy Dorris]

Where are you based Malchy, I know of an excellent Marketing adviser. She's based in the North West.

I'm in Northern Ireland.

If she's happy to have her name on here maybe you could post it here so others could benefit too.

Hope the spam police don't get you though

 

[HLSSolutions]

Hi Malchy

I think it is a very good idea what you have done. A lot of small businesses need access to a number of specialist skills, or occasional assistance in areas that does not warrant taking on a member of staff for.

Trying to trawl through a huge amount of sites to try and track down a reliable person can be time consuming and a frustrating process, it therefore makes perfect sense to share this information with others. It is also excellent reward to the good freelancers that by doing a good job they are likely to be recommended to others.

I prefer to use local contacts where possible, however I have also used freelancers from all over the world on some projects as well.

I have a number of great contacts in Cornwall now for design, PR and other marketing areas, and am always happy to pass on any recommendations.

Good luck with it all.

Ian

 

[belmorefinance]

Email Marketing Provider – (Still Looking)

What are actually looking for?

 

[Malchy Dorris]

Email Marketing Provider – (Still Looking)

What are actually looking for?

I worded that badly.

I want to have follow-up email campigns where's there's a sequence of emails that go out automatically to prospective clients (only those that have opted in) over a period of time. I haven't looked much at this yet and i know there's mailchimp etc. but had thought about maybe trying to find someone to outsource the work of doing it i.e. they set it up and make sure the emails go out etc. This is a little way down the list of to do's at this stage though.