As CEO of a company you are always looking for good ways to achieve business targets and to save money. A strategy that helps you to save money, time and nerves, is to delegate as many tasks as possible to external experts – to outsource. elance.com has compiled the best tips, based on customer interviews:

1st define the scope and timing of your project
It may seem obvious, but every successful outsourcing project begins with a detailed planning and formulation of your goals. Freelancers depend on accurate, complete information to be able to make a realistic offer and to give you an accurate price range.

2nd evaluate a freelancer like a potential permanent employee
Do not be afraid to ask questions if you negotiate with a freelancer. Choosing a freelancer for a project requires as much dexterity as the selection of an employee. Also a freelancer should fit into your team and be reliable.

3rd find specific skills and experience in the desired range
Ideally, the freelancer whom you’ve selected has experience in the field where he is supposed to work.  In case of complex technical projects as software development, having experience is very important. Make sure that the freelancer has worked in this area and can refer to satisfied customers.

4th the first selection criterion should not be the price
Although it is tempting, never choose a freelancer on the basis of money. Experienced outsourcers suggest almost always excluding the cheapest and the most expensive offer. In their experience, the most successful projects are those in which the offer was balanced.

5th check the portfolio and work samples
Just look at the previous work of the freelancers to insure they fulfill your expectations. If you are still unsure after you have viewed all the information such as CV, work samples and references, ask the freelancer to sketch an outline. A freelancer who wants to win the project will understand your desire for security.

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There are a lot of myths around multitasking and how productive people are who try to accomplish work by doing several things simultaneously. It is often mistaken as something that you need to be capable of when for example applying for a project.

A simple answer that shows you how multitasking can slow down your effectiveness while working can be found in a quick test. You will be surprised how little is needed to show that sticking to one task and move on to the next after can save you time. Move on to the Test!

TED (technology, entertainment, design) is a non-profit foundation that is best known for its annual conferences, in which lectures or ted-talks are devoted to one mission: “spreading ideas”. founded as a one-off event in 1984, ted-talks have grown in popularity and now cover a wide range of topics (science and culture). Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates or Richard Dawkins are just some of the prominent figures who have given ted-talks.

curious: when “ted-talking”, the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers are challenged to limit their speeches to 18 minutes. the best talks and performances from TED and partners are available on ted.com official website or the ted youtube channel.

click the link for upcoming and ongoing tedx events.

a recent survey, conducted by elon university, found that cloud-computing will increasingly gain importance in the future. the majority of social analysts, internet and tech experts questioned in the survey, predict this form of internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information, are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, to prevail. mashable offers a great summary of this study.

image by mashable

not surprisingly, the u.s. is still far ahead of germany and the rest of the world in terms of entrepreneurship. this interesting chart, produced by grasshopper, compares the u.s. portion of gdp (gross domestic product) that comes from entrepreneurship against that of major european countries.

entrepreneural activity in the u.s. (as a percentage of gdp) lies at 11.3%, compared to 6.3% in germany for example. also worth mentioning is how “would-be” entrepreneurs perceive starting a new business in the current economy: according to the data provided, entrepreneurs in the u.s. feel far more optimistic about starting a new business in the near future and foster much less fear of failure.

in addition, the graphic depicts the percentage of enterprises by size, native vs. foreign-born self-employed and the overall difficulty entrepreneurs face when starting a new business.

image by theeducatedentrepreneur.com

check out the full size infographic here.

Batching all the similar tasks you have to handle in a certain period can be a very useful support to get work done more easily.

In other words you can work smarter if you do tasks that aim in the same direction at a specific time of the day respectively of the week. This means for example that you do your customer support at a certain block of time and then go on to the next. This keeps you into the subject and you don’t have to switch between them during the day again. Some more points are elaborated here.