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How should the social sector respond to the evolving crisis? How will nonprofits, foundations, philanthropic organizations, and social justice advocates emerge from the pandemic? What unique insight and capabilities can civil society bring to bear on the problems the world now faces? How will organizations manage potentially calamitous challenges to funding their operations? In this series, Standford Social Innovation Review will present insight from social change leaders around the globe to help organizations face the systemic, operational, and strategic challenges that will test the limits of their capabilities.
Rethinking social change in the face of coronavirus [SSIR]
- Resource Type: Link
- Tags: social justice, social movements


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14 Denim Statement Pieces That Aren't Jeans
All your spring cleaning efforts have likely opened up some closet real estate, so there's no time like RN to start rounding out your capsule wardrobe with a slew of new hero pieces. In addition to the usual prospects — a versatile trench, a floral dress and some stylish wellies — this season marks the arrival of denim like you've never seen it before. And we're not just talking about the latest unexpected denim trend on the block (cropped flares, anyone?). Mark our words: It won't be long before you're craving an off-duty denim parka or an effortless denim button-front shirt dress that can stand on its own (and always do you right). But first, scroll down for 14 of our favorite denim statement pieces that will put even your trusty boyfriend jeans to shame. Really!
1. Emma Mulholland Check You Later Embroidered Denim Jacket ($408): Coachella-bound babes, rejoice! Run, don't walk, to snag this hippie-loving embroidered denim jacket that can be teamed with distressed cutoffs and fringed booties for the ultimate festival-going look.
2. Wilfred Free Van Delden Dress ($110): Minimalist does it — it's not every day you come across a denim column dress with this much ease and French-girl sophistication. Offset the light blue hue and fringed hem with some dainty jewels and a pair of spring break-worthy slides.
3. BDG Tavi Lace-Up Blouse ($69): High-waisted black skinnies: check. Free-wheelin' lace-up denim crop top: double check. Impromptu dressing just got a whole lot easier thanks to this streamlined uniform that can be edged up just a bit with ankle boots and a bold red lip.
4. ASOS Future Zone Espadrille Sandals ($48): Is it really even resort wear if you don't have a pair of denim espadrilles on standby? (That's a trick question). These fashion-forward steppers will look impeccable with a black bikini and an extra-floppy straw hat.
5. & Other Stories Panel Detail Dress ($95): Take note: Everyday denim basics (that are anything but blasé) will serve as the building blocks of your wardrobe this season. Enter the denim panel dress that's un-fussy enough to be worn on its own, but chic enough to hold its own over a frilly collared blouse and menswear-inspired loafers for a boardroom-approved look.
6. Forever 21 Quilted Collarless Denim Coat ($48): Get ready to perfect your roll-out-of-bed-and-go routine with this oversized quilted denim coat that will inspire you to do less this season. Up the cool factor by tossing it over an effortless striped dress and adding some all-white sneakers into the mix.
7. Free People Baby Love Denim Skirt ($128): Promising both comfort and style, this is the diamond-patterned denim skirt you'll be flocking to once warmer weather hits. Style the easygoing silhouette with a plain white tee and some throwback suede mules for a trip to the farmers' market or Sunday brunch.
8. Topshop Moto Stripe A-Line Skirt ($55): Swap out your prized button-front skirt for this striped denim A-line mini that reads cool girl in action. When styled alongside a leather jacket (or a jean jacket for a denim-on-denim look) and some lace-up flats, the outcome will be nothing short of ah-mazing.
9. Free People Green River One Piece ($128): Between music festivals and balmy weekend temps, we can think of an occasion or two (or five) for which this fierce denim romper might come in handy. Perfect your vintage rocker look with a body chain and some retro mirrored sunnies.
10. Northmore Denim Oversized Boxy Tee Dress With Raw Hem Detail ($60): Calling all self-proclaimed lazy girls! This boxy tee dress is the answer to all of your outfit conundrums. For a foolproof weekend look that requires minimal styling, simply slip this guy on with some combat boots and call it a day.
11. Kimchi Blue Aubrie Denim Apron Midi Dress ($79): Who knew a denim apron dress could be this chic (and not matronly in the least)? The lace-up back will straight-up stun without being overly revealing for a number of springtime occasions. Think: metallic slides for an exotic getaway or platform sandals for a spring wedding.
12. Madewell x Daryl K Cecilia Denim Shirtdress ($168): There's something to be said for a belted denim shirt dress that makes you look (and feel) like you're on your A-game. For a knockout look that's just as worthy of date night as the first baseball pitch of the season, keep it simple with sensible flats and a leather tote.
13. Farrow Austin Skirt ($78): Ditch the tomboy aesthetic for this ladylike denim pleat skirt that can be worn on the reg. Complement the conservative midi length with granny-approved heels and top it off with a statement sweatshirt for serious style cred.
14. Reformation Sherpa Jacket ($148): Your favorite denim jacket just got a major upgrade — and with a faux fur collar, no less. For an upcoming spring gala, don't hesitate to pair this James Dean-esque topper with a fancy ball gown or LBD.
Which of these denim statement pieces will you be investing in this season? Follow us on Pinterest for more upcoming spring trends.
Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.

subset: commoncrawl


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I have not seen these three under the same roof in a long time
It used to be the case that every time I visited my parents, the whole family would get together at their place. These three kids and I used to get a lot of quality time together. And by "quality time", I mean completely nonsensical discussions, giggling at the stupidest things and always pulling the elder nephew's legs. (He is the goody goody, conscientious one of them all).
Then my parents passed away.
And two of these three went away to college.
After a long time they were together this week for Diwali and "bhaiphnota" under the same roof.
We had a long video call to celebrate the olden times. "Kintu ototao noy" (this is an insider joke).
And of course, there was good ribbing of the elder nephew to be had!!


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In 1983, as a reporter for The Birmingham News, I wrote several stories looking back at the events of 1963. I worked with other reporters to track down many of the school children who had heeded Dr. Martin Luther King's call to march in downtown Birmingham. Most of them, like Bernita Roberson Sawyer, had been jailed. She was 14 at the time, not much older than me, and had spent five days in jail. They described what it was like to be in jail as children and recalled how those events had shaped their lives as adults. In June, I wrote a 20-year retrospective on Gov. George Wallace's "stand in the schoolhouse door" at the University of Alabama. Most of the key figures of that day were still alive, including Deputy U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, who was still angry 20 years later about being made to stand in the sweltering sun while Wallace made his stand in the shade. Then in September, 20 years after the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that killed four little girls, I had a front page interview with Chris McNair, the father of one of those girls, Denise.
Olivia Barton Ferriter
Birmingham native Olivia Barton Ferriter is a former reporter and Washington correspondent for The Birmingham News and Newhouse News Service where she wrote about politics, environmental issues, civil rights, equal rights and race issues among other assignments. She was recognized by Lincoln University with a Unity Award for a special report on race relations in Alabama, published in 1979. She also served as press secretary and Appropriations Committee associate staff for then Congressman Tom Bevill (D-Al), helping to create the Little River Canyon National Preserve in Northeast Alabama. She later became a public servant with the U.S. Department of the Interior, retiring in 2018 as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, Finance, Performance and Acquisition. After 40 years in Washington, DC, Olivia moved back to Birmingham in May 2023 with her husband John, sons Matthew and William, and black labs Jack and Daisy.


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More than one in two homes are failing to sell via auction in some pockets of Sydney, as the city's clearance rates continue to fall amid cooling buyer demand.
Sellers across the Sutherland Shire, Baulkham Hills, Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and outer west regions had less than a one in two chance of auction success last month as clearance rates in those areas dropped below 50 per cent.
Sydney's auction clearance rate has dropped to about 56 per cent. Credit:Domain
The odds of selling under the hammer have pulled back right across the city this year, with Greater Sydney's clearance rate falling to 55.9 per cent in May, Domain data shows. It's the lowest level since the early stages of the pandemic, when the rate plummeted to 36.2 per cent in April 2020.
The Northern Beaches and eastern suburbs were among half a dozen other areas where the proportion of successful auctions was below the citywide clearance rate.
"Every single area is dropping. Even in really auction-centric markets like the eastern suburbs, city and inner south and inner west, we are seeing a big drop," Domain's chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said.
Declining clearance rates reflected cooling buyer sentiment, Powell said, and a mismatch between seller and buyer price expectation.
The rate was also being weighed down by an increase in properties being withdrawn from auction, which reached about 25 per cent in May, the highest monthly rate since April 2020. The increase showed the nervousness being felt by sellers and agents, Powell said, with auctions typically withdrawn when there was not enough interest to ensure competition on the day.
The North Sydney and Hornsby region was the only area with a clearance rate above 60 per cent last month, a benchmark for further house price inflation, Powell said. Anything below that points to price weakness, and fewer sellers were likely to opt to go to auction as the market downturn continued, particularly in non-traditional auction markets.
The lowest clearance rates were recorded in the outer west and Blue Mountains (22 per cent), Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury (39.7 per cent) and Sutherland (49.1 per cent) regions, which also recorded some of the largest year-on-year changes.
There had been a sharp shift in these markets, Powell said, but noted that lower auction volumes, particularly in the outer west and Blue Mountains, could result in greater fluctuations in the clearance rate.
She noted the RBA's decision to lift the cash rate in May, and the expectation for consecutive rate hikes had and would continue to weigh on already cooling buyer demand.
Auctioneer Stu Benson, of Benson Auctions, said the entry-level market in the north-west was still busy but that buyers were spoilt for choice in more established suburbs like Baulkham Hills and Castle Hill, where strong price growth had encouraged more home owners to hit the market. However, he noted A-grade homes were still selling well.
Homes were selling closer to advertised price guides, Benson said, and most sellers hitting the market had reasonable reserve prices. However, more home owners were looking to secure a deal ahead of their scheduled auction, while others had been postponing auctions following rate hikes to give buyers additional time to firm up their financing if needed.
Of those properties going to auction, about four or five out of 10 were now selling under the hammer, Benson said, which he expected would continue for the foreseeable future. He noted this was a more typical market than the high clearance rates seen last year.
Auctioneer Stu Benson, pictured at a busy auction early last year, has seen a big pullback in buyer competition. Credit:Peter Rae
"It's much more normal than the hot market that we've come out of," he said.
Sutherland Shire buyer's agent John Soliman, of Shire Buyer, said there had been a clear shift in the market. More choice had reduced buyer urgency and seen a drop in competition for homes, while rising interest rates and the increased cost of living had added to buyer uncertainty.
Most sellers had adjusted their price expectations to the cooling market, he said. However, he was also seeing home owners looking to sell ahead of their scheduled auction, or withdraw the property and list it for sale, fearing they did not have enough competition, despite most having realistic price expectations. He expected fewer properties to go to auction moving forward.
Soliman added that more clients were now putting property searches on hold, believing they could find greater choice and lower prices later this year, particularly if rising rates brought about forced sales, which experts say is unlikely.
Copyright © 2022


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The Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), Laem Chabang Port's Project - JV Diesel Fuels storages, trades and refines BLCO for domestic, industrial, transport use and export.
Thailand's Energy Policy and Planning office (EPPO) decided to instruct oil refineries to produce just one type of diesel fuel (B7), from December 2021 until next March 2022, to lower the price to around 28 baht/litre, and oil traders to maintain the marketing fee at 1.40 baht/litre. The measures are to ease the impact on truck operators as oil prices rise globally.
EPPO Director-General Wattanapong Kurovat, said also that the committee, chaired by Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow, also decided the retail price at pump will remain at no more than 30 baht/litre.
B7 diesel fuel is mixed with only 7% biodiesel or palm oil. Currently, there are three types of diesel fuel, B7, B10 and B20, but B7 is the most popular among truckers.
Wattanapong explained that the Oil Fund's contribution to the diesel fund, coupled with the capping of the marketing fee will help reduce the price of diesel at the petrol station.
He pointed out that the reduction in the proportion of biodiesel in diesel fuel is due to increasing prices of palm oil, currently estimated at 46.88 baht/litre, which will raise the price of diesel by 1-2 baht/litre.
With lower biodiesel content, the B7 price can be reduced by around 50-80 satang per litre. Subsidies from the Oil Fund will also be cut about 4 billion baht to 3.8 billion baht per month.
Wattanapong said that all parties were consulted before the Energy Police Administration Committee arrived at the decision, adding that the committee will explore means to help affected refiners.
Truckers, from the Land Transport Federation of Thailand, are demanding that the price of diesel fuel be capped at 25 baht/litre, otherwise they may have to increase cargo transport charges.
Canaf Fuels has utilized the opportunity to enter the Thai market to accommodate the decisions made by EPPO and the Energy Minister, to lessen the burden on the country's economy, to stock, trade and refine crude oil, but instead by switching feedstock supply to BLCO for domestic, industrial, transport use and export markets as BLCO product specifications hold similarity with the spec on diesel B7 and international standard diesel consumption. BLCO shall have lower refining and wholesale market price cost, less waste with greater wins on quantity & quality that can be sustained and the price of diesel fuel can be capped under 30 baht/litre based on the volatilized global market related prices that will affect the Thai economy.
At Canaf Fuels, we believe that all trucks fuelling savings per litre or gallon reflects hugely on your transport department's annual fuel bill. So, by entering the market space, Canaf Fuels shall have a big impact by lower fuel cost which will impact the Thai economy for everyone as it will keep the food prices affordable, and the public consumers satisfied in the land of smiles...
Once deemed too sluggish for your everyday passenger car, diesel fuel now powers high-speed, sophisticated vehicles that merge efficiency with dynamic driving capability. Diesel's come a long way since its humble origins and has advanced into different type for different purposes, and not all of them are derived from petroleum.
These are the different types to keep your eye out for.
Petroleum diesel, or fossil diesel, is the most common type of fuel, used in freight trucks, trains, buses and farm and construction vehicles. Many new passenger vehicles are powered by petroleum diesel too. Its components are derived from the fractional distillation of crude oil at temperatures between 200 – 350 degrees Celsius at atmospheric pressure. The result sees a mixture of carbon chains, containing approximately 8 – 20 carbon atoms per molecule.
The desire to find long-term low-carbon fuel alternatives has seen the development of synthetic diesel. It can be produced from any carbonaceous material which is not limited to biomass, biogas, natural gas and coal. Once the natural substance is gasified and purified, it undergoes the Fischer-Tropsch process which is essentially a series of chemical reactions that transforms a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into a hybrid substance called hydrocarbons. This type of diesel has been commended for its near-zero sulphur content, reducing overall emissions.
Biodiesel is an alternative renewable fuel source to petroleum-derived diesel that is made from vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled restaurant grease. As of 2016, soybean oil was the main ingredient of approximately 55% of the total feedstock used to make biodiesel in the US, followed by canola and corn oil. In its purest form, biodiesel is referred to as B100, yet can be appropriately blended with petroleum diesel depending on the temperature the fuel will be used in. Many fuel equipment manufacturers have expressed their concerns with biodiesel as it can corrode fuel injection components, increase blockages and cause pump seizures.
While similar to synthetic diesel, this category of diesel involves converting the triglycerides (a chemical compound known as ester which is derived from glycerol and fatty acids) found in vegetable oils and animal fats into alkanes with a process that refines and hydrates the substance.
DME has the potential to be a renewable fuel. It's a clean-burning, non-toxic fuel that boasts a high cetane value and discreet combustion. Its low-cost system coupled with low soot and reduced NOx emissions could offer a great alternative when meeting carbon reduction goals.
Bulk Fuel from Canaf Fuels are the experts when it comes to bulk diesel refuelling for your plant, equipment, and vehicles. From on-site refuelling to safe fuel storage to fleet management systems, our capabilities will help your business reduce downtime and save money in the long-term which can be re-invested into your business.
Whether it's an agriculture, marine, mining or construction operation, there can be considerable benefits to managing an on-site refuelling facility.
A safe, well-managed fuel management or storage system can improve operational control, reduce vehicle off-site down time, and generate positive Return on Investment (ROI).
Bulk Fuel from Canaf Fuels delivers bulk fuel anywhere in Thailand, with tankers strategically placed across for on-site refuelling. Our modern fleet of LNG powered fuel tanker trucks come in a range of capacities and are ideal for refuelling on-site storage tanks. Each is operated and supported by an experienced team that delivers to Thailand Standards.
Canaf's bulk fuel can be used independently or as part of a complete on-site fuel management solution, using a combination of fuel storage tanks and dispensing equipment to suit your needs.
For safe, reliable, and flexible bulk fuel delivery, contact Bulk Fuel at Canaf Fuels today.
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CILT UK (The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in the UK) has announced Steve Gooding FCILT, director, RAC Foundation, as its new 2021 President. Gooding's primary role will be to promote CILT as the essential home for all stakeholders involved in the movement of goods and people, and their associated supply chains.
Gooding, who has been director of the RAC Foundation since 2015, has previously worked as director general at DfT and on many, mostly transport-related, policy issues during a long civil service career.
Steve Gooding said, "After several years serving as a Vice President of CILT, I have come to know the institute well and I am honoured to be made President. 2021 looks set to be a year when the skills of CILT members will be tested to the full as we start to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and we exit the EU.
"I am keen to see CILT continue to support its members by promoting best practice, providing training and awarding qualifications to deliver on the institute's core mission to deliver professionalism in motion."
Gooding takes over from outgoing President Paul Sainthouse, who oversaw the merging of CILT (UK) and CILT International, led the institute during its centenary year and helped navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.


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Parental blogging
It occurred to me the other day that a fair number of people I know blog occasionally or regularly about their kids and about parenting, and that many of y'all may not know about each other, and might be interested. So here's a partial list. I'm probably leaving people out; feel free to add more links in comments. (Some parents I'm leaving out because they don't blog about parenting or kids much.) Don't worry, someone's absence from this list does not mean I don't like them or their writing or their kids; it's almost certainly just an oversight on my part.
More of y'all would probably follow these links if I were to provide brief capsule descriptions of these folks and their kids and why you should read what they write. But if I were to do that, I'd be here all day, and really all it would boil down to in the end is: they're all worth reading, they all have interesting and/or entertaining things to say about kids and parenting, they're all cool folks.
(Also, this wouldn't be a Jed entry without a further elaborate and probably unnecessary disclaimer, so I should also mention that, like me, a lot of my friends who journal/blog don't have kids. Those folks are also cool folks, and well worth reading. They're just not the topic of this particular entry.)
Swarthmore folks, in no particular order:
- Debby B., mother of Rose (she of the mustache photo from a while back) and David. Sample entries: "Compromise," "Sexism in the Schools," "Sexism at Home."
- Nao, mother of Theo. Sample entries: "State of the Theo," "Aww."
- metasilk, mother of the mutant monkey pirate (that's the LJ tag with all the entries about the boy). Sample entry: "Bigger Monkeys."
Non-Swarthmore folks (mostly writer types, mostly with some connection to SH), in no particular order:
- Sarah P., mother of Maud and Theo (the latter of whom I think shares my birthday). She hasn't been journaling much lately, but when she does she often includes bits about the kids. Sample entries: "The Boob Thing," "Nibbled."
- Karen M., mother of Jeremiah. Sample entries: "Eyeballs Stay on Your Head," "Awesome."
- Haddayr, mother of Arie (who has Tourette syndrome) and Éiden. Sample entries: "Arie's bath," "10 Things About the Boys which are not complaints."
- Naomi K., mother of Molly and Kiera. Sample entries: "Fun With Literacy," "Warning, cute kid quotes ahead."
- Jay L., father of The Child. (The Child has her own LJ account, but doesn't post to it.) Sample entries from Jay's: "Dungeons and Dragons," "Miscellaneous Updatery fights the worms from Tremors." See also his LJ child tag, which lists all the entries about her.
- nj and Morrisa, parents of Miranda, each have their own LJs, but they don't talk much about Miranda in those, so the relevant LJs are mirandatime (text entries) and mirandapod (picture of the day, a feed from the Chez Iguana Gallery pages). Sample entries: "tori amos, eat your heart out," "Most Mirandas." Sample photos: Poppy!, Dancing with Mommy.
- Thida, mother of Special K and Little T (the latter of whom was born with a vascular tumor and developed Kasabach Merritt Syndrome). Sample entry: 22nd May.
- Ben R., father of Aviva and Noah. Sample entries: "Aviva's Mutant Powers, and Egg-Hunting Among the Goyim" (I especially like photo #2 of Aviva showing off her superpowers), "HOWTO Not Undermine Each Other In Front Of The Kids" (including a set of cards for that collectible card game Frantic: The Parenting).
- Liz H., mother of Moomin. (She has a variety of other blogs, but this is the one that has most to do with parenting and such.) Sample entries: "choosing things," "Overheard at the sleepover."
- Barth A., father of Isaiah. Sample entries: 14 March, 4 April.


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A young boy who ran away with the local funfair when he was 14 has just released a new cover version of Depeche Modes' 1990 Classic "Enjoy the Silence" - this comes after he released the first ever official dance mix of Penny Arcade.
David Moore, now 45 was raised in the Lochside and Dalmilling areas of Ayr in the 70s and 80s before running off to fulfill his dream of being a circus performer.
Lately he has gone on to enjoy success as an Entertainer all over the World, and has made his home in Blackpool.
Better known on Stage as "Dave Bear" he enjoys performing as a Singer, a DJ and has his own very succesful Entertainments Company who can supply most Acts and Karaoke Nights for any kind of Function.
David still takes time out to come home to visit friends and family in his beloved home Town of Ayr around 8 times a year, Have a listen to this
Moore, released the first ever danced up version of Penny Arcade, 1 year ago.
You can find this on Youtube.


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Wow! This is an opportunity of a lifetime! Welcome to 4025 Eagle Flight Dr, located in the prestigious Winstone in Big Sky. This stunning home provides an entertainers paradise with many upgrades. This residence features 5 bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths, including a downstairs bedroom with a full bath. This home has many upgrades starting with a formal living-room with fireplace, dining room, huge family room and powder room. Some other upgrades are Travertine floors, beautiful chandeliers, granite countertops and stunning wood plantation shutters throughout the home. Gourmet kitchen has up graded cabinets with granite countertops, new stainless steel appliances, new built-in refrigerator, new double ovens, new dishwasher, gorgeous oversized island, microwave and 5 burner stove top. Kitchen is open to the family room where there is a warm, cozy fireplace with built-ins. The master bedroom has a separate large shower with a jacuzzi tub. The master bedroom has a spacious sitting area with a walk-in closet with useful organizers. Tons of storage throughout the home. This home has a brand new 75 gallon water heater with quick heat. The backyard is an entertainer's dream with an amazing salt water pool with stunning waterfall and spa, an outdoor kitchen with beautiful granite oversized counters, built-in BBQ, refrigerator, sink, built-in cooler, dual pull out trash cans and plenty of drawers. This yard also features a fire pit with bench seating and a huge custom patio cover with recessed lights and fans. The front and backyard has low maintenance lush landscaping with a tropical vibe, with brand new turf. This home also features a 3 car garage with shelving included. Close to hiking trails, shopping, dog park and freeway. This is a perfect home to relax, entertain and enjoy California's beautiful weather. This is a beauty that you don't want to miss out on! Welcome to 4025 Eagle Flight Drive.
Listing courtesy of Listing Agent: Janine Nolfo (firstname.lastname@example.com) from Listing Office: EXP Realty of California Inc..
Based on information from California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. as of . This information is for your personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties you may be interested in purchasing. Display of MLS data is usually deemed reliable but is NOT guaranteed accurate by the MLS. Buyers are responsible for verifying the accuracy of all information and should investigate the data themselves or retain appropriate professionals. Information from sources other than the Listing Agent may have been included in the MLS data. Unless otherwise specified in writing, Broker/Agent has not and will not verify any information obtained from other sources. The Broker/Agent providing the information contained herein may or may not have been the Listing and/or Selling Agent.


text: Rinieri TRP Mower & Shredder The Rinieri TRP is an all-purpose shredder for weeds, and wood pruning up to 4 3/4 inches. The TRP features rakes and mechanical side-shift. Optional hydraulic side shifting and pneumatic gauge wheels are available. Rinieri TRP Mower & Shredder Spec Sheet Download Category: Mowers & Shredders Tags: Orchards, Rinieri You may also like… Rinieri TRK Mower & ShredderRead more Related products Olmi Mechanical WeederRead more Rinieri TRL Mower & ShredderRead more BDi P35Read more


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You may now be, or may eventually be at, a point where you're slammed and you just can't take on more projects as a solo-preneur. When you get to that point, you have 2 options:
You can raise your rates significantly and lessen the amount of projects/clients you have since you're more in demand or…
You can start delegating by hiring subcontractors to assist with your workload
Having done both options, I can say in full confidence that option 2 is much more fulfilling, fun and scalable!
In this episode, I give you my top 10 tips and most impactful advice for when you're ready to start hiring subcontractors for your web design business.
And the good news is, we're not talking about bringing on full time employees, payroll, tax implications, etc. We're simply talking about how to delegate the tasks in your business that are draining, taking a lot of your time or are repeated that someone else can assist with.
Even if you're not at this point yet in your business, I still highly recommend listening to this episode so you'll be prepared for what to do when you DO get to this point!
In this episode:
00:14 – Introduction
02:20 – Foundational tips before hiring
07:15 – Josh's subcontractors
09:50 – 1) What are you suited for?
10:53 – Do a task inventory
11:58 – 2) Hire out lower level tasks
15:15 – 3) Create a job description
17:53 – 4) Figure out the best pay option
20:46 – 5) Team communication
23:25 – 6) Test with a small project
26:40 – 7) Start small
31:45 – 8) Create an SOP video
34:45 – 9) Keep them internal
35:18 – 10) Give more responsibilities
38:37 – Where to find subcontractors
40:09 – Recap
41:20 – Bonus tip
Featured links mentioned:
Episode #154 Full Transcription
Josh 0:14
Hey, friends, welcome in to podcast episode 154. It's just me with you in this one, I want to give you my thoughts and share some tips, insights, methods, strategies, lessons learned, and all the above about hiring subcontractors for your web design business, I'm actually going to give you 10 practical tips here, that's going to help you if you are in this situation. Or if you think you're going to be in this situation eventually. It's interesting because I've been talking with quite a few of my web design students, and in particular, a couple members in my web design club, about hiring subcontractors because they're at a point where either they're ready to scale and take their business to the next level, or they were like me, they're a solopreneur, who was comfortable with doing everything themselves. But they got to a point where they literally cannot do everything at the level that they're at right now. Because they are just slammed. And this is what happened with me at one point.
Josh 1:12
I will talk about my experience with the amount of scaling and subcontract in the I did. But in short, I got to a point where, because I had never intended on scaling and delegating and hiring out, I just got to a point where I could literally not do all the work I had on my plate. So I want to give you some tips, if you are in that situation. And even if it's a situation where you are running your business, and you don't plan to ever hire subcontractors, I think this is going to be really worth your while just in case you do get to that position. And when you do get to that point where you have just got to start hiring out.
Josh 1:44
And the cool thing is, I'm not talking about starting a legit agency where you're going to bring on full time employees with payroll and more complicated taxes. That's not what I'm talking about. We're just talking about subcontractors, these in the States, we call it 1099 employees where you are 1099 subcontractors where you essentially hire them out for either one project at a time or as as an as needed basis. Or, in some cases, you'll have subcontractors on retainers as well, depending on if they're going to work with you consistently. That's what I'm going to help you out with this. We're going to talk practically about how to do this with 10 steps.
Josh 2:20
First off, there's a few things I want to make note of that I want you to remember, these are going to be foundational things when it comes to scaling and hiring subcontractors. First off, I know it seems a little painful to give up some revenue. But I promise you, it's going to save you time, it's going to free up your energy. So you can focus on the tasks and work that you enjoy that you really like doing in your business. It's also going to help you focus better in your business. That's one of the big things I found when I subcontracted was, instead of just being in hustle mode and working on the business, or working in the business, excuse me so much, I actually had time to work on the business, which was huge.
Josh 3:01
So coincidently enough, my business grew not only in revenue, but in just in every aspect possible, it became such a better business when I was freed up to work on the business. So I know it's tricky, you're giving up a little bit of revenue, but I promise it's going to even out for you. And you will make more, you will absolutely start making more because projects will get done faster, you'll be able to take more projects on you'll be able to get done stuff and meet deadlines better. And as you work on your systems and get more help on some of the time consuming tasks and things that can be repeated, you are going to be freed up to do more high level stuff, and then potentially even create better services and better experiences for your clients. So you're gonna make a lot more with hiring subcontractors out, I promise you that.
Josh 3:46
Now another thing I want you to remember, I'm just laying some foundation here for us, it will and can be a little time consuming in the beginning. But it's going to even out there's a little more work when you bring somebody on in the first phase of it. But once they get to know you your systems, your processes, your way of doing things and they know what they're doing. It's going to even out and I'm telling you right now, there's nothing more amazing than when you list out a set of to do so you get everything lined up for your subcontractor, you go to bed, and then you wake up the next day and it's done.
Josh 4:19
There is something so freeing about not doing the actual work, but then knowing it's done. Even if you're not working with somebody in a different time zone, even if you just let them know what they need to do. You do your thing and you come back at the end of the day, and it's done. It's an amazing feeling that I definitely want you to experience because it's awesome. So it's a little bit of time consuming in the beginning but it will even out for you. I promise you that.
Josh 4:42
A couple last things I want to note before we get into the meat of this. It's difficult to give up control. And I know this because I'm a bit of a control freak myself when it comes to my business. But as soon as I learned to give up a little control, not only did it free me up like we've already talked about but I learned something invaluable. And that was that I actually learned during that period by giving up a little control I learned from my subcontractors, particularly if they were better than me in some areas, or if they learn more, or if they discovered new things.
Josh 5:17
I actually, it's interesting because suddenly, when you start sub contracting, you get to mines, in two people, or maybe more, if you're going to subcontract numerous tasks out. And you get to, you get to learn more, you'll learn their insight, they'll be able to learn a lot of things on their end that you would have never had time for. They can bring that to the table. So it's incredibly empowering, when you do learn to give up just a little bit of control. So I want that to be something to remember as well, when it's when it's you that is a little bit you like controlling every aspect of your business, I promise you, there's going to be all these amazing takeaways, when you do start to give up a little bit of control.
Josh 5:54
And then finally, when I talked earlier about focus, and being able to free up energy, one thing I learned that caught me by surprise, when I started giving tasks up is that not only did I realize I didn't really enjoy a lot of the things that I was doing. But I realized I loved certain aspects of the business so much more. So I was truly able to focus on the things I loved doing. And then even the tasks that I thought I don't mind doing this stuff, once I stopped doing them. I was like, I never want to do that again. And I learned this when I scaled my agency. And I learned this now as I run my business here with Josh Hall CO, for example, my podcast, I was doing all the podcast distribution and posting the articles and doing all the outlines and stuff. And I realized once I started handing that off to my awesome VA Kam, it's not that I didn't I never hated that work. But I realized, wow, I don't miss that that much. I don't miss it much at all. Because now I can focus on creating better content for you. I can focus on really doing more content and better interviews.
Josh 6:57
Same thing with my podcast editing. I learned that because I actually really enjoyed editing my podcast. But once I started handing it off, I realized I don't ever want to edit another podcast episode again, because I'd rather focus on creating them and not get bogged down with actually editing editing them. So cheers to my podcast editor, Nathan.
Josh 7:15
So you might want to know, what is my experience with hiring subcontractors before we get into these 10 tips? Well, in short, I have kind of two areas of experience with hiring subcontractors because I'm no expert in hiring. But I hired several subcontractors for In- Transit studios, my web design agency, and I actually have four subcontractors for Josh Hall co. I have my VA Kam, who does a plethora of things in my business, including podcast distribution, she does all the posts for the YouTube, Buzzsprout where my podcast goes kick out to all the directories, she does outlines, transcriptions, all that stuff, all a bunch of other stuff in my business as well that she does.
Josh 7:56
Nathan, who edits the podcast. So once I get done recording this file goes into Google Drive, he takes it over does the intro outro and then puts all graphics together. I have Christian who is an advanced Dev. web designer who helps me out with a lot of development things on my site, I still design all the things on my site, but he helps out with some advanced development kind of stuff. That is just not my area of specialty. And then I have Kevin, who helps me out with Facebook ads right now I'm dipping my toe into Facebook ads. So I currently have four subcontractors with Josh Hall.co.
Josh 8:31
Now with my agency, I dipped my toe I started small, I ended up hiring one lead designer who basically almost became full time at one point, who helped out with design fulfillment and things like that. And then I started hiring some other subcontractors out to help with other bits of the business who were specialists in their area. So they I had I had a gal who was really good with WooCommerce, who helped out with that stuff. I had another guy who was really good at linking like MailChimp and other things together. And then I had some other folks within the SEO realm I had an SEO guy for a long time.
Josh 9:05
So I eventually started hiring more people and brought them in all as subcontractors within my agency and everything that I learned with scaling my agency and growing a small team with that that's what I applied here to Josh Hall CO which is why I'm able to get to 154 podcast episodes without being burned out. Because I've learned to focus on what I do best, hire out the rest. So that was really a lot of things to lay the groundwork to talk about these 10 tips and after I give you these 10 tips, I will give you some tips on where to actually practically find subcontractors. But I want to give you these 10 Tips without waiting any longer than you have to and I should say do this could totally be like a full course and maybe I will eventually do an in depth course on hiring.
1) What are you suited for?
Josh 9:50
But right now I least want to cover the most important thing starting with number one tip number one, figuring out what you should do and what you are well suited for that is tip number one, when it comes to hiring, a lot of people want to just jump right in and hire somebody or they write out a job description for something. But until you know what it is you should focus on in your business, there is no point in doing anything else. So it really all starts with you.
Josh 10:17
Now, there's a lot of practical ways to go about this, what I recommend doing is do some sort of task inventory. I've talked a lot about this recently, when in regards to scaling your business. And if you're going to scale your business on any level, you have to do some sort of task inventory, which essentially means you got to look at what you're doing day to day for a period of a few days, or maybe a week or two. And then figure out what of those tasks are like high level that only you can do as the owner of your business and CEO. And then what are tasks that are maybe repeated or replicated or anything that you can think about hiring out.
Josh 10:53
So you got to do a task inventory. And then what I would do alongside of that, and I shouldn't say what the task inventory, you could you could I wouldn't do it just mentally, I would actually write this down, get a notepad, you could do it on pen and paper, if you want, you can put it in a Google Doc, it doesn't need to be too advanced, you don't need to get time tracking software unless you want to, it's not my style, I would just keep a rough track of what you're doing over the period of about a week or two weeks, because most cycles in your business will roll over within about a week or two weeks, meaning pretty much all the tasks you do within a week, you're going to do the next week as well from email to designed onboarding to sales.
Josh 11:30
So keep just a rough track of that. And then as a follow up to this first point, figure out what you are well suited for and the tasks that only you can do. And then additionally, what do you like doing, if there's something that you really like doing even if it's something repeated, but you just love doing, I don't want to tell you can't do that. But there are going to be things in your business that you either don't like to do, you're they're not well suited for, or, you know, this is the kind of thing that just burns me out, or slows me down. And that's what I need to hire out.
2) Hire out lower level tasks
Josh 11:58
And that is point number two, once you figure out what you can do, what you're well suited for, and what gives you energy, you know, the only things that you can do in your business. Step two, is then to look at all those low level tasks. And it doesn't mean that these tasks are not important. It doesn't mean that they're not valuable, it just means that they are something that is often going to be repeated. Or they're going to be replicated, or they can be learned with minimal training.
Josh 12:23
For example, the first thing I ever hired out was when I got married, shortly after that I started my maintenance plan and the client reporting we did month to month, it didn't take that much time. But it was something that I had already created templates for. And my wife was thinking about joining the business to help me out with some admin stuff. And that was the first thing I had her do, she did our monthly reports. And it was awesome. All I had to do was get the template set up, I trained her once. It was like my first taste of hiring out. And I had done some minor delegating before I had some projects in the graphic design world, I had a graphic design friend who would help me out occasionally. But that was the first thing I did in the web design world because I was very controlling of my websites and of my business because the business was a direct reflection of me, which I know a lot of you are feeling if you're thinking about subcontracting.
Josh 13:15
So once you look at those lower-level tasks, that can be repeated, or they can be replicated. And it can be done with minimal training. Those are the ones that you want to put together and get ready to hire out.
Josh 13:28
Now there's a bunch of other things in your business that likely can be in these lower-level tasks that it despite to depend on your services and your skill set. For example, for those of you running maintenance plans and hosting, the client reporting is a big one. When it comes to if you're doing any other recurring services for content, or SEO or anything like that, a lot of those things can typically be replicated if you're doing them in house. A lot of those you may hire out a partner. But if it's something that you are actually doing, that's what you want to look at, you want to look at anything that's repeated, or that is lower level that can be trained. And a lot of this could even be the actual build and site design.
Josh 14:07
So you may get to a point where something is as easy as like setting websites up, or collecting content or getting certain things down in place for your actual website builds to free you up to actually focus on strategy and design. Those are the type of things we're talking about. And then we'll get into in a little bit. I'll tell I'll give you some tips on helping fulfillment of website designs that way you don't do everything yourself.
Josh 14:31
So once you do your task inventory, look at what again, you're well suited for what you want to do the high level tasks, the lower level tasks, those are what you want to generally hire out pretty quick because you don't want to a lot of people think well maybe I'll hire a salesperson but I'm telling you right now it's very difficult to hire somebody to sell you when you are your business and if they don't know your business really well that can be very tricky, so I don't generally recommend hiring out sales and marketing. I already in hiring out fulfillment, delivery, and anything that can free you up to work on the marketing and the hiring and and that would be more of a phase two or phase three, as far as delegating. So, phase or step two here, figure out what you can do to hire out the lower-level stuff.
3) Create a job description
Josh 15:15
Now, once you have a good idea of that step three is to create a job description, a very simple job description, this does not have to be anything complex, I don't want you to be overwhelmed by this, this could be a Google Doc, and you've just got a checklist of what you would like somebody to do. So for the average web designer, this is likely going to be something like a lot of repeated tasks in your maintenance plan, like client reporting, it could be setting up sites, once you land a job, it could be any sort of Content Collection, if you don't have any sort of automations, in that, it could be creating pages of sites that you've already got started. And you just need to have them drop in content, photography, you know, photos, and all that kind of stuff. It could be any sort of coding or complex issues that you're just not well suited for. And you want to get somebody to hire that out to help for you up for that kind of stuff.
Josh 16:09
There's a plethora of like lower-level tasks that you could basically put together in some sort of job description. And this is going to come into play with your processes as well, particularly as you get help with your actual website jobs. And we're going to talk some more about that here with how to balance design and, and everything else that you're probably pretty particular up here.
Josh 16:28
But step three is to create some sort of job description, because it's very hard, I daresay impossible to hire somebody and make them feel comfortable about working with you, if they don't know what the heck they're doing. And this is really, really key, you have to know exactly what they're doing. And they should know exactly what they're doing. So those are biggies. And then if there's anything you're doing administrative wise, like if you have an email list, or if you're doing anything that is repeated that again, somebody else can be trained. If you have any admin work, a lot of people do tend to want to hire out administrative work and billing and stuff like that. Go for it. That's that's I'm totally fine recommending you do that. Because that's often the kind of thing that bogs a lot of people down.
Josh 17:10
I wouldn't say this as a subcontractor. But I hire out a CPA to do all the books for me, because I hate that stuff. It's just not my area of expertise. It drains me hate looking at financial reports, that just sucks the life out of me. So I want to have somebody else do that. So you can have that same mentality, whether you're partnering with somebody and dishing off a service completely, or bringing in internally and just saving yourself from what you don't want to do, or you're not well suited for. But it all starts with that job description. And you're always gonna change this, it's always gonna evolve. This could just be phase one, just remember, when somebody signs on with you, and you get a subcontractor started, it's phase one, it's always going to evolve, it's always gonna change. But it's got to start with what you want them to do and what they're going to help you out with.
4) Figure out the best pay option
Josh 17:53
Now, step number four here, you got to figure out payment. And I know a lot of people are curious about this, how do I pay subcontractors? Is it by an hourly rate? Do they tell me their hourly rate? Or do I propose an hourly rate? Do I do it fixed? Like per project? Is that like 500 bucks for a website? And they do this area? Or is it percentage based? Do I do it with like a monthly retainer? The answer is, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, and maybe. Honestly, it's all of those, you can literally do all this, I have actually done every single one of the methods that I just told you about. I have presented hourly rates to people, I have asked about what their hourly rate is and decided from there. I have done fixed like, Okay, I'm gonna we got this project for 2500 bucks, I'll give you 500 bucks to help out with this area to project we went that route.
Josh 18:43
Some cases I did percentage base where I was like, you know, if you're gonna do the design, you're gonna do the, after I get the main design done, you're gonna do the all the fulfillment content pages helped me launch it, and do all the revisions and stuff like that, then you'll get like, 30% of the project. I've done it that way. And then I've done retainers all the subcontractors I have right now, for editing my podcast producing the podcast helping me out with a lot of VA work, website work, Facebook ads, they're all in retainers. So it really just depends on what works best for you and your contractors.
Josh 19:14
I would say, Well, I think the best place to start is just to ask them their hourly rate, and go about it that way. That way, they know they're getting paid, you can kind of decipher, okay, maybe I'll use let me see like what you can get done, like five hours for this project. And that will help you out that will help you determine whether you need to adjust hourly work, or eventually create a fixed model or what's really honestly best for both parties typically, is some sort of retainer. And that's actually what we're doing. My agency right now has a guy from Bulgaria, Peter, who's on a retainer. He gets paid a certain amount a month, and after a couple months, we kind of know what he tends to get done and we can always bump that up, or we never drop below the retainer or we can give him more like add hope kind of one project at a time, if needed.
Josh 20:02
So I think the best way to sum that up here and point number four is start hourly, then you could go fixed, or you could go with a monthly retainer, as a kind of progresses moving forward. But the best thing to do to start out with, just ask them, How much do you charge an hour, they're going to give you what they think they're worth is, and you can see about that, and it's likely going to change when I hired my first hire for insurance studios, Jonathan, who was my lead designer, his, really his, excuse me, his hourly rate started at 20 bucks an hour, by the end of it, it was at 50 bucks an hour. So it was over double from where he started, because he leveled up that quickly, and was that important to the business. So I'm not gonna say you're gonna have to do that. But that's always an option. So hourly fix a retainer, start hourly, and then go from there. That's my recommendation, at least.
5) Team communication
Josh 20:46
Now, number five, here is a biggie, don't miss this one. Because I think this is probably something most people don't talk about when it comes to hiring, you've got to solidify your lines of team communication. So hopefully, we just recently talked about client boundaries with my good colleague, Emma Kate. And a lot of that was communication boundaries. But that was from the client side, we need to talk about that with the team side too. So if you're going to use just email, and randomly get back to your team on like Facebook, messaging, or stuff like that, it's gonna be a nightmare.
Josh 21:19
So what I did is, uh, most teams use Slack for internal team communication. And that's a great model, I actually just use Basecamp, because we had our projects in Basecamp. What I worked out is particularly I'll just keep this from when we had just Jonathan and a couple other subcontractors who would chip in on projects, we would use Basecamp. And we would set up and one reason I like Basecamp is you can create a like team only type of threat. So the client would never see anything that we're talking about, you definitely want to make that distinction. And a lot of other platforms have that I think Asana has that too, just cheaper option of Basecamp.
Josh 21:54
But you got to solidify those team communication, meaning when we talk about projects, they go here, if it's in Trello, or whatever system, you are running your projects, and that is where the team communication should happen. Yeah, there's occasionally going to be random emails and stuff. But with web design, it's likely going to get out of control unless you solidify the lines of team communication.
Josh 22:14
Now, the other aspect of this is you're going to have business talk in personal talk, you may want to chat with your subcontractors just about life and stuff. And, for example, when I brought Jonathan on, he was a big hockey guy, and I am too. So we wanted to talk hockey. So what we did is we essentially use Facebook Messenger for personal stuff. And then Basecamp for business. And I highly recommend you do something similar whether you feel open to have them text you or whether you whatever it is, have a line of communication for business, and personal. That's a gold nugget of advice that I wish I learned early on, because what I realized is we were in the early days of hiring out, we were essentially mixing business talk with personal talk, or excuse me, personal talk with business talk in Basecamp.
Josh 22:59
So then I would log back into base camp and the project and I'd see a bunch of hockey stuff and like, shoot, we need that. Let's Let's separate this as a personal business solidify those lines of team communication and let them know, let them know all business chat goes in the project. And here whether it's Basecamp, Trello, Asana, whatever, personal chat, I want to talk with you I want to hang out and talk about stuff that goes here, Facebook, messenger, Instagram, whatever. Or slack if you just have a personal slack.
6) Test with a small project first
Josh 23:25
Number six, the question is, okay, if I find somebody who I think might be a good fit, do I hire them right away and just go for it and fingers crossed, hope it works out. I don't recommend that what I did. And what I would do is offer some sort of test, or a very small paid project to see how they do. Now you'll likely we haven't really talked about how to get subcontractors necessarily, as far as like finding them and stuff. But I'll give you some tips on that after these 10 tips. But either way, once somebody comes, once somebody comes to the transom, and they you get to talk with them, you're likely going to check their portfolio out. Once they see the job, the job description, they should let you know if they can handle this and if they're interested, and if they're a good fit.
Josh 24:10
So you'll likely already get a feel for their design skills. Hopefully at that point, they've already told you what they're comfortable with. Or if they're comfortable learning something and can learn it pretty quick. That's actually the number one thing you want to look for. You don't want to find an expert generally in a certain field unless you have the budget for that. You want to find somebody who can learn quick and adapt very quickly. That is the most important thing. So what I say in that case is just offer a test.
Josh 24:35
It's exactly what I did with Jonathan, when he came on I had a little I'll never forget I little icon in the footer of Divi that I was messing around with. And it was a custom icon. It was like a custom graphic image that I created because the client wanted this. And I just could not figure out for the life of me how to get the CSS to work perfectly to line up with the other standard icons. So I said hey, well, when he came through and I said listen, I'm actually I'm working All sudden right now, I found out that he was pretty good with CSS and he was interested in it. I said, Can you figure out how to do this? And he came back the next day and had it done. And I was like that, that is a great sign. Because he said, I think I can figure it out. Let me check it out. And then he did it.
Josh 25:15
That was a great first test. And I did that with a lot of other subcontractors as well, I'd say, can you think you could do this, if it goes over a certain amount of time, let me know. And we could even I can try to copy compensate you, if it's going to go, you know, over an hour or two, or you could do a small project, you could have something that is replicated, or is minimal as far as training, and you could see how they do with it. And whether you want to compensate them for that or not, is totally up to you, I do kind of recommend that because there's nothing worse than somebody, you know, potentially wanting to work with you and then them spending five hours on something and then you actually go in with somebody else. And then they never, you know, not only did they waste five hours, but they didn't get a chance to work with you. It's definitely a bummer.
Josh 25:52
So you got to think about them as well. But a small project could even be something is can you mock this homepage up, and then give them a deadline given like if you can do this within three days? You know, that's that's what I'm looking for. I did that early on with Jonathan. In particular, when we were doing some projects, I just gave him some sort of small projects for sites that were either live that I thought were pretty simple that a junior type web designer could do. And then I had some that were more examples where I was like, can you read? Can you replicate this on the homepage, and I'll cover you know, at least three hours at a time or something. So that was it, that's the best way to go that I found to start getting people in is offer a test or offer a small project, or whether it's live, or whether it's just a test type project, do something like that, that way you can really get a feel for if they are going to be a good fit.
7) Start small
Josh 26:40
And then number seven here, once you feel like they are a good fit, you're ready to go with them. Start small, you do not have to immediately jump into hiring somebody out as a full time employee or even for 1520 hours a week, just start small and see how it goes. Maybe start with five hours or 10 hours again, depending if you go hourly fixed or retainer, just start small, maybe book them for five hours of the time to see how much they could get done with a website you're building, for example. And here's one thing I talked recently with a member of mine in my web design Club, which is available to you.
Josh 27:14
By the way, whenever I say web design club, I don't want you to think that this is something that is only for me in a certain amount of people, it is open to you, you can go to Josh hall.co/web design club. And if you would like to chat with me on the rag and if you are getting ready to scale, I would highly encourage you to do that. Because I would love to talk with you here about your situation and give you practical advice that is catered to you and your business. So you can check that out Josh Hall co/web design club.
Josh 27:39
Anyway, I was talking to one of my members about this. And she was saying, you know, I'm really leery about hiring outside contractors, because all my clients know me, they know my design style. And I'm terrified of bringing somebody in who doesn't meet my standards. And that's a very valid, that's very fair. And I totally understand that because I felt the same. But what you can do, the beauty about this is if you start small, you can still do the majority of the design, get all the branding elements in place, do all the font, typography on stuff. And then once you get the homepage design and main pages design, you can then have a junior or your subcontractor do the rest.
Josh 28:15
So maybe, for example, you got a standard Small Business brochure type website, nothing too intricate. But they got a homepage, they've got quite a few services pages, they've got an about page, they got some blog posts, contact, testimonials, etc. Well, maybe you do the initial design strategy, you do the initial design elements, you create the homepage, in one service page, you get feedback from the client on that. And now you can hire the rest out. So your junior can go in and create the rest of the services pages based off of what you've already designed. They can create the about page Contact Us testimonials, blog, post pages and everything else. And it's not going to look terribly different because you set the precedent.
Josh 28:55
So you will eventually get to the point where you can hire more and more design out. But in this first step, you got to start small, it's the only way to go about it. Otherwise, if you don't start small, and you just say Hey, can you design the site for my client? And you just hope it goes, well? Guess what, it's probably not going to go really well. And you can't really blame your subcontractor for that. Because you may have not given them any sort of direction or processes or branding guidelines or anything like that. So that's the best way to do it is just get some help with the fulfillment and things that again, going back to the repeated replicated tasks or anything that can be done with minimal training, have them do that.
Josh 29:32
And I'm telling you this because that's exactly what I did. And I will never forget it. I had in this case, one of my sites, I was like, halfway through, and I had Jonathan pop in and help out and I already had the design in place and everything and I said hey, man, we got quite a few pages that still need to be built. Can you just build these out? Here's the content clients already given all that stuff. One of them was an FAQ page in this particular client had a lot of different FAQs for different segments of his customers. And I was just gonna create a just a general, plain old accordion text box, and just change the background color for each section. Well, Jonathan came in a day later, a couple days later, and it looked awesome. It like blew away what I was gonna do, because he added custom elements and images and really stepped it up to where it looked really, really great.
Josh 30:18
And that goes back to the like, you might learn something from somebody. And that's exactly what happened all by starting small. So he made that page look great. And one thing I want to say, too, is, this is something I just relayed to one of my members about subcontracting is you are likely going to spend a lot of your energy and your focus in the big aspects of a website, a homepage, a service page, the branding the strategy, by the time you get to creating an about page and an FAQ page and a contact page, they're probably not going to be real great. In fact, they might kind of suck compared to the rest of your work. Because that's the latter end of the process, you're probably a little burnt out or fried, and you're just wanting to get the project done at that point.
Josh 30:58
So when you have a subcontractor come in, and do those little fulfillment pages, that's their, like their energy. And their focus is on though, so it can actually elevate the whole website in a way you never thought possible. Because now suddenly, all your energy goes into landing, the Client Onboarding, great client experience, the initial design, and then the rest of the site design will be awesome as well, because instead of you being fried, just pounding through the rest of it, they're going to do it at their best ability, and it can really make the site look awesome as a whole. So that's something I wanted to mention, all going back to starting small. So you have to start small. And then as things go, well, then we'll talk about what to do here shortly.
8) Create an SOP video
Josh 31:38
Now, when it comes to having your designers or subcontractors do something, the best thing to do, and this kind of goes off of a job description is number eight to create an SOP, a standard operating procedure. Now, this could be something that's super complex, for sure. Or it could be very simple. It is kind of like a job description. For example, when I hired out my podcast distribution, what I did was create a job description. And I had a few VAs in mind to do this. And I just reached out and I said, here's what I need help with, which would be posting the podcast or, you know, doing outlines of the podcast, doing transcriptions, using otter, which is the tool we use for that. Posting the podcast on my website, and then helping format and get all of the emails ready to go out for the podcast. And then also adjusting the description and title on YouTube. Those are some of the main things that were the job description.
Josh 32:33
So the SOP for that, can you can you guess what the SOP looked like? I took the job description, which was the outline. And then I just filled in the outline, I just filled in all the details. So for each one for posting a podcast episode on my website, with the SOP, I basically just did a little loom training a little video of me doing it. And that's all that's every single SOP item was just a little loom video of me actually doing it. So I literally did one of my episodes, I recorded it. And then I made that as the SOP I just put it in the SOP and I did that through YouTube. I did that for all the aspects of hiring my podcast out and you can do the same thing for the test that you're gonna hire out, just create, you can do a little loom video, if you're going to do the work and you're going to hire it out, you're gonna need to explain to somebody, you might as well record it. That way, they can always reference it.
Josh 33:21
And then for you know, for any reason, if they leave, or they're not going to subcontract with you anymore, you don't need to recreate your SOPs, you've got the video there and little pro tip if you're going to do videos on what to hire out, don't say their name. Don't say the name. So like, when I did my podcast stuff, I didn't say okay, Kam, here's what we're gonna do with this and this and this. I said, Okay, here's what we're gonna do with this and this and this just in case for whatever reason, Kam moves on from a VA role or something like that, that way, I still have those SOPs there. So that is a little pro tip I highly recommend doing because you don't want to end up having you know, Jimmy, come along and do your SOP or do your processes and then all of a sudden, you know, you're saying like a different name. Just keep it general little little tip on the SOP.
Josh 34:08
So that could be simple or complex. Either way, get it down. It could be a Google Doc, it could be something fairly simple. Whatever you're doing create a basic SOP for and it's really awesome to get stuff out of your head and on paper are all file are on file. So we could really go ham and SOPs that's kind of why I'm thinking about making a course about this one day because I got so many ideas, but I want to keep this brief. So anywho that's number eight create some basic SOPs again, they can be off of your job description, you can literally just do the work that you would have them do and then just record it. And then if you want to document and write it out, you can but I would just use loom just keep it simple.
9) Keep them internal
Josh 34:45
Now number nine, here's a biggie. Keep the internal communication internal to you at first before eventually having them talk with clients because this is a big one. A lot of people are terrified of having a subcontractor talk with clients because they represent you either good or bad, and I understand that. So what I learned is to have them to report to me first, before I would ever even think about them, talking to clients. And it's as simple as that if you're using Asana, or Basecamp, or something, have that team thread. So as they get work done, and if they have questions they talk to you.
10) Give more responsibilities
Josh 35:18
And then if things go really well, and you're ready to give them more responsibility and give them more roles to do, that brings us to the final point, number 10. Now's the time to give them more responsibility. That's more responsibility with potentially design builds, whatever it is, it's also more responsibility, potentially client stuff. So I got to a point, for example, where once I, once Jonathan was working with me on quite a few projects, he was did a really good job and I felt comfortable with him. Even though his native language was French, he spoke really good English. So I felt comfortable with him talking with clients. But I didn't throw him right to the clients right away, what I did was I still handled the onboarding, sales, initial design. And then I told them, once we get the initial design signed off, then I'll have my lead designer, Jonathan, take over and complete the rest of the website for you.
Josh 36:12
And that's exactly what we did. Once we got the front page done service page done, whatever the pages that I was going to help out with. I then had him jump in. And he was able to talk to the client for revisions. Why was that awesome? Because suddenly, I wasn't the middleman anymore. So I didn't need to talk to the client and get revisions and then relay it to him. I just had him talk to the client about revisions. And that worked great. That worked really, really good. Now, we had some good experiences with that. And we had some things to work through with timeliness and how to keep clients updated and when to update them. And one thing I had to be pretty quick to learn was I had to tell him, you need to over communicate. And even if you're working on something, tell your clients what you're doing, or just say I'm working on it, even if you don't have an update.
Josh 36:56
So you can give your subcontractor more responsibility and potentially have them client facing as they move forward. And as they get better in your business. And that's going to come with more hours, perhaps a rate increase. But again, remember, like we talked about in the beginning, you're going to make more, you're going to get projects done faster. And how awesome, think about this, if you're doing everything yourself, right now, How amazing would it be to land a client, do the onboarding, help out with the initial design, and then have somebody else do all the rest of the work.
Josh 37:27
If that sounds awesome. This is the episode that I hope gives you the nudge to actually do that, or just to try it out. Because I'm telling you, it really was a game changer for me. And it's very practical. And then eventually you can get to the point like I did, where I got the project started. I brought Jonathan in and my other subcontractors, when needed on certain projects. So they knew about the client and had a good idea of the design and the goals and all that stuff. And then eventually, I just handed the whole design over to them, which was crazy awesome. And that's the only reason I was able to build courses Josh Hall .co while running my business. Because I was just running my business.
Josh 38:03
At one point, I got to the point where I wasn't doing any projects myself, I wasn't working in anything other than just talking with clients. I had subcontractors doing all the fulfillment. So that's the goal. You want to get to eventually if you want to get to that.
Josh 38:16
But those are the top 10 tips. Now real quick. Let me just give you a few quick ideas as we wrap this up on where to find subcontractors because this probably sounds great. And then we'll do a recap of the 10 tips. Oh, I meant to say a bonus tip as well. One thing I would owe you I'm going to say the bonus tip, I'm going to save the bonus tip to the very, very end. So hang with me, I'm going to give you an invaluable bonus tip.
Josh 38:37
But a quick note on where to find some contractors. First off, look in your professional network. Don't be afraid to ask colleagues if you know anybody who might be a good fit for this. A lot of people tend to just want to jump into indeed or something like that. But ask the people you know that already know like and trust you your professional web design friends, ask them first they may likely know somebody. There's Facebook groups, there's forums that are often really good hubs for putting a notice out there saying I'm interested that's why I have my Divi web designers Facebook group, there's also the Divi freelancers for hire group for those of you who use Divi, so socials, forums utilize those, any sort of premium clubs you're in, or forums. That's one.
Josh 39:17
This is one of the main reasons I have my web design club, because I have a lot of people in there who are scaling, but then I have a lot of people in there who are interested in partnering with other members as well. And it is a beautiful, seamless type of relationship, which is again open to you Josh Hall co slash web design club. Just let me know if you have any questions about that.
Josh 39:35
But if you're part of any forums or premium groups or anything like that masterminds meetups, ask them put it out there either, you know, if there's people directly in there, or people they down, and then finally any marketplaces, there's Upwork they actually I just recently did in Episode 146, about how to get clients on Upwork. So you would actually listen to this from the opposite perspective. You will listen to it as how do I hire from work, but 146 Check that episode out that I'll give you a lot of details on that. So a quick that just a few notes on where to find subcontractors. Again, that's a whole nother episode.
Josh 40:09
But let me just recap these 10 tips. And then a final bonus tip number one, figure out what you should work on after you do your task inventory. Number two, figure out those lower level tasks. And then what anything that's repeated, replicated or can be done with minimal training, that's what you're going to hire out. Number three, put all those minimal things in a job description that you're going to hire out number four, you can either go hourly, fix a retainer, start hourly, ask them what their rate rate is, and then go from there. And number five, solidify those lines of team communication separate business from personal number six, offer a test or a small project to get them started. Once they sign on with it. Number seven, start small, just start small, have them do fulfillment and things that can be done internally, start small and things will get better and better. Number eight, take the job description and create an SOP out of it. Just do little loom videos just showing what you're going to do, ideally, to save your time. Number nine, keep all the information or communication internal to you at first they report to you. And then finally, once they do a good job, and they get better and better number 10, then you can start giving some responsibility. And you can start giving them some client facing interaction that's going to help you save more and more time moving forward as well.
Josh 41:20
And then finally, my bonus tip, something I wish somebody would have told me early on when I started scaling, ask them how they're feeling and what they're interested in. So I would do this like monthly, if not monthly, quarterly, for sure. And I did this monthly with with a couple of my first hires. And then eventually as I got to know them better, I just checked in about quarterly. And I would just ask him, How are you feeling? Are you liking the work? Is the things I can do better? What are you enjoying? What are you not enjoying? And what are you interested in because right now they might be really interested in the fulfillment. But maybe they're getting better at design. And they want to do more design or they want to do more strategy they want to or maybe they are interested in email marketing, they want to potentially do copy or, or conversion based cutting all that kind of stuff.
Josh 42:04
Ask them how they're feeling and what they're interested in. That's going to help them stick with you. Because it's vulnerable when you have subcontractors because they can always easily leave you as easy as they are to sign on. It's just that easy for them to sign off. So you want to keep them with you. And then who knows where the relationship will go. So there we go, guys, a lot of thoughts and tips in this episode. But we're really just scratching the surface this really, I'll be honest, it's kind of planted the seed for me to do a course about this eventually, because I think we could definitely go into each one of these in a lot of detail. I love to be able to like visually show you some of this and maybe do some case studies about hiring. So there we go. I think we just like we just saw the, the conceiving of the next course here.
Josh 42:43
So I hope this has helped if you guys have any questions, and you would like to pick my brain about this to help you directly in your business. That is why I have my web design club. It is for you. It's not like this private community that no one else is welcome to it is open for you. I would love to be your coach. I would love to be able to chat with you one on one. Apart from that it's the most amazing community in the world, you'll be fully supported by so many great people. We do live calls every week, where I'll give you some coaching. That is a Josh Hall co/web design club. I would love to help you get ready to hire some subcontractors to take your web design business to the next level.
Josh 43:20
And until next time. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Be sure to go to the show notes at Josh hall.co/ 154 For the full transcription outline and everything that my subcontractor Kam is putting together for you. So there you go. Alright guys, enjoy. See you on the next one.
Episode presented by:
Web Design Courses + Coaching + Community
Everything you need to build & grow your web design biz fast 🚀


text: On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 16:39, Emmanuel Lacour <elacour at easter-eggs.com> wrote: > I added the link, guest and unpriviledged users doesn't have rights to > link to someone else ticket. Thanks. Is writing this mail the right way to apply for more rights for my user so I can do this myself, in the future? Richard


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Brandlehow, Derwent Water Walk
From the Go Cards range
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Gloss laminated just in case it rains! Printed and published in England by Cardtoons Publications.
Size: 170mm x 117mm.
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The Go Cards range
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Featuring a colourful map to the front, together with walk length, time and grade and a concise description of the route on the reverse.
Our Go Cards are gloss laminated on both sides for weather resistance


text:
To understand the international phenomenon of Uku Kuut means to understand the ability of different musical niches, sub-genres and hidden creative explosions to not only exist, but flourish, completely independently of the mainstream. Kuut's life, mothered by Maryn E.Coote (who you may know as the Estonian Jazz diva Marju Kuut), took him from the Soviet Union to refuge in Sweden, music studios in Los Angeles, back to a re-independent Estonia and later, fighting ALS, to speakers all around the world.
A Greek comedy captured on 8mm, VHS and BETA tape.
Ticket can be bought in advance here or before the screening at Kai Art Center.
Country: Estonia
Director: Ivar Murd
Language: Estonian
Subtitle Language: English


text:
OPP investigating suspicious fire in Hagersville
Haldimand Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are investigating a suspicious fire in Hagersville.
At around 9:18 p.m. Saturday, police received a report of a structure fire at an abandoned home on Main Street North.
Haldimand County firefighters arrived at the scene to extinguish the fire. No injuries were reported.
The investigation is ongoing by the Haldimand County Crime Unit.
Officials are asking anyone with information to contact them at 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or leave an anonymous online message at www.helpsolvecrime.com, where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Millennials outnumber baby boomers for first time: Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada says there are now more millennials than baby boomers in the country, ending the 65-year reign of the post-Second World War generation as the largest cohort in the population.
Nearly 30,000 objects are hurtling through near-Earth orbit. That's not just a problem for space
Once upon a time, gazing at the night sky was an escape from manmade messiness on Earth. Not anymore.
Ewen MacIntosh, star of British comedy 'The Office,' dead at 50
British actor Ewen MacIntosh, best known for his role in BBC comedy series "The Office," has died at the age of 50, his representatives confirmed.
Dollarama reaches $2.5M settlement in class-action suit over hidden fees
Dollarama has reached a $2.5 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit over hidden environmental fees at its stores.
Conservative government would require ID to watch porn: Poilievre
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre says a future Conservative government would change the law to require that porn websites verify the age of users to prevent minors from accessing the content.
What's 'ungraded beef'? Here's what you need to know
If you have spotted "ungraded beef" at your grocery store recently – it's not mystery meat. In fact, officials say it's completely safe to consume.
WATCH Leaving Canada? International student explains why he's considering it
Despite long being touted as a nation rife with opportunity for new arrivals, a pair of studies is sparking concern that Canada is struggling to retain immigrants and highlighting affordability concerns within the country.
20-year-old driver facing charges after allegedly attempting sex with a passenger while driving near Peterborough
A 20-year-old driver is facing charges after he slammed his vehicle into a tree near Peterborough while attempting to have sexual intercourse with a passenger, police say.
It's already hurricane season in the waters of the Atlantic. That could spell danger with La Nina coming
Ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic are historically warm for this early in the year, raising the risk of a hyperactive storm season that could also be supercharged by a budding La Nina.


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04 Dec 2018 07:03

See The Information Below THAT WILL HELP Manage Arthritis

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If you find it hard to sleep due to pain from arthritis, it might help to take a warm bath with bath salts prior to going to bed. With the relaxation that follows, your pain shall be alleviated, thus contributing to longer periods of sound sleep.

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For arthritis sufferers, you might want to consider Yucca as a natural treatment. It is a confirmed medical fact that the extract from Yucca really helps to ease the pain of arthritis. You can purchase Yucca at most food markets, or receive the extract from stores that offer vitamins and supplements.

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Speak to Great Tips On How To Deal With Back Pain and start treatment immediately. Starting treatment early on will minimize any future harm to your joints. Take Today With These Back Pain Tips Feel Better when you obtain the diagnosis. Talk to your doctor and get your treatment started.

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Even a modest amount of weight loss can improve the symptoms of arthritis. Arthritis Is Tough IF YOU ARE PASSING UP ON These Great Tips can influence the effects that arthritis is wearing you, and shedding pounds could provide a huge reduced amount of arthritis pain. You'll shock yourself at how good you'll feel just by losing several pounds.

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Whether you suffer from arthritis or know another person who does, following the advice in this posting will help you to become more well-informed about the condition. These tips are an outstanding starting point for anyone who wants to find refuge from the pain and mobility limitations that often accompany arthritis.


text:
Can I use Microsoft If I install Linux Ubuntu Alongside Windows?
It said I can install Ubuntu ALONGSIDE Microsoft Windows, but I'm worried. Will I have to re-install Windows XP if I want to go back to it or not? I'm using a netbook so unless I pay over £100, I'm stuck with Linux. Please help.
Tagged with: Linux • Microsoft • microsoft windows • netbook • windows xp
Filed under: Microsoft
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text:
Description"Darkling" is both an adverb and an adjective. It means "in the dark" as well as describing the attributes of darkness (this includes being threatening). Dark writing is very popular. In creating this group, I sincerely hope that we dark writers can create a community where we can share our works with one another. And just because you are dark doesn't mean that you are depressed. Some of us have natural interests in the occult, supernatural, or horror genres. Others of us are sensitive and emotional.
In Darkling, all writers darkle. Here you can share your love of dark writing without being persecuted. Any and all (only) dark writing is accepted. That is the sole purpose of this group. Note: I will be holding a group contest once a month. It will be open for an entire month. All group members are eligible to enter. The following rules are for every member's well-being. Please read them. 1] No excessive swearing in the forums. 2] Only some suggestive material in writing and forums. Remember that not all dark writers are of a mature age. 3] Give all writers their due respect. Remember that everybody has their own opinions. 4] Be careful. Don't ever give out your personal information, including your name, to strangers. The internet is an unexplored jungle filled with predators waiting to pounce on unwilling prey. Thank you for reading! -E.V. Black- New Writing


text:
incl. 19% tax excl. Shipping costs
Discover the alluring "Tropical" Mesh Bralette – a masterpiece crafted from exquisite Italian tulle. Crafted from recycled polyester and elastane, this unique piece seamlessly blends sustainability with sensual elegance. Handcrafted in our German atelier, this bralette offers you unparalleled quality and a flawless fit. The delicate, subtly transparent white tulle adorned with a breathtaking pattern of rich red-toned oversized blooms bestows upon you an unrivaled charm. Complete the ensemble with the matching thong, also available in our store. Immerse yourself in the realm of sensuality with the "Tropical" sexy crop top.


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On multiple occasions last week President Trump refused to commit to the peaceful transition of power in the event he loses the election. This was another of the shocking but not surprising events of his presidency.
I am reminded of an old saying and a question. The adage is: Plan your work and work your plan (good advice I was given as a young man). The question is why is a dollar bill worth a dollar? With all that in mind let's explore. Continue reading Execute It Or America


text:
Timex Todd Snyder Watch
Timex Todd Snyder Watch
An exciting collaboration brought to you by designer Todd Snyder and Timex brings us this vintage style watch that is steeped in both design and sensibility. With a quick glance you see a 12 & 24hour display with easy to read minutes and seconds.
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Only 1 left in stock


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Summer is the time to enjoy the beach. And your best friend can come along if you are prepared for them! Planning ahead can ensure that you and your pup have a wonderful time enjoying the sand and seas. Here are some of my must-have supplies and a few of my favorite products for a relaxing and safe day at the beach:
Shade! Make sure there's enough shade for everyone! If your pup is like mine, he'll probably take up most of it. Make sure there's enough left over for you too. Check out this pop up tent we take to the beach
Fresh water to rinse off. Be sure to bring at least a gallon on fresh water to rinse off your dog's coat and paws. The salt and sand can really irritate their skin, especially on their delicate bellies and between their toes.
A Long Leash. Many beaches require dogs to be leashed. And for their own safety, it's probably a good idea. Things from the ocean or left behind by people (broken glass is always a worry!) can hurt your pup if they are allowed to run off where you can't see them. A long leash is a great way to let them run around while staying close to you too. Retractable leashes usually don't like sand, so I like a long training leash for the beach.
Plenty of water to drink. For all of you! You may forget since you're sitting by the water, but that sun can make you and your furry friend very thirsty.
Treats are always good no matter where you are! Having some treats to reward your pup for good behavior or to just treat them because it's vacation is a must.
Have something to lay on, not just hot sand. Don't forget about a blanket for your pup too! That sand it much too hot for them to lay on even in the shade. This foldable blanket is great to carry around, and the sand shakes right off!
Extra Towels and a garbage bag to throw them in. Your pup will need a towel or two to clean up at the end of the day. And keep that sand out of your car by bringing along a garbage bag to keep your sandy things in.
Poop bags! None of that should go in the sand – gross.
A toy to play with – Frisbee, ball, squeaky toy etc. that can be easily washed off and it's even better if it floats. Their favorite plushy probably won't mix well with the sand.
Sunscreen for dogs – that nose can get burnt too! Making sure you have plenty of shade is important but double up the protection with a little SPF.
Have fun romping in the waves with your pooch! And enjoy a safe and spectacular summer day at the beach.
What is your favorite thing to take to the beach for your pup?
(all links shared are just a preference of Kelsey and are not endorsed or affiliated with Scenic Route Shop)