Moving from in-house mailing fulfilment to an outsourcing service can be a difficult process, and a costly one if you choose the wrong company. The following tips will help you to shop efficiently for internet fulfilment services, and make the correct mailing fulfilment arrangements for your company.

1. Know what you need before you start shopping: Get all your figures in order before you start contacting outsourcing companies. If you can’t provide exact figures, at least try to make an educated guess. You’ll need to know what the usual monthly order volume is, the average SKU per order, and the most popular shipping methods.
2. Get your infrastructure in order: Find out what data formats your shopping cart software and accounting system use. Ideally, you will want to be able to send the mailing fulfilment company orders via a CSV or XML file. If your software doesn’t support those, then update the software, or get your developer to add support for those common file formats for you.
3. Pick a location: If your goods are heavy, perishable, or time sensitive, then you’ll want your mailing fulfilment provider to be as close to your customers as possible.
4. Optional Extras: This one won’t apply to all companies, but if you’re shipping a product that needs assembled, installed, or taken into the customer’s house, then you should investigate prices for those services too. If you don’t already offer an installation service for your product, you might be missing out on a good business opportunity.
5. Ask questions: If there’s anything you aren’t sure about, ask. If the fulfilment company won’t answer your questions – as a prospective customer – then they probably won’t provide good support to your customers either.

Common Pitfalls

Once you have your shortlist of providers for your internet fulfilment services, it’s time to start thinking about contracts. It’s a good idea to take your time here, and to not sign anything until you’re certain that the contract is perfect. Common “gotchas” include:

1. Long contracts that you can’t easily get out of if things go wrong.
2. High storage fees, or per-pallet fees that assume a minimum of one pallet per SKU
3. Excessive postage fees caused by poor packaging choices
4. No gift-wrapping service
5. Excessively narrow refund/compensation terms for late deliveries.

Ideally, you want a provider that has a range of packaging options, including gift-wrap. The provider should be willing to work with you to minimise your postage costs, and should be willing to consider using special packets that you provide if you want to ship unusually sized or shaped items.

Your company’s reputation depends on the quality of the companies that you outsource to, so don’t be shy about negotiating with a prospective mailing fulfilment provider to get them to offer a better returns policy. At the very least, you should ensure that they will ship replacements promptly (and for no extra charge) if they make a mistake. Don’t accept anything less.

This article was written by Amy Fowler on behalf of Hallmark Consumer Services who offer mailing and internet fulfilment services.

The whole concept of lifestyle design intrigues me because it means a different thing for each person.

For those of you confused:

Lifestyle Design is the design of one’s ideal lifestyle, especially an unconventional one, providing good opportunities for personal growth, leisure and adventure. Detailed methods include: career planning, entrepreneurship and travel. (thank you Wikipedia)

Made famous thanks to Tim Ferriss and his NYT best seller, The Four Hour Workweek, I wanted to create a resource for people interested in learning more about lifestyle design and the different aspects of it. Instead of writing the book myself, I have compiled a list of great books that are listed due to peer recommendations, being in my personal library and a big of digging around the internet.

So without any further time wasting, here are 10 Great Books For Lifestyle Designers

1. The Four Hour Work Week

   
   The The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss is basically what made ‘lifestyle design’ and geoarbitrage popular over recent years.

   “Tim Ferriss’s book is about gaining the courage to streamline your life… But even more than that, it challenges the reader to seriously consider an essential–yet rarely asked–question:  What do you really want from life?” —Rolf Potts, Author of Vagabonding and Travel Columnist for Yahoo! News

   Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint.

   Great For MOTIVATION & GAMEPLAN

2. The Art Of Non-Conformity

   The underlying message of Guillebeau’s book The Art of Non-Conformity, based on his popular blog, is that “You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.”

   Those who are open-minded, ready to challenge the status-quo, hard-working, and personally responsible can lead lives of rare authenticity through radical goal-setting, the author counsels, rewriting motivational standards in edgier prose: “The pathway to world domination, or whatever it is you want to do, begins with clearly understanding what you want to get out of life.”

   The Art of Non-Conformity comes highly recommended by a lot of lifestyle designers.

3. Crush It

   I hadn’t heard of Gary V before a friend recommended I get this book. The passion he has for what he shares is very evident in his writing and ensures that this book will inspire and motivate you.

   After taking over his father’s local liquor store, Shopper’s Discount Liquors, and building it from a $4 million business to a $50 million one, Gary V created the wine-tasting blog Wine Library TV and discovered the power of the Internet for driving sales. Crush It! shares his experience and step-by-step advice for using Twitter, Facebook, etc., and suggestions for monetizing an online persona, reiterating that the Internet makes it possible for anyone to make serious cash by turning what they love most into their personal brand.

4. The Six-Figure Second Income

   

You don’t have to quit your current job, or already have piles of money, or be 24 years old, or riding a booming economy, in order to start a successful online business.

The Six-Figure Second Income explains how to start or grow a business even when you think you have plenty of strikes against you.

In the course of building an eight-figure real estate information marketing business, David Lindahl and Jonathan Rozek tested dozens of tools and techniques. This book is centered around principles they derived from all the tests they ran, tools they used, and money they spent.

5. Vagabonding

   Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life—from six weeks to four months to two years—to discover and experience the world on your own terms. Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel. Potts gives the necessary information on:

   • financing your travel time
   • determining your destination
   • handling travel adversity
   • re-assimilating back into ordinary life

   Not just a plan of action, Vagabonding is an outlook on life that emphasizes creativity, discovery, and the growth of the spirit.

6. The 80/20 Principle

   Everyone has heard the theory that 80% of the result comes from 20% of the effort. This is called The 80/20 Principle or Parento’s Law and in this book Richard Koch traces Pareto’s insight through the past century (George K. Zipf, Joseph M. Juran, IBM and other computer firms) and adds a bit of chaos theory to make the 80/20 principle a way of life.

   Koch helps you to identify that 20 percent and shows you how you can get more out of your business, and life, for less.

   The 80/20 Principle is a great read if you are looking to learn more after Tim’s overview of the concept in The 4-Hour Workweek.

7. Delaying The Real World

   Congratulations – you’ve finished school. But if you’re not sure you’re ready to settle down into an office environment, Delaying the Real World is chock-full of creative ideas and practical information that will help you craft your own life-changing adventure:

   • Teach English in Thailand;
   • Build houses in a Mexican village;
   • Work on a cruise ship;
   • Lead excursions in the Grand Canyon;
   • Hike along the Pacific Trail;
   • Create (and fund) your own service project;
   • Travel around the globe on one affordable plane ticket; And much more!

8. How To Write And Sell Simple Information For Fun & Profit

   Packed with income-generating ideas about creating a variety of saleable written works, How to Write & Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit includes information for researching and writing effective, instructional materials and calling upon a variety of publishing channels, including magazines, traditional book publishers, self-publishing, and the Internet.

   The mechanics behind becoming a successful writer and information packager are presented in this resource that explores how to write and sell simple information in multiple formats, allowing writers to turn specialized knowledge into money-making books and products.

9. Work The System

   Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less will guide you in streamlining the interlaced systems that drive every aspect of your work–and your life.

   The first key to freedom and wealth is to stand ”outside and slightly elevated” from your business or job to see the sub-systems that compose it.

   Then the task is to, one by one, perfect each of these internal systems so that they work more efficiently.

10. ???? You Tell Me!

    Did I miss one of your favourite books?

    What is the one book that you would recommend to other people interested in lifestyle design? It can be to do with business, travel or the mindset.

    Leave a comment below with the book (or books) or your choice and let’s grow this ‘lifestyle design’ library!

Whether you are in the process of creating your first ‘bricks and mortar’ business or are looking to create an online business or website – branding is very important.

A professional logo can be all it takes to attract a new client, and the opposite can be the result if your logo is not quite up to scratch.

So what I wanted to do today was take you through a couple of low-cost options that will result in a high quality logo without having to shell out $1,000′s to a local design agency.

1. The Logo Company

The  Logo Company has a track record of 1,000′s of happy clients and while they come in as the most expensive options – there are a couple of reasons why you may wish to choose them for your next logo.

• Minimum Of 5 Initial Concepts
• Unlimited Revisions
• 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Price: $149

LINK: The Logo Company

2. 99 Designs

Bringing the costs down a bit is 99 designs, who live by their name – offering logo designs for just $99.

With over 12,000 high quality logos to choose from, their process is incredibly simple.

You choose the logo design that you like, and then request the customisations that will make it perfectly fit your business – it’s that simple and you will receive the revised logo within 24 hours.

Price: $99

LINK: 99designs

3. Logo Maker

Logo Maker is actually owned by HP (You know the massive computer/printer company?).

What they have done is created a super simple way for you to actually create your own logo – but still keeping that professional edge.

Their price is even lower again and they allow you to create your logo first (before paying) and then when you are happy with what you have created, then you download or purchase the logo and receive the files.

Price: Free (For Web Quality) $49 (For Print Quality).

LINK: Logo Maker

4. oDesk

I couldn’t leave oDesk off this list because you can literally find almost any service on their platform and at the time of writing this post there were 588 different logo design jobs with most averaging between $10-$50!

If you are looking for a low cost, CUSTOM logo, then oDesk is a great way to get a heap of graphic designers to contact you – WANTING to work for you at the price that you specify.

Price: You Set It

LINK: Find Graphic Designers on oDesk

My pick of the bunch would be oDesk, but if you are looking for a logo for your latest project consider all your options and find the option that you like best!

I thought that with the monumental launch success with his latest book (The 4-Hour Body), that it was time for me to look back over ‘The Four Hour Work Week‘ and share a few thoughts on why I love the concept and how you can put it into action for yourself.

Who Is Tim Ferriss?

Timothy Ferriss is a two time New York Times best-selling author and here is a bio taken straight from his website:

Serial entrepreneur and ultravagabond Timothy Ferriss has been featured by dozens of media, including The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, NBC, and MAXIM. He speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide, and has been a popular guest lecturer at Princeton University since 2003, where he presents entrepreneurship as a tool for ideal lifestyle design and world change.

I can’t remember exactly how I first came across the Four Hour Workweek (4HWW), but the content resounded with me and I found myself spending a lot of time researching if it was in fact possible and networking with people who were on the same journey as me and those who were already living the 4HWW.

What Is The 4HWW?

I guess with a sub title of: ‘Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich’, there is sure to be a lot of interest in the book, but what exactly does the 4HWW ‘lifestyle’ actually pertain too?

The key points are:

1. DEFINE What You Want
2. ELIMINATE The Unnecessary
3. AUTOMATE Your Income
4. LIBERATE Yourself

Now, it is hard not to get caught up in the sensationalistic claims that Tim makes in the book, starting off with ‘working 4 hours a week’.

The truth is that even after you automate you income, you will still most likely be working a couple of hours each day – but the key here to create a quality of life that allows you to do the things that you want and not be controlled by ‘the man’ so to speak.

Where Has The 4HWW Taken Me?

Now I started reading the 4HWW about 6-12 months ago, and in September I started to look at ways to automate my income. Now I was already creating a nice monthly income from my websites – but the problem was that I had 1,000′s of subscribers expecting me to write new content on a regular basis – and to me, that isn’t passive income!

So I decided to take myself on an 8 month journey, to create a $1,000/month passive income from niche blogs – that once set up, would not require my constant updating.

In the first 3 months, I am about 15% of the way there, and learning a lot along the way.

But the lifestyle changes have been the biggest thing!

Before reading the 4HWW I was working insane hours on both my job and my websites. So much so, that I would barely have time to spend with my wife and daughter – and the time that I did spend with them I was always tired.

So I made the decision to start focusing my effort, working smarter – and being much more specific with my work (Grab my free GEOarbitrage ebook to learn how) – oh and finishing a lot earlier.

This has allowed me to spend a lot more time with my family, and I am loving life. We are also looking at opportunities to move overseas for a while and while the 4HWW can be seen as something that is unrealistic and over the top, it has allowed me to change the way I think – and I think that is what Tim is trying to make people do.

Today I got a sneak peak inside a brand new WordPress SEO plugin that is about to launch – and I managed to take a screen cast of how it works to create the first official Keyword Winner review!

My Keyword Winner Review (& Sneak Peak)

I will be posting more information on my Keyword Winner review website(which is a site I’ve created dedicated to this new plugin)

If you are an affiliate marketer and are not using an affiliate link cloaking software to protect your commissions then you could be missing out on a lot of sales!

The majority of marketers will spend a lot of time working on their content and spend time driving traffic to they page only to have their visitors leave without clicking – because they posting a link something like this:

http://aussieguru.phantomv2.hop.clickbank.net

or

http://phantomlinkcloaker.com/squeeze.php?hop=aussieguru

The problem with links like these is that the majority of people know that these links are affiliate links – and will either insert their own affiliate link or just remove your. Losing your commission and costing you money!

This is why you need affiliate link cloaking software!

There are plenty of these link cloakers available, but a lot of them are rubbish! They either do not protect your link, or even lose you commissions because they do not work in certain browsers. Here is my pick of the bunch.

The Best Affiliate Link Cloaking Software

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The thing that I love about Phantom Link Cloaker 2.0 is that it was created by some of the biggest Clickbank affiliates for themselves!

One of the most popular affiliate link cloaking software programs on the market, this product is essential for any serious internet marketer.

>> More About Phantom Link Cloaker 2.0

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I love the structure of this affiliate link cloaker. It is super easy to use, and you do not have to be technically minded to make this software work for you.

There are a lot of positive reviews of this software which I think is a testament to the product itself.

>> More About Amazing Cloaker

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A Low Cost Affiliate Link Cloaking Software

If the link cloaking software I have recommended above seem a little too expensive, then why not consider PHP Link Cloaker?

At just $19.95, if it just saves you one affiliate commissions (and I am sure it will save you a lot more!), then it would be worth purchasing!

>> More About PHP Link Cloaker

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Now that is a low down on the best affiliate link cloaking software packages, make sure you are protecting your links, and start building profitable online businesses!

Have you created a product and are now on the search for a great low cost ebook cover designer?

Can I encourage you to ditch that idea for just a couple of minutes to watch a video that I have created that may just change your mind.

I recently got my hands on this products that allows you to create your own ebook covers for one low cost (no matter how many ebook covers you make!).

The product is:

>> eCoverCreator3d

Be Your Own Ebook Cover Designer!

What Did You Think?

Doesn’t that make more sense then hiring someone for make them for you? You are going to save a bucket load in the end but using eCoverCreator.

Let me know if you check it out, but I have looked at a lot of the competition and this is THE BEST way to become your own ebook cover designer!

Normally when it comes to completing tasks I am a massive advocate of geoarbitrage and outsourcing jobs to odesk – but in this case, it makes much more sense to just do it yourself.

With WordPress quickly taking over the blogging industry, there has been a company that has tagged themselves along for the journey creating a framework that attaches itself to WordPress, called Thesis – that is now used by almost 30,000 bloggers!

The main problem I have with Thesis is that because there are not many bloggers who are also designers, and people are still scared of outsourcing jobs, we are starting to see a lot of blogs that look exactly the same!

Enter Thesis themes company ThesisAwesome – with some great Thesis skins!

ThesisAwesome Makes Awesome Thesis Skins!

Try saying that 5 times fast! But the truth is that if you are not a designer, then the best way to have a nice looking theme is to buy one. The only problem here is that a unique one is going to cost you $100′s and a premium thesis skin is most likely going to set you back $50+.

ThesisAwesome is a membership site that gives you a years access to ALL THEIR THESIS SKINS for just $29!

New Thesis Skins Each Month!

While there are currently only 4 Thesis skins available to download at the moment, the beauty of the 12 month membership is that you are promised new Thesis themes to download each month – for the next 12 months. Perfect for people who are using thesis to create multiple blogs!

Should You Get These Thesis Skins?

If you are currently running the Thesis WordPress framework on one or more of your blogs, then ThesisAwesome is a great way to access low-cost themes and I can just see them getting even better. So grab these Thesis skins and save yourself some money.

With my latest posts such as vWorker or oDesk, and vWorker Reviews, I am starting to get some people visiting my site because they are wondering is vWorker is a Scam. So I am going to tackle this thought in the same ways as my oDesk Scam post.

What Is vWorker?

Before we could even think about labeling something as a scam, we have to have a good understanding of what something actually is. So let’s take a closer look at vWorker.

vWorker.com is a dynamic online marketplace where 143,339 employers hire and manage 296,863 virtual workers to assist them in business and personal projects. Virtual workers span every country across the globe and every imaginable expertise, including computer programming, writing, graphic design, marketing and many more. vWorker.com offers the safety features and money-back/payment guarantees that allow thousands of these transactions to be done successfully every month.

When you search for vWorker reviews, you might have a bit of trouble finding out what people are saying about the company, because they have only just changed their name from RentACoder to vWorker.

Exherda Solutions (the company behind vWorker), explain the name change as:

We outgrew our name (Rent a Coder) a few years ago. Back in 2001 we were just coders, but now the site includes professionals of all types including: design, writing, personal assistants, paralegals, etc.. To reflect that, we’ve changed our name to vWorker (Via CodeItWell)

So Is vWorker A Scam?

When you look at the size of the online marketplace (143,339 employers  and 296,863 virtual workers), I find it hard that anyone could call vWorker a scam.

Sure there may be unscrupulous employers and virtual workers – that is the same with every freelance community. But that doesn’t mean vWorker is a scam. You would be surprised by the amount of work they have put in to help protect both employers and virtual workers from scammers – and I think they deserve some credit for this.

The key to avoiding scammers on any freelance community is to take advantage of the tools that are given to you.

1. Check Feedback

2. Ask For Examples Of Previous Work

3. Hire On A Trial Basis

It really is that simple, but the problem is that a lot of people hire workers that have no history, or bad feedback (yet expect a good job).

vWorker is definitely not a scam, and if you are looking to outsource jobs overseas or find some freelance work, you should check them out!

=> Learn More About vWorker

My recent comparison of vWorker and oDesk has had quite a few people searching my site for vWorker reviews. So I have researched the internet and compiled a list of vWorker reviews by current (and previous) employers and workers on vWorker.

vWorker Review 1: Telecommute FTW

They now boast close to 300,000 virtual workers and almost half as many employers. That’s one employer for every two workers! You have pretty good odds of finding some work if you’re even slightly above average in any field of work. Even though there does seem to be a lot of outsourcing going on there, there is still room for Americans to get plenty of real telecommuting possibilities. Many employers also specifically mention that they are long for someone they can trust to do long-term work, not just one or two projects.

=> Learn More About vWorker

vWorker Review 2: 1HRO

Vworker is a freelancing website that helps employers to find freelancers to do work for them. Businessmen are able to hire freelancers in various industries, including programming, editing, graphic design, writing, and publishing. The expansive community of freelancers that use Vworker, do so because it is the most respectable of the many freelancing markets.

=> Learn More About vWorker

vWorker Review 3: QuillForHire

vWorker.com is a good site to go to for work because there’s a lot of work there to be done and you get to set yourself up for free to start bidding. Everything is very binding there too which means it’s hard for either side to wiggle out of an agreement-everything has to be approved before money is put down and employers get a money back guarantee if there are problems.

=> Learn More About vWorker

vWorker Review 4: TV Bubble

Vworker has accrued a reputation as the website which best serves the freelancing community as well as the community of entrepreneurs that uses their services. Hundreds of thousands of freelancers and employers use Vworker on a fairly regular basis. Freelancers are particularly prevalent in the programming industry, but the industries of graphic design, editing, writing, and publishing are all prominent industries where freelancing exist, too.

=> Learn More About vWorker

vWorker Review 5: Affiliate Observatory

Rent a Coder was the first site i used for outsourcing, and till yesterday it had the charme of a craiglisting, with competitiors like oDesk and eLance it was very much needed that they changed the look and feel, i like the new design!

=> Learn More About vWorker

So, as you can see, even since their recent name change, there is a growing number of positive vWorker reviews popping up over the internet. If you are interested in becoming a freelancer or are looking to outsource jobs overseas, then sign up for an account with vWorker and start saving (or making) more money!