P61: 🎊 Group Call XXIV 🎊 Hiring the Right People in Upwork, Outsourcing, & Sales Qs for Raine Mahdi of Zipfox
Video & Audio of Our Call:
Background:
Our main guest for Group Call 24 is our Feedback Friday co-host, Raine Mahdi. For this group call, Austin and Raine answered several questions from our Patreon members regarding sales, hiring salespeople, outsourcing, hiring the right people on Upwork, and many more. If you want to know more about Raine and his inspiring success story in the packaging industry, you can check out Episode 145 – Raine Mahdi interview.
Raine has over 10 years of experience in importing products to the US, and over 20 years in sales, leadership, business development, and marketing. He has successfully sold his business, Hawk Packaging, and has started a new business venture called Zipfox. Currently, he is the CEO of Zipfox.com, a B2B global product sourcing platform, which is the only one with options in Mexico.
Time-Stamped Show Notes:
- [4:54] Raine: gives an update of what is currently happening in his business. The biggest hurdle in selling his business was convincing people that there was no hidden catch and he was not ripping them off.
- [12:25] Austin: says that no one will know if your business is going to work in a year or two.
- [13:12] Layne: wants to know how long Raine has been working on Zipfox prior to selling his Hawk Packaging business.
- [14:42] Raine: gives a piece of advice for those who are planning to create a complicated website or platform.
- [21:06] Austin: asks Raine if it cost him money to be at Entrepreneurs On Fire.
- [21:41] Raine: thinks that being on Entrepreneurs On Fire is just like advertising your business.
- [26:15] Alex: has a few questions for Raine about hiring salespeople, putting up the sales metrics, and creating the sales department. Raine gives a few words of praise for Alex because of his positive attitude.
- [34:28] Raine: talks about how to be effective in sales.
- [37:26] Barry: has a problem hiring a bookkeeper for his company. He has looked into Upwork but he is still not sure about outsourcing this type of job.
- [41:26] Raine: understands why Barry is hesitant in hiring a bookkeeper from outside the country. He gives several tips when hiring people in Upwork.
- [43:50] Austin: adds one more important tip when looking for the right people in Upwork.
- [46:45] Raine: recommends his trusted bookkeeper at Hawk Packaging to Barry.
- [51:47] Rosalyn: has more questions about how to look for the right people in Upwork.
- [54:11] Austin: offers more input on Upwork hiring and the importance of constant communication.
- [57:00] Rosalyn: curious about how Raine handles the time difference when outsourcing jobs to people from other countries.
- [1:01:38] Raine: based on his experience, the people he has hired in other countries had more dedication and worked harder than the people he has hired in the US.
- [1:05:17] Rosalyn: wants to know if there are tax payments and 401k when hiring at Upwork.
- [1:06:09] Austin: points out one more advantage of outsourcing jobs.
- [1:08:44] Rosalyn: being always out and about most of the time, she wants to know how to ensure that your virtual team gets all their work done.
Our Members on Group Call 005:
Key Point from Our Group Call:
- Raine: “This effort of hiring people in other countries really came out of necessity and it was a longshot and it worked out really well, and in hindsight, I do think it saved the business and ended up getting to sell it for a few million dollars a few years later because it worked so well.”
Resources Mentioned:
- Email: [email protected]
- LinkedIn: Raine Mahdi
- Zipfox.com
- Upwork.com
- Entrepreneurs On Fire
Our Member Map:
Secret Resources:
