The internet is becoming a better place to buy products and services…

This week I tried some personal outsourcing.

And I got a web designer - professional with references, portfolio etc; for €99 / 1000 SEK and that’s not bad!

Some background: The website for Business Intelegant was in beta testing when my web designer - Elvan Williams - died.

Elvan was a wonderful chess player, and a creative mind, and one of the handful of real friends I had here. As an ex-pat he got the jokes and we would sit at the Öl Kafé near Möllevången in Malmö having coffee and playing chess - I miss him much more than his skills. From a British Jamaican background, and a huge prescence physcially, he loved his new life in Sweden, and I miss him and his laugh badly.

The site now needs some adjustments that I do not have the skills for. So what to do? I put a call over Skype to my twin brother in Australia who is part of the global network that is the Nerds On Site phenomenon. This means that he lives 50% of his life inches away from a SCSI port, and the other 50% inches away from his wife pouring coffee into his greater loves circuit boards. (Just kidding Charley - you’re a great husband and father!)

Nerd on Site administrate computers remotely - they can reboot your machine after permission without you doing a thing anuway in the world, and make it better - Outsourcing IT managment!- anyway, Charley recommended a look at www.guru.com.

So I checked it out: web designers, financial specialists, database builders, translators all available, and a totally open bidding sytems. Guru.com seems to list just about anything that requires a freelancer.

And the choice is exceptional. I out in a detailed request, and received back some 12 offers ranging from $99 up to $250 - which was the budget limit I set.

So just to state that again - I got a web designer - professional with references, portfolio etc; for €99 / 1000 SEK and that’s not bad.

I am in correspondence and will let you know how it works out…