Oh joy, oh rapture, oh happy day!! You've discovered Internet, where you can make oodles of moolah with your hobby!!!

Well...no.

"But", you frantically implore, "I've been making/building/creating/counterfeiting [Insert Your Favorite Here] for years and years, and people say I'm really really good!"

OK...Happy for you!

"But", you implore ever more insistantly, "all my friends, co-workers and family say how I always drone on about my hobby to exclusion of all other topics of conversation, even going so far as to change subject of any conversation I encounter to being about my hobby!!"

That's fine...Right after you realize that your friends all moved without leaving forwarding addresses and majority of your family is embroiled in a class action lawsuit for special waivers to enter Witness Protection program, there's a little something you need to know.

You can't make money with your hobby.

That is, not as long as it's your hobby.

Sorry. Now you really have a headache!

What I mean is you need to stop thinking of your hobby as a hobby.

If you intend to make money with it, it becomes a business.

Let's make that stand out just a little more: It becomes a business.

This is part where someone always says, "I don't WANT a business. I just want to make some money with my hobby".

Alrighty, once more, and this this I'll write veeeerrry slooooowwwly...

A hobby is something you do for fun, relaxation, self-fulfillment and that kind of stuff. A business is something you do for money - regardless of whether you also get fun, relaxation, self-fulfillment or whatever from it.

Rule No. 1: You must change your hobby into your business.

That's a totally different mindset. No longer are you performing these tasks for sheer enjoyment of doing so. It's become that horrible four-letter word - WORK. That's only in very strictest sense, because you'll have to do whatever you do to do what you need to do for money.

Now I've got a headache...

Although "outsourcing" seems to be buzzword these days, there are things you need to know and be aware of before you take plunge and enter into a telecom outsourcing relationship.

What exactly is telecom outsourcing and how do you know when and if you even need to hand off your in-house tasks to an experienced specialist in field?

To answer this, let's take a look at different aspects of telecom outsourcing in more detail.

The 4 Main Areas of Telecom Outsourcing

1. Telemanagement

Outsourcing telemanagement tasks can be as simple as ordering a new line for a specific office or location, or handling moves/adds/changes for a multi-location conglomerate company.

You can think of most telemanagement tasks as ones that your staff probably complains about or dislikes doing most. (No one enjoys being put on hold for an hour with a carrier just to make a small change to an account or a bill.)

Adds, moves or changes to a bill or account, questions on a bill, ordering new service or features on existing service are all considered "telemanagement" activities that can be outsourced very inexpensively.

You should consider outsourcing telemanagement tasks if you have ever had any or all of these concerns or problems:

You are understaffed to deal with them and complete them in a timely manner; Problems that arise are not being solved correctly and/or efficiently; Company growth is making it less cost effective to handle telemanagement duties in-house;

2. Bill Management

Years ago companies (and individuals) paid one phone bill to one company each and every month. Those were old days!

Today, companies now must pay local, long distance, wireless and internet bills to multiple vendors in multiple locations.

Bill management is an outsourcing function whereby ALL of your telecom bills go directly to outsourcing firm itself.

Telecom bills are paid, moves/adds/changes are implemented where necessary, and ideally a routine system of auditing is in place to keep bills "clean" from crams, slams, fraud and abuse, overbills, etc.