cell_man said:Yeah, I'm in Shanghai, China. Of course there is cheaper labour available here but once you have staff it changes everything. They need to be trained, paid every month, kept busy and do a good job. I'm pretty much where I could keep a guy busy full time but I just need to take that jump and find someone that is at least reasonably capable.
Shoot, I must bite my tongue. It appears the per-capita income of Shanghai is about $9000. The minimum wage rates in the US suggest an annual full-time income of 2080*7 = 14560, so the wage difference doesn't appear to be that much different. I was thinking about the dirt cheap labor in China, like to the south, where the wage is something like $4000 / year.
Parti time it would likely have to be. I'd think it might be maximally beneficial if you take advantage of your particular relative advantages such as interacting with customers, building the website, etc. and take advantage of the cheap labor rates. By focusing on customers and marketing, you'd maximize sales which would likely offset the additional cost of labor. But, this is something that can be done after sales growth justifies it. If there's just not enough product demand, then it might not justify it (Although, I think there's probably a lot of demand.).