When I started 39 (my company) I was outsourcing my iPhone development via Elance to a firm in Ukraine. We got some good simple apps out and made some money. But quickly they weren't reliable; they fit your job in a pipeline with other jobs, so you can't just tell them "today just stop whatever you are doing and work on this important stuff". Also you need to be very lucky with the people you hire.
I hope it didn't come as a surprise. What you do when you outsource is not only you hire cheaper workforce from the other end of the world but you also spare on not having a permanent employee/consultant. It's cheaper because you only pay for what they do and not their availability (i.e. you don't pay if you don;t have anything to assign to them). Now on the other end of the business there are people who can only make a living if they are highly utilized. So they'll have a pipeline for sure. (I.e. they won't pay what you don't pay, the availability.)
So if you want an employee or permanent contractor then hire one, even from the other end of the world. Most freelancers will be more than happy to have a longer term contract with a fixed income. But you have to pay the bill...
