Personal Outsourcing Performance

So, I’ve been trying to close my email client while I’m doing other things and only process it to zero first thing in the morning, after coming back from lunch, and before I leave work. The problem is that I’m scheduled for meetings all day long and I need to get notified of those meetings as when I’m in the middle of coding I don’t like to be consciously aware of the time. The only way to do this previously was to leave my email client open as it reminds me 5 minutes before the meeting. This wasn’t working for me as I was checking my email wayyyy to often and constantly interupting my focus and thus reduce my productivity.

What’s the solution? Everyday when I come in to work the first thing I do is process my email to zero and accept any meetings that there may be, or create meetings / appointments that need to be made. I then click the print preview button in my Lotus Notes webmail client which puts the schedule in PDF format. Next, I open up a browser to gmail and start composing an email to Sandy [http://www.asksandy.com]. I then switch back, click the select text button in the PDF viewer, highlight my schedule and copy and paste it into my gmail body and add an r to the beginning of each meeting. I also remove any details to maintain confidentiality as these details can not be trusted to an outside source. So an example of the body of my email would look like this.

r Meeting 9:30am
r Meeting 11:00am
r Conference Cal 3:00pm

What this will do is tell Sandy to send me an SMS text message at this time to remind me of the meeting[ You have to set this up in your account and you can also set how many minutes ahead of time you wish to be reminded].

How do I know what meeting I’m supposed to attend if I only have the time in the reminder you ask? I print out my schedule and set that aside out of site, but in a consistent place I can grab and look at when I get the meeting reminder from Sandy via SMS. At that point I know what room the meeting is in or if it’s a conference call I have the # and passcode. Voila! You now have a schedule that you can now put out of mind and have essentially outsourced to your virtual, virtual assistant Sandy, while still keeping the details confidential. In addition, this allows you to not keep in line with only reading emails a few times a day.

Is this method foolproof? No, where you can get burned is if someone reschedules a meeting the same day. My hope when they don’t get an acknowledgment that I’ve accepted their reschedule is that they will instant message me [ Unfortunately, I have to leave this on. I prefer this to telephone].

Isn’t this a lot of work? Well it is and isn’t. It’s not automatic, because we do not have an options to export our calendars for confidentiality reasons of course. If I could it would be put into google calendar lickety split and google would remind me as it would be less intervention. The time is saves me is very much worth personal outsourcing this to Sandy, especially when I need extreme focus. So there you go, personal outsourcing can be done in a corporate environment you just have to be a little creative.

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So, I after unsuccessfully trying to buy Royals tickets from the Royals box office with help of Sunday. I asked Sunday to find me the cheapest tickets possible. Sunday got back with me within 24 hours and had a complete list of sources along with the cheapest tickets they could find. Unfortunately those tickets were $88 each for $9 face-value tickets. My outsourcing may be exhausted with this task, and I may be ticketless, but I’m still declaring Sunday the winner of this epic battle.

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In my previous post, my VA team Sunday, had called the Kansas City Royals Box office too late and informed me they would call back the next day. Did they follow up? They sure did and let me know when the tickets were on sale. I’m so used to people not calling me back that when someone does it goes a long ways with me. Unfortunately, I got up this morning to try and buy the tickets, and still was unable to buy them. Time to send out a request to Sunday and have them find me the cheapest tickets they can. I really don’t care where I sit, I’d just like to go. To be continued….

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One of the things mentioned in the “The Four Hour Work Week”, “Rich Dad / Poor Dad”, and “E-Myth” is making passive income, and having business on auto-pilot so that you can live the life of your dreams. Having a blog which you’re trying to monetize is typically something that needs constant involvement and attention every single day. So, how can you keep the stories / posts coming and keep your readers happy without you being involved? With a little bit of Personal Outsourcing. Keep reading.

So, If you look at the blog the last two articles they were both written by others, but definitely pertain to the subject matter of this blog.

How did I do it [ Very Simple ]:
1) I visited http://www.ezinearticles.com/
2)Searched for keywords that I use on this blog.
3)Found a suitable article that I was happy with.
4)Opened a new window went to my blog and logged in and proceeded as normal as if I’m writing the new story myself.
5)Went back to the article clicked “Ezine Publisher”, which brings up the html of the story you wish to post.
6)Copied and pasted the title from between the title begin and end tags into the title for the new blog post title as I normally would enter when writing my own story.
7)Copied and pasted everything between the two body tags into the main post body in the spot where I would normally write the story myself. You don’t have to worry about the unfamiliar html as it’ll actually work in your blog appropriately.
8)Publish the story on your blog

You ask, what does the person who wrote the story gain for this? Well they usually have some form of advertisement to his or her own blog or some other product they’re selling. You are not allowed to cut this out per the terms and conditions of Ezine articles. That’s the drawback of using this service is that you’re forced to advertise, but how much is the content that they’re providing worth. To me, it’s worth a ton and I still probably have the edge even with their ad as far as even value for value, however if your blog takes off and you drive lots of traffic to it the benefit could turn to their favor.

What could be improved? I’m still copying and pasting. In the future I’ll try experimenting with sending a request to my personal assistants to go find articles to post and see if they can successfully post content. Essentially this would put your blog on auto-pilot. Which would be a great option if you will be away for a considerable amount of time or simply are okay with content that could be on a variety of sites. If it’s just a blog for monetization and a niche you don’t necessarily have a personal interest in it then why not?

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Wage Slaves are Set Free - The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss Inspires the 9-5 Escape !!
By Schelli Whitehouse

Although his ultimate goal is far different than my own, Tim Ferriss’s approach to life embodies all of the same principles. One of the greatest ‘take-aways’ I got from reading his book, The 4-Hour Workweek was his observation in describing ‘mans need for mini-retirements’. Mr. Ferriss proclaims that, sustained and productive focus falters after about 60 days. A long break with completely different stimulus is necessary for mental regeneration. That statement fully resonated with my own productive work cycles. The biggest difference I see between Tim and the rest of the working-class (plan to retire someday) stiffs, is that he began this introspective journey after he was already earning $70K/month.

The underlying tenet however, reflects my own basic philosophy, do what you love and love what you do! Set up multiple sources of automated income that require very little supervision once they are in place and then go and do what you want.

He gives some excellent examples and user friendly tools to calculate exactly how much money it will take to actually fulfill a mini-retirement. Whether it’s a month of Salsa Dancing in South America (which he actually did) or Deep Powder Heli-Skiing in Banff, Canada (which I want to do!).

The other aspect of his approach to life that grabbed my attention was his utilization of outsourcing every day tasks from correspondence to marketing to laundry.

Thomas Friedman educates us to the wave of global outsourcing in his book The World is Flat, but I didn’t connect with it the way I did The 4-Hour Workweek as to how it might apply to my life and business. (I never did finish that book because it was too dry and well… flat.)

Ferriss gives specific examples of how every day people can use outsourcing for time consuming, monotonous tasks that eat up the precious hours we could be doing something we love. He also offers numerous tips and resources for generating more income to fund our mini-retirements.

I was so inspired I hired a cleaning service to clean my house top-to-bottom twice a month. It takes two people, 3 hours (4 when they do the blinds). That’s 6 hours it would’ve taken me (or more because I get side-tracked) and I would be exhausted afterwards. The service receives $140 per visit. This comes out to approx. $23.00 per man (woman)/hour. One of my service consulting fees is $100/hour. If I spend 6 hours with clients and not cleaning my house, I’m ahead by $77.00 per hour!

The additional (priceless) benefit is having the entire house clean and organized all at once. A phenomenon that was next to impossible to achieve alone.

That one item has served me immensely. Because I work out of my home, the fact that I’m not perpetually distracted by household chores has inspired me to be far more creative and productive with my time.

Although, I’m not particularly interested in becoming a New Rich Vagabond, (read the book to learn more about that) The 4-Hour Work Week is a compelling and enlightening text on how to live the life you want, today! Which is the perfect example of Living The Certain Way.

*** To learn more about The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, be sure to visit Schelli’s Website: Living The Certain Way

Schelli Whitehouse is the creator of “Living The Certain Way”. A personal approach to a successful life.
Her coaching is based on the philosophies of The Science of Getting Rich Program, created by Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield and Rev. Michael Beckwith as well as the writings and teaching of many of yesterday and today’s inspirational examples of how to become more tomorrow than who you are today.

You may contact Schelli and sign up for her free e-course “7-Weeks to Living The Certain Way” at:
http://LivingTheCertainWay.blogspot.com
or visit her website at:
http://LivingTheCertainWay.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Schelli_Whitehouse
http://EzineArticles.com/?Wage-Slaves-are-Set-Free—The-4-Hour-Workweek-by-Timothy-Ferris-Inspires-the-9-5-Escape-!!&id=854164

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What Is A Virtual Assistant & What Do They Do?
By Renee Cloud

A Virtual Assistant is an independent contractor / business owner & professional office administrator, who provides professional business support services & outsourcing services for your business or projects. They don’t come into your office or home, {hence the name Virtual Assistants or VA ’s} they provide services in a virtual / online capacity by using the internet, phone, email, fax, various courier services, postal mail & instant messaging services, just like most outsourcing companies. Some specialize in a huge variety of areas such as business support, office management, business management, real estate, marketing, construction, secretarial services, business development etc… The list is endless.

WHAT DO THEY DO & WHAT TYPES OF SERVICES DO THEY PROVIDE?

They provide a variety of business support/ business related services, secretarial services & outsourcing services in many areas. Virtual Assistants provide some of the following services:

Business Consulting

Outsourcing

Creative Design Services ( writing, art, design, advertising, film etc..)
Business Coach

Computer Specialist

Research & Analysis

Web Analytics

Office Management/ Support

Business Management

Email Services

Personal Assistant

Real Estate Services

Data Entry/ Typing

Marketing

Purchasing/ Procurement Services

And More!

Some people use Virtual Assistants to handle personal emails, update their websites, send out press releases, they help people to start-up their business, copy writing services, resume services, thesis/dissertation / manuscript services, they help you in finding employees, set appointments, book travel plans, keep personal or family schedules, client maintenance, they can help you with your ezines/ newsletters, taxes, database management, help you to improve your business operations and more. Virtual Assistants can assist you in doing a lot of things to help you maintain or get your business going & help you with personal projects.

HOW CAN I FIND A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT & HOW MUCH DO THEY COST ?

Finding one is easy . A lot of them can be found on the internet, Virtual Assistant organizations/ associations/ forums, just type Virtual Assistant into a search engine, also check out their blogs or press releases. You can also talk to people who have used their services. You don’t have to have a business or employees to use their services. If you have the need to treat someone like an employee, or you have to have someone in the office with you, then a Virtual Assistant is not for you. They are providing you help & they run a business just like you are, so they are not your employees. They can provide assistance along with your current employees or help you find employees. If you just need one for a one time project most of them can accommodate you and also provide full-time permanent support.

There are well over 5,000 of them worldwide and growing everyday. Most of them charge between $ 10 –$ 75 per hour. Some of them have a flat fee for some projects. Well, you may say that’s a lot. In actuality it’s not, when you compare what you are already paying a current full-time employee to the price of a Virtual Assistant. You pay a regular in-house employee rate of pay / salary, sometimes double or triple their hourly/ salary wage. It is more expensive to pay an in-house employee than a Virtual Assistant.

They don’t come with all the issues/ problems that a regular employee would like federal/ state/ city regulations, being late to work, wasting time on the job, cost of buying equipment/ office space/ training, other business expenses. A Virtual Assistant is 100% focused on your work, they only bill you for the work that they complete & they pay their own business expenses. As companies & entrepreneurs move more of their business operations to the internet Virtual Assistants become more of the obvious solution for staffing or business problems. So contact one today, to help with your business or project needs!

In an effort to relieve some business stress, get organized, stay organized and stay on top of things try outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant. Outsource some of your business operations or administrative office tasks to Clerical Business Solutions. Clerical Business Solutions is “The Solution To Your Business Needs !”, it’s owned & operated by Renee Cloud “I provide cost-effective business services to help simplify your life & business.”Outsourcing is a strategic solution for business and it can help to alleviate stress, reduce some of your burden of day-to-day business operations or tasks,reduce your work hours and keep you on top of things. Contact Renee Today! Email: info@clericalsolutionsinc.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Renee_Cloud
http://EzineArticles.com/?What-Is-A-Virtual-Assistant-and-What-Do-They-Do?&id=959559

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The Founders of Sunday,Steve Ludmer and Avinash G. Samudrala, are interviewed and give a brief explanation of their site and personal outsourcing in general.

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So, today I wanted to purchase tickets to opening day to the Kansas City Royals [one of the only guaranteed sellouts of the year] and I went to login at kcroyals.com to the presale and guess which date wasn’t available?  I bought tickets to some games I really want to go see / can flip if I can’t go, however I didn’t have time to follow up as to why I couldn’t buy opening day tickets so I personally outsourced this and asked Sunday [my virtual assistant service]. to call the Kansas City Royals box office and have them ask the box office how to purchase tickets for opening day and that I don’t want to purchase a ticket package.

Well Sunday called after hours [always give a time to call by, which I did not, in your requests] and the box office was closed, however they did say they would follow up tomorrow when the box office is open and call back.

Eureka!

Will they follow up? Will I be able to trust Sunday and expect them to handle these more vague tasks that aren’t absolutely explicit? To Be continued…

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So continuing on my adventures of personal outsourcing, the perfect use for AskSunday.com is making a phone call to cancel or change an appointment.  I got a call on my voicemail which i checked while on a conference call because i saw the call come in, however I wasn’t going to be able to return the call before the business closed[my doctor’s office].

I immediately fired up my webmail and sent Sunday a request to call my doctor’s office and change my appointment for me.  I of course gave them my date of birth in case the doctor’s office asked [ they always do].  Within 30 minutes I had an email back stating my appointment had been canceled and who the assistant spoke to, but for security reasons the doctor’s office couldn’t reschedule a new one.  This does seem to happen with medical facilities more than not, so it is something to remember if you’re needing the appointment rescheduled ASAP to make sure you read the follow up email or check your voice mail from your virtual assistant stating the results of his or her task.

Overall, a B+, positive experience, at no fault of Sunday or their staff as to why the task was not 100% complete.

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Sandy is a virtual, virtual assistant.  You can now outsource nearly everything you need to remember or have a reminder sent for simply by sending an email.  Sandy is a service which you send an email to with specific text which Sandy parses and remembers or enters an appointment to remind you about.  For instance, today I realized I really have to disable the blinding fluorescent lights above in my office so I sent sandy a note about it “Remind me to bring in step stool tomorrow at 5am”.  Tomorrow at 5am [yes I get up that early to go to the office] Sandy will send me a reminder to bring the the step stool to the office.

You can also have Sandy remember things like frequent flier numbers, to do this you might send an email to sandy that reads “remember Southwest Frequent Flier # 1234567 @travel”.  The @travel is a tag you can use to look this up.  To lookup you could send sandy an email that read “lookup Southwest” or “lookup @travel”.  Sandy would then email anything that matches these things.
Overall, I’m very happy with the service.  I do think they could improve the website interface as it’s very busy and tries to be too cute at times.  Also, I can not get the Jott link to work for the life of me.  I’ve given up on that piece of it though.  How do you use Sandy?  leave a comment or email me at david(at)personaloutsourcing.net

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