Archive for Virtual Assistant
High touch outsourcing relationships
Posted by: | CommentsWhy would you want to have a high touch relationship with an outsourcer?
Some benefits could be:
- Loyalty
- Improved response to your requests
- May add more value to your business, coming up with ideas for you to implement
- May be prepared to be more flexible with you.
- Generate ideas that can improve efficiency
Downsides:
- Invest time in getting to know someone and they end up leaving
- Can spend a lot of time getting to know someone, that takes time and there is an opportunity cost associated with that.
Do you really need more friends?
It might be better to distinguish between High Touch and Low Touch Tasks rather than the relationships themselves?
Camtasia Screen Capture software is free
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been using Camtasia to record screen capture videos of tasks that I want my Virtual Assistant’s to do, in fact I’ve written a post about it. If you’ve already got a business set up you’ll need to use Camtasia if you want to live the four hour work week a la Tim Ferriss
I have to give a tip of the hat to Robert Phillips on his blog Cybercashology for alerting me to this offer. Thanks Robert http://www.cybercashology.com/?p=218
Camtasia version 3 is available
Here’s what to do:
1) Download Camtasia Studio 3 here:
http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe
2) Register for a Software Key here:
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp
It sounds like they’re giving it away hoping you’ll buy the $149 upgrade to Camtasia Studio 5. I recently upgraded to Camtasia Studio 5 and I like it but until recently I was still using Camtasia Studio 2 so CS3 will do all you need.
Have fun using Camtasia as you put systems to work in your business.
Have you identified your Target MI yet?
Posted by: | Comments
Your Target Monthly Income is vital in achieving the 4HWW lifestyle. You need to know what score your shooting for; to achieve the 4HWW.
If your serious about making this happen the figure should be imprinted on your mind.
I’ve just redone mine in order to write this post. I surprised myself as to how close I actually am to claiming that I can live the 4HWW.
Not that I want to, I’d prefer to work 10-15 hours each week but it’s nice to have the option of doing 4 if you want or need to.
I’ve spoken to many people who are interested in outsourcing Virtual Assistants from India and the whole Tim Ferriss thing and I’ve come up with 4 main categories that people fall in.
Your business is already earning your TMI, you need to get yourself out of the picture and have virtual staff run the show.
Your currently short of earning your TMI : you need to increase income whilst simultaneously reducing the hours you spend on your business.
Job with no possibilities of working remotely: oh pooh. Joking aside, you could be in the best position of all as you have the ability to build a business from the ground up.
Job with possibilities for remote working: reducing input and maximising effectiveness. There’s a chance you could negotiate remote working.
Like most self help books, seminars, DVD and personal development programs only a fraction of the people less than 5 % usually ever do anything with the information and I reckon the 4HWW is no different.
Sure most people will make a few slight changes but very few will go all the way to nailing the philosophy of living the four hour work week.
I think a major factor is not having someone to hold them accountable to make the changes that need to be made after all change is uncomfortable.
I’d be interested to know what you think holds people back.
How to create systems for your common tasks
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the best ways to free yourself up is to document a process that you repeat often and create a step by step plan so
that a Virtual Assistant can follow it for you.
See how you can use this to create more time for yourself.
send me an e-mail gavin @ outsourcesuccess.com if you’d like a copy of the template I’ve used in the video
What comes first the Virtual Assistant or the VA?
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve read Tim Ferriss’s book the 4 Hour Work Week. Or ever tried to hire someone from elance or guru.com, you will know it’s not a straightforward task.
Check this video out to find out why.
Questions to weed out flaky Virtual Assistants
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s my take on it. I’m not sure if you can..
At the end of the day they are going to tell
you they can do everything.
Well they should if they are worth their salt,
because that is what you are employing them
to do.
If they are working independently i.e. for
themselves if they were any good they would
be fully booked, unless you happened to be
one of the first very few people who they
spoke to.
Obviously the best thing to do is to ask for
references of people they have worked for
and see how they react to that.
What I choose to do now is to work with my
partner in Outsource Success. He is Indian,
lives their, has a background in recruitment,
project management and IT.
He is must better placed to weed out the dead
beat VA’s than I am or ever will be.
About 6 months ago a new company launched
amongst a blaze of online publicity saying
that they had a team of 300+ Indian VA’s
that were available to get work done for you.
I asked my partner to find out about them
as we might be able to poach some of the
workers for our team as they were obviously
not being paid much based on the prices being
offered to clients.
Funnily enough he had the resume’s of 5 people
already citing that company’s name, that should
have been a warning as why would they be looking
for a new job already.
Anyway he interviewed 3 of them, they were less
than impressive and weren’t competent at all.
Funnily enough I have not had any good reports
about this company, good at Internet Marketing
as they were they sucked on delivery.
As the saying goes
‘If you are going to pay peanuts
you are going to get Monkeys’
Gavin Allinson
support@OutsourceSuccess.com
P.S.So my suggestion is to choose a company
that can provide testimonials and to steer
clear from one person bands.
P.P.S Give our team a try first, if you don’t like
us I’m more than happy to give you the details of
2 or 3 other companies that I have heard good
things about.
The first thing you need to do if you want to live the 4 hour work week is…
Posted by: | CommentsIn order to live the 4 hour Work Week you need to have a good Virtual Assistant. Contrary to what you may think they are not that easy to come by good ones at least, in fact some have said they are as rare as ‘Rocking Horse Poo’.
Listen to the recording below to find out why you need to hire a VA sooner rather than later.
Gavin