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Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

nytimes.com

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Re: Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

#11

Post by russjhammond »

The best advantage I have found with our VA is having them listen to all the podcasts I want to listen to, summarize the articles and send me the transcript. Then I can skim in 30 seconds what use to take me 45-60 minutes to listen to.

Also, I have found Odesk very helpful when our sales people ask for custom demos for clients. Instead of distracting our team I hire someone on Odesk to reskin our demo app. The best part is I know exactly how much that demo costs and like to let sales know so they can decide for their self if a demo is warranted in each situation.

As for personal tasks, I love using the concierge service attached to my credit card. Just recently I had them research all the candidates up for local election for me, find out how to return a jacket I bought on a business trip across the country, and suggest some recipes for a halloween party.

I have a running list of my favorite things I have sent to my concierge on Quora: https://www.quora.com/Concierge-Services/What-are-some-good-...

I also have a running list on my blog: http://delegnation.com/

A presentation I did at a Product Camp recently about using outsourcing to support product management: http://www.slideshare.net/russjhammond/product-camp-nashvill...

Re: Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

#12

Post by joelrunyon »

im3w1l wrote: post #8
joelrunyon wrote: post #3

I got a VA from the Philippines earlier this year & it's changed my business. I spend less time doing basic research, and repeatable tasks that I can do - but is simply not a good use of my time. I finally sat down, did a few of my tasks & documented each one, step by step, creating SOPs (standard operating procedures) for each one. It was a little tedious as first, but once my VA got after it - it freed up tons of t…

How much do you pay then?

$6-$10 for a high-quality level Filipino agent.

Lots of people try to skimp by by paying $2-$5 (I've tried this) but if you take into account extra time correcting, supervising & fixing their work - it simply isn't worth it. Outsourcing is supposed to make less work for you - not more!

Re: Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

#13

Post by joelrunyon »

russjhammond wrote: post #11

The best advantage I have found with our VA is having them listen to all the podcasts I want to listen to, summarize the articles and send me the transcript. Then I can skim in 30 seconds what use to take me 45-60 minutes to listen to. Also, I have found Odesk very helpful when our sales people ask for custom demos for clients. Instead of distracting our team I hire someone on Odesk to reskin our demo app. The best p…

For the podcasts - have you tried listening to them at 1.5x or 2x speed? I started doing that & it's saved me tons of time & I can get through way more content (doesn't sound that weird once you get used to it either).

On your credit card - is that the Amex Platinum? I have a friend that uses them as a personal assistant basically.

Re: Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

#15

Post by joelrunyon »

martin-adams wrote: post #10
joelrunyon wrote: post #3

I got a VA from the Philippines earlier this year & it's changed my business. I spend less time doing basic research, and repeatable tasks that I can do - but is simply not a good use of my time. I finally sat down, did a few of my tasks & documented each one, step by step, creating SOPs (standard operating procedures) for each one. It was a little tedious as first, but once my VA got after it - it freed up tons of t…

I keep wondering what my repeatable tasks are. I suspect I just don't recognise them because I don't have documented procedure. I don't suppose you'd elaborate on some examples of tasks you give to your VA?

Data entry & research. Used to spend hours for lists, contact information, etc. Can be done automatically. Lead sourcing is another big use here.

Competitive research. Having your VA research these tasks & put together a database of information becomes a 1-day task that has immense value down the road.

Customer Service - haven't done this yet - but having them take messages, be my secretary, handle refunds & answer 80% of the support messages that come in (usually variants of the same problem with a fixed, simple solution).

Basic writing skills (non-native english is tough here, but if you want just a paragraph or so written, they can usually do a pretty good job here - after which I have an native-english editor / copywriter go back through & clean up any leftover artifacts).

Re: Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

#16

Post by russjhammond »

joelrunyon wrote: post #13
russjhammond wrote: post #11

The best advantage I have found with our VA is having them listen to all the podcasts I want to listen to, summarize the articles and send me the transcript. Then I can skim in 30 seconds what use to take me 45-60 minutes to listen to. Also, I have found Odesk very helpful when our sales people ask for custom demos for clients. Instead of distracting our team I hire someone on Odesk to reskin our demo app. The best p…

For the podcasts - have you tried listening to them at 1.5x or 2x speed? I started doing that & it's saved me tons of time & I can get through way more content (doesn't sound that weird once you get used to it either). On your credit card - is that the Amex Platinum? I have a friend that uses them as a personal assistant basically.

I do use the 1.5x feature but save that for the podcasts I actually listen to. By reading the transcripts I can "monitor" 3-5 weekly, hour long podcasts in 15 minutes.

As for the card, yes I use an AMEX Platinum but believe Visa Signature and MasterCard World Elite also offer a similar service.

Re: Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

#18

Post by quaffapint »

I will say I would never hire anyone to do work I can accomplish myself - I don't care if it makes sense or not, I just couldn't do it. Why? Because I and I would say most people that hire people to take care of their lawns and clean their toilets aren't then using their time more wisely or getting that oh so amazing hour of family time they could never have. They just don't feel like doing the task.

Re: Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

#19

Post by nathan_long »

russjhammond wrote: post #11

The best advantage I have found with our VA is having them listen to all the podcasts I want to listen to, summarize the articles and send me the transcript. Then I can skim in 30 seconds what use to take me 45-60 minutes to listen to. Also, I have found Odesk very helpful when our sales people ask for custom demos for clients. Instead of distracting our team I hire someone on Odesk to reskin our demo app. The best p…

>> The best advantage I have found with our VA is having them listen to all the podcasts I want to listen to, summarize the articles and send me the transcript. Then I can skim in 30 seconds what use to take me 45-60 minutes to listen to.

If you could produce a complete transcript, I bet the podcast hosts would be delighted to post it for each episode. Not only would it be useful for listeners, but it would help them show up in web searches on their topic.

Perhaps the hosts or other listeners would even help pay for the transcription.

Re: Outsourcing your chores is a good thing

#20

Post by russjhammond »

martin-adams wrote: post #10
joelrunyon wrote: post #3

I got a VA from the Philippines earlier this year & it's changed my business. I spend less time doing basic research, and repeatable tasks that I can do - but is simply not a good use of my time. I finally sat down, did a few of my tasks & documented each one, step by step, creating SOPs (standard operating procedures) for each one. It was a little tedious as first, but once my VA got after it - it freed up tons of t…

I keep wondering what my repeatable tasks are. I suspect I just don't recognise them because I don't have documented procedure. I don't suppose you'd elaborate on some examples of tasks you give to your VA?

I use mine to research all the conferences & trade shows for the upcoming year that I might want to go to. They find out the price to sponsor as well as the price to attend. They even go as far to look for flight and hotel costs.
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