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What Can You Outsource That Has Nothing To Do With Building Websites?

by Francis
(November 02, 2012)

busy-virtual-assistant-with-many-post-itsFrom time to time when I talk with my friends, they ask me what they could outsource if they’re not an online business owner.

The answer is, of course, everything as long as your fantasy and imagination can handle it.

Just think of any tasks you do at the computer that is repetitive and takes a lot of time.

Are you researching something repeatedly?

Are you clicking the same links again and again?

Are you, perhaps, even playing an online game which needs something boring to do in order to proceed?

Although the last example is a little bit extreme, you could outsource all those things.

In fact, I have prepared some transcripts for a brand new case study and page section about real life outsourcing in action.

I had to do something repeatedly the last days. I won’t tell you what it is. It’s still a surprise.

But then, something clicked in my head and I decided now’s the time to outsource it. It will take less time to explain this task and have someone else do it repeatedly hundreds of time than for me to do all of these on my own.

So stay tuned. It might take a week or so until everything is ready. Until you can read about my next super-secret outsourcing project, but it will be worth the wait. Promised!

Comments for What Can You Outsource That Has Nothing To Do With Building Websites?

Oct 09, 2014 A variety of outsourcing
by: Francis

Actually, you can outsource games. I do that for quite some time, especially over the weekends.

I am having fun and at the same time I can get rare and expensive equipment for my own characters as well 😀

Outsourcing comes in many different ways and it’s not just contained in the online world.
Feb 20, 2015 Outsourcing Games? Now that’s a Confusing Concept
by: Francis

Great addition, Jomvie. I was actually wondering if working on websites is the only thing one can effectively outsource to virtual assistants. I have heard about outsourcing games.

For example, to receive bigger magical items or something of the like but I didn’t investigate on that very much. So it’s very interesting to me that you have some hands-on experience on such a hard sounding work.

I personally believe you were pretty lucky to land such a job that’s funny and paying at the same time especially if you are playing the game. Would you mind sharing more details about this?

If you have some screenshots from the time or could recreate something like that, I would love to read a case study of your experience in outsourcing games.

Keeping In Touch With Past Employers Is What Sets Apart Awesome Providers from Normal Virtual Assistants

by Francis
(November 05, 2012)

proactive-virtual-assistant-thumbs-upI just got a nice surprise as I received a chat from Shailesh, a virtual assistant whom I have worked with in the past. He’s was one of the top three excellent contractors that I had the chance to work with, that also without any reasons took that time to drop a line and say hello even if there’s nothing new.

It may be the politeness of Indian people or it may be that this person genuinely cares about my well-being. The only thing I know is that this does make a huge difference.

If you have a virtual assistant that takes the time to write back to you even years after your last cooperation and keeps on doing so regularly even if you don’t respond; then this should give you a hint.

The next time you open a project; consider hiring the same person again. He won’t disappoint you.

Making Money with Socks: This Has To Be One of the Most Creative Fiverr Gigs Ever!

by Francis
(November 06, 2012)

I just came across a funny Fiverr Gig. You can make money as a freelancer either by doing quality work or by surprising the heck out of the reader with just fun and bizarre ideas.

This guy will explain to you how he got your missing sock in a crazy as a thousand words letter for only $5.

If you have seen his video in his crazy bearded glasses look, then you will be chuckling already.

I have to hold myself back from not ordering this gig immediately. Who doesn’t miss some socks?

Outsourcing your time with your girlfriend – a funny Big Bang Theory Clip

by Francis
(November 07, 2012)

One of my favorite series is the Big Bang Theory. When they made a joke about outsourcing, I just had to share this with you 😀

Check out this clip from the series:

Raj, being an Indian, often has to deal with stereotypical humour. But who knows what the future will bring?

If you hate to use the phone or are simply to lazy to use it, will you outsource spending time connecting to your friends?

(Anyone who knows the time before Facebook can see how very possible this extreme scenario could be!)

I’m all for unusual outsourcing experiments. The more fun, the better.

But you, dear reader, will have to find the line where you cannot send the task overseas to your assistant in India or anywhere else, and have to buckle down and do it yourself.

That’s why I have the section about productivity on this site. Be sure to check it out to learn more about being the most productive self you can be!

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Writing Six Hundred Words in Five Minutes Using Screen Recording

by Francis
(November 01, 2012)

The only limitation of the free screen recording software, Jing, is that each video can only be five minutes long.

But in my experience, the combination of recording a 5-minute video, sending it to a transcriptionist, having it transcribed, getting it up to my virtual assistant, setting it up as a post and proofreading it one last time before publishing it; takes no longer than five minutes for me and a few hours for my assistant team.

As a website owner and a blogger, I have to follow certain guidelines in order to have a website that works well. Actually, there is a guideline from the search engines like Google and Yahoo that in order to be seen as a useful content page, any page should contain at least about 300 words.

Of course, if those words do not have any meaning, this is not recommended. But if you can convey your message in at least that much amount of words, then this will give you some boost in the rankings.

Now with the 5-minute Jing video, I have made the experience that the resulting transcribed blog posts often are well above that limit. So, this is a good thing. Also, the 5-minute limit of Jing forces you to express yourself in a condensed and efficient manner.

Since you do not have all the time in the world to talk about your pet and your grandmother, you need to get to the point quickly. So in a way, the limitation of Jing becomes an advantage of some sort.

At least for me, personally, it is a tool I use daily when I work together with my virtual assistants and I would not want to miss it anymore.

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Jul 31, 2014 all around tool
by: JomvieFor me, this is the best way of communicating. There’s no need of figuring things out once the task is handed over because it’s all laid out right in front of you.

And this is definitely a great tool as well to all who often blog or write posts or article to avoid writer’s block 😀
Jul 31, 2014 Fast for the employer, effective for the VA
by: FrancisWhen I started giving instructions to my VAs, I used email only.

Sending instructions via email and answering questions that come back and forth took at least the same amount of time than the task itself.

I wouldn’t have it any other way now.

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An Inspiring Discussion and the Big Picture of Things with This Website

by Francis
(October 31, 2012)

I just had an amazing discussion and I wanted to share this enthusiasm with you while it is still fresh so to speak.

If you have a dream, an online business, an idea or a product you want to create or market; it is possible but it is almost impossible to do alone.

This is a lesson I have learned and I’ve implemented in to every fiber of this very website you are reading. For example, every illustration you see on these pages has been carefully chosen, placed and optimized by my virtual assistant.

But that is only an example of what is possible when I let go of the control of certain parts of my business and give my coworkers and assistants freedom to work things out on their own.

I am most happy when my virtual assistants comes up with something on their own. Unfortunately, this is a trait that apparently not more employers of virtual businesses cherish.

I think that’s because every time I start working with a new virtual assistant, their demeanor is often extremely polite and eager to please but almost never eager to challenge my points of view. I can understand that. After all, I am the employer.

But still, real growth only comes when one more mind, one at a time in addition to the team, adds their creative input or their useful advice in order to make the whole business grow.

As I mentioned in other posts, I do have another completely unrelated website. It is older, bigger and draws a lot of traffic. Traffic is such a technical term. The website attracts many interested people, thousands, daily.

If you think about it closely, the amount of power that is behind such numbers of interested people is enormous. What would happen if I could take anyone is interested in cooperating with me by the hand and if I could teach them how they could contribute to a business that would not be only mine but ours.

Actually, I had fans from time to time contact me, interact with me and often submit their stories and ideas to me for that other website and it’s still growing.

Although, I feel that for this very young Ideal-helper site; it is too early to ask for. I want to emphasize that every helping hand is welcome. I want this website to grow and expand on the thoughts of many interested people.

It is not my motivation to teach you like a teacher in front of the class while you seat obediently in your chair and listen. A professional book would be better than that.

But if we start to discuss, communicate and even argue things, that’s when real growth happens.

Who the heck is interested in what someone else has to say?

But who on earth is not interested when there is something to gain, to grow and to learn for yourself.

That’s the distinction I want to make sure you, the patient reader of this very long post, take with you.

If you think you could contribute, challenge and ask questions to this site, you are probably right. If you don’t find the right place to submit your idea, question, challenge and follow-up; the best guess is to use the contact us form.

Almost all pages have comment fields at the bottom and I do encourage and actively read all comments you submit.

How could you contribute, you ask?

If you are already interested in outsourcing or already working together with a virtual assistant, I would love to hear your stories.

The little quirks, the little accidents, the good and the bad stuff, the everyday occurrences that you think are neglectable. But that I think are hugely charming to read about.

If you are not working with a virtual assistant yet, but could you imagine it and if you have questions, that hold you from starting a journey, an experience, an adventure with virtual assistants, then I want you to ask me these questions?

Challenge me. Ask really hard questions and try to think of questions that either burn on your soul or that you think I cannot answer. Try me. I dare you.

If you think that outsourcing is not for you, then I have two questions for you.

  • First, why did you read this far in this article on this site?
  • Second, what can I do to convince you that your success is closely bound to your openness of this adventure?

I am not saying that hiring a virtual assistant is the only key to success. That would be incomplete rather than incorrect. However if you worked at a problem, any problem in your life, with two thinking heads deeply involved into your problem rather than only your own, don’t you agree that it would be natural to assume you will get results faster?

So far from me, I truly have already “talked” more than enough. Now it’s your turn; your turn to talk, your turn to ask, to challenge and to think.

I’ll see you in the comments!

Comments for An Inspiring Discussion and the Big Picture of Things with this Website

Aug 03, 2014 Two heads are better than one
by: JohnYou are probably right 😀 often it is because of feeling inferior or too shy to open an idea on the other side of the planet. Lol but I do believe in that, “Two heads are better than one.” Sharing and comparing some thoughts or ideas are great factors that can help improve from one thing to another.

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Should You Trust oDesk Workers with Your Credit Card Details?

by Francis
(October 31, 2012)

Famous Saying by Democritus
Famous Saying by Democritus

I came along this interesting question shortly and independent of whether your virtual worker comes from oDesk, Elance or any other outsourcing platform, you should be, of course, extremely careful with your credit card details.

Although it is true that big outsourcing heroes, like Tim Ferriss or others, have outsourced parts of their life to their virtual assistants which require access to their credit cards; this not for beginners and even those people who only talk about relatively little amounts of money below $100.

The problem is not so much that the worker comes from oDesk. The problem is that sharing your credit card details is a huge trust question.

Imagine if your virtual assistant would do credit card fraud, trick you out of thousands of dollars and then vanish.

How big do you think your chances are to catch him again if he lives on the other part of the planet?

It’s not only a problem of distance but also a problem of different justice systems. In the end, you will lose more money by trying to make things right than the whole incident might have cost you.

Anyway, there’s a place and time where you may trust a virtual assistant with your credit card details. I can imagine the following scenarios;

  • You use a prepaid credit card system. This means that you only have a limited amount of money on that credit card and if it is depleted, it cannot go in to the red.
  • The maximal amount of money that your virtual assistant might theoretically be able to steal from you, would need to be very much lower than what he will earn when working for you regularly and normally. You shouldn’t put such a big incentive and allurement to steal from you. It would be human nature to become weak at that moment.
  • Only trust even limited budgets to virtual assistants you have worked with for an extensive time.
  • One case where it can be reasonable for your virtual assistant to have access to your funding is; for example, when you hire a virtual assistant on oDesk, work with him for a long time and then give him the ability to act as your Hiring Manager.

There, you have two different sets of security. In one of them, your VA is able to open jobs, invite people to your jobs and manage people for you. But only you can hire, fire and give bonuses to those people.

In the second level of trust, your VA is able to do all of that for you; in this case, he does have access to your credit card funding. Not to the credit card number directly, but to the money on that credit card.

In this case, a high level of trust is absolutely needed. And even then, I highly recommend that you choose solution of a prepaid credit card. This way, even if things should go very very wrong; you cannot use over a certain amount of money. And of course, even if something should go wrong, you can contact your bank account and reverse the process of the money movement.

The good thing is oDesk sends you a notification each time you or your Hiring Manager gives out a bonus.

To sum up, if you wanted an answer to the question if you should trust oDesk workers with your credit card details; if you would trust them by giving them a bunch of money and handling them on their own in your interest, then you can go ahead and do it. Else, don’t.

Comments for Should You Trust oDesk Workers with Your Credit Card Details?

Aug 03, 2014 Security first 😀
by: Jomvie

I think you can, only if the person handling your account is with you for over years and you know him/her so well. But, in any case, it is still best to secure it yourself before anybody else. It does not regard “trust” issues, it is just to avoid any chaos in the latter.

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At Least They Have a Sense of Humor

by Francis
(October 24, 2012)

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Sense of humor in a software or product = I am sold instantly

Last time when I got blocked by RescueTime because I activated the “Get Focused” feature, I actually got blocked out of a very productive site.

Fortunately, you can immediately change the productivity level of the site that you have been blocked out from. I got a good laugh at the screenshot which followed then. See the picture at the top.

“Don’t worry we won’t rat you out.” 😀

So, the RescueTime team is very aware of the fact many people will use this feature to get a little bit of procrastination done anyway. But if you are a little bit disciplined, you won’t do that.

While I was not procrastinating in any way, of course, I do like the sense of humor that the RescueTime team brings to the table. It makes the tool much more human to use.

Man, This Tool Is a Bitch, but It Keeps Me on Track So I’ll Keep It

by Francis
(October 24, 2012)

man-this-tool-is-a-bitch-but-it-keeps-me-on-track-so-ill-keep-it-21680364
This is how RescueTime notifies me when a site is blocked

I just got blocked out of Facebook right now. I just wanted to spend 5 minutes on there.

Really?

Okay, maybe I would have lost more time if I’m honest with myself.

The RescueTime tool reminds me a bit of a grumpy teacher from primary school.

Every time I would reach for the box with sweets and chocolates, I would get my fingers slapped.

Let’s hope that with all those virtual slaps from this tool, I get educated to be more productive over time.

I doubted a little bit but perhaps it works.

If this doesn’t work, nothing will 🙂

Comments for Man, This Tool Is a Bitch, but It Keeps Me on Track So I’ll Keep It

Dec 06, 2012 Use Either Google Chrome Nanny or RescueTime, Not Both
by: Francis If you use Google Chrome Nanny as a productivity tool and RescueTime at the same time, then you will run into trouble.Sometimes when both services try to be blocking, this interferes with the functions of each other.So if you like to use Google Chrome, then I recommend Nanny.Else stick with RescueTime.Of course the latter has a lot of different other possibilities.Now I am just talking about the lockdown of unproductive sites.

The Free Functions from RescueTime Mostly Stay Available Even If You’re Not Premium Member

by Francis
(November 01, 2012)

When you first sign up for RescueTime, you get a preview of the Pro features like the Get Focused function for two weeks. It’s just enough to get a glimpse of how it works.

After that, unfortunately these functions are disabled. However, the most important features like the time tracking still stay available.

You can easily replace the Get Focused feature by using a browser plug-in to keep you away from distracting sites.

In my opinion, you don’t need to invest the money to pay for the premium features, in all honesty. You can easily replace the premium features with other free tools from other programs and get the same results.

That’s what I do.

But I have found no replacement for the excellent time tracking statistics from RescueTime elsewhere.

Comments for The Free Functions from RescueTime Mostly Stay Available Even If You’re Not Premium Member

Jul 31, 2014 A tool that never lets you procrastinate 😀
by: Francis This is the first time tracking tool that I have ever experienced as a writer for for some medical sites. Now, my second time tracking tool as a virtual assistant is equipped with the screenshot capturing software. These tools just gets better and better and there’s no room for procrastinating.
Jul 31, 2014 More for finding your time wasters
by: Francis When I use the tool (it has been a while I last checked it, I’ll go looking for my stats right after writing this) the best part of it is…You find where you are wasting your time. Not only in general (is it newspapers or social media?), but precisely which website specifically are you wasting too much time on?Then, by using your website filters strategically, you can definitively increase your productivity.So it’s also useful for employers. Minus the “being watched” feeling.

RescueTime Stopped Me from Listening To Music

by Francis
(November 03, 2012)

rescuetime-stopped-me-from-listening-to-music-21682349
What, seriously?

I really like to use this time tracking tool called RescueTime. But from time to time you have to fine tune its settings.

I was working very nicely and was not doing anything bad. The only thing I was doing on the sites is to use Sound Cloud to listen to some chilling music.

Unfortunately for me, either I or Rescuetime, I don’t really remember have scored this time as very distracting with a score of – 2. So, right in the middle of this awesome song, the site got blocked and I got this pop up.

Fortunately, I can change the setting of the distraction score right away, in case RescueTime blocks something which was productive by mistake. So I can go back to listening to some music and being productive at the same time.

Over time the RescueTime tool will learn with your fine tunes settings – what’s really productive and what’s not. That’s when real power of this tool kicks in.

Comments for RescueTime Stopped Me from Listening To Music

Jul 30, 2014 mean mini machine
by: Francis At least it’s doing its job 🙂 I haven’t tried setting up rescue time with distracting stuff since I don’t like to go to unnecessary sites whenever I am working. Only if it’s really important to go to mainstream platform, that’s the only time. I think it still matters on how an individual will discipline itself from being distracted 😀
Aug 01, 2014 Soundcloud is not so bad for procrastination
by: Francis I’d understand it for Youtube and similar sites that can be used to listen to playlists, but in my case using Soundcloud was not half as much procrastination as it sounds like. ;)If VA’s are more efficient with music, that’s something that should be possible to discuss with their employer.

But for me as an employer, I am not working on my online business all the time. So when I get blocked out of my music, I tend to get cranky.

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Even When I’m off the Computer My Productivity Is Tracked!

by Francis
(October 24, 2012)

even-when-im-off-the-computer-my-productivity-is-tracked-21680425
A productivity tool that asks you where you have been when you go offline 😉

I’m not sure if this is for everyone. But one of the Pro features from the RescueTime tool is that even when I’m away from the computer for 5 minutes, I receive a pop-up form which looks like the picture at the top. This makes me accountable for almost every minute.

If I was at the workplace, this would be a great tool to keep me accountable. Was I discussing important matters in a meeting or did I do other work, then the fields are right there. There’s one option I miss, though.

What about an option to say ‘Sorry I did not work’?

This way the RescueTime offline tracking tool could effectively track when I’m procrastinating off the computer.

No problem – although this option is a little hidden, you can change what each button says and even add more buttons in the settings. Call them “eating”, “sleeping” or “goofing off” – now you can track all that.

Sometimes, when I’m guilty of not working AND am too lazy to track the time exactly, I usually just click ‘Don’t log this time’ instead.

If you sign up for the service for free, they give you a glimpse in to the Pro features for a week or two. After that, the Pro features are turned off. With that, this pop up is also turned off.

Perhaps, it’s not that bad of a deal. But if you can’t really handle pop-ups, simply disable them in the setting. Your choice.

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Oct 24, 2012 Get creative with labeling your newly created categories!
by: FrancisIf you really want to go crazy with this time tracking tool, think hard about how productive each of your manually tracked activities are.

Perhaps you want to create an activity “quality time with your spouse” and mark it as “very productive”?

Or you go to a meeting, record that time accordingly, but mark that as -1 slightly unproductive, because that’s what meetings often are? And then, when you review your statistics, you can decide if you spend too little time with your family and too much time in meetings.
Aug 05, 2014 The Virtual Manager
by: JomvieThe very first time I tried rescuetime, I was totally drained after my shift.

I think it’s because of the feature that requires you to stay on the keyboard and mind the productivity level and/or I am just getting-to-know the software that I am conscious to the point of exhaustion.

But, when I get to know this software and am able to adapt to its nature that pops out whenever you try to procrastinate—it’s just natural.
Aug 05, 2014 Too much pressure lowers your productivity and creativity
by: Francis I can understand that this tool can let you feel pressurized. Think of it as a backup solution to hubstaff to prove your productivity even if you go offline.

Don’t think of it as a mean watchdog program, but as a helpful reminder tool (it’s not a person, just one other tool) to keep you on track.

I guess everyone is different, when using productivity software. When I first used it, I immediately forget it was running in the background.

After collecting data for a few days I checked it to improve my working patterns. Then, I just check it from time to time to see if I am still on track.

Perhaps you could try using it more casually, like that?

Too much pressure may keep you productive, but it can stress you out of being creative.