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Finding a Solution for Internet Interruptions of my Filipino Virtual Assistant

by Francis

Jomvie catches up lost hours on the weekend - This is the exception
Jomvie catches up lost hours on the weekend – This is the exception

Internet connectivity problems, power outages, other incidents – my full time VA from the Philippines, Jomvie, has his share of troubles.
It’s important as an employer to be understanding when there is nothing you can do.

But it’s equally important to be creative and resourceful to find solutions when the situation is not unavoidable.

For a Virtual Employee – Inform your Employer of any Problems

Your Employer is planning on your work output. He has his projects in mind and hopes most of all on things going smoothly. Even though you might be troubled with a situation, it’s still important to squeeze in some time to let your boss know. Else, he is likely to make some wrong assumptions.

Here is what Jomvie wrote to me yesterday:

Hi Francis,

I wasn’t able to finish my shift yesterday due to a combined inevitable event yesterday. There was a very heavy storm that brought heavy rain and flooding and a power shortage. So, I can’t really go out to finish my shift.

Hoping for your kind consideration.

Best and Thanks,
Jomvie

For an employer – think of alternative tasks that can be done offline and of backup plans

Jomvie and I have discussed backup solutions for internet outages many times. From going to an internet coffee to considerations of a secondary internet connection. We also discussed issues of general power outages in the past.

Both are problems that come up regularly in the Philippines.

In my experience, only a minority of virtual assistants from this country try to use this as an excuse. But it’s hard to prove it either way because the productivity of an offline virtual assistant is hard to track. Although there are (paid) solutions for that.

Finding a solution together – for both employers and VAs

I believe you will profit from this discussion, if you are a VA or plan to hire one. Even if you (a VA) come from another country, you can still learn from this.

Different levels of calamity / problems

To you as a VA:
Dependent on how big the problem, you need to react differently.

  1. Really dangerous crisis:
    A taifun is flooding the streets. Houses are broken. There are causalities. What to do? Save yourself! Nothing more important than that. (I tell this because there is a story of a filipino VA who was sitting on the roof of his flooded house, writing to his employer from his laptop which he saved first, that he couldn’t take care of his shift today. That might be a bit extreme)
  2. Unable to work, unable go out:
    Heavy storms and rain make it dangerous or really difficult to go out. Your stuff or your house risks to be damaged. Getting a Taxi would be a big challenge. What to do? Stay put! Make sure your infrastructure is OK, and take care of important phone calls. When you just sit there and there is nothing you can do, work offline and take note of what you do. Log that time as offline time with a short explanation in your daily update later. (I touch on the importance of daily updates here.)
  3. A plain internet deconnection, no other problem:
    Try to get back the internet connection. If that’s impossible, assess how much longer you would need to work today. If it makes sense, go to a backup place or solution for getting internet. Let your employer know (for example via mobile phone).

In all of these cases, when the problem is over, be sure to reach your employer. He might already be worrying about you.

Let’s open the discussion!

There are many other aspects to this situation, but I want to open the discussion to Jomvie and all you readers. Feel free to jump in with your own opinions any time in the comments!

Comments for Finding a Solution for Internet Interruptions of my Filipino Virtual Assistant

Dec 01, 2014 One of the many responsibilities: Let your Boss know
by: Jomvie For the past few weeks, I have been experiencing some difficulties with my internet and this was brought about by the incoming storm.Yes, my internet will always be disrupted whenever there’s a storm coming (actually, I want to change my internet provider, but I have to consider and weigh my options first esp. my work).And so this storm brought heavy rain and flooded the streets of the city on a Friday afternoon.

Since one of the options whenever an internet disconnection would come up is to go to an internet cafe or coffee shop that offers free wifi as long as you’ll buy a coffee from them

Going out is not going to be a good option.

Why?

Heavy rain will always cause a jam packed street and traffic that will last for hours and that will just put my time and effort to waste and most esp. my stingy budget 😀

So, to those who are working as a VA/online workers, you have to make sure that you will be able to let your bosses know what was happening, so that he/she will be able to consider the things you are going through and will give you other options on how to cope with your lost hours.
Dec 07, 2014 Stay put and safe
by: Francis You are describing what i mentioned in the post as level 2 situation. Not life threatening but still very bad to go out.That is why i want you to stay put. Think of which steps are to take to organize yourself in this situation. Are there repairs to do? Do you need to stay in contact our help out a loved one who is in a more dire situation?

Do that first.

If and only if you are sitting around, your computer is still working and you have the right mind to do so – find tasks to do offline.

I sent you a podcast to edit and clean up long time ago in the low priority folder in your Dropbox. Check this out and measure the time needed for editing the audio.

Read the training ebooks for selling and writing.

Rework offline the article about the work ethics if your Dropbox synchronized my video about it from last week.

Continue with the video project offline or create an outline for a new video for me to record audio for.

There are many tasks you could be doing offline. Just track the time manually for now.

I hope the best for you, please stay in touch.

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My Great Ordeal with Rescuetime

by Jomvie
(Full-Time Virtual Assistant)

These are the stats from the moment I turned on Rescuetime--when I was kicked out from Hubstaff
These are the stats from the moment I turned on Rescuetime–when I was kicked out from Hubstaff

I logged on Rescuetime at around 8:55 in the morning since Hubstaff is not in good working condition to time my work. As usual, I went straight on working with the daily task, until I checked Rescuetime at three in the afternoon to see how my logged hours are doing since I don’t usually use it for tracking my work.

I checked on Rescuetime at 3:23 p.m. and my total hours is at 4 hours and 29 minutes. I press the refresh button and got the total logged time at 5 hours and 12 minutes at 3:30 p.m.

And if you are going to check on the figures below, I should be logged on the total hours of 6+ hours running into the 7th hour.

And I was totally caught off guard when I saw my total logged hours were around 5 hours and 12 minutes. I was so surprised because I felt I was robbed again the second time. First, from Hubstaff, and now on Rescuetime.

Manually, the counting should go like this:

  • 8:55 to 9:55 = 1 hour
  • 10:55 = 2 hours
  • 11:55 = 3 hours
  • 12:55 = 4 hours
  • 1: 55= 5 hours
  • 2:55 = 6 hours
  • 3: 55 = 7 hours

So, I am not really happy and this is for the second time today.
I am supposed to catch up with my time today because I am going to be very busy over the weekend for some personal stuff, but I think I need another catching up over the weekend.

And I am really hoping that Hubstaff will get back on live again in good working condition.

Comments for My Great Ordeal with Rescuetime

Oct 19, 2014 Probably another Internet connectivity problem
by: Francis

I really think this has to do with your connection. For me, rescuetime works really well, including mobile phone data integration.

Assuming the connection is the problem, perhaps some small program notifying you of your computer going offline and you noting your working hours offline would help?

Not sure if such a program exists though.
Nov 04, 2014 Hubstaff or Rescuetime?
by: Jomvie

Actually, I was surprised by Rescuetime’s performance. I have used this time-tracker in the past and it was okay. I mean the right timing and counting of hours worked. And I can assure you that the weather was pretty fine.

I don’t have much special features as I am just on a free account. I tried comparing it on random days and weeks—unfortunately, it’s still not the right timing.

But, one thing I noticed, my performance or productivity level is pretty high with Rescuetime compared to Hubstaff. 😀
Feb 20, 2015 RescueTime Is Best Used in Combination With Hubstaff
by: Francis

RescueTime is not really the best tool to strictly speaking record the hours you have worked with. It can be a help to track your time if you only enable the RescueTime software during the time you are working. But thinking of disabling and enabling RescueTime every time you start working is probably too tedious. That’s what Hubstaff is for.

Now if Hubstaff is making problems because your internet connection is perhaps not stable enough then RescueTime at least gives you some additional information about when you are productive or when you are not being productive. Of course, the pro feature from RescueTime gives you much bigger opportunities. But for the beginning, the free features are just fine.

The absolute numbers of productivity levels from Hubstaff, are also not always the best measure for seeing how productive you are. If you have a task that needs a lot of listening to the audio, then your keyword and clicking activity is very low. Still, that doesn’t mean you are not productive.

On the other hand, if the screenshots show the same work over half an hour and there’s apparently nothing happening there then this is a sign of low productivity.

RescueTime has the advantage of tracking all sort of behavior which you are doing on your computer. If you implement it with your mobile phone and use offline tracking, which is a pro feature, you can track a lot of different activities even when you’re away from your computer.

But even with the free feature, having high levels of productivity with RescueTime is a good sign definitively. But it’s also very dependent on which tasks you define as being productive and which tasks you define as being nonproductive.

Please let me know if you feel that using RescueTime is a help for you to track or improve your productivity.

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Duplicate Your Virtual Assistants: Have One VA Train Another

by Francis
(Oct 09, 2014)

Two Heads are Better Than One

Two Heads are Better Than One

As you know, I have 2 permanent VAs on my team. One is my main VA working for me about 30 hours a week; the other is a full-time VA working full-time. The full-time VA is less tech-savvy than the first one. Still, he is eager to learn and shows much potential.

The most time efficient way for me to transfer the skills and knowledge from one VA to another is to have both of them sit together and talk things out.

Paying Twice For Training One Virtual Assistant?

Obviously, this training time is paid time for both VAs. The learning VA Jomvie, can ask questions back and forth. And my main VA is in direct touch with me coordinating which skills he’s transferring to Jomvie.

Of course, it’s an investment mostly of money, but it is a hands-free activity. It doesn’t involve my time at all. Since my time is precious (and yours is too), I prefer this method.

It’s less costly overall. My thought is to have one assistant continue about his work and then train your other assistant instead of yourself doing it.

If you plan on really scaling up to a whole group of virtual assistants and want them to do the same tasks, then it really make sense to record your instructions and recycle them per virtual assistant.

Ideal Helper's internal training - Validation department
In order to write down all the experience of my VAs, I have a specific team member focus only on saving learned lessons. I call it my Validation department.

I already, sometimes, distribute audio or video instructions to both of my virtual assistants. It’s then up to them to divide the tasks between them according to their skills and work as a team to achieve the result wanted.

Never Stop Expanding the Skills of Your Virtual Assistants

With each skill your VA gains, the possibilities you have of tasks that you can outsource to him grow. If your virtual assistant can only write well then you have a good writer. But if he also knows how to copywrite or, how to edit, or how to format the content, or how to implement it into a CMS, then your possibilities really have grown, haven’t they?

Virtual Assistants Understand Each Other

Obviously as an employer, you can train and instruct your virtual assistants in whichever style suits all of you best. I have found that letting my VAs figure things out between them is helpful. It shows the less experienced VA how the more experienced VA is thinking. And it gives the more experienced VA the possibility to answer in real time, for example via Skype chat to all concerns from the less experienced.

In other words, there’s really nothing such as a stupid question. A question that might seem so simple to the learning VA that he might be too shy to ask his employer suddenly becomes much more doable.

A concern that the more experienced VA would be overlooking and much more, the employer then comes up before more time is lost.

All in all, this strategy is very time efficient to quickly expand the skill level of an additional team member of your virtual assistants.

I hope this insight was useful to you, especially if you already work with one VA and really works out fine. And especially if you think about, “I’d like to expand, but will I ever find a VA that’s as cool as my first VA?”

If you find yourself in this position, or not, I appreciate you jumping in and leaving your opinion down in the comments.

Comments for Duplicate Your Virtual Assistants: Have One VA Train Another

Nov 03, 2014 Nurturing individual’s potential
by: JomvieThis has been my first “virtual assistant” job as a regular online worker for the past 12 months and that I can really say “I am truly a virtual assistant.”Why? It’s because I have been trained on what are the priorities and responsibilities of an online provider.Things that I never knew existed before are just right in front of me. I think most Filipino online providers did not undergo any proper training not even short courses in rendering services.As long as you are interested in making a living online and you are confident in speaking in English—well, you just got yourself a job.This job has widened my range of skills and knowledge in working online and I am truly grateful that I have been given this opportunity and to the team’s patience in pushing me to my limits to nurture my potential skills that I didn’t know existed until I was given this job.
Feb 20, 2015 Congratulation Jomvie
by: Francis
It’s great that you have achieved this step of becoming a virtual assistant. There are probably many who really and honestly try very hard and then they give up because the challenges are too much to overcome. There are also many who try to make a quick buck trying to trick their employer for their money. Granted that there are also a black sheep among the employers who try to trick virtual assistant but it’s probably not the topic of the discussion.For me, it has made a big difference to have a second experienced assistant on my team to train the less experienced one. I was able to train that first assistant to that level of high experience because I had much more time in the past. If you, as a potential employer, are thinking about hiring a virtual assistant full time, really think hard about the time you need to train that person especially if you need to train a fresh virtual assistant from scratch.Working with a project based virtual assistant is much easier for the beginning. But then you are missing out the potential of a full time virtual assistant who really gives his all for your business.It’s a tough choice to make. But there is definitively a solution for every type of employer. Encouraging the knowledge transfer of several virtual assistants, if you already have a team of VAs, is definitively of advantage.

 

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Working Offline on Your Computer is 100% More Efficient than Working Online

by Francis
(Sep 25, 2014)

It is crazy how much time is wasted while being online if you are an online entrepreneur. You read forums, eBooks, download more materials, watch YouTube videos, conference recordings; the list is endless.

What are you not doing while you’re being online? You’re not being productive, of course. I have made this experience over and over again. So that I even went so far as to download software that forces me to stay offline in order to get stuff done.

When I force my computer offline for chunks of 90 minutes at a time, even if I suddenly start doing some house chores instead of working at my computer finishing and polishing articles, for example, I still get more done than if I am online and use a diverse set of online productivity tools.

A simple reason for that is that to set up your online productivity tools to keep them up to date, to check how your productivity is online all the time is taking away from the very thing you want to optimize. It’s taking away from your productivity.

Hmm, that is a bit of a dilemma, it?

How’s The Situation for a Virtual Assistant?

For a virtual assistant, the situation is a bit trickier. One of the main tasks of a VA is to stay online while he works. A simple reason can be that you have a time tracker installed that records your work while being online. This is highly recommended to every employer that you screen your virtual assistant using some time tracker application.

That aside, a virtual has not the leisure of goofing off on the internet while they are paid. It requires quite a bit of willpower and discipline to stay away from Facebook and the like during all work hours. That’s even more the case for full time virtual assistant who are required to work up to 8 hours a work day without such unproductive online distractions.

So the solution in this blog post is not so much for virtual assistants.

Exception: If you find out that your virtual assistant is giving you more value for your money when he can work offline than he gives you when he works online then you should propose this to him.

Do You Really Need A Software To Get Offline?

The software is easy to use and it was cheap. It cost me just $10 one-time fee. I could very well press the button to disconnect myself from the internet. But then with one press of a button, I would have an easy pretext to check back some stuff online and be unproductive again. You could also go to your router and unplug it. In some cases people living with you, for example, your family might not appreciate that so much.

The simple fact is that to be productive on your websites if you are not doing specific steps that need absolutely to be done online, you’re probably only need Word processor and your Windows Explorer for the structure. In my case, I also use screen video recordings and audio recordings with my mobile a whole lot. All of that can mostly be done offline.

What If You Want To Be Productive With Websites Online And Still Cut Yourself From The Internet?

In my case, I review the work diaries from virtual assistants regularly with video and audio recordings to give instructions for the next steps.

In the case I want to really crank up the productivity, I just open a set of tabs of stuff that I want to work on in my preferred browser, in this case, Google Chrome. Then, I disconnect myself from the internet if I close a tab, I cannot reopen it again since I’m offline.

I’m now forced to work through each of the open tabs of my browser without being able to open a new browser or the change internet address. This really focuses me back in to reach the greatest productivity and especially as a content writer and a website owner. This has proven to be one of the most efficient ways to stay productive if you have to do with work on the internet.

Don’t Turn Your Internet Connection Off Just Yet!

Before you throw your router out of the window and cut your internet connection cables, please do take some time to let me know about your thoughts. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Is this practicable? Do you think it’s exaggerated to install software that disconnects you from the internet? Or has the internet age progress to a state where one has to fight online distractions with every tool you got at your disposal.

I would be really interested to know about that. Please go ahead and click below to join and add a comment to the discussion.

Comments for Working Offline on Your Computer is 100% More Efficient Than Working Online

Nov 03, 2014 Self-Motivation and Self-Discipline
by: JomvieThe good thing is, I am not a fan of any social media platforms, but I do peek once in a while.

I always make sure that my shift would be entirely for my job.

If there’s a need to refer some stuff online, well, that’s when the time I will open a tab on the internet.

It’s just a self-motivation and self-discipline—although I am often guilty with these two, but this is the best traits of a virtual assistant to avoid from being distracted and procrastinating.
Feb 20, 2015 Working Online Has a Lot of Temptations to Procrastinate
by: FrancisIf you are working online all day, it’s very hard to resist the temptations. That’s why it’s good that you are so disciplined, not to give in to the next shiny button or link just wander off into the dance of funny YouTube videos or social media. There are, of course, lots of tools that can help you block distracting websites. RescueTime is one of them.

Do you have any tip from your own experience how one can learn to have a better self discipline?

Being disciplined and organized and, ideally, very regular work with your work are very important aspects of being a virtual assistant. But even if you are a VA, these characteristics can be very useful if you want to be more productive in any area of your life.

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Living in a Tropical Country Like the Philippines – As a Virtual Assistant or as an Employer for Vacations

by Jomvie
(Full-time VA from the Philippines)

We’ve been talking about how the weather affects our daily lives in the Philippines, especially online workers like me. I will give you a quick background about our climate and when is the best time to come and visit the Philippines for an “R and R”.

You might be puzzled from my recent posts if you are clueless about how the season work in our country. So, let’s start talking about our two seasons:

  1. Dry/Sunny season
  2. Wet/Rainy season

Since we live near the equator, our climate is categorized as tropical and is divided into four types. But, let’s not complicate it so much and stick to our two seasons—the simpler the better. 🙂

I will start with our Dry Season which begins in the months of December to May.

But it does not mean that from December to May, there’s no rainfall. I will show you an overview below in a table for a better understanding.

Next, the Rainy Season which starts from June to November. From my recent post, I mentioned that our weather is very unusual lately.

The month of June should be the start of a rainy season. Since we’ve been experiencing the El Nino Phenomenon that’s getting worse year after year—rainfall didn’t show up recently and we’re experiencing hot and humid weather.

This is how the months ideally fall for our seasons in the Philippines:

philippines-weather-monthwise
You might be wondering what that “DRY but cool and hot” season means? That is the cool air from the winter monsoon—that’s the literal “Christmas air”.

And if that table says, “it’s hot and DRY” these are the months where we suffer from four-hour rotational brownouts. In some places in the Mindanao island—six hours. These are summer months accompanied by the El Nino Phenomenon.

And when it says, “Rainy-RAINY”, these are the months where storms start to strike our neighboring island (Luzon and Visayas).

I think you can picture now or visualize what I have been talking about from my recent posts. And supposedly, rotating brownouts should have ended last May. However, due to the unexpected occurrence of the long weeks of El Nino (this means no RAIN for weeks and weeks), we can’t complain but just have to wait until it’s okay.

The start of a cool and rainy night

Recently, these past few days for three consecutive nights, we are now experiencing a cooler nights and mornings since rain has arrived. And I am so glad that I can work just fine and my brain can function pretty okay with the cooler surroundings. I just hope everyone across the country is doing fine with this transition—because I am 😀

I’m no raining man—just an ordinary person

Every time there’s a storm coming in the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR). They are named in accordance of the English alphabet. And we start to name these storms from the month of January until December.

Sometimes in a month, we will experience 3 to 4 storms. Naming them is as easy as remembering them since we will just follow the alphabet. Last year, we reached Z and the name of the storm was Zorayda.

(I am sounding like a weather forecaster now, but you can always double-check for a second opinion.)

Please do jump in on the comment box, I am open for comments and suggestions 🙂

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Generators: An Alternative for Filipino Virtual Assistants for the Frequent Power Interruptions

by Jomvie
(Francis’ Full-time VA from the Philippines)

An electricity generator like this costs over 250$ in the Philippines
An electricity generator like this costs over 250$ in the Philippines

Virtual Assistants from the Philippines have to deal with frequent power outages due to their location. As an employer, you want them to stay online so that they can complete their tasks for you sufficiently. What means and ways does an ordinary citizen during power interruption have?

How does an ordinary Filipino person live when the lights will go out?

This is in response to my recent post that showed how a virtual assistant from the Philippines lives all throughout these inevitable circumstances.

Due to the lacking source of energy, our city suffers from more or less four hours of rotational brownout. That four-hour brownout is agonizing since the weather is extremely hot and humid and often times accompanied with no water in our faucets.

How does that sound? Irritating, right?

A Mini-Machine’s Big Contribution

In some places, there are lucky people who own a generator –a machine that generates electricity through gas fuel. And this mini machine can help alleviate the irritating heat of the sun./

Luckily, the summer months have just ended and we no longer suffer from the scorching heat and brownouts. Unfortunately, due to the unlikely weather, recently we have suffered from another episode of power interruption that happens on random hours of the day or night — you can check my post here.

Ordinary Citizen versus Prominent Individuals

Since I am just one of the ordinary citizens and employees, I can’t afford to acquire that electricity generator. So, I will just wait patiently for the lights to go back.

And, personally, I think it’s not practical for me to spend on a machine that will only be of use most of the time during summer.

Yes – rotational brownouts are an expected phenomenon during the months of summer.

On the other hand, some rich people in prominent places around the city would probably acquire this kind of thing. I don’t know them personally, but they are able to have one.

And me? I’ll just spend an hour inside the bathroom or chip some ice cubes or ice cream to cool down.

And guess what? You can’t even spend some cooling-off-time inside the mall because they also do conserve their energy…!

Profit or Loss

Do you think because they’re a big store and have a big generator to supply power, you can just come and go once the power is off? No, you don’t.

The only hunch I have in mind is—the fuel costs them big bucks if they will use it fully to continuously provide comfort.

One day, I went to our local mall’s hardware store and saw this mini-generator. The cheapest cost was about $250 (or Php 10,000 in our local money), which is a big amount. And I just want to be practical and spend this kind of money on more important stuff.

If someone would gladly donate me some mini-generator, well, I will not think about saying yes or no! 😀

Do jump in on the comment box and let me know about your thoughts.

Comments for Generators: An Alternative for Filipino Virtual Assistants for the Frequent Power Interruptions

Sep 18, 2014 Advanced equipment for pros
by: Francis As a beginner VA, I agree that it is not the first investment that comes to mind. A fast and reliable computer is probably a wiser decision.However, it’s interesting to see how the weather conditions play a crucial role in your day-to-day work life. Most employers are probably not aware of this situation for Filipino VAs. If you nonchalantly mention the temperatures and humidity you experience during summer, more employers will (probably) be more understanding.

And let you work during hours where work is doable.
Sep 18, 2014 Power Invertors are the better choice
by: Francis’ Main VA As a virtual assistant, I have almost overcome the problem. In my feeling, power inverters are by far more efficient than generators.Why?

  1. They are battery supported so you don’t need fuel to run them, obviously fuel cost is additional if you use a power generator.
  2. They are less expensive than generators, prices start from $150 (Battery Included)
  3. They provide 3-4 hour power backup which is more than enough.
  4. You can also run other electric items like a fan or an electric bulb simultaneously.
  5. They automatically turn on and off whenever you confront a power interruption, so you don’t have to start/shutdown them manually each time like power generators.
Sep 25, 2014 Power Inverter versus Generators
by: Jomvie This is the first time that I heard about power inverters, and we’ll definitely try and check it out.And I think it is less annoying because you’ll just have to attach it to a battery. Unlike generators, they create a noisy and annoying sound and also they have the same hours of power supply.

Thanks for that tip by the way. 😀
Sep 26, 2014 I was not aware of power inverters either – until yet
by: Francis Funny but I found a power converter in a supermarket today! I even took a photo of it. Price here in Germany for it was 150€. And the device was portable but not well suited for flying it around the world in my briefcase. 😉I would love more about using these power inverters for electricity for portable computers.
Oct 15, 2014 another option?
by: Bill Hi, I wonder if a 80-100watt (or more) solar cell and a truck size battery is a practical alternative to a generator? Also, no there is fuel to purchase, but it must be sunny, so it’s no good for rainy weather.(obvious)How does the (solar cell and battery) initial purchase prices compare to a small-ish 4 stroke generator- remember a generator can also charge a battery/s as well, so it can really give double value- use fuel while charging a battery at the same time,(maybe a fridge also) then run your laptop (and a small “car type” fan) from the battery- several large bottles of (frozen)cold water in the base of the fridge help keep it colder, longer.

A solar cell, battery AND generator combination would allow the most flexibility. Remember a very “cheap” generator often makes “dirty” 240v power, much too dirty to “safely” use with electronics without a filter of some type… a big battery can, together with a small inverter smooth the “bumps” enuf to keep a laptop happy- a computer “UPS” IS a perfect filter for “generator direct” power….

An “inverter” type generator is SPECIALLY made for running electronic devices, safely, but is a bit more expensive…. especially the big brand name ones… but some of the cheaper ones are made in the same factories, so shop carefully. Ebay -can- be a source of surprisingly good quality generators, of both types,(with care).

Power blackouts are not unique to the Philippines,

We also have them in rural Western Australia – where temps sometimes can get to 45 degrees- just today I used a generator for five hours during an outage, so I speak from ong (AND also qualified) experience-

This is NOT a technical level comment, but enuf to provoke thought, I hope.
Feb 20, 2015 Great Ideas!
by: Francis Hi Bill, thanks a lot for taking the time to really share your experience with your alternative to a generator with us. You obviously have put a lot of thought into writing this comment.It’s interesting to see that not only the Filipinos are struggling with those power outages but even so-called western countries or should I say more modern countries like Australia. Forty five degrees definitively sounds very hot 🙂

The challenge for many virtual assistants, especially for those who are in developing countries, is that the cost position for a more complicated generator alternative is often too expensive for them. Also, the only thing they often need to take care of is to make sure that the energy is there for running the computer and probably their router. So they often don’t need a solution that generates lots of electricity.

Can you think of a technical solution that is sufficient for only one laptop, and ideally, is in a low price range? I would really look forward to hear from you again. But anyways, thanks for taking the time to leave such a great comment.