Ideal-Helper

You are here: Home / Blog Page

Blog Page

By Leave a Comment

SBI is not only a Platform for Making an Online Business – It is also a Place Where People Care

by Francis
(December 06, 2012)

I Love SBI!

I’m excited every time I log into SBI and every time I read the SBI forums. The owner of the whole system, Ken, is an extremely wise, business savvy and most of all kind man.

How much?

It so only becomes apparent if you are part of the community and see day to day his commitment and passion to his customers. The customers, of course are people who possess site builder websites.

One of Many Acts of the Heart

I’m not saying this happens every day and I’m not saying that you’re entitled to this sort of service if you sign up and create a website on SBI. However, the spirit is something which I find more and more often especially in times like now when Webmasters are depressed and de-motivated by all the changes on Google algorithms.

What happened?

A user of the forum who previously had two extremely successful websites on SBI got hit hard by the different algorithm changes and couldn’t do anything about it.

“Where is the point in building a website if something can happen overnight to destroy your online business?” He asked; a very valid question.

You should be careful when starting an online business. It does not always go well. However, for all its worth, if you do it when you’re using SBI; you’re doing it in the most safely, well-thought out way that it is possible to build an online business. That much I can guarantee.

So what’s the News?

SBI!

The user got more and more depressed in his post. So much that even the business owner, Ken, got involved in to the discussion. And then when the customer could not take it anymore from all the setbacks, Ken made him a special offer. He showed him how he could get some help for free within the walls of SBI of course.

Before that many, many users already tried their level best to give him useful business advice on how to save his online businesses. Some of those users are already extremely successful themselves. All of this great advice is very useful for any reader like me who does not even have that problem.

To be part of the forum themselves, which are really full of loving and friendly people, is one the best features from the whole SBI subscriptions. It is one of the reasons why I still will chose SBI for every website I will create just to support this great community.

It’s rare to find such kind, friendly places online. Usually, you will only find people who try to make profit on your expense or customers who are only searching for what’s in it for them.

In the SBI forum, the focus is on help and get helped. Everyone looks out to each other. To be honest, I already have made some dear online friends without even having met them. I hope I will be able to go to one of those conferences, which take place from time to time, organized by SBI users to meet some of my online friends face to face.

By Leave a Comment

Problems with Getting My Order for An Outsourced Logo from Fiverr

by Francis
(December 06, 2012)

Getting this logo done was not always easy

Getting this logo done was not always easy

I thought I had a pretty good deal with this gig. The user promised a great logo delivered in two or three weeks. He was smart to add additional gigs that you could buy in addition in order to speed things up.

I want to economize some money and was ready to patiently wait my three weeks until I get my logo. Also, he has only had good feedback so I was willing to trust in the process.

Now here’s what happened, I wrote to him the following;
need a log disscussion screenshot
After I have submitted this message and waited the time needed; I got the response from him.

need a log disscussion screenshot
I genuinely could understand that this Fiverr person did not want me to leave him a bad feedback. And I also understand if there’s a technical glitch.

However, I never received my logo up to this point of writing this blog post. Perhaps, this will work out. I have sent him a last stern email.

The problem is Fiverr’s rating system. It’s heavily geared towards the seller and not the person who actually pays the money. That, in my opinion, is a flaw on the Fiverr website.

A few days after my logo was supposedly delivered, I still got an option to resolve a problem or ask for a refund. A few days later, this option has disappeared. The only thing I can still do is give a positive or a negative feedback.

I can even imagine that a few days later, he will get a positive feedback by default. I’m not sure about this but I could imagine this happening.

So as long as I still have some leverage, I will be able to put negative feedback on this seller’s page. If he delivers good results, I will probably be able to change this into positive feedback.

Bottom line, when you pay your money on Fiverr, it’s your job to run after the results because it will be difficult to get the money back.

I hope that the final outsourced logo will be worth it. I have had more worries than $5 are actually worth.

Comments for Problems with Getting My Order for an Outsourced Logo from Fiverr

Jan 28, 2013 The Results Weren’t So Bad After All!
by: FrancisCheck out this post to read more about how all turned out fine in the end.But still the message is:

“You need some patience and good nerves some times, if you order things on Fiverr.
And if you have both of them, this service can be worth it!”

By Leave a Comment

How I Experienced the Cost of Living in Paris on My Last Vacation

by Francis
(December 05, 2012)

Postcard from my last visit to Paris

Postcard from my last visit to Paris

Last summer, I made a quick visit of a week to Paris to visit some friends and have a good time. Also, you might be wondering why I’m talking about my vacation in Paris when this site is all about virtual assistants.

In fact, the ideas behind the whole website “Ideal-Helper” have been born in my vacation in Paris.

Especially on how I experienced the relatively high cost of living in Paris (France) compared to the cost of living in Munich (Germany). This inspired me to talk about how different countries have extremely high differences in living costs. That is what makes outsourcing possible – this difference in income level and how much stuff costs.

How Beer Is Shockingly Expensive in Paris

Very Expensive glass of beer in Paris

Tired from my long train ride to Paris, I decided to go to a local bar and enjoy some of the local beers before I had the opportunity to check-in to my guest room.

I was both shocked and sarcastically amused about how expensive the beer in Paris is.

To give you an orientation, for a quarter of a liter of beer expect to pay 5€ which is about $6.5.

That’s about double or even more than double of what you would pay in Munich. And Munich, you have to know, is one of the more expensive cities in Germany.

So it won’t surprise you that I passed 4 hours slowly nibbling on two beers while reading a book.

I was not only drinking two beers in that bar at that time. In fact, I had an extremely lively discussion with a very close friend of mine about the ethics of outsourcing.

The discussion was so intense that I actually thought about not realizing the website.

It was only after I took after a few days of heavy thinking and a very long and honest discussion with my virtual assistant that I decided to go for it.”

How Shopping for Food Is Surprisingly Expensive

Expensive Pizza in Paris
It’s not only the bars that have really high prices, prices in Paris are high everywhere. If you go shopping and buy:

  • an instant pizza
  • some cheese
  • and some dessert

Don’t be surprised if you come out with easily 14 Euros of final costs.

In fact, I jokingly called my girlfriend right after I made this purchase. I sent her a photo of what I bought and challenged her to estimate how much it did cost. She estimated half of the price.

You Won’t Be Surprised To See That Souvenirs Are Also Shockingly Expensive

Eiffel Tower Souvenirs for sale in a Paris store
You know how this goes, you go to a foreign city; you are 100% in “tourist-mode” and so you buy the most expensive useless tourist souvenirs next to the most possibly expensive place in the whole city. In this case, right next to the Eiffel Tower.

Check out the picture and see how much a shrill pink Eiffel Tower really is worth. Well if it authentically comes from Paris, you will at least earn the jealousy of all your friends. But normally, you wouldn’t buy that stuff.

Check the price tag on the picture to see how much you’ll pay for that. You won’t find any of those little statues in the home of a normal guy or girl in Paris.

Little Anecdote about How We Got Tricked Into Paying a High Priced Meal Even With Local People in Our Group

One day on my vacation, I went to many museums and saw a lot of stuff. After a few hours, we were all hungry and thirsty and decided that we would be really, really be smart. Yeah, right!

The thinking was sound though. We decided not to go eat out right in the Champs-Élisées but to travel a few stations further in order to find some cheaper food.

We went to this other train station near “Oberkampf” and tried to find a place to eat out there. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday. It was probably the highest priced area in Paris next to the Champs-Élisées or the surroundings of the Eiffel Tower.

Ice cream in a bowl

We were out of luck. In fact, we found more stores open selling fur or diamonds than we found stores selling water or food. At one corner, we discovered one last cafe that was open. There we got tricked at least once.

I chose to spend the least possible money on a refreshment-food. I chose an ice cream for only $5. As I was about to take it out, they suggested they could take it out to my place for me; which as I was eating it on the place increased its price to 8 Euros. You can imagine I was pretty pissed.

food and salad in a plate

My friends took out a nice meal for two and we tried everything to make it as cheap as possible. We economized on the tips. We profited as much as possible on the free tap water and re-ordered the free tap water as much as we could take.

We even ate up all their free bread that was served together with salad sauce and salt. It was borderline pathetic but we had some fun. The food was great though. Only simply, just, way too expensive.

If You Haven’t Been In Paris, Stop what you’re doing and Go There Immediately

You might be somehow disgruntled about going to Paris after reading this article. But I’m highly sarcastic. I was there repeatedly and I will go there again. Just don’t forget to fill your purse a little bit more than the usual.

Wandering around in the markets of Paris

It’s not called the city of love for no reason. It is great to go there and one should be going there once in their life if they have the opportunity.

Phew! A long blog post nears its end. If you had read so far, I’m sure you have had your own thoughts about Paris. Perhaps you have even gone there. What do you have to say about Paris? Did you ever find encounter?

If you have a question, rant or comment to add please do it on the comments below.

By Leave a Comment

Using Free Software for Voice Recognition and Transcribe into Text Automatically

by Francis
(December 04, 2012)

young beautiful virtual assistant with a head gear

If you want a free transcription software and you use Windows 7, simply try typing the term “Speech Recognition” into the search field.

You’ll be surprised to find very useful, totally free software for voice recognition.

For simple transcription of your voice recordings, this tool should do fine. Remember to talk very slowly.

However, if you want to get the very best results from even sub-optimal voice recordings, be sure to hire a transcriptionist that is human. You’ll get better results this way.

 

How Do You Get a Virtual Assistant for Your SBI Website

by Francis
(December 04, 2012)

Recently, a friend from the forums asked me about how I got a virtual assistant to work for me on my SBI! site.

I decided to gather all the information I could into one big article.

Hope you enjoy!

 

Do You Have To Fear Bad Work Ethics in the Philippines

by Francis
(December 05, 2012)

human vectors standing in a row and holding flags of the Philippines

If you ever have really worked together with a virtual assistant from the Philippines, you’ll be surprised how much of a good deal this is.

There are almost no downsides from choosing a provider from the Philippines to work for you on your outsourcing projects.

About the two very small issues that you should look out for, please read the full page about outsourcing to the Philippines.

 

How to Not Be Involved In Bad Business Ethics When Outsourcing

by Francis
(December 11, 2012)

young beautiful virtual assistant with a head gear

When you chose to get involved with outsourcing and when you hire a virtual assistant from overseas, you will be confronted with the possibility that you can hire people for ridiculously low amounts of money.

This is where you have to make a personal choice.

How low will you go with your pay rate?

You will probably find some desperate person willing to work for under minimum rates.

How good would the quality of the work be, though?

In my opinion, you should invest in to screening for a good assistant. Making sure that work conditions are acceptable to both parties.

And most important of all, you shouldn’t be part of the low rate dumping movement.

 

How to Write a Job Description on oDesk

by Francis
(December 12, 2012)

girl writing something on a notepad while sitting in front of the laptop

When you write a job description for the oDesk outsourcing service, you try to do several things.

  • First, you want to find a good freelancer for your project.
  • Second, you want to compare different candidates against each other.
  • Third, you want to get a feel for the communication with your interviewees.
  • And fourth, you want to lose as little time as necessary for the whole invitation process.

Be sure to read all our tips about Writing a Job Description.

 

A Lot of Work Behind the Scenes and Wrapping up A New Project

by Francis
(December 17, 2012)

man sitting in front of laptop computer seriously watching and thinking

Even though things seem to be a little more quiet here on ideal-helper, several projects are being worked on in the background.

After we get a lot of audio transcription done, we’ll present the result of a big teamwork research that I outsourced.

Also, there was a problem with my assistant being away for some time due to private reasons. Without him, the work went on a little slower. Actually, a lot slower.

I’m almost not used to working my website alone anymore.

But stay tuned. There’s a lot to come.

 

Software That Tells Me How Productive I Am

by Francis
(December 19, 2012)

girl typing on computer with a pencil in her teeth

If you don’t measure, you cannot improve.

If you want to improve your productivity, you must be able to measure it. This is a simple lesson I have learned from experience.

You can actually use software to measure how productive you are. To do that, it must run on your computer, while you’re working, silently in the background.

After a week, re-check with the software.

What are your productive habits?

What are your unproductive habits?

The software can even tell you at which time of the day you are being productive and when you are essentially only wasting your time.

Could this information be useful for you?

By Leave a Comment

Ninety-Nine Percent Fail because They Do not Get Started – Use a Virtual Assistant to Get a Head Start

by Francis
(December 03, 2012)

Famous Saying by Mark Twain

Famous Saying by Mark Twain

If you are anything like your average Joe then it is likely that you spend most of your time dreaming, reading and thinking of new projects, new ideas even viable business ideas but zero percent acting on it. Thinking, reading and educating yourself is fine and good as long as you stay away from time and money-wasters, there is no harm done.

How will you eventually get successful if you don’t get started?

It would be easy for me to say well just get started.

But let’s be honest here, your habits or mine as far as I know, don’t change in one day. Actually I have read that a habit needs 30 continuous days of success to change.

So let’s assume that both you and me will stay lazy and will continue to procrastinate all day.

Where is the solution?

I have found my solution and if you’ve read a few other posts on this website it will come very obviously.

The solution:

  • Use a virtual assistant to get some work done.
  • Try to reduce the “procrastinating yourself”.

It’s a simple two step formula for success. If you like metaphors more think of it this way, your virtual assistant is a more productive copy of yourself.

Now, hold your horses.

It’s only a metaphor. Of course, your VA is a different person than you. But your VA makes his living working productively and concentrated at one task at a time for you.

A good virtual assistant will only do the work he’s supposed to do. From time to time, he will give you useful feedback in order not to get too deep into the next shiny offer that comes your way. It happened to me recently.

Click here to check out this link about how my virtual assistant helped me not to do a bad business decision.

To get successful you will, first of all, need to get started to do some work. It does not even have to be the best possible work. You are allowed to make mistakes. That’s how people learn. Just think of a child who doesn’t listen to his mother telling him that this stuff is hot. He will need to burn his fingers once in order to learn it. That’s just how humans are.

How does this relate to you?

If you try out hiring a virtual assistant then you will make the experience that some work will actually get done. Perhaps, it’s not perfect. Perhaps you need to tweak your instructions to your VA so that the work gets better and better. But it will get done.

If you haven’t had assigned this work to a virtual worker, it would still lie on your desk or, worse, in your head.

Virtual Assistants Are Not Only For People Who Are Already Successful. Virtual Assistants Are Also Great For Newbies.

Four eyes see more than two. Two brains learn faster than one. Don’t you agree?

Having a virtual assistant at your side is having a second loyal partner who’s ready to cross check your thoughts and ideas, to learn with you and to help you implement what you learned. It doesn’t make a difference if you are a book author, a website creator, a musician, a painter, a brick and mortar business owner or a work at home mom.

Whatever you do, you will have your own challenges. I cannot anticipate what you’re dealing with. The only thing I know, if you have two people working out the same problem it will go faster than you are alone. If it is only by hiring a virtual assistant who will tell you, “Hey, it’s okay. Relax. Drink a tea.” Sometimes, that’s all you need. Of course if you train your virtual assistant to do more than that, you will probably be even more productive.

I hope you would take this post in the spirit it is intended. Get started with whatever troubles you. Overcome the challenges either by rolling back your sleeves and starting to get the work done or by getting help – by a virtual helper- and multiplying your efforts or by doing both of what I said above at the same time.

If you got inspired by this post or if you thought this post was boring, I’d love your comments either way. Jump into the discussion by clicking on the link below.

By Leave a Comment

How I Outsourced My Logo Creation for My Website

by Francis
(December 03, 2012)

how-i-outsourced-my-logo-creation-for-my-website-21689082
My Old Facebook Logo

A few days ago, I had a heated discussion over Facebook with an acquaintance of mine. He really had a problem with the old design of my Facebook fan page. Instead of getting annoyed at how personal his comments were, I try to find the optimal solution. Some people suggested I use 99designs to get a logo created for about $100.

The problem?

I was simply not ready to spend $100 just to have a design created. Perhaps some time in future when I’m ready to invest that much money into my website, but not now.

Creating a Logo for Only $5

Luckily, there are cheaper alternatives out there. The alternative is called Fiverr.

For such designer jobs, the Fiverr service is the ideal solution. I won’t create a logo for my website itself. I don’t want to risk any copyright problems or something like that. But for a Facebook fan page or a Twitter logo, this is perfect.

No one will get angry at me for using something like that for a Twitter or Facebook logo. It’s simply a decision of practicability versus risk and return of interest. And $5 for a logo, that’s okay.

Choosing the Right Designer on Fiverr

Fortunately and unfortunately on Fiverr, there are many designers. Simply looking for the feedbacks score is not enough to find the best one. It takes some time to really read what the people write on the feedback reviews.

Since it’s only $5, I can risk it and try to choose one of the designers I found interesting. He has a delivery time of 18 days and almost 200 orders in the queue. This is enough for me to say that this guy probably knows what he’s doing. Also, he’s a top-rated seller and has a feedback score of 100% good feedback.

This sounds okay.

I am really excited about seeing the results from this outsourcing experiment. I’m just about to order this Fiverr Gig. These 18 days of waiting time will be killing me. Having patience is not something you can outsource just now 🙂

Appearance versus Content

The bottom-line in my opinion is, if I have a great Facebook fan page where I post useful stuff from time to time. Then, real fans and real friends will support me even if my logo design sucks. This is my honest opinion.

If I put all my efforts in having a nice appearance but what I’m talking about is uninteresting, this really would be the worst choice. But just in order to make my very visually oriented visitors happy, I’m ready to invest a little bit into a nicer logo.

Let’s hope it’s worth it.

Comments for How I Outsourced My Logo Creation for My Website

ec 04, 2012 After I Put Some Pressure, I Finally Got My Logo 🙂
by: Francis

It took some long waiting days , but I finally got my logo.

Check it out here;

Ideal_Helper_logo_optimized
Looks nice.

Doesn’t it?

Well I think it was worth it for $5.
Jun 21, 2013 20 dollar logo
by: Anonymous

I used www.20dollarlogo.com which was pretty good and had my logo in 2 days.

I think it’s worth paying the extra $15 and knowing you’ll get quality, and it’s so easy to communicate with them.

Hope that helps someone.
Aug 28, 2014 Constructive criticism works effectively
by: John

I can see that there’s nothing wrong with that previous design. We all do have that firsts and then later improve and I don’t think sarcasm helps.

He/she could just have said it in a way of constructive criticism—it’s most helpful and effective.
Aug 30, 2014 For a logo you want perfect from the first try
by: Francis

A logo is representing your product. Of course you want it to be perfect. Still, no need to pay big $$$ from the first try…

If you make use of revisions in good fiverr gigs, carefully review the feedback and work samples… you can get far with 5 bucks.

Even if you repeat that process 5 times you will be much cheaper off than with a premium service for 100 bucks.