It’s been working well so far. The cat in the background is called Morse
after the TV detective series set in Oxford where I live.

I managed to get my web cam working so expect to see more video clips popping up on the blog over the coming weeks. I’ll keep them short as your time and productivity is valuable.

Please share what’s working for you to increase your productivity.

Topics: 4 Hour Work Week | Give Your Two Cents »

Can you remember what using dial up was like?
I was visiting my in-laws in France with my 4 year old son and his 6 year old nephew and 2 year old niece.

They live in an amazing house right on the Dordogne river, near Bergerac.

A side view of the house

View from Master bedroom (that’s the Dordogne river)

It’s a great place to come and visit, the only downside is that they still have dial up and not upgraded to broadband.

It’s amazing  though how much I was able to do in a lot less time.

I know Tim Ferriss talks about stopping the interruptions, I’ve just had a really hard time disciplining myself to do it.

I usually get about 40-50 mails a day about a third of those I
delete without opening anyway. The remaining 30 or so I would usually open
and read. Because it takes so long to load each e-mail I found
I  was more choosy about which ones I opened.

This got me thinking about how I normally work at home…

I’ve tried being ‘disciplined’
and closing my internet browser, however I’ve got a habit or
pattern of when I get ’stuck’ or finish a good section of work I think
I’ll just look at my e-mails and then get back to work. Or if I’m
being ‘good’ I might resist the temptation of the e-mail but
instead head to the kitchen for a cuppa or a handful of walnuts.

I was only  away for a week and  figured if it’s really important then the person
will send me a follow up message or one of my team will send me an sms message or a direct
e-mail.  IT WORKED!

Usually when I’m working from home I
have from 9.15 am until 12.45 am each day as my core working hours
and then in the evenings I have available another 2 hours usually from 11Pm to
1.00 AM. I’ve got all the other pieces for the 4HWW in place just not the income yet!!

I’m going to try a different approach back in Oxford.

When I first wake up I’m going to check my e-mail and respond to anything urgent, my 4 year old son is usually pottering around at that time before he gets ready for nursery. I cant really do anything ‘proper’ at that time.

I’m then going to pack my laptop in my rucksack, we cycle to nursery leaving the house at 9.00am, he starts at he starts at 9.10 am. I’m then going to cycle to a local
library 10 minutes away which happens to be next to the gym that I have access to.

Advantage is that I get 10 minutes of hard
cycling, I do bursts at maximum intensity (10-30 seconds followed by a
rest of 10-20 secs), 10 minutes of that is a real good fat burning
work out. I also get 10 minutes on the way back from the library too
so that’s 20 mins quality fat burning exercise.

I’m choosing the library, there are
plenty of coffee shops around but I don’t want to put too much
opportunity for potential interruption and temptation of hte baked goods variety in my way.

I’m playing hardball with myself and heading for the library.

I’ll have my laptop powered up and ready to go by 9.30 am.

Let’s see how my new morning routine works out.

What tricks have you played on yourself to increase your productivity that actually work for you?

Topics: 4 Hour Work Week, Personal Outsourcing | 5 Comments »

Can you get people to come and work in your business for free?According to James Brausch it depends on selling your Vision.

James has a product called the Freedom Business System I haven’t purchased it, but I am definitely impressed by his approach.

He utilises interns and Virtual Assistant’s interchangeably.

To do this successfully requires good training and laying out procedures and systems for them to follow without the Intern having to spend too much time interacting with you.

We’ve done a couple of projects for him and I’ve seen how he lays out his tasks, it’s impressive, I think he uses the same camtasia videos for his interns as he does for the VA’s

A couple of clients (so they are good guys not bullshitters) I know quite well follow his methods and they speak highly of him.

If you don’t know who James Brausch is he is a very direct in your face type of person, some may say even obnoxious. However his results stack up so he has that going for him.

My questions are these:
Do you have training material that you can use to teach people to do the tasks in your business?
Have you got skills that other people want to learn from? e.g. you might be a successful Life Coach, Personal Trainer or Internet Marketer, if so it’s possible that there are people who would like to learn from you in return for a couple of hours a day.
What are your experiences working with interns or even being one?

Topics: outsourcing, services | 1 Comment »

• Take more time specifying what you want, go into more detail than you think is necessary
• Prioritise the order that you want your jobs completed in.
• Give an indication as to the relevant urgency ( don’t mark everything as urgent, otherwise you will be the client that none wants to work with)
• Don’t take it out on your VA because you have told someone that a document would be ready and you have forgotten and your up against it. Usually your VA can help you out in this type of situation but don’t make a habit out of it.
• Reply to communications ASAP. This is especially important when working in different time zones. If you don’t answer quickly your VA might have left for the day and if they have a follow up question no progress will be made until you get the message when you wake up the next day, by which time their day is nearly over.

Topics: outsourcing, services, Virtual Assistant | Give Your Two Cents »

Often it is true, but looking at it with the attention to detail that might be used in a Japanese factory has caused me to think again.

Let’s look at a case in point. Spelling and grammar are not a strengths of mine, my partner has tried to get me to read Eats, Shoots and Leaves, but I am resisting. I have learnt the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’ now.

From time to time a client will e-mail me and tell me a link is broken or they’ve spotted a typo. I welcome any kind of feedback and this is valuable. It’s pretty straightforward to go in and fix that type of error myself.

I’m sure I ‘m not alone in disliking making errors and then having them pointed out to me.

Wouldn’t it be a lot easier if my VA was instructed to intercept these e-mails, respond politely and graciously and then go ahead and make the change, delete the e-mail so I was never even aware of its existence?

My time is limited and valuable and I don’t really want to waste it on tasks that don’t add any real value to me

Topics: outsourcing, services | 2 Comments »

I think this works best for tasks and processes that you have well systematised.

My view is that in your business the more you can get systematised the more likely you are going to be able to free yourself from low productivity tasks.

It is one of the key steps to moving toward thinking like a business owner rather than an employee.

There are some advantages of low touch relationships, you can save yourself time, the tasks can be managed efficiently and you can therefore be more productive.

Depending on where you are with your virtual assistants and outsourcers, you may want to incorporate low touch and high touch, e.g. some tasks that have been completed successfully and you have well systematised can be come low touch and then for other tasks you may want to end up brainstorming ideas

Topics: outsourcing | Give Your Two Cents »

At one end of the spectrum you might want a relationship where you develop a long term relationship, you get to know about the outsourcers’ personal life their family and you become life long friends with them….

At the other end of the continuum you may have the view that the tasks that you want completed are ‘commoditised’ by that I mean you may well have them so well systematised and the processes all mapped out that there is no reason for any interaction between you and the outsourcer. It could be as simple as here are the results and here is the invoice.

Topics: outsourcing | 4 Comments »

Why would you want to have a high touch relationship with an outsourcer?

Some benefits could be

• Loyalty
• Improved response to your requests
• May add more value to your business, coming up with ideas for you to implement
• May be prepared to be more flexible with you.
• Generate ideas that can improve efficiency

Downsides

Invest time in getting to know someone and they end up leaving

Can spend a lot of time getting to know someone, that takes time and there is an opportunity cost associated with that.

Do you really need more friends?

It might be better to distinguish between High Touch and Low Touch Tasks rather than the relationships themselves?

What do you think?

Topics: outsourcing | Give Your Two Cents »

I have a good web designer, he has got good flair and his designs are generally pretty good. I’ve tried many designers and not all have been that good in coming up with designs, there is a definite look to some sites and I can often tell if they have been designed by an Indian company. It’s hard to actually put my finger on what it is about these sites, it’s just a feel.

My business plan is to help clients get a website designed or makeover as cheaply as possible as a good way to get them into relationship with Outsource success and fromm there they may want to hire extra resources and use a Virtual Assistant, where we can receive ongoing income and profits.

As a result of this I can’t afford to spend a lot of time interacting with the designer otherwise it ends up not being profitable particularly in the short term

I’ve produced quite a detailed brief that I ask the client to fill in and send to the designer.

I have the designer show me the first draft that he comes up with, I want to make sure that it looks OK and that he has got it more or less spot on and I can catch any misunderstandings.

Sounds straightforward so far…

Ok the problem now arises that he sends me his drafts at 5PM my time, now that is not a good time for me as it is the time that I have to go and pick up my son from nursery and then we have dinner time, bath time and then the bed time routine.

By the time I am finished with my routine, because of the time difference he has finished for the evening and he is not able to make any changes until the next day.

In order for our relationship to progress, I have decided he has to get his drafts to me by 4 O’clock that way I can give him feedback he can make any necessary changes and then send them to the client that same day

Now this may seem like a small point but it makes a big difference in the smooth running of my business and he is going to have to bend to my schedule or I am going to be more proactive in looking for a different web designer.

Topics: outsourcing, services | Give Your Two Cents »

Time is money. Correct?

Well time is our most valuable currency and if you are serious about living the four hours work week then it’s vital that you trim down the interactions that you have with the outsourcers you work with.

There is a fine line between asking pertinent strategic questions and being needy and seeking approval too often.

If you’re interested I’ll show you an elance job description from James Brausch, he spends no time at all interacting with his Outsourcers. You might not like it but he’s not wasting his time.

Topics: 4 Hour Work Week, Virtual Assistant | 2 Comments »