The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich - Expanded and Updated

assistants in the early stages to improve the general clarity of your communication. Pick one from each group and get started.

The following sites, split up geographically, are useful resources.

U.S. and Canada ($20/hour+)

http://www.iavoa.com (International Association of Virtual Office Assistants). Global directory that includes the U.S.

http://www.cvac.ca (Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection)

http://www.canadianva.net/files/va-locator.html (Canada)

www.onlinebusinessmanager.com

North America and International ($4/hour+)

www.elance.com (Search “virtual assistants,” “personal assistants,” and “executive assistants.”) The client feedback reviews on Elance enabled me to find my best VA to date, who costs $4/hour. Similar marketplaces with positive reviews include www.guru.com and www.rentacoder.com.

India

www.tryasksunday.com ($20–60 per month for 24/7 concierge, free one-week trial). AskSunday is one of the sophisticated new kids on the personal outsourcing block. Their site was nominated the #2 website of the year in 2007 by Time magazine. Just dial a 212 (NYC) area code and get routed to well-spoken assistants in India and the Philippines. I use this service 80% of the time, as most tasks take less than 10 minues to complete. For longer projects, there are teams available for $12/hour.

www.b2kcorp.com ($15/hour+) From Fortune 10 oil companies and Fortune 500 clients to Big 5 accounting firms and U.S. congressmen, Brickwork can handle it all. This is reflected in the costs of this pure suit-and-tie operation—business only. No flowers for auntie.

www.taskseveryday.com ($6.98/hour for a dedicated virtual assistant) Based in Mumbai, available via phone and e-mail from the U.S., UK, and Australia. Must choose between 20 or 40 hours per week and pre-purchase hours.

www.yourmaninindia.com ($6.25/hour+) YMII handles both business and personal tasks and can work with you in real time (there are people on duty 24/7) and complete work while you sleep. English capability and effectiveness vary tremendously across VAs, so interview yours before getting started or assigning important tasks. Important: Following the publication of the first edition of this book, there have been some complaints of lower quality and up to four-week wait lists to become a client.

2. Start small but think big.

Tina Forsyth, an online business manager (higher-level VA) who helps six-figure-income clients achieve seven figures with business model redesigns, makes the following recommendations.

Look at your to-do list—what has been sitting on it the longest?

Each time you are interrupted or change tasks, ask, “Could a VA do this?”

Examine pain points—what causes you the most frustration and boredom?

Here are a few common time-consumers in small businesses with online presences.

Submitting articles to drive traffic to site and build mailing lists

Participating in or moderating discussion forums and message boards

Managing affiliate programs

Creating content for and publishing newsletters and blog postings

Background research components of new marketing initiatives or analysis of current marketing results

Don’t expect miracles from a single VA, but don’t expect too little, either. Let go of the controls a bit. Don’t assign crap tasks that end up consuming rather than saving time. It makes little sense to spend 10–15 minutes sending an e-mail to India to get a price quote on a plane ticket when you could do the same online in 10 minutes and avoid all the subsequent back-and-forth.

Push outside your comfort zone—that is the entire point of the exercise.

It is always possible to reclaim a task for yourself if the VA proves incapable, so test the limits of their capabilities. Remember Brickwork’s suggestion: Don’t limit yourself.

3. Identify your top five time-consuming non-work tasks and five personal tasks you could assign for sheer fun.

4. Keep in sync: scheduling and calendars.

If you decide to have an assistant schedule appointments and add things to your calendar, it will be important to ensure what you both see is updated. There are several options:

BusySync (www.busysync.com) I have two Gmail accounts: one private account for me and one for my assistant, where general e-mail is sent. I use BusySync to synchronize her Google Calendar with iCal (Mac calendar) on my laptop. I have also used SpanningSync (www.spanningsync.com) successfully for the same purpose.

WebEx Office (www.weboffice.com) Share your calendar online while masking personal appointments. Can be synchronized with Outlook, and also offers document sharing and other assistant- or team- friendly features. I suggest you compare this to synchronizing your Outlook with an assistant’s Google Calendar.

COMFORT CHALLENGE

Use the Criticism Sandwich (2 Days and Weekly)

Chances are good that someone—be it a co-worker, boss, customer, or significant other—does something irritating or at a subpar level. Rather than avoid the topic out of fear of confrontation, let’s chocolate-coat it and ask them to fix it. Once per day for two days, and then each Thursday (M-W is too tense and Friday is too relaxed) for the next three weeks, resolve to use what I call the Criticism Sandwich with someone. It’s called the Criticism Sandwich because you first praise the person for something, then deliver the criticism, and then close with topic-shifting praise to exit the sensitive topic. Here’s an example with a superior or boss, with keywords and phrases in italics.

You: Hi, Mara. Do you have a second?

Mara: Sure. What’s up?

You: First, I wanted to thank you for helping me with the Meelie Worm account [or whatever]. I really appreciate you showing me how to handle that. You’re really good at fixing the technical issues.

Mara: No problem.

You: Here’s the thing.¹⁶ There is a lot of work coming down on everyone, and I’m feeling¹⁷ a bit overwhelmed. Normally, priorities are really clear to me¹⁸ but I’ve been having trouble recently figuring out which tasks are highest on the list. Could you help me by pointing out the most important items when a handful need to be done? I’m sure it’s just me,¹⁹ but I’d really appreciate it, and I think it would help.

Mara: Uhh … I’ll see what I can do.

You: That means a lot to me. Thanks. Before I forget,²⁰ last week’s presentation was excellent.

Mara: Did you think so? Blah, blah, blah …

LIFESTYLE DESIGN IN ACTION