Tim Ferris, in his bestseller book “4-HOUR WORK WEEK”, teaches how to work effectively instead of just efficiently thus freeing ourselves to do more important things in a shorter span of time. He points out that the trick is to avoid building a business that requires our presence that eats up all our time. He avers that this is best done by outsourcing labor and let others do as much of the time-consuming but less productive tasks at a lesser cost and more efficiently than if they are done by you. He writes that:
“Outsourcing is no longer just for Fortune 500 companies. Small and mid-sized firms, as well as busy professionals, can outsource their work to increase their productivity and free time for more important commitments”.
Automation, according to Tim Ferris, is all about building a sustainable automatic income by proper business management wherein outsourcing plays a major part. He urges us to develop a business that can run on auto-pilot, that is, without us physically present for it to operate thus allowing an automatic cash flow to increase your income.
Outsourcing or hiring a virtual assistant from the Philippines costs just a fraction of what you would spend (or waste) if you do the tasks yourself. At a very minimal cost, you can free you of the following menial tasks, among other things, more efficiently:
- Scheduling interviews and meetings
- Web research
- Following up on appointments, errands, and tasks
- Online purchases
- Creation of legal documents
- Website maintenance (web design, publishing, uploading files) that doesn’t require a professional designer
- Monitoring, editing, and publishing comments for online discussions
- Posting job vacancies on the web
- Document creation
- Proofreading and editing documents for spelling and formatting
- Online research for updating blogs
- Updating the database for Customer Relationship Management Software
- Updating invoices and receiving payments
- Voicemail transcription
Consider how much time and money you would waste if you are to perform the above tasks. This is how you can accomplish more effectively and efficiently at a much lesser cost and time.
Word of caution: Outsourcing to be effective, be sure you weed out or eliminate first those tasks that are not really important or irrelevant to your business. This will avoid wasting your money and the time and effort of your virtual assistant.