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Vox Pop: Have you tried outsourcing your life?

A lot of my friends have been reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, and, to varying degrees, several of them have started trying on some of his more audacious ideas, such as checking email once a week, finding an "income muse," going on an extreme information diet -- a few people I know are considering outsourcing pieces of their personal and professional lives.

For reasons I can't fully explain -- and will, for now, just write down to Tim's engaging style -- I also found this outsourcing idea weirdly fascinating. You identify the tedious tasks in your life that don't represent the best use of your time, and assign them to an overseas worker who can complete them for a few bucks an hour. This apparently can be virtually any kind of mundane task, from booking a dinner reservation to doing research on a company to -- heck, why not? -- answering your email.

So, while I know lots of people share my theoretical interest in this, I wonder how many of you have tried it, and how many of you are using outsourced help on a regular basis. What's your experience been? Does this work? What sorts of task are most amenable to long-distance assignment?

By the way, if you haven't read the book yet, here's an excerpt from Tim's chapter on outsourcing.

Comments are open for your stories. I'd be grateful if you can try to limit your comments to firsthand experiences hiring and utilizing outsourced employees or in regard to evaluating the quality of their work. Thanks.

Kathie Thomas, A Claytons Secretary's picture

I've been operating my business...

I've been operating my business for well over 13 years and my longest term client has been with me for over 10 years - I have other clients too. I also manage a network of people just like me in 14 countries - Virtual Assistants who all provide their clients with the same quality care and expertise in varying skills, i.e. wordprocessing, formatting, editing and proofreading, data entry, internet research, database management, broadcast emails, website management, shopping carts, Powerpoint presentations and the list goes on. There is a 'honeymooon' period where the client and VA need to learn about each other's businesses and what can be achieved, not much different to a boss breaking in a new PA and vice versa (not all bosses know how to effectively use a PA). The working relationship is a rewarding one and I love what I do - I know my clients appreciate it too as I save them many, many hours of struggling to achieve what I can do for them in much shorter time. Why waste their valuable time on things that aren't their skillset?

 
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