Outsourcing and Virtual Assistants: Just Do it.

Just a quick note for those of you who have not yet hired a virtual assistant*** to help you with some of your "grunt work" or boring tasks: Get off you butt and just do it.

There are likely many tasks that you can outsource and that are better done by someone else. Why? So that you can spend your time pursuing your core competencies and creative passions. And so that you can relax! Create some space for yourself and get those things off your shoulders.

If you are not good with Excel, then hire someone to create your spreadsheets. If you don't have time to plan your daughter's birthday, have someone begin the planning process for you. Do you need someone to set-up your website or blog? Hire someone to do it cheaply, but well. Get someone to create those transcripts or do that research that you need done.

For several months, I have needed to edit and fix my email course: "Designing Your Life of Freedom" But I really haven't had the time. So I sent the task to my Virtual Assistant, David, who is in India. He was able to get it off my to-do list and finished overnight.

I can tell you I enjoyed going out last night and seeing a movie with friends, rather than spending my evening fixing my email course. You can of course, hire someone locally, or get an intern. That will work as well. But for my needs a person in India works just as well.

One company that I use is called VMG BPO, and here is a little advertisement for them:

Click the ad and submit a task to them. Take something simple that will just take a couple of hours to do and that will make you feel better when it's done. For more complex projects such as website, software desing or legal advice check out Elance.

***A virtual assistant is an assistant who can complete tasks for your from anywhere in the world. The assistant could be a block away or an entire content away. As long as the task they are doing does not require being physically present in your home or office they can be anywhere in the world.

For a long rant on outsourcing on how to do it read: "Take The Leap Into Outsourcing."