Feb 22, 10

Ultimate Way to Escape the 9 to 5: Outsourcing

Written by: Maren Kate // Comments

Today I have a guest video post by my friend Chris Ducker who I am also partnering up with on some awesome online outsourcing business ideas as we speak. Chris has tons of experience with outsourcing and actually runs a large company in the Philippines (where he lives as well) that hires many outsourced workers as its core business model. Watch this short video & I swear you’ll know 100x more than you did before on outsourcing and the beauty of virtual assistants.

Feel free to leave comments for Chris or for me with questions about how I have built part of my business model around hiring virtual assistants and running a truly ‘global’ business both online and off.

Hope this helps in your continuing escaping of the 9 to 5! And be sure to check out Chris’s site on how to live a virtual lifestyle and making money in business at Virtual Business Lifestyle.

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Filed in: Mobile Entrepreneurship

ralphcarlson

Kate,
The video won't load. What is the best way to get some more backgkround on using VA's from either you or Chris? Background that either you or he have already done to get me some background. I know I can use VA's. I'm just fuzzy on where to start.

Rich Hazlett

Thanks for sharing, Maren. Love the name of your blog too...

Phil Montero

Chris,

Great advice not only for working with VA's but also for anyone working across distance or on a virtual team. Communicating clearly and consciously is essential to distributed work.

Thanks for sharing your experience with everyone!

Phil

Chris C. Ducker

Hey Phil...! Glad you have found Maren's blog. You mention the 'team' side of things there, and Maren has it DOWN - perhaps she'll go into things in the future on that... Nudge Nudge!

I apologize for not getting that call to you quicker, since my return from the States. Will try and sneak it in today sometime!

Paul

Chris,

A great video post. I have heard of VAs before but never considered using them; after listening to your video I've change my mind. It's now on my 'to do' list to find out more about them. I'll be taking a look at your site later.

Thank you for sharing this information and thank you Maren for allowing it to happen.

Regards

Paul

Chris C. Ducker

Hi Paul - Thanks for the nice comment and I am happy to be able to convert yet another busy entrepreneur to looking into seriously using virtual staff to help their business and lifestyle developments.

I look forward to seeing you over at my blog, too!

All the best,
Chris

matthewneedham

I've booked marked this for viewing later on my iPhone as I don't have a sound card in this PC. Anyway, this is very timely for me as I'm just hired two VA's (one for diary and booking/buying stuff and one more for business) but not yet completed my training with them.

Chris C. Ducker

Hi Matthew - Excellent. See!!! All you have to do is GET GOING. There are so many things that a VA can do for you. Have fun with it. Hiring a VA to buy stuff for you is a great plan. Please let me know how it goes. You can find me on Twitter pretty easily. Thanks for the comment.

Ben Lumley

Really nice post Chris. This is the first time I've come across you and I'm very impress.

The tips are great and I've been thinking about using VAs or even becoming a VA of sorts since reading Tim Ferriss's 4HWW.

I really like your point about praise which can be translated out in to any aspect of the work you do and who you work with.

Chris C. Ducker

Hi Ben - I'm super happy that you enjoyed the video so much. Yep, praise is very often forgotten when working with virtual staff - it shouldnt be. I hope to see you over at my blog for more comments, this one was a nice one to read! Much appreciated.

matthewneedham

I agree Ben, praise should be given to anyone and everyone (if deserved) not just to someone you sit opposite.

Steve Scott Site

Great video Chris. Lots of good tips here...

I've worked with VAs from the Philippines and can say that they provide excellent service. I've had them do general day to day tasks and also create web content for my affiliate site. So I can definitely recommend using workers from this country.

Anyway, I've got your blog in my feed reader and look forward to seeing more stuff...

Chris C. Ducker

Hi Steve - Excellent, glad you enjoyed and that you've signed up at the blog. Lots of cool stuff coming, so stay tuned!

Ken Siew

Thanks Chris. Likewise, I've outsourced research work through TaskUs before and worked with VAs from the Philippines. It's a great learning experience especially if you do not have supervisory responsibility at your current job. There's no better way to learn about delegation than actually doing it.

On the side note, I lived in Malaysia for about 20 years, now in NYC, but I've never been to the Philippines. How's it going over there?

P.S - I've bookmarked your blog for future reads (it's getting late), it seems interesting.

Chris C. Ducker

Hi Ken - Yes, actually 'doing' is the only way to learn. There's only so much you can read on any one given subject. Its the 'doing' that really matters.

The Philippines is great, and business is thriving. Glad you signed up over at my blog. Looking forward to seeing your comments over there, too, soon. Best.

Tom | Build That List

I have just started doing this with a few of my niche sites. Since I don't have the time to do all the article writing I have found someone else to write for me.

Chris C. Ducker

@Tom - Good to hear youre jumping on the outsourcing bus! In fact, I recently did a three part case study on using Virtual Assistants to create quality, original web content, check it out on the blog, if youre interested.