Free up your time and focus on what you love to do and the more important things by hiring a virtual assistant to take care of the other stuff.

I took a look at my daily tasks recently and realized that I was spending wasting some time everyday on trivial tasks that my imaginary kid brother could accomplish under intoxication.  Something needed to change.

After recently reading books like Tim Ferriss’s 4 Hour Workweek and other motivational reads,  I decided recently to hire a virtual assistant to help me take care of errands and research that I’d rather not waste time on.  It’s been a week now and I’m quite satisfied with the results.  Here are some tasks that my assistant has taken care of in only the last week:

• Posting craigslist ads
• Researching whether the ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’ musical is worth watching (and best prices)
• Finding the top 3 sites (traffic-wise) to post used books
• Contacting a few websites with miscellaneous inquiries
• Hiring and communicating with other contractors to work on coding jobs

My assistant works in India, has perfect English capability, and has exceeded my expectations and performed on time and with quality results so far. He works from 9PM to 9AM PST and basically takes care of my work while I am asleep.  He has saved me at least 10 hours of time (and hassles) in the last week at the cost of only $5 an hour.  In my opinion, money well spent.

Depending on your workload, you could be saving yourself much more than 10 hours a week.  I found my current virtual assistant through Elance but there are many other options like Brickwork (not recommended, the quote they gave me was totally overpriced).  I may hire more assistants in different disciplines overtime as workload increases.

Do you have a virtual assistant?  Please share your thoughts.

I recently traveled from Taiwan to Los Angeles for a brief visit and now to New York.  Many colleagues ask me:

“How do you plan to pay off your daily and travel expenses while traveling without working?”

It’s a great question and I’d be asking the same thing if I met someone in a similar position.  Well, the simple answer is the Internet is going to be paying for everything.  Yes, the Internet is my bank account.

As you may have figured out, doing business on the Internet allows you the freedom to be 100% mobile as long as you have a computer and Internet access.  Obviously, you need to have a little tech geek savvy and some street skills.  But it’s truly a beautiful thing.  If you are interested in having the freedom to do business online, here are a few ways the Internet pays me:

100% Online Design Business

I say “100%” because so far literally all my clients have been only through online referrals and interactions.  I started my company Geekwhat Design earlier this year, we specialize in designing all types of web and print graphics for clients from London to Seattle.  So far, we’ve spent basically $0 on marketing/advertising our services and make anywhere from $800-$2000 a month.  I spend about 15-30 hours a week creating designs for clients and managing this business.  I can only imagine the scaling should we start to spend some $$ on marketing.

Blogging

This blog, Geekwhat.com, has existed for around 4 years on the web.  Back in 2007-2008, I worked hard to increase the visibility of the blog and raised its income to average $90-$110 per month through ads and well… some more ads.  Unfortunately, my server was cut off in 2008 after forgetting to pay the bill ontime.  I lost all my earlier blog articles and backlinks and had to start over again.  Lesson learned.  I am now making about $20-$30 per month and intend to increase that amount with the new blog design/layout and increased blog articles.  I’m intending to commit to about 1 hour/article at about 3 articles/week, so about 3-4 hours a week on this.

Selling Products Online

This one is a bit tougher because there is overhead involved and physical shipping of products.  However, I’ve learned recently of the process of automating everything from warehouse shipping to customer service.  In the past few months, I experimented with some  hip products and was profiting about $700-900 a month in my best months, but ran into some problems with sites where I was posting.  I’m contemplating going the solo route with an isolated online store and spending some money on advertising to get the word out online.  Clearly my products were selling well when viewed by the right eyeballs.   Before the automation kicks in, I’d say I would spend about 10-20 hours a week on this.

So, to sum up… based on these three methods, the Internet was paying me about $2000-$3000 a month on good months and $1000-$1500 on slow months.  Amount of time spent on these activities = 40-45 hours per week — and nearly zero marketing.  I’m in the process of outsourcing and automating a lot of my tasks to minimize my number of work hours so I can focus on marketing and increase my bottom line.  My goal: Have the Internet pay me around $5000-$8000 per month by the end of this year (with the majority of the income being passive i.e. automated/outsourced), this would be ideal.

More to come about automating and outsourcing.

Internet money image courtesy of http://www.taramagazine.com

After purchasing and using my new iPad 2 for a week, I’m here to share a few tidbits about the good and the bad. The version I got is a black 16GB Wi-fi only iPad 2. In my opinion, those who should be considering get an iPad should fall in the following categories:

a) don’t own a decent laptop
b) don’t own an iPhone 4
c) want something to take on the road for emailing, word processing, and surfing the web
d) bored with a lot of $$$ to spend

If you don’t fall into any of those categories, the iPad may become redundant and somewhat useless to you. In my situation, I spilled hot coffee on my Macbook Pro (2 years old) keyboard a few weeks back and now certain keys don’t work and the laptop fails to go to sleep. So basically for the time being (until I get to replacing the non-functional parts), I have a desktop laptop with an external keyboard and mouse.

I had originally planned on getting a 13″ Macbook Air 1.86GHz with 4GB RAM but after chancing upon this iPad 2 (that I am typing this post on now) at Walmart, I knew that I had to grab this opportunity and buy the damn thing — even if I end up just selling the guy on craigslist. Well, temptation struck after the third day of staring at the package and I opened the sucker. Now let’s get into the review.

Speed-wise, the iPad 2 is super fast, no complaints there. I intend to use my iPad 2 for the following tasks:

1. Facebook
2. Browsing web, blogging
3. Reading magazines, books, news
4. Replying e-mails (I have online businesses, so replying clients = everyday)
5. Casual entertainment (games, watching TV shows)

Basically everything besides heavy duty tasks like designing with Photoshop/Illustrator and recording music. I do those taks on my handicapped Macbook Pro at home. For the five tasks I mentioned above, the iPad 2 is totally adequate. Facebook via an app like Friendly or MyPad is awesome, you can do status updates, reply comments, etc. easily. Even upload a photo you took with the iPad 2 within 30 seconds time. Safari is super fast so browsing the web is simple. You can watch youtube videos (I recommend through Safari rather than through the slow Youtube app supplied) and shop online seamlessly. I check my favorite news sources through Flipboard, a sweet app with awesome layout design. You can also use Pulse or other RSS readers for customizing your reading experience. Replying e-mails = quick and painless. Games are endless on the iPad 2, some awesome ones like Maelstorm or Infinite Blade (sp?). I use an app called AirPlay to watch a bunch of video files (movies, TV shows, etc.) on my 1 TB external hard drive at home via Wi-fi. So I’m not using any space on my 16GB drive on the iPad 2. The output of the video files on the iPad 2 = awesome.

Oh, forgot to add that I bought a Zagg Logitech keyboard/case:

This guy uber helps with typing blog posts like this and replying e-mails quickly. In terms of Wi-fi versus 3G model, you can find tons of articles debating this topic. I went with Wi-fi because.. well because it was the only one of its kind left. Black versus white? You decide, again check the plethora of articles online debating this matter.

iPad 2 = victory if you fall in one of the 4 categories above and are looking to use it for the 5 categories in list 2. Feel free to add your thoughts and/or refute me hehe

Warning: This post is specifically for those who own an iPhone 3G (or iPhone 3Gs).  If you own an iPhone 4, the information in this article is much less relevant.

I just jailbroke my iPhone 3g –version 3.0.1– a few days ago (after owning this iPhone for more than a year).

What got me to finally jailbreak my iPhone?

Well, there are some pretty sweet benefits that you could either 1. never do without or 2. would have to pay a bunch of money to acquire.

Here are some such benefits:

1. Video Recording - With Cycorder, you can record videos on your iPhone, now you can capture those memorable or funny moments on video (pretty crappy quality but still better than not having this function at all).
2. Customizing the Interface – Using a program like WinterBoard, you can completely customize and redesign the look of your iPhone interface, even altering such icons as the Wifi or Unlock buttons.  You can also apply some pretty spiffy wallpapers and themes.
3. Sweet (Free) Shortcuts – There are some really awesome shortcuts that EVERY iPhone user should be using.  For example, multifl0w allows you to multitask and run background applications similar to Dashboard or Expose in Mac OS X.  Also, QuickReply allows you to be much more efficient with replying text messages than the default way — a must have.
4. Try New Apps Without Paying First – Because jailbreaking your phone allows you to download free apps, you can try out applications before paying for something you’re not even familiar with yet.  In the past, I’ve bought a few apps that I ended up not even using — a waste of money.
5. Makes You Cool – Don’t you feel more hip now that you can show your buddies the sweet new apps you installed (free)? 

If you’re interested in jailbreaking your iPhone, be forewarned that it is no trivial task for an everyday person (that is, when you start running into small problems along the way).  Here are some tutorials that will help you.

Any other cool benefits of jailbreaking that I missed?

In my last post, I talked about how to not be a whore and succeed in a business transaction.  In this post, I want to talk about wooing a potential client.

This article is about initial contact.

More specifically, the best and worst ways of getting someone’s full attention (so that subsequently he/she will believe in you and your product/service enough to actually fork out money).

In my experience, here are …from WORST to BEST… 7 ways of contacting someone for a sales pitch:

1. MSN or Some Chat Client = NO GOOD
2. Facebook Wall
3. Facebook Message
4. Text Message = ACCEPTABLE
5. E-mail
6. Phone Call
7. Meet In Person = HELL YEA!!

Notice one through five are all based on text communication.  Almost all tone and personality is lost through text, unless you’re an amazingly convincing writer.  Number six and seven are both verbal.

1. MSN or Some Chat Client - If you go this route, you’re just lazy.  You didn’t even make the effort to pick up a phone.  Plus, people can purposefully ignore your instant message while you sit there wasting your time wondering why they haven’t responded.

2. Facebook wall - If you try to get someone interested in your product with a public wall post, you’re trying to appear personal but in fact you are masking your greediness and trying to get a lot –by gaining more visibility– out of your minimal effort.  Don’t be an arse…

3. Facebook Message – This is where you start showing some actual effort.  You provide a private message, showing that you want to personally share something with this person.  Also, because it is an independent message (as opposed to one of many, many wall posts on one page), it receives much more attention and is much more likely to prompt a response.

4. Text Message – Actually this is still pretty lazy and shows a general lack of aggressiveness (and also some passiveness).  But at the very least, 1. it is very personal and 2. it is literally instant i.e. he/she will receive the message RIGHT away.  Plus, it takes quite some effort to type out a full, personalized text message on phone.

5. E-mail – Now we’re talking.  E-mail is very personal (as long as there aren’t any irrelevant CCs).  It is focused, direct (as opposed to on a platform like Facebook with a lot of noise), and free of any distractions (like other wall posts on Facebook).  It shows that you are focused and serious.

6. Phone Call – This takes guts.  Real guts.  You have to be ready for any response, whether it be positive or negative.  You got your A game ready.  It shows confidence and conviction.  Plus there is less room for miscommunication that could occur in text form.  Your words, tone, personality, and attitude are 99% conveyed through your dialogue.  If you’re a good talker, you just might secure a deal with only one or two phone calls.

7. Meet In Person – Old fashioned but by far the most efficient and successful method.  Taking time out of your busy and finite life to sit down with someone at a coffee shop or their company means so much more than sending out a text message or email.  Not only are you using physical dialogue (as opposed to text), but your attire and facial expressions can do wonders in contributing to your sales pitch.  Assuming you are on time, well dressed, and say the right things, you are automatically already in success territory.

meeting in person = the way to go

People can tell very easily whether you’re just out to make some of their money or if you actually care and are trying to help.  Don’t forget that being super awesome at following up is equally if not more important than the items mentioned above.  FOLLOW UP always.

These are just my two cents.  Your thoughts?

I’m not a fan of people who sit around and slack. Moreso, I dislike people who talk about business this, idea that, but don’t actually take action on anything. Most of ALL, I can’t STAND people who make a big deal about concealing their ideas for fear of someone stealing their grand, amazing, life-changing, phenomenal idea and running with it. Grow up.

Below is a genius quote by entrepreneur and CDBaby creator Derek Sivers, enjoy:

It’s so funny when I hear people being so protective of ideas. (People who want me to sign an NDA to tell me the simplest idea.)

To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

Explanation:

AWFUL IDEA = -1
WEAK IDEA = 1
SO-SO IDEA = 5
GOOD IDEA = 10
GREAT IDEA = 15
BRILLIANT IDEA = 20

NO EXECUTION = $1
WEAK EXECUTION = $1000
SO-SO EXECUTION = $10,000
GOOD EXECUTION = $100,000
GREAT EXECUTION = $1,000,000
BRILLIANT EXECUTION = $10,000,000

To make a business, you need to multiply the two.
The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20.
The most brilliant idea takes great execution to be worth $20,000,000.
That’s why I don’t want to hear people’s ideas.
I’m not interested until I see their execution.

Bottom line: Do your homework. Make sure your idea is legit. Do the work to execute the idea. Make it happen. Most importantly, stop talking or being overprotective.

Nike said it best: Just do it

In my last post, I talked about keeping track of your net worth by keeping a spreadsheet with a running tally of your various incomes every month. After doing this a few days ago, I noticed a few columns on the spreadsheet that curiously racked up some significant figures annually. What’s interesting about these sources of income is that I don’t really… do much work to get the money every month. I want to share these things with you. Here are just a few ways you can make a grand or two a year without really even trying:

Certificate of Deposits (CDs)

• Placing a portion of your money in a CD account basically guarantees you a chunk of free cash every month. Seriously. The only catch is that you can’t touch that money until the CD matures, so just put a few grand that you won’t use for a few years. You can choose how long you want your money to remain in the CD (usually longer term = higher rate = more $$ made). A term can be anywhere from 3 months to 4 years depending on the bank. There’s also a minimum amount required.

Google Ads on your website

• If you have a blog (or any website for that matter), consider throwing on some Google Ads for free cash every month. All you have to do is place the code on your site and keep the site relatively updated with fresh content.
  Bonus: make more money by focusing your site on a specific topic.
  Double bonus: make the ads visibly obvious but NOT annoying.

Get really good at something you enjoy doing and then teach it

• I know what you’re thinking… Tony, if I’m spending time teaching, then it’s work! Yes true… but I emphasize the word “enjoy” in the above statement. Seriously, if you enjoy yoga and are really good at it, devoting a few hours per week to teaching it is not really work… because you would’ve spent that time doing yoga anyway! The only difference is you’re getting paid to do it. I teach guitar two hours a week and make $200-$300 USD a month. That amounts to about 8-12 hours of work a month (including curriculum prep time) at about $25 an hour. Not bad if you ask me…

Adding up the money I make from these three activities amounts to anywhere from a few hundred to a few grand annually… and honestly, the work doesn’t justify the cash IMO. So get crackin’!!

So I’ve come to a revelation.

Basically the gist of this revelation is that the focus of creating and marketing new products is NOT about making money or increasing your customer base. (Much) more importantly, the bottom line of it all is how to make people CARE about your product. You see… if someone doesn’t even care to notice what you’re doing/selling, then there’s SURELY no money or customers to be made. So STEP 1 = make people care. How?

I’ve comprised a short list of the top three ways to make people care. Please critique:

1. Associate yourself with something/someone that people already care about. What if my struggling rock band’s website had a quote from Thom Yorke of Radiohead, “One of the most innovative bands of 2008″? Jackpot!!
2. Create/do something outrageously ludicrous. Notice I didn’t use the word ‘unique’. ‘Unique’ these days does not necessarily attract people’s attention. Crazy things like jumping off the Taipei 101 building or OJ Simpson writing a book titled “If I Did It…” = people care.
3. If you have a lot of $$$… This is a no-brainer. Forget #1 and #2 if you have a lot of money. With money, you can basically FORCE people to care. That’s how it works in the Taiwan entertainment industry. Those with money can plaster their faces all over buses, beverage containers, advertisements, toilets, etc.

Let’s start making people care about the things that we create or publicize.

Agree or disagree?