I'm convinced that I will be able to beat capitalism, but it will take a little bit of time and effort.
Hi, my name is Noah. I graduated college last May and am currently looking to start a career. I'm getting a little antsy as we head into the cool month of November (it's been 5 months since I graduated), and I still live with my parents... upsetting for obvious reasons (ie - dating, starting the next phase life, etc).
I spend most of my day networking (ie - lunch/coffee meetings with various people who work in finance and/or real estate). I don't have much time aside from this.
I want to implement a strategy for taking care of some important to-dos that have taken a backseat. Recently, a book was recommended to me that provided the solution to this swelling problem... Timothy Ferriss's "4 Hour Work Week." In his book, Ferris explains that it's important to focus on effectiveness over efficiency (ie- focusing on carrying-out the important and getting rid of tasks that are unimportant, such as checking email, answering phones, etc). Additionally, Ferris talks about Pareto's Law, or the idea that approx. 20% of your daily activities yield 80% of your desired outcome (ie- 20% effort yields 80% product). I'd like to try to apply this principle to my life!
Let me give you an example:
Problem #1: I run a non-profit. Sometimes I spend hours on end making changes to our newly-designed website (http://nationalcollegiatevolunteers.org). There's still a good deal of work to be done, but I just don't have the time to do it.
What I need to do is setup an unpaid, part-time web design internship for one lucky college student. It'd be great experience for the student, allowing him/her to claim that they helped design the website of a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Herein lies the problem: poor marketing/advertising. I can't find good candidates mainly because I just don't have the time to put into it. (my est. wasted time: 80+ hrs)
Solution: Hiring a virtual assistant. He/she could spend a few hours sending an unpaid internship ad to a bunch of university career center websites, craigslist, idealist.org, etc. (est. finish time: 5 hrs)
Problem #2: I want to move out. The only way this is going to happen is if I find one or more jobs that pay over 40K/yr. Now, it'd be great if I had all of the time in the world to go on craigslist, monsterjobs, and other websites to try to find jobs and submit my resume... but I don't. (my est. wasted time: 80+ hrs)
Solution: Hire a virtual assistant to search + apply for jobs (est. finish time: 10 hrs):
a) Search for financial (sales/trading) and real estate (sales/investment) jobs.
b) Submit my resume + small e-mail body message reworded for each employer.
Now, here's my real hangup:
I've gone through most of the steps to try to hire a virtual assistant, but am still stuck on a few issues that have arisen in the process:
1) I would like to talk to someone who has experience outsourcing projects to VAs.
2) I've read that backup teams are important, but where does one find a guarantee?
3) I'd like to start out paying a VA for an hour of their time, is this possible?
4) I'd like to pitch the same project to 3 of the best VA websites before I start. Which websites are they? (I only know of Elance, Getafreelancer and Getfriday)
5) I'm concerned about identity theft.
6) I only have $100 to spend on all of this.
Until I solve these issues, I don't think I'll be able to move forward. Can anyone help?
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Sincerely,
Noah
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