The reason why I show you this event is because when I look back over the time whilst I was away, not once did I check my email or have to worry about what was happening in my business….

Definitely will contact you when I visit there.

Looks like you had a lot of fun from your vacation. Everyone deserves some quality time like that.

Tell me when you’re coming to the Philippines. I’ll give you a tour around the best places.

Regards,
Jeric

Excellent post sweetheart. Thanks to your outsourcing, we were able to travel and have lots of fun. Can’t wait for our next holiday! Keep up the brilliant work, to work less and gain more.

Yes that is correct. I have a dedicated domain for support questions. Keeps it all organised, especially if you run two or more blogs.

Let me know if I can help you down the track.

Till then,

Jean

Is that it?

So that is a dedicated domain for support questions?

Krizia

I literally left my laptop and mobile phone in Australia and I headed overseas and just had FUN! When I came back I was not surprised to only get 32 emails that were from my virtual staff and personal friends. Last time I traveled overseas when my busi…

I literally left my laptop and mobile phone in Australia and I headed overseas and just had FUN! When I came back I was not surprised to only get 32 emails that were from my virtual staff and personal friends. Last time I traveled overseas when my busi…

I am sharing my digg.

Thanks for your comment. I have a coaching program called Mass Outsource Mastermind that teaches you all of this. In the meantime I have 10 Free videos which you can watch and learn to teach you the basic principles of what you have asked about:

http://www.massoutsource.com/

I am so happy to have found your blog — what a wealth of great information. I will be visiting often.

I am impressed that you kept at the task and did not give in until you got it to work? Where do I find info about your programs that teach these principles?

Thanks for sharing. It’s a common problem for everyone when they run their business and it’s a process that everyone goes through. A matter of making the transition…

In reply to your question, yes my virtual staff do have access to account information which they need to process on my behalf. Otherwise I would be the one having to do it and this is all part of customer service which has been outsourced to them. In my opinion it’s important to allow for this otherwise you will spend countless hours chasing up issues yourself. Let go and give them responsibility is how I look at it.

Cheers!

It’s persistence and I know they are out there! Good luck with the search

Welcome to my blog and thanks for your comments. I want to let you know that I really enjoy your interview you did with Gideon previously on how to interview. I picked up some really good pointers from that interview.

Answering your question about how to contact these virtual assistants, I have a series of 10 free videos at: http://www.massoutsource.com/. The specific video you want to look at is: http://www.massoutsource.com/video3.html

Thanks.

Great to hear things are working well for you. I look forward to hearing more about how your membership site launch goes. About Hesk, it’s free and a basic system that handles tickets quiet well. Though, the reason why I chose to use Kayako are for it’s additional functions, such as the ability to automatically receive emails and turn them into tickets and other cool functions that Hesk doesn’t have (since it’s free/open source). Also I use Kayako’s Supportsuite: http://www.kayako.com/solutions/supportsuite/ and this includes a livechat function, which I have yet to use though… Will train my virtual staff to use soon.

Thanks.

I might need to reconsider this whole thing. I just need to learn to LET GO!

One question – does your staff have access to your customers’ credit card info as well as your own (and PayPal)?

Thanks for the article Tyrone. I’m envious of your stress-free vacation!

This post was mentioned on Twitter by tyroneshum: New Blog Post: Top 5 Tips On How To Outsource Your Business Whilst On Holidays http://bit.ly/8ShyQ0...

Thanks.

I love the 80/20 tip, I will be exploring that and also digging out my 4 Day Work Week book – and reading more of your website!

But after reading your article, I’m starting to think it might be possible. Virtual staff anyway, instead of an intern… And that’s something I’d never seriously considered. Well-done, my friend.

I’m going to sign up for your outsourcing report now…

Thanks again.

Which package do you have from Kayako Support Suite and what’s the main difference with the free Heck program?

Thanks,

Krizia

Very interesting article. You have really figured it out.

Suggestion -

Now will you write a primer on how to contact these virtual assistants?

Lots of us would like to try it but don’t know how to start.

Give us the steps – kindergarten style.

I’ve been working with some really incredible virtual assistants as well!

Krizia

I can say as one of your students that I’m learning how to let go and manage my virtual staff better.

It’s not perfect, but compared to where I was … this is amazing.

I hired a new writer that will start in Feb2010 for a subdomain and I’ve trained my current writer to give me copy that required little work on my part.

My publishing assistant is wonderful because I no longer have to post on my sites.

I didn’t know of heck.com and will look into that for the launch of my soon to be membership program.

I will buy a laptop soon and big test will be to be in Europe and manage my business at the same time.

Thanks for these incredible tips!

I am “that guy” on vacation that is still working…and I need to stop doing that. Inspirational post and tips for getting out of that hole for sure.

great post and also great video. Looks like an experience you’ll never forget (although I am not sure if I could do it because of my fear of height).

Regarding your business tips: These are very valuable for me. Although I do blog for fun and not for business (not yet but later that year maybe) it is good to know when to implement things. I already hired some virtual staff for one time projects and it ended up with having more work than before. I wish I would have that information before. And yes, you have a new follower

@Antti a& Tyrone: Heard of this book and decided that I need to buy it. Thanks!

Totally agree with you about testing, which is what I teach to people in my mastermind program. There are certain criteria’s that people need to implement when choosing virtual staff.

Thanks for your comment and I’m very glad this post has provided you further inspiration. I glanced over Tim’s new edition in the book shop the other day and I also noticed a lot of great case studies there as well. So that would be the reason why I would buy it to reread. In relation to personal emails, I don’t get my virtual staff to check them as they usually can wait and most of them are for dinners and catching up on a social basis (my V.A. wouldn’t know what to do if they read them anyway). I have 90% of the customer enquiries go straight to my ticket support system at http://www.asknreply.com, which is where my team answers all questions and helps customers.

I was on a sick leave for couple of days just last week, and didn’t have the energy to be online and read emails and I had hundreds of emails after just 2 days. If I get that many on couple of days, you can imagine what it is after vacation! Not all emails I get are business/work related, and I immediately started removing clutter from my mail and I’m now re-working my filters and labels to get thing back on track. However, I liked how you presented the system here, so this post inspired me to start doing even more.

p.s. does you virtual staff handle all your emails, not just “business” mails?

One thing I would add is ‘test’. What I mean by that is ‘test’ your outsourcer. Even though they say that can do things, I’ve found sometimes, they can’t or don’t know where to start.

Don’t be afraid to ‘fire’ your outsourcer if they don’t come up to scratch.

Andrew

Very good video and nice article.

Your article is so timely for me. I have suddenly got a whole load of admin work to process from ski packages, and it really is not my forte. So outsourcing this is my priority.

and yes you have another follower, but to get som many of them must require some doing.

Lance

Thanks for your comment. Trust is something that I believe everyone has and I have been very fortunate to find very loyal and reliable virtual staff. Also I have yet to meet my virtual staff, though I have spoken to them over Skype many times using video, so I know who they look like. I’m glad the advice is helpful.

Talk soon!

Thanks for your comment and excellent questions! In my opinion if I started from scratch again and hired my first virtual staff, I’d start with a project management system first. It’s definitely worth the investment at the beginning and also it will save you time. Then as your business grows with the amount of customer support you can begin to implement that at a later stage, like maybe around 2-3 months later.

The most important tools you need to run a business with virtual outsourced staff at the beginning are:

- Computer (obviously). My preference is a MacBook Pro
- Fast Internet connection (ADSL2+)
- ActiveCollab or Projects2.us (This is bundled into my mastermind course)
- Google Apps (for email and document sharing)

Have a great day!

I think it may be a while before I’m at this point with my business… but it awesome to know there are straightforward steps to carry me through once I get there.

You mentioned several different software applications. How soon in your growth did you get started with them? Are they important at the outset, or should there be a certain amount of demand before implementing them?

keep smiling,

Ben