Successfully living the 4-hour workweek through outsourcing

I just met both John and Dion at last weeks outsourcing workshop and wanted to say thank you to both of you for inspiring me and making me realize how it is entirely possible to work the 4 hour work week when you outsource and is now a goal that I plan to reach.

[...] you have to do is say “Go do this” (like Dion did) and it gets done. [...]

The concept is valid but I’m sorry, if you ever had employees you’d know in 2 seconds flat that it just doesn’t work like that. With any level of responsibility there’s something that enters the picture called “competency”.

It’s unlikely that you can hire someone and right out of the box, without direct supervision and training that they will automatically perform outstanding.

And Please, a video recorded in the men’s room. Now that’s a real example of competency. I hope the people he hired does a better job for him than he does.

And that’s my rant. It’s a great idea but it just isn’t that simple.

@Mike – Maybe you should try it, and then talk about how it “doesn’t work like that.”

Yes, we recorded the video in the bathroom, it was the only place in the hotel we could get any sort of quiet. The hotel has a huge water park inside it and it was packed, people everywhere.

I say it DOES work like that, and so does Dion.

John

Mike:
Give it a try. I am one to do everything myself, but I was finally running into stone walls. I just did not have enough time to do the projects I needed to do. I used John’s suggestions on where to find employees. I place an ad and had 10 replys from people that were more than qualified to do my projects. These are people who have college degrees and want to work and want to work hard.
I hired a young lady to create word documents. She is so fast and accurate I can not feed her enough work. Here in the states I would have to pay 50 to 100 dollars to get these created. She does if for 12 to 15 dollars.
So before you say it does not work, give it a try it really is that easy.

@Mike – I hear what your saying, but I thought I should point out that they are not really saying that your employees will not need some kind of supervision or training. From what I understand (and can see on their membership site) is that this blogger is providing training to your employees.

OK Jonas…I bought in to a program for the first time in a couple of years. Not sorry for all the cash I spent on real estate programs because right now it is feeding The Muscle Repair Shop.com which is our total wellness business. So, we’ve hit some road blocks with the internet part and needed help. I get it, I’ve had a VA for years. But now need more. I hope it’s what you say it is.
I really hate the lead in to spending more money from page to page though I guess that is exactly what we will end up doing with our Inet biz. Another learning curve.

I have five VA’s working for me,and yes it does take time to get them trained, but it less work to train them then it is to do the work. I’m not down to 4 hours a week, but I am down to 4 hours per day, and much of it gets done on my blackberry.

So yes competency is a factor, but this is not rocket science, it’s about getting things done, things you don’t want to do yourself, things that take your time away from making your business grow.

To John Jonas

I have listen to your tapes And would like to connect with your system I am 70 years old and am starting over in life I am having trouble finding a niche and maybe you could guide me. I think I understand the principles but I am confused about picking a niche.
Thank you

William young

I’m very interested in this but am wondering what other costs, other than the $97/month membership fee + the cost per month of the outsourcees? Are there any other costs that we will find once we sign on?

I’m a skeptic from the word go. I also recognize that my skepticism (among countless other “issues in my life) are all based on how I grew up and the (poor) examples of work ethic and money management. I’ve pulled myself away from that environment and I’ve been in LA for 18 years now working toward directing movies. I now have my first movie finished and on DVD. I’m going to sell it online but I’ve been inundated with work that is so NOT making movies. I’m scared as hell to jump into something I really don’t know much about, but I did it anyway. I joined John’s course and I look forward to hiring people to distribute my movie online for me, so I can get back to making more movies. I’ll keep you all posted.

This might be the first time I have ever had the inclination to comment… And it’s really not the video I want to criticize, its those that reply with such pessimism.

The program is, as suggested… A system which allows you to hire and train individuals in the Philippines. If your expectation is to hire them, sit back, and watch as the cash roll’s in… Then either your being unrealistic, or I’m a pink rabbit called jack.

The two I have hired so far, are a lot of fun to work with. They learn and grow at good pace, and are competent capable individuals… In Halifax, NS, (where I’m from) one in four I hire is worth the effort I put into training them. So far I have honestly had better odds with Johns program.

Regarding additional costs. The only hook is the expectation that you continue the membership to gain additional training modules… If your impatient you can pay to have them immediately. I’m not a fan of this system, but you would pay substantially more to have a VA using other systems.. And the quality probably wouldn’t be as good. I don’t like to think of my guys stuck in an office, its not what I want, why would they?

Pessimism in small dose’s is bearable… But it will paralyze you if you let it. No program is perfect, nothing is free, and if something is free, then it cost’s to much. John needs to make a ton of cash, or how can he be the example we need to push us forward?

Alright… That is a rant.

Jack the Rabbit Out.

It is all about action my friends. I bought the program, and in less than a month have 4 people working for us. The webmaster has created us a HTML site that was exactly what we wanted and he did it for less than $350.00. The quotes we were getting in the states was between $6000-$25,000 well I have to say….the rubber has met the road!!!

Someone asked if you are going to have to spend additional money. Yes, you are going to have to have hosting…don’t use godaddy!! You are going to have to buy websites or domains. I spent $5 for Ping and it is a great way to communicate with your people in the Philippines.

Who am I….nobody, I have had a hugely successful career in Entertainment, Real Estate, Business and Consulting, but I am an optimist and you know what they say…

Pessimists are usually more accurate, but optimists usually are more successful because they think they are doing better than they really are so they continue to take more action, and more action, and more action, and more action, and more action.

Be great,
Jerry the Optimist

I’m not questioning the validity of John’s info but I’m trying to figure out when is the right timing for me and what is realistic to expect.

At my JOB I manage a team in India so I am very familiar with outsourcing. I can understand why John recommends the Philippines over India but for large companies I think it is easier to scale in India (100 mil vs 1.2 bil people). But I don’t need thousands of workers… just a couple. So to those with a negative attitude… yes, it is possible but you have to follow a system to find the competent people.

So to get started, what is a realistic initial and monthly budget? Being that John’s program is $100/mo. How much else do I need to budget? Could I expect to find someone part time (say 10 hrs/week to start)? Or do I need to be able to commit to full-time? What range should I expect to pay getting started?

@Josh – you’re going to have to pay for hosting (probably $6/month), domains ($9 each), and maybe for a few other software tools if you choose. You don’t have to pay for other software tools though. It’s up to you and what you’re doing in your business.

Besides that, there aren’t really any other expenses.

Hi Bryant, they are great questions that i would like John to answer also.

@Bryant @Andrew – Given that people of all experience levels and different stages of their businesses are reading this, it's hard to give you an answer.
Yes, you could find someone for 10hours/week. Yes, you could pay them $100/month for that work.
Go look at what's available on http://www.OnlineJobs.ph. See what skills you can get and for what prices. You'll find a huge range of skills/costs.

Give it a try, see if it works for you. In outsourcing, there's no substitute for experience.

John

Hello Martin,
How are things going? I am looking for a VA but would like to hear how things are working out from a replacemyself customer. I would like to find out how things are working out for you, and maybe some advise.

Why do you say 'don't use godaddy?' that is who i have. i use them becuase if i have a problem i can get a live person on the phone 24/7. open for suggestions if there is something better.

I say "don't use godaddy" because their hosting is TERRIBLE!
I talk about it in this post about the web hosting I use.

Just wondering when you get replacemyself, is there help for someone like me who knows nothing about this, if you have a game plan to see where we are and what kind of people we should be hiring (VA, webmaster, acct, etc)

@Debbie – no, http://www.ReplaceMyself.com does not include a business plan for you. This is not a magic bullet. Outsourcing to the Philippines does not guarantee your success. You have to understand what you're doing in your business. The point with this is that you're not the one doing the work. That's a big deal.

At some point in the future (hopefully the NEAR future) I'll be adding some training for a business plan. It's just not there right now.

As far as ongoing cost, this is something that is not mentioned very often in your marketing materidals. f you would like to hire a Prefound employee, send $350 (finders fee) via paypal to support@replacemyself.com. If you would like to hire a Tested Worker, then the finders fee is $800.

Also, tho, for others that have not checked into it yet. There are placement test that the workers have taken, so it shows what skill set's they have, which I really like

I agree – I've had issues with GoDaddy in the past. HostGator (and RackSpace Cloud) are awesome solutions. I HIGHLY suggest RackSpace Cloud hosting… because you know you're always online.

Thanks for the great program John.
Just a thought from the post by Margaux.
Just thinking that if the finder fees are paid for the pre-selected employees, does that mean that the selection available in general, has already been picked through to take out the employees to be allocated to the fee paying clients, and would that therefore mean that the remaining list would be those that were not a choice for the fee paying system. i.e. the left-overs and second-choice ones?
i have purchased your program, and look forward to implementing it with my virtual staff in the Philippines and then adding more by using your system. Thank you.

Hi John,

I joined in the middle of Feb. and then kind of froze as I looked at all the employees that were now available to me. I looked over their qualifications for about 3 weeks and took the plunge. I followed your sample email, sent it out, waited for their replies and started narrowing down to find the best qualified for my job.

I own a bed and breakfast and a country inn and needed a website along with marketing & seo. I had received quotes of almost $20,000 for the website and ongoing seo for a one year period. My new Philippino employee should be finishing up the site in about a month (it's taking the same amount of time as the $20,000 company) and it will cost me about $1000. Yup, that's right $1000. Do you think I'm HAPPY !!!!!!

He has 4 years of college and 8 years of experience and is doing a great job. We email every day because I'm more of a hands on person. He wanted $400 per month for 20 hours per week. With his knowledge, I was more than happy to pay that.

All I can say to the people that are sitting on the fence is –Just Do It!! It was so easy with all of John's helpful hints. Every question I had was answered in his program.

In fact, I was so happy with my first employee, I just hired a second one to do article submissions, directory submissions and all that other stuff that I just don't have time for but know I should be doing to grow my business. Cost – $300 per month for 40 hours per week, also with 4 years of college and 6 years of experience. Life is wonderful!

Thanks so much,
Carol Tiffany

Last couple of years I had bought many internet programs and software that for some reason or another I had not been able to implement. Simple put it. I got stuck so purchase other product to unstuck me. Anyway, my question is…
Can I outsource so i can implement all those programs and software that i had purchased through the years?

Do you think is a good idea to put one of those software in their hands and tell them… go ready and do what it says.

Thanks in advance

Hi pessimists! Optimists too!

Well, I am happy – and thought I'd raise my head above the parapet.

Yes, business is tough! You fail sometimes. I've done it many times myself.

But the answer has to be – to be safe – to rely on **systems**. An early writer on this was Michael Gerber with the 'Emyth' book. Excellent reading. The long and short is that you take your time to accurately specify your system, or get someone else to do it for you, and then you get in people who will run your business according to that system. Then, someone needs to keep the system up-to-date as the system changes.

This this takes time initially, but saves you enormous time by the medium term.

John Jonas has just such a system in his "business in a box". He also talks about other systems in his material. For example, there is Niche Profit Classroom. Now there's a nice system if there ever was one. Lovely.

I have a little more money to risk than some will have, and a lot more Internet experience than many. However, the huge income I had hoped for, for over two years has not materialised yet. (Darn.) I really think that will change in 2010.

I have lots of ideas, the trouble is I probably have too many. Having outsourcers will make me to focus, and give them tasks to do which they will follow through to the end (unlike me …).

So I used online jobs.ph. I used best jobs.ph. In fact, I have video'd some of what I've done, and will put these videos on my website, adding to them to track my progress.

I am used to employing people, so have come up with an application form which provides me with good extra information to add to that at the sites.

So, yes, I have got useful experience. So I wouldn't recommend a beginner does what I have done. Which is, in less than **seven flipping days**, I have taken on three staff, full-time, who look just FANTASTIC. One writes absolutely perfect English in an interesting way. One is an IT graduate with four years experience as Webmaster, doing SEO, and is familiar with many of the tools I use. The third is a newly graduated person with an IT degree. He has SEO experience, and is hungry to learn.

(These did not fall out of the air – it was tough to find them, and during the proces I felt despondent here and there. The writer was one out of around 34 who applied. She was the only "absolutely excellent" one. One of the others was 98% and I would have gone with her. IT/webmaster with design skills – I was optimistic to try and get all 3 skills – I was lucky here, and one of the several who replied to me when I emailed a few folk was perfect. The new graduate actually replied to the writer advert, but wasn't qualified for that – but fitted in elsewhere. )

I am starting them off at around the $200 a month mark, with the promise of increases as this business becomes successful. They will be worth it.

This is flipping fantastic. I plan to journal my progress on my 'heymalc' website will details of how I have used John Jonas's excellent information and inspiration to create my own business Philippines-based.

I am very happy. But if you are less confident than I am, do just what I'm doing with my third employee. I have said he is on three months probation, and I can only afford to keep him on if he is covering his salary by month three. I am thinking of giving him John Jonas's "business in a box" and seeing how he gets on with it. He will have time for other things as well. I might get him to help with Niche Profit Classroom.

Must stop prattling on now and go and create some projects for my new staff – I just never imagined I might have three of them in less than a week.

Good luck to everyone with their plans.

And thanks John Jonas. Owe you a beer – or maybe a cocktail on a Filipino beach.

Malc

good for you, I am 0/3, two total flakes that disappeared for a week and another that could not spin an article and did not know what a cpanel was.
make that 0/4, a promising candidate never wrote back after I asked if she was ready for an assignment.

Hi,
I'd like to add a comment.
I read everything first for a month on this site, then when everything was read & watched, I joined.
Best $121 (Ausd) I ever invested!

I learned heaps, just Skyping them after they all applied for a job.
I felt so humbled by "ma'm: all the time too…

I felt like setting up Skype School for them & teaching them enough to get a good job.
They are so gentle & thankful, I wanted to hire them all!

They were probably good workers, but it was ME who was the problem.
I didn't know what to get them to do!

I was far too early trying to employ people.
Had 2 goes, but I will be back later, now I understand them more too.

ONE job at a time…

Great experience & well worth it.
It is a business & there are lots of expenses in business, I am prepared to pay…but if it doesn't work out like I wanted, I just call it a $121 seminar!

Kindest,
Poppie

I hired several people via agency or by myself for monthly paid. None of them work good. When I used agent's trained staffs, I had to change 3 people, still not good. I just talked about article writers. These writers have limited knowledge for topics you want them to write, then plus language (even from Philipine), articles are not impressive at all. Take couple of hours to create a squidoo len… It is very unproductive.

After failed experiences, it is really hard for me to try another people from outside us.

If you really want to hire good ones, I guess that monthly wage like $250 isn't very realistic from now on.

Hello all:

I've been using a Fillipino graphic designer for 7 months now (before I bought John's system) and he's the best employee I've ever had!!!! His work is amazing. And the price is amazing. Up to this point I've always done my outsourcing on project by project basis (I have 11 VA's I use all over the world). But because of John, I am finally going to hire someone fulltime to do SEO, articles, blogging, videos and websites).

Best decision I ever made after reading the 4 hour work week was to hire a VA!

Nina