When you first hear about the idea of outsourcing your work to a virtual assistant on the other side of the world, it can sound too good to be true. That was exactly how Seppe Thys, Managing Director of Hamster Cleaning, felt when he first came across the concept. The idea of working just four hours a week, as described in Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Workweek, seemed unbelievable.
But beyond the skepticism, there were also practical concerns. Seppe wondered how a virtual assistant could handle tasks in a different language and culture. Would it be strange to ask a remote assistant to book an appointment in Flanders (Flemish Region of Belgium) using English?
However, Seppe realized that outsourcing goes beyond just making appointments. There were numerous other tasks that could be outsourced efficiently without language barrier. His experience highlights the importance of choosing the right tasks to outsource and embracing the potential of remote assistance.
Video Transcript:
Sunder (GetFriday): Why did you have those apprehensions at the start? Is it because it was talking about a four hour work per week lifestyle design which seemed like thoroughly impossible or is it the apprehensions of sending off work to a far away place and not being able to meet the person face to face? Which of these apprehensions were playing on your mind when you did get started first time?
Seppe Thys: Two things, It sounded unbelievable, that something like that is possible. So that’s the first thing because it’s very, well, it actually is unbelievable; four hour workweek and outsourcing your life to somebody at a very far distance away. Second thing is also a practical thing which encountered my mind is that’s okay, for somebody who is American; English is the native language. So you can; so I think Tim Ferriss in his book, he has some examples that he asks, for example, his personal assistant from Get Friday to book an appointment for him in a restaurant or whatsoever. Well, that is something of course, which is, it’s…I do not want to say not possible in Belgium or using another language, but it will be very weird that if I ask my PA to book an appointment for me in Flanders in English language. That’s a little bit weird. That was a little bit of a drawback to start with, but then I said, okay, there are…but there are many other things which can be outsourced besides making appointments and questions, of course.
GetFriday (earlier YMII or YourManInIndia) is a service that was featured and used in the NYTimes best-selling productivity and lifestyle design book ‘The 4-Hour-Workweek’ by Timothy Ferris.
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