I talked earlier about how outsourcing tasks to places like “GetAFreeLancer” and “ELance” was a benefit to your business. I’ve since come to realize that, while it has it’s place, it’s not really the best solution. In fact, it might even be detrimental to your business. Especially if you’re pursuing the goal of the four hour workweek.

Why is that?

It’s time consuming. You have to list the project. Then you have to take the time to describe the project explicitly or take the chance of it being done wrong…even then the chances are good it won’t be done to your expectations. You have to peruse all the bids and then hope you choose the right person for the job. You’ve spent hours just reaching this point….and now you have to wait for the project to be finished.

The bidders main interest, more times then not, is completing the project as fast as they can so they can be paid. Quality control is not really in their vocabulary.

They are expensive…yes, I stated earlier that it’s a cheap form of getting work done but I’ll be showing you a better, cheaper way shortly.

Any effort you may have put into teaching them aspects of your business is lost as soon as the project is finished. You’ll have to repeat it all over again should you ever do something similar in the future.

If the project’s not done to your expectations you can start the process all over again…and lose all those precious hours once more.

Hardly the way to achieve the four hour workweek.

What if I could show you a cheaper more effective way?

What if you could hire someone full time for what it would cost you for one project through “GetAFreeLancer”? Someone far more suited to the task at hand.

Let me introduce you to Replace Myself…a membership site that has sent me on to the next level in my marketing. There’s two main elements to it. Hiring full-time outsourced workers and providing training for these workers. There is a wide selection of workers available complete with the skills you’re looking for but the training provides for a more well rounded employee and can enhance the skills they already possess. The training modules cover a whole gamut of skills from Adwords, Video Marketing, WordPress, SEO and more. There’s eleven modules advertised but I received fifteen. Three were tagged as bonuses so it would seem there’s one that’s not mentioned in the sales page. In any case, by the time your employee completes all of the modules there’s not much that they won’t have at least a basic knowledge of…and it’s done with minimal involvement on your part.

Is that not the key to a four hour workweek?

The employees available through Replace Myself are all from the Philippines and that’s a major advantage. They are all schooled in English. They are hard workers and very loyal. They all have college educations…it’s part of their culture.

And they can be hired for as little as $100 per month although the average is closer to $200 per month.

For a full time employee capable of doing most any task you need done.

That will free you up to work on the important stuff.

Like product creation…or golfing.

There’s been two major turning points in my Internet Marketing business.

Getting Alex Jeffreys for a mentor…he taught me the basics and so much more, got me motivated and continues to do so…and joining Replace Myself. Doing so is going to take me to the next level and beyond.

CLICK HERE NOW to view a video that will start you on your way to the next level in your business…and to the four hour workweek.

The bonus videos available in the Quick Start package are worth thousands of dollars on their own…they totally blew me away.

If you have any questions about Replace Myself…mention them in the comments or email me through the contact page. If I can’t answer it, I’ll pass it on to the owners…they are very, very quick with their replies.

I truly believe that Replace Myself is a valuable resource and it would be greatly appreciated if you would “Sphinn” this article to help let others know of it.

There’s been some questions on the procedure in choosing and hiring people so I made a video that hopefully covers it.  As you can probably tell videos aren’t my forte.

A project I`ve been working on is coming to completion. At least I hope so. I was hoping to have it out some time ago but ran into some hurdles. It`s become even more important as the benefits I`ve been receiving for my bad shoulder are about to run out so an income stream from all this is becoming much more important. I haven`t mentioned my shoulder, and how it`s largely behind me entering the Internet Marketing field, as it was going to be brought up in my “About” page which I have yet to get around to doing. (see above about planning going out the window ) Anyways, I’m an electrician by trade, have been for over thirty years, and I’m no longer able to raise my right arm above my shoulder for extended periods of times. This is due to a combination of chronic bursitis and a small tendon tear. Needless to say, I’m not of much use as an electrician with that kind of a limitation so here I am trying to do this Internet Marketing thing.

Being that I’ve fallen behind in my posting and things have kind of got out of sync in terms of what Alex has taught us, and when, I’ll be trying to do a post on each module in the near future. I’m going to give each one another listen then post on it. They may become a little spread out as there’s other things I want to post on also and projects that need my attention but I hope to get caught up fairly quickly.

I think this quote is appropriate for how things have gone in the past couple of weeks.

“The best plans of men and mice often go awry” Robert Burns

Then my outsourcing didn’t pan out as expected. Some of it is taking longer then I’d hoped, which is fine. I’d sooner see the time being spent to put out a good finished product then rush it and get something that’s second rate. The results from the three outsourcing sites I used, ELance, GetaFreelancer and oDesk Outsourcing, for one project have left a bit to be desired. Interestingly enough, eLance has provided the smallest response of the three. Several providers have asked for a deposit and I was wondering what you folks reading this think of that. It’s nothing major, rewriting existing copywriting, so I personally feel that a deposit is unwarranted but I’m new to all this and could use the views of others.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. I’ve learned lots, and that in itself makes for a successful week, and I did get a few smaller items out of the way. One super thing that happened is I got a personal taste of the awesome support that Alex Jeffreys students are providing for everyone. I was wondering what a fair price would be for the outsourcing of a project and figured I’d see if Twitter would provide an answer. To no surprise it didn’t but one of my fellow students shot me a direct message and he is now having a look at it. I’m not going to mention his name as it involves something he’s really not interested in doing any longer but to say I appreciate this is a huge understatement. It’s kind of getting down to crunch time with me and getting this product out is pretty important. So having someone offering to help, and especially with something they’d prefer not to be doing, out of the blue like this is really awesome and so greatly appreciated.

I’ve expressed a couple of times in the forums how I think we have such a great community already but this really brings it home. While Alex Jeffreys course in itself is providing great value I really feel that the community that’s been built around the course and him may very well prove to be the biggest thing of it all. The future looks bright.

“We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone … and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.” Sandra Day O’Connor

As mentioned, posting journals and having partners are great tools but they don’t mean squat if you can’t hold yourself accountable. They are aids only, accountability is only achieved through one’s own efforts. While posting journals may not be the way to go for all people everyone should be religiously keeping a journal. I can’t think of a better way then looking at your short term to-do list and your did list to account for what you’ve achieved over time. If you go back a week and most of your to-do list is still there you have problems. If it stills mostly there after a month you’d best have a long look at yourself in the mirror. This, of course, is where planning plays such a critical part. I’ve always planned but not to the degree suggested in the course and I can see where it would have helped. My planning was with a pretty broad brush and could have used a lot more finesse. I have a long ways to go in learning how to plan properly but have already seen improvements in my habits and most of all for accounting to myself. I’ve always kept track of my activities in a notepad scribbler and have found it to be invaluable. It’s all there for you to refer back on things and to check on your progress. Also, you’re not loosing or throwing out sheets like you might do with individual ones and you can’t walk away from being accountable. It’s all there for you to see, what you did and what you didn’t do. That’s been my biggest asset.

I’m in no way trying to downplay what having a partner can do for you and/or what posting your journal may achieve but I feel accountability has to start within yourself.

“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable” Moliere

“Forward to Basics“. This module focuses on the basics of running a business and having it run smoothly. The core of it is planning and organization. Short term, mid-term and long term planning or, put another way, daily, weekly, monthly, quartly and yearly. By planning your tasks you enable yourself to focus more and you greatly improve your productivity. It hasn’t even been a week since the first module and I’ve seen my productivity go up greatly. This in itself may not be a new concept to some of you, although I’m guessing most of you don’t do it, but one element that’s discussed is breaking your tasks up into priorities and labeling them A, B or C. By doing this you’re focusing on the tasks that need to be done and leaving the lesser ones for later. I started with talking of putting up a new site as it illustrates how well this can work. You may plan to spend four hours to put up your new blog but easily use up the whole day and still not finish. However, by planning your tasks you have them written down and can just move everything forward until such time that you can complete them. You may even find that some of the B’s and C’s weren’t even necessary. Longer term planning helps to make sure you don’t pass over other important A tasks that can so easily be forgotten.

You may find it hard to plan far ahead, I know I certainly do, but as you progress it should become easier. Reading the forums I get the sense that some people take some things too literally, which may not be the best way to approach things. I feel you need to adapt courses like this to your own needs, abilities, goals, etc. Personally, I’m not in this business to try and make millions of dollars but to make a comfortable living with the least amount of effort. That’s not to say I’ll turn away the opportunity to make millions but I’m obviously going to approach things differently then someone who is after that kind of money. I’m also single and have no family so my plans are going to differ from those with a family. All these factors can affect the way you plan and the ease with which you can do it. I am finding that by always doing a “did sheet“, keeping track of tasks completed, and making a daily and weekly plan that I find myself thinking of things that can be done next week. I’m guessing that as I progress further that it will advance into thinking of things months ahead. The main thing is to make sure you plan at some level. At a minimum plan tomorrow today. If you can plan farther ahead all the better. “Forward to Basics” is much more then just planning and delves into other areas to prepare us for building our businesses and to say I was impressed is an understatement. I’m looking forward in anticipation to the next module.

“Attitude is everything, shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll be amongst the stars.” Authour unknown