Don’t be a Digital Pack Rat: Winning the E-mail Battle

E-mail and busy work is one of those things that is holding you back. It’s one area you’re sacrificing your business. It’s a challenge that many people have right now and here are some strategies for winning the e-mail battle.*

A. COMMIT - to cleaning out your inbox and make it your goal to get it down to 0 e-mails everyday (although that rarely happens)

B. TAKE ACTION – The way you do this is by going through everything currently in your inbox and everything new that comes in and taking an immediate action with every e-mail during the “batched” times when you check e-mail. The way you process it quickly is by asking yourself the following questions:

1. SAVE IT: Do I need to save this? If yes, either move the e-mail to a different folder of saved items or even better copy and paste the e-mail into a word document and save it. Then delete the e-mail. You can also train your assistant which types of e-mails you want to save and he/she can save it for you.
2. AUTOMATE IT: Is this spam? If yes, delete this right away. You can even train your assistant what spam is and he/she can delete many of those for you and unsubscribe you from the list.
3. DELEGATE IT: Can my assistant (or someone else) handle it? If yes, then forward it and delete it from your inbox. As always with assistants ask for an “End of the Day Master E-mail” where they report to you what actions they have taken on each important item.
4. DELEGATE IT: Is this calendar related? If yes, then forward to your assistant and delete it. Let someone else control your calendar and be in charge of scheduling all appointments. You just dictate to him/her what types of appointments are to be scheduled during what times of what days.
5. SCHEDULE IT: Does this e-mail require a meeting? If yes, then forward it to your assistant and have him/her schedule a meeting to complete the activity and delete the e-mail.
6. DELETE IT: If I’ve read it and processed the information in this e-mail, is there any further action required? If not, then delete it. If yes, then add it to your physical to-do list and delete it. This is especially true of e-mails that you are CC’d on. Read it, process it in your mind, note the information, and if you don’t need to weigh in on it or take action then delete the e-mail.
7. LEAVE IT: Only a handful of e-mails will then require your personal attention for longer than a few moments. Leave these ones for “catch up time” at lunch, early in the morning, on the weekends, or at the end of the day where you knock them off or add them to your physical to-do list for the day.

C. UNDERSTAND –  the why for implementing this system.

1. The biggest reason to clean out your inbox is because of its impact on your focus. Remember the magnifying glass and how focus is power. Well the more items in your inbox then literally the more diluted your focus is across all of those items. I’ve noticed that there is an emotional investment into each item in your inbox and having un-tended to items steals your emotional energy. Don’t let that happen. Process things like a banshee so that you can give 100% of your focus to your most important items and have nothing wasted on the minutiae.
2. The key habit that is created with this process is that you are learning to make decisions and TAKE ACTION NOW. You don’t let things sit and wait to be decided on, you do it right now. You become a master of efficiency. You don’t delay, you take action. You’re decisive and productive. Key habit.
3. You learn to cut the clutter. Clutter creates distraction. Most people are digital pack rats. They want to keep everything for the 1 random chance that they may possibly need to refer to it someday. Just like we refuse to throw out a shirt in our closet that we haven’t worn in 2 years we store e-mails and let them take up space. But that takes a toll on our focus. Remember you always have your deleted items folder if you need it. Or save it to a word doc and get it out of there. But only leave the items that you need to come back and take care of with more action. Otherwise get them out of there. Learning to cut the clutter will apply to every area of your life. You’ll cut the fat in your finances and what you spend money on, the time suckers in your daily schedule, the storage in your house, and the projects in your company. You learn to cut, eliminate, reduce and FOCUS only on the things that are truly important. When you get relentless about taking action you process things so quickly that at the end of the day there are only a few critical items left that need your time and attention. That allows you to increase your focus on each one and it also helps you to realize that you’re not as busy as you think.

* This is a portion of a summary e-mail that was sent to one of my coaching clients recently.

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

8 Business Reasons Why to Use Social Media

You’ve heard everyone talking about it. You’ve probably been invited via e-mail to “join my network,” “be my friend,” or “follow me.” Social media seems like it’s everywhere. And guess what? It is. Over 200 million people are on Facebook (including fastest growing demographic age 35-55 with age 75-90 also soaring), 45 million active people on LinkedIn (51% are business decision makers, average household income of $109k), and over 8 million people are on Twitter. Which means the social media epidemic seems to be spreading faster than cell phone or e-mail use when those tools first arrived on the scene.

By this time maybe you’ve even joined a few of these networks and are beginning to play around with them to see what they’re like. And while undoubtedly you’ve figured out that they can be a great way to have fun and one more thing to spend time on, the question you and your company are probably asking is:

“Can these tools really help my business?”

Over the last several months I’ve spent a substantial amount of time learning about the ins and outs of effective strategies for social media. For 2 reasons: First, because they are fun and it’s been neat to find old friends. But more importantly because of the questions I’ve heard and the attitudes I’ve seen forming from many of my clients. Before we get too far into this let me tell you that to some folks social media is quickly becoming viewed as another “escalator” to success.

Some people are hopping on the bandwagon and getting into it because they think it might be the way to overnight riches. That millions of dollars may come pouring in by magically being on “the internet” or that we’ll win the lotto of thousands of customers who seek out our services and call us to buy because we have one of those “bloggy” things that can be found on “The Google.” If that’s our attitude, we’ll quickly get discouraged from a great tool when that type of success doesn’t materialize very quickly.

Social media is not the jackpot, the American Idol of business, or winning the lottery. And while it is the next big thing, you’re not going to be the last poor man in the room because you refused to start “networking” online. Like anything else, getting effective results from your online strategy takes DISCIPLINE. And since there are so many people out there blasting us with affiliate links and spam messages about how to become an overnight millionaire, I thought that I’d explode some of the “star-gazed cyber myths” and do a real transparent series of truth-sharing on why DISCIPLINED social networking will be a tremendous asset for you in your business.

We’ll start by sharing the 8 reasons why you should be using social media to sell and in the coming articles I’ll share more of the “techniques” for how to use it to sell.

1. Free Marketing
With the startling number of people joining these networks every day, brand equity can be built in a very strong way by keeping your logo and messaging in front of the marketplace. Probably the best thing about social media is that it is free advertising but that also by its nature it can be very targeted advertising, very subtle, and very personal.

2. Public 3^rd Party Testimonials
Third party selling is one of the mastery level skills of  Top Producers and social media facilitates that naturally. When you have a Facebook page people can leave comments about enjoying your product, service or friendship. LinkedIn takes it to the next level where you can “Request Recommendations” and have past clients or bosses actually write a public reference letter. Twitter is the chatter of the party and if your product or service is hot, everyone will talk about it and it will spread like wildfire.

3. Lead Generation
This is, of course, what most salespeople and business owners are directly after. Social media is an example of the same old principle (in this case, sphere of influence) applied in a new way. Just like working your sphere of influence now, it’s about investing into relationships and then asking for the sale or for referrals. You have to know how to provide value to people’s lives and you have to know when and how to ask for the business. You wouldn’t walk up to a stranger on the street and say, “Hi, would you like to buy my product?” No, you would build a relationship, find the need, and then share a solution. You have to do the same thing online. If you do, it’s nearly an infinite source of leads.

4. Follow Up
Most people underestimate the value of this one as it may be the single most immediately revenue-generating advantage of social media. The more immediate value of web work is not as much in getting new customers as it is with getting repeat business. We all struggle to stay in touch with our past customers and Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter provide a centralized, consistent and free way to do that. It also allows you to provide free value to them in links to articles, videos, or blog summaries disseminating simplified valuable information.

5. Expert Positioning
People always want to buy from the people they think are the best. The internet gives providers a chance to demonstrate their knowledge out in the public for free. Write about topics that your customers are interested in, pass on links to valuable information for them and even if you’re the fiduciary of good information – rather than the creator of it – your clients will grow to TRUST YOU!

6. Search Engine Optimization
Google and the other search engines score blogs and other internet sites very high because they are updated frequently. LinkedIn profiles in particular come up very high when someone Googles your name so make sure your profile is professional and up to date. Also, having a lot of social media sites staked out in the internet work as traffic re-directors where people find you on a social media page and then you channel them towards your home page or blog which is usually where the sale happens.

7. Selling Tangible Products
Of course, one advantage of the internet is that you can develop products for sale that are “tangible.” Which can be books, cds, mp3 downloads, webinars, tele-conferences, etc. Once people trust you they come to want more information and may be willing to pay for it. Products such as the ones I have listed down the right side of this blog can be subtly available for sale that people will buy after they trust you to be the source of great information. As I said before, you most likely won’t be an overnight millionaire – unless you’re selling Snuggies – but you can make money while you sleep and it’s a great additional source of income.

And finally, I have saved the best for last. This is the one that nearly EVERYONE is missing out on. Most of us think of social media as a way for us to BROADCAST OUR MESSAGE LOUDLY OUT TO MASSES OF PEOPLE – which it can be. But the real power of social media is that it allows you to listen!!!!

8. Customer Service and Listening
Another highly underestimated value of social media is that it provides an un-inhibited platform for people to voice their honest opinions. They’ll tell you what the hot topics are and they’ll speak openly about the strengths and weaknesses of your company’s products. Not only does it allow you to know “the real deal” but it gives you a chance to engage with them. One-way advertising is out-dated; the next generation is about two-way communication. 

While those 8 reasons won’t make you rich overnight, they are integral parts of your long-term business strategy, which is why you should get involved with social media – because it’s not a “fad” that is going to disappear. It is the next generation of marketing.

In the coming weeks I’ll share on my blog the “techniques” of how to develop a solid, disciplined strategy to online business; how to build a strong brand; how to grow your network; how to generate leads; and most importantly, how to do so without wasting your entire day and sacrificing your other more directly income-generating activities (if you want immediate coaching, Click Here).

To be updated when this info comes out, you of course want to make sure that you join the Take the Stairs Tour, friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, join my LinkedIn network, or subscribe to my RSS feed. As with all the “Take the Stairs” strategies, it won’t be easy but it will be simple. And it’s guaranteed that if you do it with DISCIPLINE, you will win.

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

Volkswagen figured out how to get people to Take the Stairs!

I’m so jealous that I didn’t think of this but I’m glad it’s working. Hilarious!

The 4 Causes of Inaction

Procrastination is something that everyone struggles with; according to Jim Rohn, it is the #1 killer of all success. In my study of self-discipline over the past 9 years, I’ve noticed a more prevalent dynamic than procrastination. It’s one where we don’t deliberately just put things off, or refuse to do them; but rather we mask the activities that we should be doing with ones that are more convenient to do. In other words we allow ourselves to be busy just being busy. The term that I’ve been using in my speeches to describe this phenomena is creative avoidance.

Although creative avoidance may appear in many forms there are really 4 main causes of our inaction towards what we really need to be doing to be productive. These 4 concepts apply to people across all different professions, ages, or endeavors. You show me a person who is not achieving life at the level they want to be and I’ll show you 1 of these 4 diagnosis.

1. Lack of Purpose and Vision
The likelihood of accomplishing your dream is directly proportionate to the clarity in which you see it. Most of us do not discipline ourselves to spend the time dreaming and then capturing and articulating those thoughts. Every great achievement was first birthed by a compelling dream. You know you have an effective vision if it (a) can be concisely articulated by you to another person and (b) calls you into action when you think about it. Having a long term vision gives you the perspective you need to endure the short term sacrifice. The sooner you clarify a person’s purpose the sooner you will see an increase in their production.

ADVICE: Put up pictures and images that represent the vision you have for your life and also have a list of affirmations stating exactly what and who you are becoming.

2. Lack of Gameplan and Intention
For many of us our inaction is actually caused by overwhelm of either what we’d need to do to be successful or by the seemingly insurmountable odds we’re up against to achieve our vision. This is where focus becomes so critical because you turn your attention from the grandiose dream to the immediacy of what action item is right in front of you.

ADVICE: Start with what you need to STOP doing. “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” It’s often easier to notice which activities we need to eliminate than to identify what the steps are we need to take. Then via research, mentorship, or sheer intuition create a to-do list for every single day. Carry it with you and limit it to only 5 items. Knowing what your next 5 steps are reduces your fear and uncertainty dramatically.

3. Lack of Self-Confidence
There is a crisis of confidence in the world today. Millions of people are afflicted with self-doubt, low esteem, and uncertainty that leaves them unable to act. The cause? Comparing ourselves to others. The only reason why we’d never feel good about ourselves is when we hold ourselves up to someone else’s standards. It’s fine to compete with others to drive you but don’t compare yourself to them (i.e. derive your self-worth based on your production/results compared to theirs). Realize that as Mark Twain said “each man is my superior in some way” and that you have something incredibly unique and rare to offer the world.

ADVICE: Put your self-esteem into your work habits rather than your production. Challenge yourself to grow in terms of the effort you’re putting in and in terms of other things that are within your control. Take pride in controlling the controllables and letting everything else go.

4. Lack of Accountability
There is a law that simply states “that which is monitored is improved.” Simply by having to keep track of your actions and your results you are going to improve your productivity. But most of us don’t have someone holding us accountable. Because we’re all so busy being busy that there is no one to report our progress to. Or we avoid accountability because we’re afraid of either failing or it coming to light that actually WE’RE NOT DOING ANYTHING PRODUCTIVE! Accountability increases your chances of success, not decreases it. So don’t fear having to report to someone. For most of us it’s easy to let ourselves down but it’s incredibly painful to let someone else down.

ADVICE: Get someone to report your progress to daily. If your goal is fitness, get a trainer. If your goal is a promotion, get a mentor. If you’re trying to grow your business, get a coach. You must have someone on your team, that is in support of you, that checks in with you regularly. The cost of a coach may be hundreds but the cost of no accountability is millions. Learn about Top Producer’s Edge.

Self-discipline requires sacrifice. The 4 concepts listed above will require you to sacrifice your time, your convenience, your energy, and your emotional comfort with “the way you’ve always done it.” But remember a cornerstone of the Take The Stairs mentality is that it’s a privilege, not a sacrifice, to pay the price for your dreams. Discipline yourself to execute what is above and let go of being comfortable. Do what others aren’t willing to do; Take The Stairs.

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

The 3 Battles of Daily Discipline: Mind, Mouth, and Movement

For most of us self-discipline is a passive concept. It’s not one we very often think about, and when we do it’s often because we feel guilty about some bad decision we’ve made, or were lamenting to a friend about why we need more of it. Unfortunately it’s that in-deliberate attitude that usually leads to our lack of self-discipline. Many of us think of discipline as hard and we don’t understand the Pain Paradox. Discipline doesn’t have to always be difficult, brutal, or painful as long as it’s perpetually intentional and consistent.

 There are 3 primary battles of self-discipline that need to be won each and every day by all of us. They are 3 things that we have absolute control over and that regardless of our profession, age, or income we must deal with. Avoiding these areas is not an option because as I mentioned on my Twitter page, you are either consciously forming good habits or you are unconsciously forming bad ones. The battles I’m referring to are for your MIND, your MOUTH, and your MOVEMENTS.

 The struggle for gaining control of your MIND begins at the exact moment your alarm clock goes off. For some, the tendency of our wandering mind is much towards the negative; that is for whatever reason an un-monitored mind slips to complaining, distractions, and indulgence.  You have to be intentional and fiercely protective about each thought that you allow to materialize in your head. You can influence this with positive affirmations, mentorship, reading positive material, surrounding yourself with positive people, or by sheer will. Understand that the war on your MIND is immediately waged as soon as you wake up and it has eternal implications.

 Today it seems like the MOUTH is the most underestimated tool for self-discipline. Our words are the overflow of our hearts. Just as you do with your thoughts, you have the ability to completely control your words. Errant jokes, flippant comments, and foul language are sometimes (not always) indications of someone who doesn’t have control over their MOUTH. They speak without thinking. They talk without evaluating the impact their words have on themselves and others. I’m not judging what type of language is or isn’t appropriate but I’m adamant that un-intentioned use of the tongue can be violently dangerous to your life and your dreams.

 Last is our MOVEMENTS or our actions. For the most part we have control over what physical things we do with our bodies. Again, I wouldn’t pre-suppose to tell you what movements are good/bad, right/wrong but you must realize that your actions have impacts and if you don’t have a deliberate reign over them, they can get you into trouble. For example, in the male culture there is a common theme when it comes to cheating which is, “I can look as long as I don’t touch.” Yet, is not the first step to every adultery a simple look or an indulgent thought? Does debt and bankruptcy not begin with a single small loan? Would it ever be possible to surpass our desired weight without first taking a single bite?

 Just as success is achieved with 1 small action at a time, so is failure. So that 1 small action is critical and it must be congruent with whatever you value most for your life. Otherwise, in the words of my friend Mark Hall from Casting Crowns, “It’s a Slow Fade.”

 Unfortunately I’m not wise enough to tell you what all of your thoughts, words, or actions should be.  But I am inspired to share with you that they should be done with discipline for what YOU want your life to be and perhaps with disregard for what others around you are doing. A good rule of thumb whether it is with your MIND, your MOUTH, or your MOVEMENTS, is to avoid the indulgent mindlessness of the escalator mentality and to instead Take the Stairs.

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

Composure, Clarity, Control

This blog post comes straight from one of my coaching clients from our Top Producer’s Edge program. She is an extraordinary woman and she’s beginning to get big results in her life and for her company as we’ve been working together for a few months. As is customary we send a recap of each conversation we have with our clients after the call. This one seemed very relevant to a lot of the problems that we are all facing today so I included it here exactly how it appeared in the personal email I sent to her.

“Kind of ironic how the sessions I always send you are right in line with what’s going on in your life. From the Schedule concepts when we first started to the positive affirmations a few weeks ago, to the introduction and questioning techniques for finding pain before selling, using LinkedIn for referrals and recruiting and then today with problem solving.

 “Remember what I said… one of the highest levels of discipline is to be a master of your emotions.

“The key to problem solving is IMMEDIATELY channeling your emotion into a positive direction and keeping your cool. People want to follow a strong leader who always has a game plan (or at least looks like they do ) to overcome any challenging situation. Here is my 3 step formula for channeling that energy: Composure, Clarity, Control

“First is Composure. Remember things are often not as good as they seem or as bad as they sound. Resist the urge to flip out in the very first moment you hear of bad news. (You can flip out later when you’re by yourself all you want) Your initial reaction to a problem sets the tone and mood for the way that you and those around you respond to the situation. And also it forms a habit for all of you about how you will deal with problems in the future. So have DISCIPLINE and begin to start channeling your emotions and staying composed. Remember my man Carl from the old TV Show Family Matters: ‘3,2,1…1,2,3…what the heck is bothering me…breathe.’ :)   That is, to this day, my favorite affirmation in tough times.

“Second is Clarity. DISCIPLINE yourself to not just start taking control and yanking things around in every which direction. Instead ask questions of yourself and of those involved in the situation to make sure that you CLARIFY exactly what the challenge is, what factually happened, and to identify what limitations are legitimately on the situation. You’ll be amazed that when you take the emotional energy out of tough situations there is almost always a clear actionable game plan that reveals itself. The trick once again is learning to view things through a logical lens rather than an emotional one.

“Then Control. Not take control necessarily; but control the things you can control. Don’t focus on what is wrong with the situation. Focus only on what you can do about it. Control the controllables, execute, and take immediate action on what you can to influence things in a positive direction. One thing I’ve seen to be true in dire business and personal situations is that even in times of complete hopelessness, if you just focus on taking the step that is immediately in front of you, then the next one appears more clearly, and then the next, and the next. Which is exactly how you climb the CN Tower with 144 flights of stairs.

“That’s how you ‘Take the Stairs’ in the face of adversity. You are a champion. It’s an honor to be partnering with you as your coach to get you and your team to the next level. I’m thrilled that business has picked up since we started working together in the last few months. It’s a testimony to your own self-discipline, your willingness to change, and the result of your intense focus. Keep it up because we’re just getting started.”

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

Dr. Oz from Oprah radio interviews Rory Vaden about Toastmasters, Southwestern, and Take the Stairs!

Two-time Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking Finalist, Co-Founder of Success Starts Now! (Southwestern Training), and creator of the Take The Stairs World Tour, Rory Vaden, was recently contacted by Oprah Radio and Dr. Oz.

Rory went to meet Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa in New York to be interviewed on their Oprah Radio show discussing one of their common pastimes; Toastmasters International. In talking about the speech contest Rory briefly shares about his experience working with The Southwestern Company internship program while in college. They also discussed Rory’s newest venture and mission Take the Stairs and the importance of living life with self-discipline to over 1 million listeners.

You can tune in to the Dr. Oz Show on XM 156 or Sirius 195. But you can click below to hear the 9-minute interview from Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa with Rory Vaden.

To listen to the interview, click below:

 http://www.oprah.com/media/20090728-radio-dr-oz-public-speaking

 

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Busy Being Busy: How to use Virtual Assistants to Manage Workload

You wake up. Immediately you notice how tired you are from staying up too late the night before “catching up on things.” One of the first things you do is grab your phone and anxiety sets in as you notice that somehow you already have over a dozen emails waiting for you! On the way to work you anguish over your growing to do list with items carrying over from weeks before. You sit down at work to start answering some of these emails and to your horror you find that they are coming in faster than you can send them out! Not only that but every time you send one out it’s almost like you get two back! Throughout the day you have voicemails, texts, social networking messages, meetings, personal errands to run, client follow ups, and a whole series of interruptions that constantly leave you feeling like you’re behind. Sound familiar? Ever think that just “keeping up” with everything could be a full time job? Guess what? You might be right.

This lifestyle is astoundingly and sadly common among ambitious professionals and it is created by the one common problem that many of us have which is a lack of systems to manage workflow. Fortunately there is a new modern solution; it’s called Virtual Assistants – or what I more appropriately refer to as “Virtual Assistance.”

The days of only top executives having assistants are over. In this internet age hundreds of thousands of people are turning to a rapidly developing trend of working with VAs. They are fairly easy to find, cheaper than you might expect, and if you know “the system” for working with them they can dramatically change your lifestyle. Here is the 6 step process for finding, hiring, training, and working with quality VAs.

Step 1 –Question Yourself critically. If you’ve been following my work for a while, you know that one of the antitheses of the disciplined “Take The Stairs Mentality” is what we call creative avoidance. That is creating busy work for yourself just to avoid doing things you know you need to be doing. No amount of VA will solve your lack of discipline so be brutally honest and decide first if you can eliminate some of these tasks or if there is legitimate admin work that needs more time than you have.

Step 2 – Inventory Your Workflow. Okay, busy bee. If you really think you’re that busy, then write out a detailed list of all of the activities that you are currently doing that could be outsourced to someone else. This does two things: it validates your decision on step 1 above and it becomes the game plan for training your VA(s). If your list isn’t incredibly long, then you are fooling yourself and you’re creatively avoidant which means you need to develop more discipline. Fortunately there is a guy who has a great blog full of articles that can help you with that and you can find it at www.takethestairstour.com .

Step 3 – Create Job Descriptions. Working off of the list you just created you can now come up with a list of skills and resources that a person would need to have in order to complete those activities for you. I suggest a two-paragraph simple description that summarize:  A. What types of things you need done and B. What skills you are specifically looking for in a VA.

Step 4 – Post To Virtual Marketplace. This is the magic of the internet. There are dozens of websites or virtual marketplaces (almost like digital flea markets) that are free and open 24/7 helping to connect people with skills looking for work, and people with jobs looking for help. My buddy Timothy Ferriss has lots of them listed in “4-Hour Workweek” or you can Google Virtual Assistants or you can use my favorites:

• Elance.com (my #1 choice)
• Craigslist.org
• Workaholicsforhire.com
• getfriday.com
• brickwork.com

Create a free profile on any of these sites and “post a new job” where you paste in your job description. Set a budget for what you’re willing to pay for a person like this and for the number of hours you want them to work. (If your goal is to make $100k, then your time is worth $52/hr so pony up some dough to help you get there.) Of course, the higher skilled tasks you need accomplished the more you are going to have to pay. VAs are available from $2-$20 per hour. $5-$7 for overseas and $7 -$9 for US can get you some quality resumes.

Step 5 – Identify Key Characteristics. Think ahead of time about what type of person you want representing you. This depends on the amount (if any) of communication they’ll be having with your customers. I recommend you start someone with just a few hours as a trial basis but present the vision of building with them for the long term. Phone interviews are best, skype works, or many of the marketplaces have a live chat function that works just as well. These marketplaces score their providers so you can read testimonials of people who’ve worked with them in the past and how they’ve scored in specific areas on tests.

Step 6 – Begin Outsourcing. Start by delegating simple tasks first. See how your VA(s) manage. If you don’t like one, go get a new one. Create a to-do list each day for your VA to accomplish. It’s simple; create one for yourself first and then look to see which items you can outsource. Of course for some things you need a physical person but it’s amazing how much you can do virtually. Many VA(s) are experienced with online programs that can do things you’ve never heard of. Another simple way to get started is to start forwarding them emails from your inbox with specific instructions for how to complete the objective. If you want more tips on how to work with your VA leave a comment for me and I’ll consider posting more on this.

By the way, this post was written on a plane by me but then emailed to a team of virtual assistants who edited it, posted it, hyperlinked it, social bookmarked it, added it to my social networking profiles, and notified you that it was available. There are few things in my recent life that I appreciate more than my amazing team of VAs. They have given me my life back and improved my ability to do things that generate more money and maximize my passions and skills. They can free up your time so that you can do more important things like TAKE THE STAIRS.

This process does work and it will give you your life back if you have the discipline to implement it with consistency and focus like anything else. Discipline does not mean your life has to always be hard. Remember my theory: the short-term easy often creates long-term difficult but the short-term difficult often creates the long-term easy. VAs are a prime example of how being disciplined to take a step backwards will help you have a more enjoyable and productive life in the long run. There is much more to be learned about working with VAs. If you like this topic and want more information on it please leave a comment and I’ll take the time to explain more.

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

To do professional networking connect with me at: www.roryonlinkedin.com

To be buddies just friend me at: www.roryonfacebook.com

For inspirational and instructional videos watch me at: www.roryonyoutube.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

Magnify Your Life

If you lay a piece of paper on the sidewalk on a sizzling hot summer day, nothing happens. But if you put a magnifying glass between the sun and that same piece of paper, eventually the paper will catch fire. Why? It is the power of focus.

The same is true in life. Attention that is spread around is diluted; un-concentrated; weak. But crystal clear laser focus is powerful, intense, and hot! In the pursuit of your goals you must identify what are the critically important activities (called Critical Success Factors- CSFs) that take you from point A to point B and then focus in on them with laser-like intensity.

It takes discipline to be relentlessly committed to projects and activities that matter! The reason is because with the speed of business and life it’s very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of tasks, deadlines, paperwork, emails, and conference calls. If you’re a salesperson, then there is nothing more important that you can be doing then making sales calls. If you’re a leader, then there is nothing more important that you can be doing then spending time with your people or recruiting new people. For all of us we want to spend our time with people not paper.

In any given pursuit there are typically only a handful of activities that directly forward progress toward your objective. But I find that in almost every circumstance when a person or a company is not reaching their goals it’s because their focus is diverted across too many irrelevant activities.

You say, “But Rory, I can’t abandon my email box, all of my reports, my voicemails, and I’m already working constantly!” And I’d respond, “I know, I can’t either.” So what is the answer to this predicament?

Two things…very simple: accountability and assistants; and the first is more important than the second. You have to have someone to help you identify and constantly remind you of what is the focus and what are the key elements required to get there. This can be a great boss, authority figure, mentor, or partner. The problem is that most of those people are busy scrambling with the same things you are!

It honestly doesn’t much matter where your accountability comes from as long as you have someone who truly cares about you and who is truly committed to your success and you have a worthwhile buy-in to working with them. If you agree that you need accountability and you don’t have it, please leave me a comment below and I’ll try to connect with you personally on some things that can help.

As for assistants…they can be life changing. Tune in next time for strategies on working with assistants to help clarify your focus. Until then do everything you can be disciplined about magnifying your focus.

For more free tips, one-liners, and strategies follow me at www.roryontwitter.com

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

 

Dulles airport has stairs…

… but no one is using them!

Join the Take The Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.