Life

Community and Giving

Tonight while listening in on Twitter, I saw a link to the latest post by Connie Reece. Despite her condition, she made it a point to attend church today. At church, she heard her friend say “it’s an honor to serve you” when the communion plate came around. Those six words succintly described the value of community.

This realization reminds me of some things I have read, heard, and thought about regarding community. Many of us who are really digging the rise of social media on the Internet really enjoy the facility with which we can connect with others of similar interests and passions. Of course, in life we can have friends with a variety of interests. Online communities share common traits with our everyday communities, except for physical presence. This can be an important distinction.

One thought that comes to mind is what I read in one of the 7 Habits books is “if there is no gardener, there is no garden”. The context of that was that you can’t simply plant some seedlings and forget about them. This applies to anybody who has an online presence. You cannot jump on Twitter one day and say that you have a social network. You cannot check up on your facebook account once a month and expect that to be a way of keeping in touch with your friends. In order to have the garden, you need to actively and consistently maintain that garden. In social media, you need to actively and consistently maintain those connections. More than that, you need to make those connections meaningful; and, you need to make those connections in your every day life.

I can admit that I sometimes get carried away with checking up on my online accounts to see what my online friends are doing. It is easy to neglect your community locally. The first community we all have is our family. Beyond that there are our neighbors, co-workers, and fellow parishioners. We belong to these communities and we often neglect to put in the necessary time to maintain these local communities. We don’t often take the time to ask how somebody’s day is going, to wish a happy birthday, or to even ask if there is anything that we can do to help.

When it comes down to it, most of the people who are of note in the online community offer their friends something of value. They give valuable advice, ideas, assistance, and many other things. Locally, we give similar things to our communities. We give our time, advice, ideas, assistance, and more. I find that many of the things that make you a star in the online world are the same things that make you a star in your local community. More than that, we are physically present to actually do something.

Going back to the concept of gardens requiring a gardener, it is important to remind you that you should spend a little time being of service in your home, church, and other communities where people live with you and are at hand to help you in a time of need. Be sure to serve those who are physically in your community as you would those in your online communities. It is your local friends who can check in on you and offer a helping hand much easier than your online friends can. They are worth the same amount of attention; give it to them.

I Hired a Virtual Assistant

If you have read The Four Hour Work Week, you know that the author, Timothy Ferriss, writes about hiring a virtual assistant to outsource your life. One of the companies he suggests is named Your Man in India, which is not the right company. YMII is for Indian expats who need stuff done back home. There is another company called GetFriday.com which is the right one. They have virtual assistants on a variety of plans you can hire. SmartMoney’s A. J. Jacobs has the most well-known article on the topic of hiring virtual assistants. Other companies include Brickwork and Task Everyday. I have more modest needs.

Get Friday is a service that I have used before, and now am ramping up a bit. I had Get Friday on a retainer of $10/month. At this rate, tasks are billed in 15 minute increments at $15/hour. I’ve used them here and there for odd jobs. I’ve gone months without using their service just paying the $10 retainer. I figured that I had little to lose by keeping them on my payroll and on standby. I’ve used the service sparingly because, at $15/hr it’s more than I earn. I have to really, really not want to do something in order to outsource it.

Making assignments is simple enough. I send out an email to my assistant, Sahnaz, with the details of the assignment. She lets me know when it is done. I have not used my virtual assistant to do any shopping for me. Perhaps that will change in the future. In any event, my interaction with my virtual assistant has been very easy. What’s even cooler is that I received a Christmas card from Sahnaz today. I thought that was very thoughtful. It’s also my first piece of mail from India.

I have a feeling that things are about to get busy for me. I have demands from all different directions by people who want me on their team. For this reason, I have increased my monthly subscription to the next level. For $120/month Get Friday will give me 10 hours of service. The billing is in 10 minute increments. If I go over, then I am billed at $14/hr. They have other monthly plans at 20, 40, 80, and 160 hours per month ranging from $200 to $1120 per month. The more hours you contract them per month, the lower your hourly rate. Of course, it all depends on your needs.

I don’t know what task I’ll be sending Sahnaz for February to fill those 10 hours. I decided to buy the block of time rather than work up to 10 hours so that it forces me to delegate. Being a “boss” is a learned skill. You have to learn to let go of certain things and trust somebody else to get them done. I hope that she will be useful in earning more money so that I can upgrade my plan.

I have some ideas as to how Sahnaz will help me. One way in which she could help me out is to help me stay on top of important dates. Another possibility is to keep track of my business transactions. I enjoy fixing computers and helping people. I can’t say that I enjoy the accounting part. In fact, it makes sense to make Sahnaz a part of my business. My computer services business pays me more on an hourly rate than my day job. Using Sahnaz to help me with my salaried day job is all cost. Using her to help me make money is a cost of doing business. I only pay more when I make more money.

For now, this is experimental for me. I don’t know how hiring a virtual assistant for a fixed number of hours per month will help me. More than anything, I hope that I make smart decisions as to what I should outsource and what I should do myself. I’ll keep you posted at the end of February how things go.

Those Bastards!

One thing that people have often used to hit me over the head is the quote, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” I have trouble focusing on any one field of study because everything is so damned interesting. I have never been really good, as in expert, at anything. I do, however, have a knack for seeing how things fit together. The point is, I often feel inadequate for never mastering a particular field of study before moving to a new one.

I was just reading Tim Ferriss’s blog in which he gives reasons why being a jack of all trades is a good thing. I can follow his reasoning and tend to agree, but I can’t just take his word for it. I then read the 2nd comment on his post, which has:

Allegedly the Jack of all trades saying is always taken out of context. The full saying is apparently:

Jack of all trades, master of none, though oft times better than master of one!

I looked it up for confirmation. Indeed, that is the full quote. What is more, people who are jacks of all trades are called polymaths, or Renaissance Men.

Now I feel dumb for listening to everybody who quickly spits out the incomplete jack of all trades quote. Now I know better and can finish the quote. I also won’t feel bad for having such wide-ranging interests.

Jerks.