Mike Masnick had an excellent post on his techdirt blog entitled “If You’re Measuring Productivity In Hours, You’re Doing It Wrong.”

His basic premise is based on another article that was written in a NY Times blog.

Basically, the NY Times blog, focused on how many “hours” of lost productivity took place due to the information stream (e-mails, web surfing, etc.) Masnick takes the right view on this lost productivity. Productivity is not measured in hours. Productivity is measure in the amount of work that gets done.

While I can loosely see the “hours” argument for certain job types where employees are paid by the hour, it is fairly useless in a corporate world where employees are given a job to do and allowed to manage their own time. Any time that the individual “waste” comes out of there own personal time.

I am not argueing that today’s information streams do not reduce productivity, although there are some compelling arguements out there that it does not. The question you have to ask is are employees getting the job done that they were hired to do? If you hire someone to produce financial reports and these reports are completed on time and are accurate, why should you care that they check their Facebook page a few times a day? Think output – not hours.

Do you ever wonder how your brain works? The possession of this knowledge would surely increase our productivity and our likelihood for success in life. Brain Rules, a new book and DVD by John Medina, explores twelve principles of how the brain works with the purpose of allowing the readers to maximize the different aspects of their lives.

One of my favorite rules is Rule #1: Exercise boost brain power. In my opinion, the author hit the nail on the head with this one. Medina suggests that the best business meeting would have everyone walking at 1.8 miles per hour. I know that some of the best meetings I have with my business partner (my wife) come as we take a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. During this stroll, my mind begins to churn ideas and answers to business challenges at a rate that I never get laying around the house or sitting at my desk.

I will provide more insight on this book after I actually read it, but for now, you can learn the twelve rules for yourself by visiting the Brain Rules website.

Our offices have been using a dual monitor setup for a number of years now. While I do not need any extensive research to tell me I am vastly increasing our productivity (I can see it myself everyday), there are several studies that are coming out that are promoting the advantages of dual monitors.

In a recent study from the University of Utah, people using two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those that used a single 18-inch monitor. For the many businesses who are strapped with the need for additional personnel, they must ask – do I really need employees or do I need the proper equipment for the employees I have.

Microsoft Researchers conducted user studies at determining the effectiveness of adding a second monitor to your workstation. Their findings report that dual monitors increased productivity anywhere fro 9% to 50% depending upon the person performing the tasks and the type of task.

The bottom line is that if you are even able to squeeze a mere 10% more productivity out of an employee, your cost savings can be extraordinary. For more information on the Microsoft study click here.
I have been to numerous tax and accounting conferences and in the technology portion, dual monitors is always the strongest point of emphasis that is made. There are always the usual doubters – people that have been doing things the same way for 40 years and refuse to change anything. There are two additional things that are always consistent in these discussions. The first thing is that there is never anyone in the room who has gone to dual monitors that will not rave about them. Secondly, there is not a single dual monitor user in the room that will EVER let you take their dual monitors away from them – me included. I hope to have three monitors before long!

How many hours do you work in a typical week? 40? 50? 60? 80? How would you like to increase your income AND reduce your work week down to a mere 4 hours? That is just what Timothy Ferris, the author of the NY Times Best Seller The 4-Hour Workweek, did. While I do not agree with many of the things Tim did along the way to achieving his 4-Hour Workweek, there are some important lessons to be learned.

How did he do it? Outsourcing. He outsourced virtually everything in his life. Many small businesses outsource certain things, such as Payroll. But how many outsource their bill payment, their research projects, appointment setting? Tim was able to setup entire businesses on the simple concept of outsourcing. For instance, he would setup a web store (which he outsourced), he would outsource the order fulfillment, customer service, billing, accounting, etc. Do I think anyone can achieve the success that Tim had? Most likely it is like any other business. If ten people did this, there would be one or two that made it long-term.

So by now, you are thinking to yourself that you can not outsource your entire business. Well, most of us can not – or at least we are not comfortable with it. What we can do is outsource many of our unproductive tasks to free up time so that we can accomplish what we do best and what drives growth for our business. Virtual assistants are simply someone who provides administrative, technical, or sometimes creative assistance to their clients. They are becoming more and more common everyday – particularly with independent entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Since a large number of our clients are in the real estate industry, let us look at some of the tasks that a typical virtual assistant can perform for an agent: schedule appointments, communicate with title companies, flyer creation, postcard marketing campaigns, organization and management of client databases, listing coordination, creation of virtual tours, FSBO Campaigns (For Sale By Owner), website creation/maintenance, blogs, client appreciation gifts and gatherings, or newsletters just to name a few.

The list of what VA’s can do it limitless. I had one client who is starting an ecommerce website have his VA research where he could find a drop shipper for the products he was looking to sell. I personally have used a VA to design documents, proof read documents, design logos, research products that I am in the market for. Currently, I am having a VA research the best lawn mower for my needs and provide a recommendation – as well as finding me the best deal.

If you are new to the subject of Virtual Assistants, you are probably asking yourself: Who are they? Well the answer varies greatly. Many are executive assistants or secretaries that have decided to go out on their own. Many are solo-shops and many are firms with several professionals assigned to your account – each performing the tasks for which he or she is best suited.

Today, with prevailing technologies such as the Internet, Virtual Assistants can be anywhere in the world. There are many right here in the U.S., but there are large numbers of professional firms in other countries who service clients worldwide.

The obvious major difference is that the typical Virtual Assistant from abroad is typically cheaper than those in the United States. You can get a competent Virtual Assistant firm from India from $4 per hour to $8 per hour depending on the firm and the tasks. In the U.S., rates start around $10 per hour but go up to over $30 per hour.

Don’t let the low price fool you. Many of the VA’s in India are equally educated to the VA’s in the United States. Their price is typically lower because they have a much lower cost of living than do their United States counterparts. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the lower rates mean you are getting a lower quality of service. In addition, most all of the VA’s serving clients in the United States are fluent in English.

There are a few advantages to consider when looking at VA’s within your own country. First of all, they are typically working in the same time zone or at least one only a few hours off. When working with VA’s abroad, it is sometimes difficult to communicate in real time due to the time differences. For instance, India is ten and a half hours off from the Eastern time zone in the United States. In addition, there is an obvious cultural connection between yourself and an individual living in your own country while there may be vast cultural differences if selecting a VA in other parts of the world.

The time difference is not always a disadvantage, and it can sometimes even be an advantage. You can send a project to your VA in India before you leave work and it will be completed and in your inbox when you get to work the next day. This can produce great efficiencies in that it effectively allows for a “second shift” for some tasks within your business.

Where do you find Virtual Assistants? There are a variety of methods starting with typing the term into Google search. A method that is beginning to gain a lot of momentum are websites dedicated to this and other virtual services. You can list your project or tasks into a project description and have many virtual assistants bid to provide you services. Examples of such websites include Elance.com, iFreelance.com and oDesk.com. You can also try the International Virtual Assistant Association at IVAA.org.

The economic benefits to having a virtual assistant rather than an employee are expansive. First, you may not have enough work to fill a full-time employee’s time or even a consistent amount of work to provide to a part-time employee. You only pay for the time in which it takes your virtual assistant to complete his or her task. With an employee, there may be many hours of unproductive time.

Because a virtual assistant is not an employee, you do not have to pay payroll taxes or provide any benefits. Your cost is limited to their hourly rate. In addition, you will not have to invest in any of that expensive computer equipment or software since the virtual assistant is required to provide all of that themselves.

When starting with a new VA, I feel that it is best to give them less important projects in the beginning and slowly work up as you are comfortable with their abilities. You may want to even hire more than one based on their specialty.

In today’s fast moving world of small business, it is easy to become bogged down with unproductive tasks. If you are not yet using a Virtual Assistant, consider what tasks are weighing you down and think about whether they can be outsourced. Remember the lessons that Michael Gerber taught us in one of the greatest business books ever written, the E-Myth. In order to grow, we must work ON our business, not IN our business.