Very timely post Merlin.

I think Tim's book came at the perfect time for me because I had been examining my businesses and looking for ways to improve and grow them. While I may not ever get to the four-hour work week, I do believe the book is very instructive in terms of eliminating distractions (but so is GTD) and thinking about outsourcing.

Here are my very recent experiences...

I had some market research that I had been avoiding, so I posted it on elance. I had about 25 outsourcers respond - most from India. I emailed the ones that had given me reasonable prices - not necessarily the cheapest -- decided to try one. I asked for a very specific titled employee at telecom and gaming companies for a mailing campaign.

In some cases, the Indian team delivered exactly the right person. In others, the person delivered was several levels too high to make sense for us. I had been very explicit about what I needed and I got a B- (b-minus) product, meaning I had to eliminate about 25 percent of the targets they delivered. I am debating whether to use again and am leaning toward yes.

Next step - find a U.S.-based outsourcer to mail a lead generation letter. I used Craigs to find someone local. I emailed 3 VAs and only one responded. (Later, one of the others said she had been on vacation. Lesson to all: Use autoresponders. It makes you look more profeesional.) The VA said she had experience and merging a letter with addresses. We had a conversation and got along. I did not ask to speak with references. Big mistake. I Fedexed her a box with envelopes and emailed the to-be-merged documents. After phone calls and emails, she disappeared and did not deliver. This put me behind on one of my projects.

I turned to Craigs again and emailed a VA a couple of states away. She emailed me right away, gave me references, pointed me to her web site, put me on her mailing list. She asked to be paid up front, requiring a minimum number of hours booked. This style of business mirrored parts of mine, so I was impressed. I hired her, she delivered. I am looking forward to doing more work with her.

Separately, I outsourced the development of my web site - www.messaginglab.com. It's not perfect, but it works. Are there things about it I would change? Of course, but at least it looks better than my own html, plus it saved me time. The typesetting will drive me crazy but I'll hire a local designer to take care of that.

I plan to continue my experiments in outsourcing. I've learned it does take some investment on my part and I'm OK with that. I plan to outsource a couple of other web site projects, accounting, more of my mailings and probably some of my personal shopping. I don't think I'll ever get to the point where all of my mundane tasks are being outsourced but I am going to look at my life and business a little differently, thinking of ways I can eliminate things to keep me focused on generating income and freeing up time for my kids.