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Talking Outsourcing – Video Interview With Chris Ducker from VirtualBusinessLifestyle.com

Chris Ducker

Hello chaps! Sorry for the “radio silence”. Went straight to the adult league last weekend and turned 30. Scary..

Anyway, let’s get to it! Just a while ago, I had the chance to interview Chris Ducker from VirtualBusinessLifestyle.com. I’ve been keeping my eye on Chris’s blog for a few months now and I must say, he’s killing it (in a good way)! If you’re considering “removing yourself from the office”, listen to Chris. He’s fulfilling his own dream right now as we speak and becoming a  full-time Virtual CEO. More about that and many other things in the interview!

Three things I’d like to apologise before we begin:
  1. My clumsy English (I’m a Finnish guy and this is the very first video interview I’ve ever done, so try to bear with me!)
  2. The problem we had with the video stream at the end of this video (sound got through just fine, but the video stream hang there for a moment).
  3. This video is in 4 parts. That is because most video distribution channels (like youtube) won’t allow you to publish a video that’s more than 10 minutes long (unless you have a vip-account of some kind (which I don’t have, apparently!))

You’ve been warned. Let’s start!

In the first video:

  • Who is Chris Ducker and What do you do?
  • What gave you the idea for the Virtual CEO goal?
  • Few words about Work The System, a fantastic book by Sam Carpenter
  • Why should someone outsource to Philippines?
  • Comparison between Philippines and India as an outsourcing country

In the second video:

  • I’d like to hire a VA. How does the process work?
  • 2 Outsourcing routes: Solution Providers versus Freelancers. Pros & Cons?
  • How does the employee candidate screening process work in your company?

In the third video:

  • Best practises for communicating with your VA?
  • What means there are for monitoring your VA’s work?
  • Hiring a long-term versus a short-term (project’s based) VA. What are the differences?
  • Few words about Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome.com (awesome guy btw, if you don’t follow him yet, I suggest you do so NOW.)

In the fourth video:

  • How have you personally removed yourself from the office? Your VA setup?
  • Few words about The Four Hour Workweek, a book by Timothy Ferriss that has become almost like a “holy book” for many lifestyle designers, business owners and many other people.
  • What advice would you give to people watching this interview and thinking about “could this outsourcing thing work for me and my business”?
  • Chris’s opinions on sites like oDesk.com, Elance.com, Freelancer.com?

Those were the interview clips. I hope you gained something useful or at least got inspired! Go try out outsourcing TODAY. You probably won’t regret it.

I’m just about to take that “freelancer route” myself. I started working on my first e-book project (which is going to be a pretty big one, so don’t expect it too soon!) and that’s where I’m going to use outsourcing. More about that project later. I’ll tell you more when the project evolves!

Like with the last interview that I made with Chris Ducker, this one will also be available through three different channels. You’ll find the interviews through

The reason I uploaded this to all three (via TubeMogul btw) is simply because I want to test how these three compare to each other in terms of:

  • Features (what kind of benefits can there be found from each channel)
  • Traffic (how much traffic comes through each channel)

I’ll give you a heads-up how the features and traffic worked later on, in the upcoming posts.

Like Chris said in the last video, He is going to come and check your comments every now and then, so if you have any questions for him you’d like to ask; Please do so in the comments section! I hope you liked the interview. Happy outsourcing!

May 13, 2010
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  • http://www.familychristianmovies.com Jake Olson

    Fantastic interview guys. I was very helpful and got my mind working about what it looks like to work with an outsourcer. Juha, no need to appologize for the short videos. I NEVER would have started watching if I'd seen one big 40 minute video. After listening to the first interview, I was loving it enough to listen to all four. Chris, am I hearing you say that Virtual Assistance for the person who just wants a part time person helping them grow their business isn't something that your company does? I love what you're saying about "giving it a try." It's just really daunting, and I think you understand the reasons why. I think the leap would be so much easier for someone like me if a reputable company like yourself offered something like "Give it a try" packages, things like 10 hours/week of dedicated help and for a program like this, you could post prices. One of the big fears for me when I think of this is "I don't have time to do everything on my plate right now. when would I get time to train a VA to help me accomplish more?" I know there are responses to that objection, but that's part of the mental hurdle for me. Just some thoughtsKeep up the good work guys

  • http://www.nomadcouch.com/ Juha Liikala

    Hi Jake! Great to hear that the interview helped! There's more to come. Thanks for the tip about the video length! Now that I think of it, it makes perfect sense. NOBODY want's to watch a video that seem never ending (like 40 minutes). I think it's the same thing as with very long blog posts. Even if the post subject is very interesting, it feels daunting to read a post that takes “forever” to read. Same with the videos. One thing that I also think is very important: video transcript. I'll take these in consideration when making the next vids!

    I'll let Chris know about your question! I love the idea you mentioned about the “give it a try package”. That would be a fantastic way to introduce outsourcing to anyone, who's just trying to decide how well that kind of services “work for them”. I think the most common obstacle people face when considering outsourcing is this: They don't know how to find a VA that they can TRUST. Sure they know that they can post their task description to oDesk/ELance and others and in return get 10 different VA offers, but how to pick the RIGHT ONE? If someone could do the search process for them, they would instantly try it out. That's what I think anyway! “Buy our Give It a Try package, tell us about your task(s) and well assign a great VA for you for your project.” I believe that kind of package would be a home run.

    Thanks for the great comment!

  • http://www.virtualbusinesslifestyle.com/ Chris C. Ducker

    Hi Jake

    You could find freelancing VAs that would be happy to work for 10 hours throughout the course of a week, so you could gauge the quality and pro-activeness of their attitude towards work, etc.

    Training, however, is absolutely KEY to producing a good quality VA working relationship. If you dont spend time to train them then you simply cannot expect to get your moneys worth from them.

    Good luck with testing the waters and be sure to let us know how you do, buddy.

    Regards,
    Chris

  • http://www.virtualbusinesslifestyle.com/ Chris C. Ducker

    Indeed, it was a VERY good comment, and in-depth to the point, that I believe it will be a long standing one, in terms of people following on from it as the blog continues to grow in popularity… As long as you link back to it enough, that is!

  • http://www.nomadcouch.com/ Juha Liikala

    Thanks for dropping by for the comments Chris!

    I agree. Did you know that the interview can also be found from the iTunes store now? Opened that thing a week ago. Not sure yet has it brought any traffic, but I hope it eventually will (when there's more interviews and videos available!). Going to spend next week commenting on other blogs and see what kind of traffic that brings.

    Let me know when the new outsourcing service comes available! Would be actually a fantastic thing if we could do a recap and do yet another skype video about that thing! I believe that would definitely interest NC readers.

    Take care!

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