I’m not necessarily the 4 hour work week “type”, but recent events have me trying out TimeSvr’s services after reading Josh Kaufman’s review.
TimeSvr Personal worked pretty well for me during my trial. I was initially put off by the primitive task dashboard and discovering “Unlimited” tasks turns out to be limited to 6-8 per day. Up to 250 fifteen minute tasks isn’t bad for USD$69, though, and I found the team to be prompt, polite, and in one example downright caring.
There were a few things, however, that TimeSvr Personal couldn’t do for me:
- Build enough 1:1 trust that I feel comfortable handing over financial credentials for shopping and bill paying
- Work on slow moving but long tasks over days or weeks
- Get to know the other professionals in my life
That last one hadn’t occurred to me until a few days ago. Your accountant might feel uncomfortable dealing with a call centre of people. She might not be thrilled about taking your instructions via a named PA, but she’ll feel more comfortable dealing with someone to whom she’s at least been introduced.
For continuity and trust, nothing should beat TimeSvr Dedicated: an allocated assistant who executes your tasks until your weekly allowance or time block runs out. You and the other professionals in your life get a name and a face to deal with.
It sounds terribly easy: introduce yourselves over Skype, set up an email address for your PA, share some Google documents and DropBox folders with them, and away you go. Whilst I’m delighted with Google Apps for my domain, however, I can’t say the same about my dedicated assistant.
Perhaps I’m not delegating well. Perhaps my feedback sucks. Perhaps my English isn’t clear enough for those who speak it as a second language. Perhaps, though, my assistant simply isn’t the right bloke for the job. Whatever the cause, I’m spending a lot of time correcting the work, and also on getting even more specific in my requests. Overall, it just doesn’t strike me as worth the time and money.
A cheap Australian would cost more than twice as much as my TimeSvr PA, but probably wouldn’t require most of an hour’s coaching on how Australians write down dates. It might be a financial dead wash, but the Australian would leave me with more time for my other duties.
TimeSvr Personal was a lot more fun.
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