Email is one major time-sink.
Its a constant cycle of checking your inbox, deleting spam, replying to conversations, checking your inbox…
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you only had to check your inbox once daily, without the fear of missing or delaying important communications?  Well thanks to India, Skype and Google you can now outsource your number one time waster. Welcome to the world of an outsourced inbox:
Step One – Hire an Assistant
I know what your thinking: “Anthony how can I possibly afford an assistant”? Well, thanks to the internet and changing economies, hiring an assistant to handle email for less than $10 an hour is now a reality. Use Guru.com, eLance or Freelancer.com to find a suitable assistant or team. There are many very good teams that actually work for less thank $10 in the Philippines and India.
Step Two – Use Google Apps
Create different email accounts for different things. I use one for communications with my team (I don’t outsource this), one for general work emails (meetings, pitches, networking etc.), one to store and use with social networking accounts (twitter, facebook, linkedin etc.) and finally, one for personal emails (again I don’t outsource).
With Google Apps you can easily create up to 50 email accounts on your own domain, for free. The other big advantage of Google Apps is that everything is in the cloud, meaning your personal assistant will be able to access things easily.
Step Three – Create Rules
Now its time to define which emails your assistant will respond to, which ones they will simply forward and how they should reply and aggregate. Basically you will want your assistant to do 4 things:
- Respond to common requests with a standard response (see below)
- Forward emails that need immediate action (if ever) to your personal inbox
- Aggregate any pitches, feedback, complaints etc. in a report or spreadsheet
- Delete spam
Setup rules and templates for each of these 4 items – make these detailed and very specific. Most importantly though, this is an evolving process that will take some time and numerous tweaks to get right. Make sure your assistant also has all your contact information to pass on when needed via email.
If you run a blog or a startup you will find that you get the same type of emails on a regular basis. Here is an example of the email:
Hi this is bob from SomeSMSProvider,
I was wondering how much you currently pay to send text messages and if you would be interested in our competitive product.  Can we schedule a call to discuss this
And the Response:
Hi Bob,
Thanks for contacting xyz company. Could you forward me a price list as well as the countries you currently support.
Thanks
My assistant would then put this information into a report or spreadsheet. I then take a look at this at the end of each week which contains all the pitches.  This way I still get any information that might be of interest and quickly scan over it.
Setup rules for each type email you receive on a regular basis. For anything else, create a “default” action. For example, anything the assistant is unsure about just forward to the personal inbox. You can then further train and refine your rules.
Step 4 – Setup Appointments and Meetings
Meetings and Appointments can be tricky to handle. Give your assistant access to a shared Google Calendar (thanks to Google Apps). Ask your assistant to plot possible appointments in a draft calendar. You will also need to setup blocks of time that your available to handle conference calls, personal errands, meetings etc.  Furthermore, get your assistant to email or call you at the end of the day with a list of possible upcoming appointments and then cross off the ones you don’t want to do. Then its simply a matter of your assistant confirming everything.
Once an appointment is confirmed it can be moved from the draft calendar into a final calendar by your assistant.   Ask them to also create a Task.fm reminder so you don’t forget and miss something (this will sync with Google Cal).
Photo by: Hyperdashery
