How many hours do you work in a typical week? 40? fifty? 60? 80? How would you like to increase your income AND reduce your work week to just 4 hours? That’s just what Timothy Ferris, NY Times Bestselling author The 4 hour work week, did. While I don’t agree with a lot of the things Tim did along the way to achieve his 4 hour work week, there are some important lessons to be learned.

As it did? Outsourcing. He outsourced practically everything in his life. Many small businesses outsource certain things, like payroll. But how many outsource their bill payments, their research projects, their appointment scheduling? Tim was able to set up entire businesses with the simple concept of outsourcing. For example, he would set up a web store (which he outsourced), outsource order fulfillment, customer service, billing, accounting, etc. Do I think anyone can achieve the success that Tim had? It is most likely just like any other business. If ten people did this, there would be one or two who would make it in the long run.

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

Since a large number of our clients are in the real estate industry. Let’s look at some of the tasks a typical virtual assistant might perform for an agent: scheduling appointments, communicating with title companies, creating flyers, postcard marketing campaigns, organizing and managing client databases, coordinating listings, creating virtual tours, FSBO (To Sell By Owner) Campaigns, creating/maintaining websites, blogging, giveaways and client appreciation meetings, or newsletters, just to name a few.

The list of what VA can do is limitless. I had a client who is starting an eCommerce website do some VA research where he was able to find a drop shipper for the products he was looking to sell. Personally, I have used a VA to design documents, review documents, design logos, research products I am looking for in the market. I am currently having a VA find the best lawn mower for my needs and give me a recommendation as well as find me the best deal.

If you are new to the subject of Virtual Assistants, you are probably wondering: Who are they? Well, the answer varies a lot. Many are executive assistants or secretaries who have decided to go out on their own. Many are individual workshops and many are companies with several professionals assigned to their account, each performing the tasks for which they are best suited.

Today, with prevailing technologies like the Internet, virtual assistants can be anywhere in the world. There are many here in the US, but there are a large number of professional firms in other countries that serve clients all over the world.

The main obvious difference is that the typical virtual assistant from abroad is usually cheaper than those from the United States. You can get a proficient virtual assistant company from India from $4 per hour to $8 per hour depending on the company and the tasks. In the US, 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 VAs in India have the same education as the VAs in the United States. Their price is usually lower because they have a much lower cost of living than their US counterparts. It does not necessarily mean that the lower rates mean that you are receiving a lower quality of service. Also, most clients who serve VAs in the United States are fluent in English.

There are some advantages to consider when searching for VAs within your own country. First of all, they usually work in the same time zone or at least one only has a few hours off. When working with VAs abroad, it is sometimes difficult to communicate in real time due to time differences. For example, India is ten and a half hours from the Eastern Time Zone of the United States. Also, there is an obvious cultural connection between you and a person living in your own country, while there can be big cultural differences if you select a VA in other parts of the world.

The time difference is not always a disadvantage, and can sometimes even be an advantage. You can submit 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 the sense that it effectively allows a “second shift” for some tasks within your company.

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

The financial benefits of having a virtual assistant instead of an employee are vast. First, you may not have enough work to fill the time of a full-time employee or even a consistent amount of work to provide for a part-time employee. You only pay for the time your virtual assistant takes to complete his task. With one employee, there can be many hours of downtime.

Because a virtual assistant is not an employee, they do not have to pay payroll taxes or provide any benefits. Your cost is limited to your hourly rate. Also, you won’t have to invest in any of that expensive computer equipment or software, as the virtual assistant should provide all of that itself.

When starting out with a new VA, I think it’s best to give them less important projects at first and work slowly as you become comfortable with their skills. You may even want to hire more than one depending on your specialty.

In today’s fast-paced world of small businesses, it’s easy to get bogged down with unproductive tasks. If you’re not already using a virtual assistant, consider what tasks are overwhelming you and consider whether they can be outsourced. Remember the lessons that Michael Gerber taught us in one of the best business books ever written, the E-Myth. To grow, we must work IN our business, not IN our business.