You 2.0

I just got done with one of the most interesting service projects I’ve ever been part of; one that I see has a lot of potential for all sorts of causes.

I just called about 40 unregistered voters in California to remind them to mail in their registration form by Monday, via Rock the Vote. While the project itself doesn’t sound too mind blowing, it was how we did it.

Rock the Vote has a Facebook Application that anyone can install to call people in states where voter registration is still open from a list of people who were previously sent voter registration forms from Rock the Vote.

As you can see, they supply you with a name and number and a script with every possible scenario and outcome. The majority ended up being voicemail messages, but how awesome is this? Anyone can join, call, and help the cause. We’re in Tallahassee calling voters in California.

A group of about 20 of us got together and in 90 minutes we called over 1100 people.

Think about all the causes that could use something like this. Whether you call 1 or 100 people, each call helps take the load off struggling non-profits who would’ve needed to hire someone to do this.

And through the magic of Facebook, the Application even put a message in my feed letting everyone know I’m getting people to register to vote, with a link for them to add the application and help too.

The app was developed by Nico Networks. No idea what it costs, but I’m sure it’s cheaper than hiring a telemarketing team.

Hopefully more organizations will start using Facebook Applications to their full potential, and for causes a little more meaningful than sending Bumper Stickers.

And of course, make sure you’re registered to vote and vote on November 4!

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Practicing what I’m documenting, I’ve hired my first freelancer and outsourced a tedious task that’s been a huge time suck - transcribing the documentary footage.

I had briefly done some browsing on Elance for transcription services and it all seemed pretty prohibitive - about $15-$25 an hour, which for 20 hours and counting gets pretty pricey.

I made it through 3 hours of transcribing before the carpal tunnel set in and I gave Elance another look. This time instead of searching for someone I posted my job.

Filling out the job post was like any other eBay/Craiglist posting. I wrote as detailed a description I could think of, set my price range, how long I wanted the post to be up and some other details, and then set it free.

Within an hour I got a bid. Elance makes it easy to communicate through their site, either through their secure message board which offers a little more legitimacy than email, or chat.

You can also rate the bids and write notes for yourself. Overall a very nice interface.

Within 24 hours I had 7 bids ranging from $100 to about $700 (funny becase my price range was $50-$500). Of course I’m always weary about super low bids, but this was partly an experiment so I awarded Mr. $100 bid the job.

I’m using Elance’s Escrow service, so they’ve taken the money and are holding it until the job is complete.

So right now as I type, someone in some part of the world is transcribing David Allen or Tim Ferriss.

We’ll see if the $100 was worth the time and effort I saved.

Anyone have any Elance stories or tips for outsourcing?

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This is a new series I’m starting featuring real examples of life hacking in action.

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Manan Kotak is a 24 year old living in India. He was pulled into his family business of publishing, handling the advertising and revenue part while his brother took care of the rest. However, when his brother passed away due to an unfortunate accident, Manan had to learn and take over the departments his brother ran - circulation, administration, website, technology, stock market investment portfolio, etc.

Handling all these departments made his work hours extremely exhausting and and caused a lot of mental stress, until he read Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Workweek.

Here’s how Manan has hacked his life¹:

- I started using 80-20 principle in all my decisions/actions. Ex: For ad sales, I started servicing only the big clients (around 5 to 6 of them). These clients gave me more than 80% of my revenue. In fact, at the beginning of the year, I decided to focus and crack this one client which helped me surpass my entire previous years performance.

- Every morning I write down my tasks for the day, and mark a star next to the most important ones (the 20% which would give 80% of the result).

- Applied batching and started checking email only twice a day.

- Putting my phone off the hook during meetings and having a clear agenda greatly reduced interruptions.

- Delaying what people call “REALLY URGENT” which is not really that important and training them to wait.

- For low-information diet, I started reading only what was necessary for the moment. To keep up with news, I started watching television for 10 mins in the morning and 15 mins in the evening - in place of spending hours watching TV or reading magazines.

I don’t feel that stressed anymore. I feel more in control of my work and get time to spend in other areas of my life, which I didn’t have time for previously.

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Manan is part of the Chitralekha group of publications which publishes over 8 magazine titles.

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1. Just a quick primer, the 80/20 rule or Pareto’s Principle is the idea that 80% of the results come from 20% of the actions or sources. Ex: 80% of your revenue is from 20% of the customers, or 80% of your time is spent on 20% of the websites you visit. [back]

Here’s something to get you going. You’ll probably only fully appreciate it if you know who the people are. Featuring Tim Ferriss, Gina Trapani, Merlin Mann, Danny O’Brien, Leo Laporte, and David Allen.

Download the trailer here.

Update: Names are correctly spelled.