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Road Trip Story: How I Made $350 in San Diego, in 15mins – in a Hotel Lobby!!!

November 28, 2011 by Chris 74 Comments

hotel lobby

On the way back from BlogWorld at the beginning of this month, I took a little detour from my trip back to the Philippines and stopped by to say ‘Hi’ to all the lovely people in San Diego, staying four nights to enjoy a little down-time with my wife. We hit the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld (with my buddy, Pat Flynn and his family) and Macy’s for a brand new suitcase as my other decided to die the day before we were due to leave!

Our time in San Diego was awesome. The place is fantastic, and we’ll definitely be going back again in the future. There was one thing that made it all the more sweet, however.

As my wife and I were enjoying a late breakfast, before checking out, I had an email come in from my assistant back in the Philippines. She was confirming a consultation call with a Virtual Staff Finder client – in 30mins. Bad timing? A little… But, it was better to take care of the call now, I thought, before hitting the ‘road’, as I would be keeping my client waiting for at least a few days whilst I traveled and got re-acquainted with the Philippines time-zone.

I Don’t Pay for WiFi!

Being the tight bastard that I am, I don’t pay for wifi. Anywhere. I think that in this day and age, to even attempt to charge for it is nothing short of taking the piss, quite frankly. And at my hotel, they were attempting to charge me for in-room wifi. However, I was told that there was free wifi in the hotel lobby. Great!

I escorted my wife back to the room so she could finish the packing (as all good wives do!), and headed back down to the lobby with my MacBook Air and a pair of earbuds!

The call with my client was going by as normal. Simple questions at first, then getting a little more in-depth. Advice needed on how much to pay their virtual assistants, how to work with them properly, and whether the time differences would cause any issues, etc., etc. It was around half way through the 30min consultation that I noticed another hotel guest sitting across from me, using the free wifi, too. “I’m not the only cheap bastard staying here..!”, I thought to myself.

Why Eavesdropping is a Good Thing!

As I continued my chat, I noticed that my side of the conversation had gotten the attention of my freebie wifi buddy, sitting across from me. He was intently listening in on the advice I was giving my client, and quite frankly, I wasn’t bothered about it.

As with most people that I meet, not many of them know that much about virtual assistants and how they can help you run, support and grow your business, so I’m happy to educate whenever possible, if it means I help another had-working entrepreneur.

When I was done with my client call, I sent a quick email to my project manager, Stephanie, on the call notes, attaching a recording of the call, as I do with all my consultations (so she can go back and listen to it, if need be), and started to shut down my laptop. At this point, the other hotel guest reached out his hand and introduced himself as Mike, a business owner from LA, who was in town for a conference.

The Elevator Pitch!

After subjecting him to my 20-sec elevator pitch (which is perfected, trust me!) and a couple more minutes of general chit-chat he admitted listening in on my conversation, apologizing at the same time. No problems, I told him, and asked if there was anything in particular that pricked his ears up in the first place. He said that he liked the idea of having someone do the ‘shit work’ (his words, not mine!), that he hated doing everyday. As we all know, virtual assistants can do that stuff (along with other things, too!). 🙂

Ten more minutes goes by, I explain that we’re leaving soon and that I’ve got to go up to the room to make sure that the wife hasn’t stuffed the hotel bathrobes into our suitcase, along with other stuff that should stay in our room when we leave – he laughs – and asks one more, conversation-defining question.

“So, how much does it cost to use your service, then…?”.

BHAM!

I answered, gave him my card and told him to email or tweet me with any other questions that he might have. Here’s the thing… Because he had been a nosey so-and-so and listened in on my call, he already had all the answers to his questions.

By the time I had jumped in the taxi, got to the airport, checked in and was waiting for my flight to LA, I had a Paypal notification come through on my iPhone for $350. Nice.

Lessons Learned

Know your elevator pitch off by heart.

Never be shy, or scared to chat with strangers about ‘business’.

And above and beyond everything else – NEVER pay for wifi. 🙂

What do you think, should you have to pay for wifi? Anywhere? Have you any cool business stories like this to share? If so, go for it… below!

Answering the Tribe: A Day in the Life of a Virtual CEO (My Not-So-Usual Daily Routine!)

October 3, 2011 by Chris 49 Comments

Day in the Life of a Virtual CEO!The image above I took just yesterday whilst hanging out at the beach with my family. Note: I was not working. In fact, I never work from the beach!

I’ve had a bunch of requests recently from people wanting to know how I get so much done every day / week / month, especially online and in the creation of all my content, additional resources and the running and developing of my businesses. Some VBL Tribe members have even asked what my daily routine is, too.

So, to answer these questions I thought I’d put a few things down in a post and then open the forum to questions and comments, on perhaps anything I’ve not answered, or left out, or anything that people want more info on. Here we go!

My Daily Routine

There is no major ‘secret’ here. I try and get as much of the ‘daily work’ done as possible, in as little time as possible, so I can focus on my other projects and actually working on growing my existing businesses, and building new ones.

The one thing I should mention here is that my daily routine does change quite a bit, its the freedom factor that I have, that I enjoy, and because of that, its always flip-flopping. That’s the way I like it. And, although there is no ‘real’ pattern to my day, my ‘routine’ will normally go something like this:

10am – Breakfast & ‘Urgent’ Email. Because the majority of the business I do is with US-based clients, by the time I wake up in the morning here in the Philippines, its the evening of the day before over there. So, I check ‘urgent’ email whilst enjoying breakfast (usually a bowl of cereal or a protein shake of some variety – in case you wanted to know!), and reply to anything I feel requires an immediate response.

11am – Playtime. I’ll play with my youngest for around an hour or so, or until I pass out!!!

12noon – Task time. I will go through everything I want my VA’s (I have two), and my marketing staff to do throughout the day, sending a few emails and probably a couple of quick Skype calls, too.

1pm – Exercise. I regigiously shoot 30mins of hoops each day and do around 15mins of swimming. Once or twice a week, I’ll also do some light weights. It’s how I keep my sexy body in check (BHAM! Sorry, I just fell off my chair in merriment!) 🙂

2pm – School Time & Lunch. Either myself, or my wife will drop the little one to playgroup, then have lunch.

2pm – Creative Work & Lunch. On the days I am not dropping off the ‘trouble maker’, as I like to call him, I will drive to one of a number of local coffee shops and work for a bit. This time is reserved for my ‘creative stuff’, it’ll be either writing a blog post, putting together podcast ideas, or perhaps focusing on other things such as travel plans , or family stuff.

4pm – Family Time. I do nothing, but play with my kid, hang with my wife, watch TV, go shopping, whatever…

6pm – General Email. This is the time where I will get stuck into clearing out my Inbox. If it takes an hour, great. If it takes two hours (very RARE), then, not-so-great, but still, its achieved.

7pm / 8pm – Staff Meetings / Catch-Up Time. This is where I will meet with my staff, either in the office, or via Skype and go over any projects that we might be working on. If, for whatever reason, this meeting doesn’t take place, I use it for catching up on my favourite blogs, reading a book with a cup of coffee, or generally mooching around online.

9pm – Management Meetings / Consultations. I meet with my COO and other management personnel twice a week to go over operational stuff, as well as any business development work we are putting together. On the days where this meeting doesn’t take place I spend time doing consultation calls with Virtual Staff Finder clients, or with entrepreneurs that have hired me for other consultation services.

10pm and Beyond – Client Calls / Biz Dev Work. Again, the majority of my clients are Stateside, so this time is geared towards speaking with them, when needed. Although my staff do an amazing job of allowing me to be as hands-off as possible, when it comes to the day-to-day operations of my businesses, it doesn’t mean I neglect my clients. If they need me, I am always, ALWAYS available. I also do a certain amount of business development work around this time, too.

Other Times – Putting together podcast episodes, arranging webinars, being interviewed, working on business growth strategies, shooting video posts, handling other local projects, spending time with other members of my team,

It’s NOT The 4-Hour Work Week!

As you can see, I certainly DO work more than 4 hours a week, thats for sure! And, although I rarely ‘work’ on Fridays anymore, I will still check in and spend the time I need to, on my businesses and other business related interests, if and when its needed.

The thing about Tim’s great book was that he was showing you that you didn’t have to do it all; that you could travel more, and enjoy great vacation time; that it was possible to spend more time with family and to be able to make a little money whilst you sleep. He was showing us all of this, plus a lot more.

However, here’s the big thing… How many hours of that daily routine do I class as ‘work’. To be honest… NONE. I’m serious. I love what I do so much that I enjoy every single minute of it. Sometimes the days are a little longer than others. Sometimes I need that additional problem to solve as much as a bullet in the head. And sometimes, just sometimes I wish I really was on a beach with a cocktail in hand (some people actually believe I work from the beach regularly… sorry to burst the bubble, but the internet connection isn’t THAT good when hanging out under a palm tree!). 🙂

I’ve crafted my ideal virtual business lifestyle, and its right for me. This schedule might be totally ‘off’ for you. You might do things completely differently. And that’s what I’d now like to know.

If you’re already working for yourself, whats YOUR daily routine like? If you’d like to break-away from the 9-5 grind, what schedule are you dreaming of? Let us all know below in the comment section.

Living the Virtual Business Lifestyle – First Mini-Vacation of 2011 (Singapore!)

April 9, 2011 by Chris 24 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j–PfdLsGU

One of the reasons behind wanting to become a Virtual CEO was to be able to do a little more travel. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen enough of the world – a lot more than most people will in their entire lifetime. However, here’s the thing – I simply LOVE to travel.

The older I get (you can see I have no hair!), the more I want to get out there and experience new things, meet new people and ‘get lost’, as the National Geographic Channel puts it! So, this year has begun, and in mid-March I got to go on the first mini-vacay of the year with my wife – to Singapore.

Losing My Singapore Virginity!

I’ve lived in Asia for ten years and I have never been there before. Insane, I know. So, a 4-day trip was planned, we left the little one with his grandparents and we were off. Above you can see a 5-min video diary of the trip, complete with a running commentary of the places we checked out (first time I’ve done this, let me know what you think!), a little humor, and the whole thing was shot entirely on my iPhone4, just to see how it came out.

I was pleasantly surprised on the quality. All edited in iMovie, too!

The Place Was Awesome!

I’m not going to go into a huge, long-winded review of Singapore and what its all about, but what I can say is that I was really impressed. The way the government there has set everything is with nothing but long-term in mind.

The people are very friendly, helpful and respectful towards each other. And the corporate way of life is great. It actually reminded me of a cross between Hong Kong and London – everyone rushing around with their suits and corporate attire, with not a minute to spend… Except for the fact that it was in nicer weather than London!

The streets – wide. The sidewalks – clean. The food – to die for. The climate – perfect. The cost – er, well, I’m a little spoilt, living in the Philippines, so it was costly – but, it was worth it nonetheless.

Next Up – The Good Old U S of A!

As you guys read this, I am currently in the US. It’s not entirely for pleasure, but, I’m making sure that we have plenty of fun here in San Francisco and Boston, too! It’s playoff time… Go Celtics!!! I’ll no doubt put together another, similar video for you of this trip.

Come to think of it… Let me ask – do you enjoy these videos? If not, why not, and if yes – what do you like about them the most…? Anything you’d like to see…? Let me know in the comments below.

November 2010 “Virtual CEO Goal” Monthly Report

December 6, 2010 by Chris 24 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jj5cempSk

Number of Days in the Office: 13, Total Number of Employees: 215

I thought I’d shoot a video for this months report – hope you enjoy it. Its been another busy month, with the large majority of my focus spent on working with my management team, to be able to hit that Virtual CEO goal of mine by the end of the year!

You’ll see in the video, a widescreen shot of the lovely desk that I had custom built a few years back. Although at first I loved this desk, I have slowly started to loathe it, and what it stands for. It has become way more than just a working surface for me, and has stopped me from living the life I have been wanting to for a long time now.

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Why Being a Virtual CEO is Going to Make Me a Better Dad – The Importance of Setting Goals

November 22, 2010 by Chris 46 Comments

I have three awesome kids. I genuinely love being a Dad. But, if I was to be honest, I have missed out on a few things. Kick-starting my career as a young professional, working several jobs to pay the rent, creating my own businesses, building those businesses… It takes its toll. However, all that is about to change.

When I started the beginning of 2010 I set myself a goal. I sat down and I made a big, long list of things I would need to do to achieve that goal. As I get closer and closer to accomplishing my mission of becoming a Virtual CEO (more on that journey coming up soon!), I am starting to make a different type of list. Today I thought I would share some of the things on that list.

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October 2010 “Virtual CEO Goal” Monthly Report

November 1, 2010 by Chris 32 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzdZYKCAfPU

Number of Days in the Office: 7, Total Number of Employees: 212

Ah… It’s good to be back! October was a whirlwind of a month, I must say. Above you’ll find a little (4mins) montage of my trip to the USA. I actually have a TON of footage I shot over there this time around, hours and hours to be frank! However, I decided to keep this video short for digestion purposes! But – get excited, there is plenty of awesome video and podcast content coming in the next few months, thanks to my adventures at BlogWorld. So, onto the Monthly Report – strap yourself in – its a biggie!

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3 Awesome Steps to Virtual CEO Success

October 18, 2010 by Chris 22 Comments

you keys to a Virtual CEO success

This guest post by Ben Lumley is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!

There are 3 keys to achievement: Common Sense, Hard work and Stick-with-it-ness – Thomas Edision

I wanted to look at something that a lot of the readers of virtualbusinesslifestyle.com will be very familiar with, Chris’s goal of becoming a Virtual CEO by the end of 2010. What I would like to do though, instead of looking at the mechanics of how he is reaching this mother of all goals, is identify 3 keys to Chris’s current and future success.

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3 Daringly Different Ways To Run A Company From 3 Dangerously Different Countries!

October 11, 2010 by Chris 12 Comments

This is a Guest Post by Jonny Gibaud, founder of Emergency Food Storage.

So it is guest post month of Virtual Business Lifestyle and so fittingly I have written a quest post. I know, I am very much on the ball.

For those that have never heard of me, My names is Jonny and I am a traveling entrepreneur who gets my kicks from travelling and living and running businesses in different countries.

In this post we will look at three of my recent “office” environments from which I have been expanding one of my companies EFS Ltd, and take a quick gander at some experiences, “Definately Do’s” and “Definately Don’ts” that will hopefully help you in your own Virtual Business adventures. And so our little story begins in sunny England.

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September 2010 “Virtual CEO Goal” Monthly Report

October 1, 2010 by Chris 16 Comments

Chris Ducker's September 2010 Monthly Report

Las Vegas - I'm Coming... Get Ready!

Number of Days in the Office: 19, Total Number of Employees: 211

This month literally flew by – faster than any other this year, without a doubt. And, if I was to be really honest, I probably worked harder and longer hours this month than I have over the entire year, too. People have even been emailing and tweeting me saying things like ‘Chris, everything okay… You’re very quiet!’ – mainly because I have been 110% focused on hitting this Virtual CEO goal of mine.

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July 2010 “Virtual CEO Goal” Monthly Report

August 6, 2010 by Chris 13 Comments

Virtual CEO - Chris Ducker's July Monthly Report

Featured on the same page as Steve Jobs and CNBC - Wow!

Location: Home Office – Reading Time: 5mins

Number of Days in the Office: 17, Total Number of Employees: 208

Happy Friday to each and every one of you! Wow. What a month… These monthly reports are always the posts that I enjoy putting together the most. What I do is jot down notes in my Moleskine throughout the month on things that I want to mention, and this month is a real corker!

Because so much took place this month, I am going to make this a bullet-point type of post to make it easier for you all the read and get stuck into. So, here we go:

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