4-hour-workweek outside the US?

[danielak]

I am currently reading through the book, working my way through many tasks and links as there is so much information.

I am trying to find out how to manage the info in the German-speaking world as many of the links - obviously - are helpful, but cannot always be applied to the local market. There are language limitations, not so much for me, but for a lot of other people around me.

If you have any links and hints that are 'localized' for the Swiss/German/Austrian market, I am happy to see them.

Thanks, Merci, Danke
Daniela

[Tetsuo]

I'm suffering a similar problem here. For one, to outsource much of my business activity, I would need a Chinese-speaking VA, and the only links provided are Indian. Then there's the matter of it being a bloody sight harder to get a credit card as an expat resident in Taiwan than it is for virtually anyone to get one in the US, which is another speedbump. If anyone's got any suggestions, I'd be more than appreciative of the help!

[jetpacklife]

looking through elance, I remember seeing a Chinese company doing VA work, with about the same prices as the indian places. Their english didn't seem very good, but, that might not matter to you.

[Tetsuo]

looking through elance, I remember seeing a Chinese company doing VA work, with about the same prices as the indian places. Their english didn't seem very good, but, that might not matter to you.
That sounds like it could be worth investigating. And you're right, I'd only really need them to know English for the sake of letting me be lazy, so if their English is a bit lacking, it shouldn't matter too much. Thanks for the information!

[Grego]

Same thing in Brazil. Didn't find a Portuguese-speaking VA so far, and many of the links of companies from the book are from the US. Just-launched Brazilian version of the book did not addapt/suggest links for similar businesses around here — probably there is none for many of the tips.

Any ideas?

(Because of that, thinking of launching a muse in the US, from here. Crazy, but in this world we can do all by phone and email, might work.)



Ideas?

[4hourworkweak]

One of the premises of a successful business is to identify a need and then create a product or service which fills it. Sounds like you guys are discovering some needs (i.e the difficulty of getting a credit card as an ex-pat, the difficulty of finding a Portuguese-speaking VA etc.)

You might have the start of a couple of successful muses in this thread :)

[earthmother65]

i think you definitely have hit on business needs...but watch the challenges of translating 4HWW to other cultures - I actually think you can do with live assistants, not virtual, in some countries, thanks to lower labor costs. So you might want to look at that approach instead - college students looking for extra work, maybe?

[Grego]

Guys, had thought of all that, looking by the opportunity side.

The problem? That doesn't really sound like a muse, really. More like a (maybe promising) regular business, involving some potential headaches such as native VA training, security measures for them dealing with sensitive client data etc.

It's a service, after all, and a very specialized one. Good business maybe, not a muse by definition.

Concerning credit card for ex-pats, no idea. I have one international, works fine. Didn't know that was a common problem. Maybe a muse here?