This post is a review of the ebook “Source Control” by David Walsh. It has heavily influenced my automation and outsourcing tactics.
Let’s get going. By the time we’re done talking, it’ll be 9am somewhere in the world, where people will be walking into work – ready to do yours.
This is one of the opening lines of Source Control, and it sets the vibe for the entire book, commanding, gripping, and action oriented. It’s a great resource I’ve recently found in cutting out time wasting action in my life, I leaned heavily on it in picking apart the systems in my life and felt it appropriate it to review. The ebook is geared toward outsourcing and has been my go to guide for starting outsourcing right. I’ve literally cut, pasted, and adapted several sections. If you’re up to speed on my last rather too long to absorb post you’ll remember I mentioned that setting things up right the first time means you won’t have to come back and redo them later, Source Control is the perfect tool for doing just that.
The well illustrated, 159pg title takes a commanding voice and pulls you into the wrongs and rights of how to outsource effectively. I was surprised by how compelling it was, I mean, it’s a book on outsourcing. A majority of its “meat” speaks to well designed task systems and what stances to take when starting out. Dave’s wordage actually had me flipping through the pages in want of absorbing the whole thing. If you’ve been thinking about dabbling in the time freeing practice of outsourcing, it’s a definite read. Here are a few page highlights I bookmarked while reading.
Note: With these techniques I’ve found an incredibly cheap VA who for a week now has been nailing all the low level tasks I’ve been giving him, most importantly finding me new freelance gig leads, a previously time sucking weekly repetitive event. He also takes out a lot of the front work, so I can focus on the most profitable actions. The ebook comes chalk full of easily personalized documents which make hiring, task processes, and finding the right VA a trivial chore.
Take aways: grade A, funny, logical, do it once do it right, resource for hiring and managing a digital employee.