Being a one-man band in a business is a tough experience. You have to do everything and wear all hats in the business. It can be particular frustrating answering petty emails when you know that your time is better spent doing things that actually make money.

Hiring employees is a lot of hassle. You have to deal with a bunch of legal requirements and taxes. A much more economical solution is an independent contractor. And in this day and age, a virtual assistant is a great way to go.

A virtual assistant (VA) is essentially an assistant that does not work in my office. In other words, they are not an employee, but an independent contractor. They provide their own material and they work remotely, doing whatever you ask them to do. With the technology we have today, there really is no reason that you HAVE to have people in your office. In my case, I operate out of a home office. Even if the VA needs to work with your own software, you can give them remote desktop access and they can use a computer in your office while sitting anywhere in the world. Hence the name virtual assistant.

Virtual assistants can be hired online and can either be local or on the other side of the world. You can hire them for as cheap as $5/hour all the way up to much higher rates. Often, the rate varies depending on where they are in the world. For instance, you can usually hire somebody from India a lot cheaper than you can hire somebody from the United States. The thing to consider, though, is the cultural nature of it. You will be dealing with a language barrier and a significant time difference when dealing with somebody overseas. Also, just being from different cultures can lead to issues with communication. Sometimes, dealing with assistants from right here at home makes more sense despite them being, overall, more costly.

A very well known book by Tim Ferris is called 4-Hour Work Week. This book is all about the use of remote labor to run a business and (as the title shows you) in as little as 4 hours per week. That might be a best-case scenario for many, but the principles in that book hold true for anybody looking to get more time in their day and still get the work done.

On Day 10, I said that the information product is one of the best ways to make money online for multiple reasons. But, this inevitably means that you have to create an information product to sell. Next thoughts might include:

• What do I know that somebody would pay me for?
• Am I expected to create an entire info product? I don’t have time! I can’t write!

Common thoughts, let me tell you. But, one thing you have to realize at the outset is that you do not have to do everything yourself.

Creating the product yourself may be ideal, especially if you really are an expert. Also, you may feel obligated to personally create any product which is going to bear your name. However, be aware of your other option: outsourcing.

There are people out there who will perform writing for you as a ghost writer. A ghost writer is a person who writes but does not take the credit for it. It is actually very commonly done. For example, Hillary Clinton’s book It Takes a Village was not written by Hillary. It was written by Barbara Feinman. The only reason we know this is because a controversy erupted over it (hey, its politics). But, in the real world, this is done all the time.

A ghost writer does not have to be expensive. In fact, many times they are not. You can hire writing talent overseas for a small amount of money (varying depending on their skill, of course). Places  you can look for a ghost writer would include:

• Elance
• Guru.com
• Arbor Books

When you hire a ghost writer, you need to be specific about what you want. Remember, this is not their product. It is YOUR’S. You need to plan out the product, outline it, etc. You may even write parts of it on your own. Your ghost writer can fill in the gaps or even create entire sections for you. You can also pay people on these services to do the legwork to research things you need for the creation of your product.

So, don’t stop yourself from pursuing this because you think you can’t pull it off. Sometimes the power of others can help you get the job done quite nicely.