Tag Archive for: apps

Outsourcing Site Zirtual Goes Bye Bye — Don’t Panic

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zirtual**There’s an UPDATE to this story…Quicker Than a Celeb Marriage…Zirtual is Back!**

 

If you follow my blog regularly you know that I’m a huge fan of outsourcing.  I’ve given lots of ideas of what to get off your to-do list by giving it to someone else.  Plus I’ve talked about some of the best new apps and websites to help with your outsourcing.  The good and bad of some of these new startups is that some can’t hack it in the startup world.  

Enter: Zirtual.  

I’ve told a lot of people about this service and I even mentioned it in my book Listful Thinking — so I feel it’s only fair to give you the skinny and a few alternatives to keep on outsourcing.  

Here’s What Happened

Outsourcing website Zirtual has closed its doors. Due to an accounting error almost 400 employees lost their jobs overnight. According to Fortune’s interview with the CEO Maren Kate Donovan —  Zirtual outsourced some of its financial management to a Silicon Valley company which provided turnkey CFO support and services.

Unfortunately a payroll error went unnoticed and Zirtual projections had missed two additional payroll cycles. With hundreds of employees, that’s a lot of unaccounted money.

So they had to close up shop quick!

What Does This Mean For You?

Sadly Zirtual has not yet announced any plans for reimbursing customers who had not used all their hours. Startups.co aquired Zirtual after this snafu and they will most likely strike a deal with old Zirtual customers to keep their business. But I don’t know what that deal will be.

Even if you’re not a Zirtual customer — we can learn an important lesson from Zirtual. Just because you have outsourced a task doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check in on that task every once in a while.

Some Outsourcing Alternatives

Here are some replacement apps you can try:

Fancy Hands – Outsourcing is one of the best ways to get more done. Fancy Hands is like having your own virtual personal assistant.  Assistants can do research for you, make appointments and even make annoying calls to customer service on your behalf.  They just can’t do any physical tasks.

TaskRabbit.com – Similar to Fancy Hands, except they do physical tasks as well. TaskRabbit is great for crossing items off your list like putting together Ikea furniture or picking up groceries and laundry. Currently, TaskRabbit is available in 18 cities across the United States, as well as in London.

Alfred – This service specializes in taking care of your chores for you, which you know I’m all about.  The cheapest package is a tidy-up service that costs $15 a week, including things like making the bed, doing the dishes and taking out the trash. If you want the option to ask for something special, like food delivery, you’ll shell out $22 bucks a week. Alfred is only currently available in New York City and Boston.

How do you outsource your tasks?

Eliminate Small Annoyances to Boost Productivity

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1_525527379346252552737934a0We all experience them, those little everyday things that get in our way.

But you deal with them even when they set you back. I do it too.

I’m sent tons of magazines and books at work and they are good resources for story ideas. However they take up so much space.

I keep them on my desk because I always plan on looking at them. But in the end they just get in my way and slow me down and create clutter.

They topple over onto my keyboard.

They spill onto my notes and pencil and often I can’t find what I’m looking for — but there they are…under that stack of magazines.

So why don’t I just move them! Right? We’ll it’s a lot easier said than done. These types of irritants are only slightly annoying so we let them slide. Read more

Another App Bites the Dust — Wun Wun is Done

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wunwun

If you follow this blog you’ll know that I seem to be cursed when it comes to apps. As soon as I find an app I like, it closes down, or gets bought out. Remember Umano, Astrid, Orchestra SpringPad and CardMunch.

It’s happened again.

I very rarely eat Shake Shack, mainly because they don’t do delivery and aren’t available on Seamless. So for the odd times when I feel like a burger I normally order through Wun Wun.  That’s the delivery service that I’ve told you about in the past and it’s even in my book!  They’ll get whatever you need from a store or restaurant in under an hour.  Perfect.

So you can imagine how disappointed I was when I opened my Wun Wun app to find it had been closed down. Read more

Be More Productive With An Accountability Buddy

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friendsIn 1898 Norman Triplett conducted a study measuring the speed of cyclists. He noticed that when the cyclists’ speeds were faster when racing against each other rather than against the clock alone. He then replicated this study with people of all different ages, doing all different tasks. The results where always the same.

We perform much better when in the presence of others.

Accountability works very similarly. We are more likely to complete a goal if we are held accountable to it by others. So how can you get started? Here are some high-tech and lo-tech solutions: Read more

Umano App is History – Here’s some on-the-go Solutions

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umano1-300x300It always seems to be that whenever I fall in love with an app, it makes serious changes, or gets bought out. Well  that curse has struck again!

Umano will be closing down on June 12th. I’ve been a huge fan of Umano since I discovered it.  The app gave me the chance to listen to articles I was interested in but didn’t have time to read while I was walking to the subway. I’ve also enjoyed recording my own posts, so I will be sad to see it go.

But what’s next? What can I do now to consume content on the go?

Here’s what I plan on trying to help move on now that Umano is closing down: Read more