A Time Machine for Christmas

I was invited to speak about technology and entrepreneurship, and the panelist sitting next to me was from Google. This gentleman walked in, opened up his briefcase, and pulled out a neatly organized packet with notes. I learned that his virtual assistant had prepared an entire packet on the event, the organizers, and the topic. It was obvious that he had never thought about this event until just before it began. He was skilled enough, and experienced enough that he could do this -- and get away with it. I was both impressed and inspired.

Why did I spend precious time on the minutiae of figuring out where the event was? Or what I was supposed to talk about? What if I could delegate this work, and leave my days open to be creative? What if the information I needed appeared EXACTLY when and where I needed it? (This is not just about speaking at a conference. Think about all the time you spend planning instead of being creative and doing what you're best at.) 

I thought, what if I could keep my mind free -- letting me be creative for most of my work day -- and when it came down to nuts and bolts of preparation, I could walk in somewhere, confidently knowing that I had every piece of relevant information at my fingertips?

I decided to build a team to do exactly this, just like my friend from Google. My team of virtual assistants (known in business as BPO) has now become its own MTP company with global workers and contractors: www.MTP-BPO.com

• When I travel, my appointments are automatically scheduled (e.g., lunches, dinners, meetings, conferences, presentations, etc) and sent to my Smartphone or iPad.
• When I have a meeting (real or virtual) I get a text message alert and/or email, and I know to start getting ready. And I know if we are running late or if anyone had to cancel. No wasted time, ever!
• My live (or virtual) meetings and conference calls are recorded, transcribed, and shared with everyone who matters, with tasks, cases and associated to-dos all shared online, in real-time global collaboration.
• As I'm walking down the hall to grab the elevator, I open up my calendar, where I see the exact location of a meeting so it's easier to relay to the cab driver.
• I also see the agenda of my meetings, notes from my calls or webinars, and any necessary items I've prepared, and bios of the people at the meeting or event. I can review this all in the time it takes me to get to the meeting, aka my "Taxi time."
• Things like bookkeeping, invoicing, website maintenance, newsletters, customer service and technical support for any and all of MTP’s holdings is just flat out “done” and is not my burden. I get to focus on being creative. 
• I now focus on doing the things that only I can do – and others can focus on doing the things that anyone can do.

The Internet has changed the way we work and play forever. 

Amazon.com has changed the way that we shop. Google Apps and various distance learning technologies have changed the way that we learn. QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks, PayPal and Online Banking have changed how we spend and collect money. Audio, Web and Videoconferencing have changed the way that we hold meetings. In fact, 95% of the time the meetings that you attend are unnecessary and a waste of everyone’s time.  You can get the same (or better) results from using Asynchronous tools like Brainshark, GoldMail or screen recorder technology like Jing. Check out my good friend Al Pittampalli’s website: http://modernmeetingstandard.com/ and read his best-selling book Read This Before Our Next Meeting.  

Work is not a place to go – it's the thing that you do.

Have you ever visited Cedar City, Utah? It is gorgeous, located within driving distance of 7 national parks. Just a short drive north of Las Vegas, and just a short drive south of Salt Lake City, it is in the middle of God’s country. But Cedar City is also the home of Southern Utah University. We have brilliant student interns from SUU, who “love” working with MTP’s Fortune 1000 clients during the morning, and then attending classes (or enjoying skiing) in the afternoon. And upon graduation, these wonderful students have the choice of “leaving” paradise, moving away to work in places like Silicon Valley, or they can work from their “smart sites” in Cedar City - enjoying the low cost of living and the high quality of life.

MTP now has paid student interns from dozens of top rated colleges and universities in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut; many of them are experts in Social Media, Cloud Computing and other must-have, mission critical business technologies that are in demand. Fortune companies love to hire these interns for full time jobs, upon graduation. 

Check out http://www.visitdetroit.com. Sadly, we know all too well that there is a shortage of automotive related jobs in Detroit. But do you know what there are plenty of in the Detroit metro area? Smart, highly educated, hard working people, all with high speed internet connections. People who are ready to work on tasks and projects, from the comfort of their Wi-Fi enabled homes. VoIP, SaaS and Cloud Computing technology has changed everything forever. Talent Plus Technology is the new growing industry of Detroit.

Veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan need jobs. www.IAVA.org is a 21^st Century veteran’s organization dedicated to standing with the 2.3 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan from their first day home through the rest of their lives. In just the last year, IAVA has connected hundreds of veterans with technology companies and BPO employers, like www.MTP-BPO.com .

The Internet has allowed many of our nation's heroes (in some cases, those who were wounded in battle) to work from their homes. These veterans who were responsible for multi-million dollar equipment, and managing highly complex projects - and supervising people who were trained by the best of the best in new and valuable business skills. Young men and women who are now looking to restart their lives, to be productive, to earn a living and to support their families.

Time is our most precious asset. Rich or poor, young or old, no matter where in the world we live, we all have the same number of hours in a day, a week or a month. The difference between success and failure is many times found in how we spend that most precious asset - how we spend our time.

If you could focus your energy and passion on the things that you want to do - focus your time and energy only on the things that you are good at, what would happen? What if you could work only on the things that you are passionate about, how would that change the quality of your life?  How would such modifications change your business model (and change your profits) in 2012 and beyond?

Here is a holiday gift for you. You can borrow my (now) perfected Time Machine for 2012, for free. You can use any and all of the tools and services of www.MTP-BPO.com and our diverse and well trained “Time Machine Crew” for 10 hours at 100% no cost to you, totally free, with no strings attached. But I warn you up front, once you give it a try, you will get spoiled fast.

Once you have the wonderful people of Cedar City Utah, or Detroit Michigan, or the hundreds of paid college and university interns, or our returning war heroes - doing excellent work for you on time (and at half the costs) you will never want to go “back in time” to the old ways of doing things.

Once you visit the future, it is hard to go back to the past.

I stole the idea for MTP-BPO from Google, now you can steal it from me. It’s easy to beat your competition when you have your own Time Machine.