Josiah Mackenzie

The world of barter has fascinated me for a long time. People exchanging things they have in abundance for things they need. Both parties win, both parties are satisfied.

Over the next year, I’m going to try to barter my way to things I want. Most of these will be acquisitions or adventures — I don’t like spending alot on these since they don’t earn money back in the future.

Here’s my starter list…

* Tandem skydive
* Glider flight
* Whitewater rafting
* Biplane flight
* Canon or Nikon DSLR camera and goodies
For starters, I’ll seek to trade my internet marketing services through Profit Factory and Over the Edge Marketing. Any leads would be appreciated!

I’ll keep you updated with my successes.

Today I achieved my goal of running a 10k, finishing 2nd in my age bracket.

For the last few years of high school and first few years of college, I was really into weight training and bodybuilding.

Now I’m into running.

As I thought about it over a post-race grilled chicken salad, the advantages of running are obvious:

* Body mass can be achieved relatively easily through supplements, massive protein intake, and so on. (I’ve been there - 25 pounds of muscle gain in 2 months)
* Conversely, there is no equivalent ’shortcut’ to improving your speed and mileage (difficulty is attractive to me)
* The average runner I’ve met is much friendlier and happier than the typical bodybuilder
* Runners have the highest average income of any sport participant (hey, it’s a valid point)
* Running gives me sustained energy throughout the day and increases alertness, whereas my protein and supplement-heavy diet before made my sleepy and sluggish
* Running can be done basically anywhere (attractive to the nomad in me)

I’ve only been consistently training since mid-May of this year, but now I’m hooked. Next stop: a half-marathon.

This week, I accomplished one of my 100 Life Goals: I hired a personal assistant.

For a long time, I’ve realized that my personal output had reached a plateau. After trying nearly every time management technique devised, my production was not improving significantly. To achieve more, I needed to have someone do the many time-consuming, but necessary, tasks that were taking up my time.

Reading the 4 Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris finally kicked me into action. I posted an ad on Elance.com and hired my Indian assistant several days later. So far it’s been great. Some of the tasks I’ve outsourced include:

* Internet research for articles
* Web page updates
* Calling companies to ask about billing options
* Creating a competitive analysis for a venture I’m considering

Eventually, I plan to hire US-based employees to accomplish even more, but hiring a personal assistant has shown me the importance of on working on your business instead of in it.

How I completed this goal
I posted an ad for a part-time virtual assistant from India on my favorite freelance website, Elance.com. The listing attracted 6 bids in 3 days, all between $5-6 per hour. I narrowed this list down to 2 bidders that spoke excellent English, and chose the one that could make phone calls to the US for no extra charge.

Cost to complete this goal
My Indian assistant charges $5 per hour, and he’s currently working 10 hours each week (will increase later). So my total cost is $50 per week.