Ask HN: What do you outsource in your life?
18 comments
Outsourcing house matters has been a slow, bumpy journey for our family. It all started with cleaners - hiring someone to clean the house every two weeks was well worth the seemingly significant cost. I’d say outsourcing house cleaning took a significant burden off my wife and me, especially after we had kids.
Part time executive assistant even if you’re not an executive.
Do you have reverse ADHD? I don’t know what the name for it is. Some people get deeply focused on a small group of things, and are less productive when they have to do mundane or administrative things.
It’s not about being lazy or spoiled, somehow defocusing hurts the momentum or intensity of higher priority things.
It might not be as expensive as you think. I was surprised to find how many smart, organized, reliable people there are interested in part-time work they can do 80-90%+ remotely for reasonable pay.
I don’t mention pay first. I ask what they would feel good about, then decide if it’s worth it to me. The reasoning is if someone takes an offer but secretly thinks it’s unfair it has less chance of working out well over time.
Last person said $15/hr. I made a counter offer of $20 because after the interview it still felt like a deal.
The amount of hours per week can just depend on what you need, and their schedule. They might have other part time work. 10 to 20 hours a week can be filled pretty easily with random things that grant you a lot of freedom.
I think the benefit partially depends on how you like to work and prioritize your time. But for some people, as in my case it’s worth every penny.
Do you have reverse ADHD? I don’t know what the name for it is. Some people get deeply focused on a small group of things, and are less productive when they have to do mundane or administrative things.
It’s not about being lazy or spoiled, somehow defocusing hurts the momentum or intensity of higher priority things.
It might not be as expensive as you think. I was surprised to find how many smart, organized, reliable people there are interested in part-time work they can do 80-90%+ remotely for reasonable pay.
I don’t mention pay first. I ask what they would feel good about, then decide if it’s worth it to me. The reasoning is if someone takes an offer but secretly thinks it’s unfair it has less chance of working out well over time.
Last person said $15/hr. I made a counter offer of $20 because after the interview it still felt like a deal.
The amount of hours per week can just depend on what you need, and their schedule. They might have other part time work. 10 to 20 hours a week can be filled pretty easily with random things that grant you a lot of freedom.
I think the benefit partially depends on how you like to work and prioritize your time. But for some people, as in my case it’s worth every penny.
Could you give some examples of the work you find most useful to outsource to your assistant? Do you have them log into any of your accounts, and if so, how do you handle security/passwords?
One example is I moved to a new place and the thought of getting all the utilities turned on and set up really made me cringe. They were able to handle every single bit of it, and I didn’t have to devote a second to distraction. It was bliss.
Another example was when I bought a car. What a nightmare of wasted time. Filling up paperwork, contracts, getting insurance quotes and signing up for it... Didn’t have to do more than 10% of it.
It even can help with technical support for technical people. When my home Internet stopped working, I took a few minutes to troubleshoot just enough to confirm the issue wasn’t on my side. Then I luxuriously asked, “would you mind opening a support ticket and handling a blitz of inane questions Until the point that they get real about it”?
Wanted to change cellular service for four lines. Think about how much total time that actually takes. It can be a crime of inefficiency.
Regarding credentials, great question. The reality is a lot of what someone can potentially be helpful with today will raise the issue.
I chose to take the risk and let them have access to credentials they needed. To get comfortable with this required the interview, some due diligence on their history, and best intuition about trust.
Of course, different credentials have different risks. What’s the worst someone could hurt me with credentials to my ISP account? Not much, unless they were seriously targeting me for attack as a skilled hacker.
And of course hopefully most of us are not still doing things like using the same weak password across accounts, or not practicing basic security hygiene.
Another example was when I bought a car. What a nightmare of wasted time. Filling up paperwork, contracts, getting insurance quotes and signing up for it... Didn’t have to do more than 10% of it.
It even can help with technical support for technical people. When my home Internet stopped working, I took a few minutes to troubleshoot just enough to confirm the issue wasn’t on my side. Then I luxuriously asked, “would you mind opening a support ticket and handling a blitz of inane questions Until the point that they get real about it”?
Wanted to change cellular service for four lines. Think about how much total time that actually takes. It can be a crime of inefficiency.
Regarding credentials, great question. The reality is a lot of what someone can potentially be helpful with today will raise the issue.
I chose to take the risk and let them have access to credentials they needed. To get comfortable with this required the interview, some due diligence on their history, and best intuition about trust.
Of course, different credentials have different risks. What’s the worst someone could hurt me with credentials to my ISP account? Not much, unless they were seriously targeting me for attack as a skilled hacker.
And of course hopefully most of us are not still doing things like using the same weak password across accounts, or not practicing basic security hygiene.
1. Food gathering and processing (and sometimes cooking)
2. Shelter building
3. Motor vehicle manufacturing
4. Clothing manufacturing
5. Internet...manufacturing??
6. Basically all manufacturing
7. Entertainment
Wow the list keeps going.
2. Shelter building
3. Motor vehicle manufacturing
4. Clothing manufacturing
5. Internet...manufacturing??
6. Basically all manufacturing
7. Entertainment
Wow the list keeps going.
I appreciate this. I’ve had arguments about how automation is replacing jobs - most people I discuss this with are thinking automation needs to be something out of the Jetsons, but the reality is that technology replaces jobs in a more mundane way, by allowing us to stop thinking about basic daily logistics of life through automating or semi-automating them at scale.
This may sound snarky or weird for this post, but I outsource email hosting and data backup. I can self-host certain things if I really wanted to, but I find it easier and cheaper to rely on other experts who match my ideals to do it. This is why I use paid services for email and online data backups. I’m quite happy to pay for these services and am grateful to the providers.
I hate doing yard work, so I hire someone to do it.
I am a terrible house keeper, mostly because I don't like doing it. I had planned to hire a housekeep, then COVID hit. Figure it is not best time to have someone coming into my house.
Car repairs. I used to do all the work on my cars. Then I realized that I could pay someone, and not ruin my weekend by being hot, frustrated and pissed off at the car.
I'm in the process of hiring someone to build an enclosed patio on the back of my house. I could do it myself and save a lot of money. However I don't really know what I'm doing and in my experience with those types of projects is that it will look like it when I am done.
I am a terrible house keeper, mostly because I don't like doing it. I had planned to hire a housekeep, then COVID hit. Figure it is not best time to have someone coming into my house.
Car repairs. I used to do all the work on my cars. Then I realized that I could pay someone, and not ruin my weekend by being hot, frustrated and pissed off at the car.
I'm in the process of hiring someone to build an enclosed patio on the back of my house. I could do it myself and save a lot of money. However I don't really know what I'm doing and in my experience with those types of projects is that it will look like it when I am done.
Dinner. Every month I look at the amount of money spent on GrubHub and regret yet again, only to remember that with the kids and our lifestyle it is still impossible to be able to cook dinner every day. One day I will get rid of this cost, one day...
Meal prep (not meal kit) services are a nice way to outsource cooking as well.
Short answer: anything I can.
Longer answer: If I have to struggle for hours with something someone else can do it like Daft Pank (better, faster...) AND I can afford their time - will go for it. From car repair, through web hosting, to healthcare.
Longest answer: There is a reason why we as humans went into specialisations through the ages. Of course most of the people can handle most of the tasks on their own. But - do we have time for that? I think - we don't. This is only thing we in fact truly have in this world as currency - time. Best/worst part is - we don't really know how much do we have. So every hour, every minute, every second - counts.
I'm quite confident in my craftwork skills, yet if I face pipe problem in my flat I'll call a plumber (preferably not the one in red cap). Why? He had fixed more pipes in past year than I have. So he'll do it better and faster. And the question I always ask myself - what is more worth for me - spend couple tens for professional services and enjoy my time with family or spend hours from my time with family to keep couple tens in my pocket? Usually I choose to pay.
Also - and here were it's getting really weird for most of the people - I do not argue with decisions of the specialists. Plumber say I need to get such and such connectors? Ok, he knows better. So what there are cheaper ones? Taxi driver is riding me the longer route? OK, he is on the road whole day, he knows better. Maybe there are some road works ahead, there was an accident, whatever. And so on.
Yes. I know I probably will be cheated sometimes. I know I will be overpriced sometimes. No big deal - I'll find another specialist who hopefully won't screw me up. But - and this is the win for me - I respect their skills in their fields. They spent who knows how long to learn and practice and get experience. They know, I can assume.
As a developer I expected the same. I constantly learn for last two decades. I've written more code, than most of the people wrote words in their whole studies. And I encountered more mistakes in my work than they have. So when I have customer, I expect him to tell me what he want to have and how this have to work. But I don't expect advices how to do my work or questioning my pricing. If you cannot afford me - find somebody else. If you are a dentist I don't question your choice of dental tools or your technique or your prices. Either I can afford you or don't. If I can afford you and I'm satisfied with the outcome - I'll be Schwarzenegger, I'll be back. If I aren't - sayonara! I'll find someone else.
Longer answer: If I have to struggle for hours with something someone else can do it like Daft Pank (better, faster...) AND I can afford their time - will go for it. From car repair, through web hosting, to healthcare.
Longest answer: There is a reason why we as humans went into specialisations through the ages. Of course most of the people can handle most of the tasks on their own. But - do we have time for that? I think - we don't. This is only thing we in fact truly have in this world as currency - time. Best/worst part is - we don't really know how much do we have. So every hour, every minute, every second - counts.
I'm quite confident in my craftwork skills, yet if I face pipe problem in my flat I'll call a plumber (preferably not the one in red cap). Why? He had fixed more pipes in past year than I have. So he'll do it better and faster. And the question I always ask myself - what is more worth for me - spend couple tens for professional services and enjoy my time with family or spend hours from my time with family to keep couple tens in my pocket? Usually I choose to pay.
Also - and here were it's getting really weird for most of the people - I do not argue with decisions of the specialists. Plumber say I need to get such and such connectors? Ok, he knows better. So what there are cheaper ones? Taxi driver is riding me the longer route? OK, he is on the road whole day, he knows better. Maybe there are some road works ahead, there was an accident, whatever. And so on.
Yes. I know I probably will be cheated sometimes. I know I will be overpriced sometimes. No big deal - I'll find another specialist who hopefully won't screw me up. But - and this is the win for me - I respect their skills in their fields. They spent who knows how long to learn and practice and get experience. They know, I can assume.
As a developer I expected the same. I constantly learn for last two decades. I've written more code, than most of the people wrote words in their whole studies. And I encountered more mistakes in my work than they have. So when I have customer, I expect him to tell me what he want to have and how this have to work. But I don't expect advices how to do my work or questioning my pricing. If you cannot afford me - find somebody else. If you are a dentist I don't question your choice of dental tools or your technique or your prices. Either I can afford you or don't. If I can afford you and I'm satisfied with the outcome - I'll be Schwarzenegger, I'll be back. If I aren't - sayonara! I'll find someone else.
manicures. i can 100% do it myself - heck im even really good at it. but i prefer the relaxation it gives me when someone else is pampering me
gardening work, not the easy stuff like weeding, but the installation of big bushes, the building of raised beds.