How to get your virtual assistant to schedule your doctor’s appointments

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This seems like a good idea except that: a lot of people are very particular about what doctor they go to already. That being said, Im going to give it a try: anything to further automate the menial tasks so I have more time for everything else.

This sounds like a great idea... if only I wasn't a control freak!

It seems to me that if you are already using GTD or something similar, you will basically have these steps as individual items listed that YOU do each time you make a doctor's (or dentist's or whatever) appt, so that all you need to do is make them a little more specific and send them out.

Thanks for sharing!

I've outsourced any of my several DMV visits - because those are awful. By the way - your link for the 4 hr workweek book review is broken.

I don't think it's dumb to say, "you could have done that yourself." In fact, I think this is the #1 consideration before outsourcing something - will it take more time to write the instructions or do it yourself?

On the doctor front, I go to the same doctor every time and over the past couple years have built a good relationship with him. I can email him questions and he replies, etc. If you can get to know one doc and stick with him, I think it can be really helpful.

Yep. You hit it on the head. And I love your comment about "coulda done this myself". Right on!

Jeff Yablon

President & CEO

Virtual VIP

Long time reader, first time commenter.

That is an awesome image.

-Sean

Sean: The hideous dog in the terrible outfit? heh heh.

While I understand that something as personal as making doctor appointments requires some special instructions, be careful about dictating too much the "how" of what you need - focus more on the "what". If you are working with a true Virtual Assistant who is an independent professional, one of the key considerations of their independent contractor status is that they choose how to get the work done - when you dictate the "how" you are treating them as an employee which they don't want (and trust me you don't either or the IRS could hold you liable for their employment taxes).

As part of my intake process, I request names and numbers of any service providers I might have a need to contact on behalf of my clients and associated information (such as insurance info). That way when they need an appointment with Dr. Smith, I already have everything I need and it doesn't take them longer to delegate it than to do it themselves. If it really is taking you too long to delegate tasks, the question may not be "should I do it myself?" but rather "am I working with the right virtual assistant?"

I literally finished reading 4HWW yesterday, and I read chapters 9-11 on Income Autopilot about 3 times. Definitely some good stuff that I'll implement.

I believe people have gotten Virtual Assistants confused with 'personal' assistants. I don't make doctors' appointments for any of my clients and I don't expect they would want me to either. I am happy to do secretarial/admin/webbased services which is what I advertise.

Don't get me wrong. I was a Personal Assistant in the Corporate sense for 23 years and worked with some interesting bosses, but not one of them expected me to organise their doctor appointments either. Occasionally I was asked to ring and confirm a time to make sure it was in the boss's diary but I feel something like this is very personal. I was more likely to be asked to organise flowers for a wife because they'd forgotten an anniversary or birthday when they walked out the door for work that morning.

I do believe that some have gone over the top with what they think a VA is or isn't and what they should or shouldn't be doing.

Most VAs have a list of services they provide - a small number might provide this kind of 'personal' support but I believe the majority wouldn't.

Ramit,

I love you brother, but that's the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Great post, Ramit. I tried Ask Sunday and had a pretty good experience until they just weren't cutting it. Read about my Ask Sunday trial here: http://forrestthroughthetrees.blogspot.com/2008/04/hari-today-gone-tomorrow.html

Although I had mixed results, I'd encourage everyone to give it a try for themselves before making up your mind.

[...] This attitude is why working professionals think about hiring help for cooking and cleaning or even for scheduling medical appointments. [...]

[...] emailing) I was thinking if I would’ve saved time and money if I followed Ramit’s advice on outsourcing inspired by Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Workweek. In any case, I realized that travel agents [...]

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[...] How to get your virtual assistant to schedule your doctor’s appointments - Ramit Sethi Should you have problems interacting with your virtual assistant, this article by Ramit, would assist you. It’s a mail to his remote executive assistant to fix an appointment with the dentist. Also, the reader gets suggestions on whom to contact, experience of another entrepreneur, and options to get effective output of outsourcing. [...]