Find Info On & Articles by Dr. Sema Kahn

Client

Time allotted for task: 60 minutes

Dr. Sema Kahn is a surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I have heard that she has written an article on doing mastectomies (removal of breast) in patients with metastatic (Stage IV) breast cancer.

Please do some web research (and academic library databases if you have access) to see if you can find this or other related (e.g., breast cancer, metastic breast cancer) articles and information about Dr. Sema Kahn.

Send me PDFs or links to articles and web pages as a summary.

Assistant

You can find all my research notes and references in this Google Notebook.

The first article, which I think is the one you are looking for is called “Does aggressive local therapy improve survival in metastatic breast cancer?” I was not able to find a copy of it through my university library. It is found in MEDLINE and the PMID is 12407345.

The second article, by the same author, “Does resection of an intact breast primary improve survival in metastatic breast cancer?” was available through my university. I want to be careful about circulating documents that have restricted access however. What is purpose of using the document, if this is one you are interested in?

Let me know what steps you would like taken from here, if any.

Best!

60/60 minutes used

Client

Thank you! I would love to see the article that you referenced at the end, and I appreciate your respect for the intellectual property represented by this article. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in school, so I don’t recall the appropriate uses of these databases…so please use your judgment and only send if the following fits the criteria.

My mother is a metastatic breast cancer patient and we are considering having her see Dr. Kahn for a consultation. The types of treatment that Dr. Kahn is researching are rather controversial in the medical field (some dr’s believe they can help, others feel it’s not worth it because the patients are terminal anyway). Since Dr. Kahn is doing this cutting edge research, I’d like to learn more about what she’s finding before making a decision to have my mother see her or not.

Thanks!

Client

Follow-up Question: I clicked on the link for the first article you referenced (“Does aggressive…”) but couldn’t find how to access the full article. Can you instruct me how to get to the full text of the article?
Thanks!

Assistant

Thanks for the info. I found an option that permitted emailing the document. You will find the the second article “Does resection of an intact breast primary improve survival in metastatic breast cancer?” attached as a pdf document.

RE: Follow-up Question
I’ll need to work on keeping the Google Notebooks a little cleaner and easier to follow. There was no available link to the full text version of the document as referenced in the Google Notebook; however, after digging a little more I found that you can access the first document. It’s a little patient research thing that allows the patient or friends/family to receive the document and print it off–includes a handling fee of $4.95. Click Here to begin accessing the article and follow the steps to have it sent to you. This should be a good route to go.

20 additional minutes were used.

Here was my original request:

I’d like to take my wife to either an evening or a matinee (daytime) show of Wicked in Chicago within the next two weeks. Please give me the basic prices and availability for buying direct from the theater. Also do a quick check on Craigslist for any decent offers.

And here was the response:

The prices vary based on the seat, and the day. If you go during the
week (tuesday through thursday) the prices range from $32 (per ticket)
for the upper balcony to $85 for the front row. If you go on a weekend
(friday through sunday) the prices range from $37 for the upper
balcony to $90 for the front row. I am not sure that these are the
right prices, however, because on craigslist wicked tickets are selling
for over $100, but those prices are taken directly from the Wicked,
Chicago website.

There are a pair of tickets for sale on craigslist for $89 each, but
they aren’t front row.

I also happen to know about a little local secret. There is a drawing
held before each evening show, where if you win you can get one or two
$90, front row tickets for only $25 each. They only draw 10 people,
but it’s worth a try. Check this website for details.

You can probably guess what comes next…

I asked Hank to show up for that drawing each day he was able to for the next week. But he only had to go once. He won tickets that first evening.

My wife and I tucked our daughter in bed and had a neighbor come over to the house. We drove downtown, pulled up in front of the theater, exchanged our car keys for tickets on row B, and Hank took the car back home to relieve our neighbor from holding down the fort.

Hank moves back home to California in a month, after which he’s headed off to Hawaii for college. I know he’ll continue to do great “virtual” work for us, but I’ll certainly miss having a local!

I’ve been having George do more of the initial exploration. This week he introduced me to Google Notebook. Last week he experimented with creating forms that insert data into Google Spreadsheets. In the past few months we’ve been playing with:

• RescueTime
• GrandCentral
• Wufoo
• the new multi-user Backpack
• TripIt
• Google Apps for your domain

…and a handful of others. It’s usually the case that trying to “half-outsource” a task results in really inefficient use of time; I generally prefer to hand the whole thing over. But in these cases it’s worked out really well to toss ideas and findings back and forth. I spend less time than I would if I were on my own, but I glean as much (and often more) information about the tools.

Our setup is pretty simple. Using PayCycle we can have assistants set up as contractors, and then send off checks really easily. We have also used PayPal in some cases.

If you pay them less than $600 in any given year, then nothing further is required. If you go beyond the $600, you’ll need to have them fill out a 1099 form, and submit a copy to the IRS. I have no idea what the ramifications are if your assistant is not based in the U.S. We’re all onshore here.

And of course if you don’t wanna mess with all that, you can just use an outsourcing service (sorry, couldn’t resist).

I’m talking about BBQ! With spring (finally) in the air, it’s time for some outdoor cooking. Unfortunately, I neglected to give my grill a proper cleaning before the winter hit. Armed with a couple scrubbies and a healthy dose of elbow grease, Hank brought back the proper shine.

Afterwards he dropped off some batteries for recycling and picked up the dry cleaning- similar to tasks I’ve already written about. Hank will be busy for at least the next month continuing to do these same kinds of tasks, so next week we’ll switch back to highlighting some work from our remote assistant (George).

* photo by gretchen

So, I sent Hank to Home Depot to pick up a few basic supplies; a putty knife, some sand paper, and a paint roller. After I gave him some quick instructions, he took over. It’s easy to tell there’s been some repair work if you look, but it’s a great example of how sometimes good enough is good enough.

I decided to have my assistant George track down contact information. I tried to provide quick details for some of the contacts, like where I knew them from, where they worked, or if they might have a new last name through marriage.

Two weeks later, George gave me an update on his progress.

Jed,

I have contact info. for 10 of the 13 listed. For the other three, I have made some progress. I have provided two listings for xxx which are in the same area. I have emailed someone who might be able to provide an email for xxxx, but his info. is otherwise unlisted. Finally, I have had little luck tracking down xxxxx because I don’t have her new last name. I can dig a little more on this one if you would like, but I’m not certain I could find her contact information if I did.

-George

I asked him to spend another 30-40 minutes on the last contact, and he provided me with two possible listings. Neither of them were the person I was looking for though.

1. You can make money. This is important if the costs of outsourcing are making you hesitant.
2. It’s non-urgent. That means both low-pressure for your assistant, and something that you’ll probably never get around to doing yourself.
3. As a side benefit, it helps you unclutter your life. We all need that.

While you can get half the benefit by having a virtual assistant list and manage your sales, much of the hassle of selling things online comes from getting your booty out of the chair and over to the post office after the item is sold.

On Hank’s first day, I dropped a stack of technical books on the table.

“Punch in the ISBN for each of these books on Half and Amazon. Find any that are selling for more than $10 and list them on the appropriate site. Take the others out to the recycle bin.”

The next time I handed him a few tech gadgets I had sitting around: an extra bluetooth mouse, a wireless router, etc.

“Search eBay history to get an average price for these items, and list them with a minimum bid of $5 and a ‘Buy it Now’ price just a couple bucks above the average selling price.”

That in itself saved a chunk of time. But for me, the bonus came when the books and items sold. I give him enough cash to cover the shipping and he takes care of the rest.

We’ve made over $300 in the past couple weeks. I’ve spent almost no time myself, and Hank’s time has cost less than $50. And now there are a few less books and boxes taking up space on our shelves.

Meet “Hank”: a 17-year old high school senior. He’s a sharp kid, and he’s finishing his last semester of school via home school. This means he gets his school work done in less time, and has a very flexible schedule. Perfect . And of course his rate is a little lower than what we pay George (who is currently working on a Masters degree).

I wanted to test two things:

1. Outsourcing tasks that require some in-person local help.
2. Requesting and coordinating tasks in person as an alternative to digital means, even if those task could be done by a remote assistant.

It’s been working quite well. Sometimes he works beside me, sometimes he works from home. When we’re working in the same spalce, it’s really tempting for both of us to interrupt each other- him to ask little questions and get confirmation, and me to jump in and suggest and correct. While this can sometimes save a little hassle and effort, it also takes away from the “set it and forget it” aspect that makes personal outsourcing so appealing. We both try to keep the chatter to a minimum, but when it’s necessary I try to work on things that don’t require as much sustained mental focus. For example I might cook a quick breakfast while he’s walking through a vaguely-defined task and encounters unexpected snags.

I’ll share more specific examples in the coming weeks. To start, let’s take it full circle here. In my first Outsourced Wednesdays entry, I described how George helped me find a good mechanic. That was last summer, and the car is once again in need of a little tune-up, an oil change, and a thorough cleaning. Tomorrow morning, Hank will be taking care of that for us, and I’ll get a couple hours of my life back.

Ed. note: It’s times like this that I’m glad I don’t own an expensive sports car…

Get my payroll automated

George-

I use a service called PayCycle* where I submit hours logged on a weekly basis. The problem is that every week the hours are exactly the same, but I still have to manually approve them via the website. Contact PayCycle to find out what steps need to be taken to have the payroll system automated so I don’t have to approve the hours every week.

Also, I can’t remember if there’s a way for us to easily pay Independent Contractors via PayCycle. Can you check into that?

Thanks,

-Jed

==================

Automated Payroll
You do not have the option to have it automated. However, you can go in for one month at time (or perhaps longer) to approve payment for several periods at one time. The lady reminded me that you need to do two things so you don’t create multiple checks for the same period. (1) change the pay period, and (2) change the date. I assume that would make sense if you have used the service before.

Independent Contractor / 1099 Form
They support non-employee compensation, rent compensation, and gross procedes paid to an attorney.

In order to do this sign up for one of the options: Login to your account, click on the tab ‘taxes and forms’—> then ‘overviews pay tax forms’—> and ‘1099′—>walk through the service, and sign up for what you need.

Time: 20 min.

### end task

Ed. Note: We’ve been using PayCycle for about 6 months now and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a nice web-based system for not only handling payroll, but filing all the required state and federal business and payroll taxes.

#1- I’ve used it less than I thought

Ah yes, sitting on a beach somewhere while an army of personal assistants handles every less-desirable aspect of your life. And doing it for two dollars a day, no less.

In reality, even with a great assistant and a smooth workflow, it’s easy to leave your assistant with an empty queue. And it’s not for lack of things to outsource- I got over that challenge a long time ago. The simple fact is that the more you outsource, the more outsourcing you have to manage. One key technique is to set up ongoing, repeatable tasks. Right now my assistant logs less than an hour a week doing ongoing tasks. A lot of my life is already automated, but there are plenty of routine things I still need to get off my plate.

#2- It’s more rewarding than I thought

The novelty factor in Personal Outsourcing is huge, particularly when floating your tasks overseas. It just makes you feel cool. I thought that would wear off, and it did. Despite the public nature of this site, many of my friends and colleagues have no idea that we have an assistant. Those that do know, generally only find out because I try to give some background to HTD when people ask me what I’m working on these days.

And yet, there’s still something fantastic about coming back from lunch, sitting down to my computer, and seeing an update: “made that phone call and fixed that thing.” I think to myself “instead of waiting on hold during the noon hour, I just had lunch with a friend.” Or I’ll check in on ongoing task after 3 weeks of forgetting about it, and see that it’s been successfully repeated each Friday morning as requested. It’s just nice. Using outsourcing less than I thought I would doesn’t really matter. Even a couple hours a week has a noticeable impact.

#3- I’m a demanding boss

Actually, we all are. We all have these nasty little micro-managers inside us just waiting to come out. We’re quick to justify spending a few minutes (or hours…) at work surfing the web or doing otherwise “less-productive” activities. But once the tables are turned and we’re covering the payroll, it’s easy to really scrutinize the little details of how and when work gets done, how much time it’s taking, etc. It might take a little while, but eventually you learn to let go- at least if you have a solid assistant.

Those are my big 3. Feel free to share your own surprises in the comments.

Having an online business, I wanted to know how it stacked up against our leading competitor by measuring Google search rankings. Not only that, but I wanted to gauge how my company rankings changed week-to-week compared to my competitor. This was a task for George. So I explained to him that I wanted a weekly update on the rankings posted on a Google spreadsheet.

I left this task fairly open-ended for George because I hadn’t thought through best way to format the rankings. I just provided him with a list of words or phrases to search for, asked him to come up with a format to make the rankings easy to compare, and let him have at it.

George,

I want to be able to make comparisons between —— and ——. To do this, do a Google search on each of the words or phrases below and record the rankings on a Google Spreadsheet. Come up with a format that makes it easy for me to compare rankings and then share the spreadsheet with me. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

-Jed

================

This is one of those tasks where I really didn’t want to be pestered with questions, I just wanted it done. After a couple weeks, I noticed that I wanted something changed on the formatting, so I made a comment for George once I saw the results:

Great work thus far with the spreadsheet! I’ve got a few things I want to tweak with the formatting. The goals are to be able to see at-a-glance:

1. how we stack up against — for each given term
2. what rankings have changed (for better or worse)

The spreadsheet you currently have can accomplish that, but I think we can tighten things up a bit.

With that, he made the changes, and I had a regularly updated spreadsheet with rankings for the next three months.

Downgrade my mobile phone plan

George-

Now that I have two phones, I want to drop my Cingular plan down one level. I don’t even know what my options are, but if it’ll save me more than $20 a month and doesn’t drop me too many minutes, go for it. Also, they’ll probably make me give up my huge bank of rollover minutes if I switch plans. See what you can do about that

Thanks,
-Jed

==============

The downgrade was made to 1400 minutes per month, reducing price by $20 and everything else the same. The new plan is effective 10/27, the beginning of the next billing period. You keep 1400 rollover minutes. You’re average talk time for the last little while has been around 1500-1600 minutes, so the rollover minutes would run out in about 7 months if you are 200 minutes over every month. I spoke with xxxxx after working my way through the automated system at 888-333-6651.

I disputed the rollover minutes reduction. they will call your cell number on oct. 27 to tell you your resolution . Originally they said you would keep 1400 rollover minutes. She thought we could get it up to 3000.

### end task

Ed. note: we got our 3000 minutes

Cancel the cable (maybe)

George-

I love the speed I get from cable internet, but now that my 6 month intro price is over, I’m having a hard time justifying it compared to the $23 DSL (no phone line required). Please call the cable company and tell them you need to cancel, and see what kind of deal they can offer.

Thanks,
-Jed

=========

If you drop cable they can only offer the price of $59.95 for internet only. Your current bill is $74ish with both services. If you keep cable she can extend a deal that would total out at about $82-83 (about $8-9 more than before) with both services. The catch is that the more services you have the discount per service increases.

• $59.95 internet only
• $82-83 with both services combined
• xxxxx helped me and the number which will get you back in is 866-594-1234
  the account is under your wife’s name, they asked for the last 4 digits of her social, but it apparently wasn’t necessary because I told them I was you, and they helped me.

========

George-
hmm, okay. Kill the cable effective immediately and tell them I’ll drop off the equipment at the nearby office.

Thanks,
-Jed

========

You need to return the following items to their store:

• DVR Box
• Modem
• Remote Control

Technician Will be out on the 20th to cut the line or whatever. But you should plan on taking the equipment in on Monday, or early next week (that’s what I told her). The service is cut off as of February 8 (Today)

### end task

Ed. note: Not surprisingly, I got a call from the cable company a few days later offering me a “special deal.” I told the rep I already asked for special deals, was offered none, and was now enjoying my $23 DSL line (which by the way has no contract and has continued to work out nicely).

“I think a lot of the professional world is overwhelmed and has enough disposable income to spend to gain a few hours of their week back,” says Jed Wood, 30, a Web entrepreneur who hired a remote personal assistant in India when he moved to Chicago last summer. The assistant screened 50 apartment listings on Craigslist and set up appointments for viewing.

It worked out well enough that Wood is setting up his own, U.S.-based service called HavingThingsDone.com, employing university students at a starting salary of $8 an hour.

She left out the main reason I made the leap from a GetFriday client to starting our own service, but I won’t complain.

I’ve got plenty of news and tidbits to share in the coming couple of weeks, so things will be a little “noisy” around here!

George,

Please take the attached description and photos and create a simple Backpack page with nice formatting. Then create a summarized version of the description and two of the photos (whichever two you think look best) and create a post on Craigslist. Have responses sent to your email address, filter out the most likely candidates, and post them here on my dashboard

Thanks,
-Jed

===========

He then created this page including the nice little image gallery, posted to Craigslist, and sent me a quick confirmation note. For some reason I suddenly worried that we priced it too high. Without first checking the dashboard, I fired off this note:

===========

George,

Sorry to bother, but can you edit the Craigslist listing to be $800
rather than $1000?

Thanks,
-Jed

===========

Jed,

Have you looked at the dashboard yet? You’d be crazy. Maybe I’ll think of raising the price to $1200.

-George

### end task

As it turns out, over a dozen people responded that same afternoon, several of which had ideal circumstances and he had posted them to my “dashboard” (a Backpack page that he and I share). Within a few days we made the final arrangements with our temporary tenant, and saved a few thousand bucks during our trip!

Having an assistant with enough initiative to tell me I’m crazy and suggest a better solution can sometimes be quite helpful.

Propane tank disposal

I have these little Coleman propane tanks- green things about 10 inches high and 6 inches in diameter. Something tells me I shouldn’t just toss them in the garbage. But I don’t know where to dump them (or have them recycled or whatever). Please find me a place in the great city of Chicago where I can properly dispose of these things.

Stop if you don’t have an answer within 30 minutes of searching/calling.

Thanks,
-Jed

============

Smaller propane cylinders (for example, the small Coleman grill cylinders) may be put in your regular trash, if they are completely empty (reference PDF)

Otherwise the Springfield EPA is the best reference I have.

Address:
Goose Island 1150 North, North Branch
open T, Th and 1st Saturday of each month.
Disposal is free. (reference from XXXXX at hazchem xxx-xxx-xxxx–she has a license to dispose but will charge and is located in the suburbs).

The contact number XXXXX gave me was xxx-xxx-xxxx for the EPA. I called and was transferred around for awhile and ended up at an answering machine of probably the correct person (didn’t leave a message). Typical government agency!

(reference listing from yellow pages)

Time: 30 min.

### end task

Next week we’ll go to the other end of the spectrum and show how our assistant helped us sublet our apartment.

In that spirit, each Wednesday* I’ll be posting actual task requests I’ve made to my assistant, including his response. In addition to sparking ideas for what to outsource, hopefully it’ll highlight aspects of what makes for effective (and less effective) task definition and communication.

So without further ado, here is one of the first requests I made of my current assistant. The visual formatting was his, so I’ve left it mostly as-is.

Find a Mechanic

“Mechanic” may be too strong of a word, but we have a tire with a
slow leak (it goes flat in a few days after pumping it up) and we’re
in need of an oil change.

1. Please check out http://yelp.com and search for things like “oil
change.” Hopefully you can find at least 2 with good ratings that are
within a mile or two of our home.

2. Call them and ask for their rates for an oil change and a tire
leak fix. If they ask, we have a ‘03 Honda Element.

3. Choose the one with the best rate (or that you generally feel like
is going to be nicer to deal with) and schedule an appointment for
anytime Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Just pretend that you’re me.
Give them my phone number if they need it. Also tell them that “your”
wife might be the one to stop by.

Thanks,
-Jed

===========================

Jed,

Here is the place:

Bridgestone Swift Car Care
4.5 star rating based on 3 reviews
Categories: Auto Repair
Neighborhood: Ukrainian Village
1710 W Chicago Ave (between Hermitage Ave & Paulina St)
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 733-7003

The shop opens at 7:30am. No appointments. If you take it in by 8am or so your wait will be minimized. The cost is going to be about $37 plus tax. The cheapest place I found. Reviews are all great except the building is a bit dingy and run down. I talked to Charlie, a Latin sounding guy.

If you want an appointment see option 2.

_________________________________________________

2nd option

Car-x Auto Service
4.0 star rating based on 8 reviews
Categories: Auto Repair
Neighborhood: Near West Side, Noble Square
1314 W Grand Ave (at Ogden Ave)
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 243-3111
Hours:

• Mon-Fri 7:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
• Sat 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

The charge will be about $50 for oil change and tire fix and they have only scheduled a couple appointments for Thursday and Friday thus far.

If you want this one let me know what steps to take.

Time: 25 minutes

____________________________________________________

### end task

25 minutes. Is there any wonder I was encouraged to keep working with this guy?

*Wednesday seemed appropriate given that it’s my day off.

We’re both pleased and overwhelmed with the number of people that have signed up to be on the waiting list. If you want in on the action, go sign up and drop a note in the “What Else?” box mentioning that you’re a loyal Newly Rich reader, and I’ll make sure your name gets bumped up higher on the list…

Here’s a quick-and-dirty rundown of the philosophies behind Having Things Done.

After the initial intrigue, most people that I talk to about outsourcing to a virtual assistant have one common response: “But what would I outsource?” Tim addresses this in the 4HWW book, and here are some additional thoughts based on my experience over the past couple of months.

Thus far we’ve had our assistant find us an apartment, sublet that same apartment, and handle a slew of smaller personal and business tasks. Whether you’re already using an assistant or thinking about trying it out, I hope you find these hints to be helpful.

1. Minimize the kickoff effort.

Set up a single inbox where your tasks will be dropped- it could be a Gmail account, a wiki, TaDa list, CellTell and Jott for quick assigning of tasks, and a special subject line when I send them via email.

2. No such thing as too small

If you have a task that you think will only take you 15 minutes, you might be inclined to just do it yourself. But when you do 5 of those tasks it starts to add up. If you encourage your assistant to use the principle of “batching”, and make sure you follow tip #1, even small tasks can be well worth handing off.

3. Set up recurring tasks

Many things I do each day and week are some kind of “monitoring” task. Again, following batching, these activities are perfect for your assistant to handle. They can filter out all the noise (or lack of activity) and just alert you to important updates. For example, I have our assistant track the Google rankings for my online card sorting application, and keep tabs on the blogs and newsletters of its fans and competitors.

4. Empower them to take further action

Clearly lay out the next steps and you’ll get a major boost in efficiency. Consider the following:

Please find me a good mechanic near my home.

Now compare that to:

Using Yelp and Yahoo, find two mechanics with decent ratings that are located within 10 minutes of my home. Call them both to get quotes on having the oil changed and fixing a tire leak. Set me up an appointment for any morning this week with the one that is cheapest.

I cut the chatter even further by sharing my calendar, and by using an RSS feed to monitor task progress, rather than using email or IM for everything.

5. Dust off that old todo list

Unless you have a full-time team of assistants and a long track record, don’t try to offload your high-stress, high-priority, urgent tasks. It’s a recipe for further anxiety. Rather, scan your todo list (perhaps the ones in your head if needs be) for those things that you want to do but just can’t seem to make time for. Dreamlines (see 4HWW) are a great source for these kinds of tasks. Want to scuba dive off the Great Barrier Reef? There are probably a dozen initial action and research items that your assistant could handle well.

As you can see, most of these are aimed at a goal of minimizing the time you spend managing your assistant and your tasks. It’s easy to end up spending more time in the outsourcing process than it would take for you to just complete the task yourself, which of course defeats the main purpose. With the right techniques and some practice, however, outsourcing will give you more time to focus on the things that bring you the most income and/or happiness.

College Jobs

Right now he’s in college, and will soon be starting an MPA. He’s smart, funny, responsible, and one a heck of a golfer. You’d think he would command a healthy salary.

But George still lives in the town where we grew up, which houses a state college and a major university. This means George faces the same challenge as his 50,000 classmates: extreme competition for part-time jobs that have flexible hours. This should sound familiar to anybody that had a job while in a college. The supply of jobs that fit these requirements is under-whelming compared to the demand. Consequently, pay is not exactly “competitive.”

I’ve had my share of gigs that fit this bill: cell-phone sales guy, restaurant server, call-center operator. I even once volunteered for an exercise study that lasted several weeks and included a biopsy on my quadricep. Ah, those were the days.

The Perfect Fit

My brother first alerted me to the fact that George hadn’t yet completed his studies and was still competing for those flexible part-time jobs. And that’s when it hit me: I could not think of a more ideal assistant! In addition to the characteristics I mentioned above, he already knows me, knows people and places that I know, and is very internet- and computer-savvy. I can give him confidential information with zero worries. So far he’s handled every task perfectly.

I imagine most readers of 4HWW will have the same reaction I did: “Cool! An assistant way over in India!” But after the novelty wears off, you realize that the whole idea is to minimize the time and money you spend working with your assistant while getting maximum benefit. And right now, I can’t imagine it being more streamlined.

Eventually it’ll be on George’s todo list to find and hire a replacement for when he graduates…