Daniel Jackson

Hi, I am just wondering if this progressed any further than your original post.

I too believe there is need for something like this, however the form, like you have stated, may overlap with others in some areas.

Any way I can help?

Cheers, Dan.

r ranson wrote:I'm musing on the idea of a new forum in the Growies category.  

I want to write some things that are specific to my local climate, but I don't know where to put them.  Greening the desert doesn't seem to fit, because our annual rainfall precludes us from being desert.

I thought maybe Mediterranean Climate would work as this encompasses a chunk of the middle east, a chunk of Africa, a chunk of Europe, the left coast of most of North and South America, and a bunch of other places.  How we grow things here are very different than the rest of the world.  For example, apparently the rest of Canada has summer as their "growing season".  Not here.

Anyway, I don't know if I got the energy to put the work into it, so I'm putting the idea out here to see what you all think.

Requirements for making a new forum:
1. Is there a forum that already exists that would work with just a bit of changing to the description or name?
2. are there enough existing threads on the topic?  I think google likes about 50 primary and another 50 as secondary.
3. if not, is there someone willing to put the effort into making those threads?
4. is there a staff member willing to volunteer the time to build and curate the new forum?
...and some other things I can't remember right now.

It's something that keeps cropping up from time to time.  I get excited and say "oh, I want to share that idea with permies... okay, now where do I put it?  Oh... it doesn't fit anywhere... oh man... oh never mind."  

Dear Almighty Overlord,

My questionnaire has been completed and I look forward to your consideration an opportunity to work with you and your team.

I am a digital nomad living in Italy, and currently teaching Engliah speaking. Me and my wife are searching for our homestead to buy in a wild, natural and largely abandoned area of Abruzzo where land is cheap, night sky is dark, air is clean and the water in the springs runs cold and clean.

I don't want to say too much because it could be an intriguing thread topic about stories of picking up and leaving the old life behind for something more rewarding, but nevertheless, I want to take a moment to say I am committed to this life of practicing permaculture, especially valuing the marginal which these lands and this are is considered by many locals to be.

All the best and I hope we can speak further in the near future.

paul wheaton wrote:I need a new virtual assistant.  I broke the last two.  Damn.  And duct tape does not work in a virtual way.

Saving the world is 1% hearts, flowers and rainbows ...  and 30% scrubbing toilets. 50% trying to have a rational conversation with hostile, crazy people, 60% mind numbingly dull tasks, and 2% trying to get these numbers to add up to 100.

Tasks include:

 - helping people who ask incomplete questions

 - henching (what is the gender neutral form of "henchman")

 - figuring out gender neutral words

 - assist with world domination

 - fill out long, boring forms

 - try to figure out a path to get things to work out

 - help people get set up in the digital market

 - help people get set up with the affiliate stuff in the digital market

 - help with the kickstarters

      o months of getting ready
      o the crazy 30-day scramble during
      o months of fulfilling

 - make a media rich thread about something

 - guide people signing up for an on-site thing

      o do you need a ride from the airport?
      o do you wanna rent a bunk or stay in a tent?
      o is our food okay, or do you need access to cook stuff?

 - figure out where we forgot to advertise a cool thing

 - change ads in the ad system to match the seasons

 - master our ad stuff

 - test new features in permies

 - test old features in permies - find out where that problem is coming from

 - update our event pages

 - maintain a list of about 20 lists and maintain all those lists

 - maintain some calendars of what we wanna do when

 - talk to crazy people

 - talk to angry people

 - talk to people that are crazy and angry without giggling at them

 - lots of emails (most of which don't make sense, but still need a rational answer)

 - emails with Mark Shepard. What does he want? How can we do that with what we have?  Now replace "Mark Shepard" with 40 other names of cool permies.

 - stuff that has never been done before

 - stuff that has been done before

 - figure it out

 - give a shit

 - work hard

 - get shit done

 - get shit done despite the wacky obstacles

 - help me get more shit done

 - figure out how a few of us with these resources can make massive positive change

 - inspire good stuff in others

It seems to take about six months for a person to get to the point that they are earning their crappy pay. After that, they start to bring in coin that covers the pay.  And then they bring in enough to warrant a raise.  One VA got several raises the first year, ending the year with more than double the original pay.  

I have hired some VAs that said that they are already rock stars, so they need to start with rockstar pay. And I would get an invoice showing them editing the same post at permies for 30 hours.

Here's the thing:  My asistant ends up being the highest paid person in my empire.  I end up keeping about 80 cents per hour for myself.  So this person would be getting paid more than me even at minimum wage.  I am totally cool with that if that person improves the forward velocity of the empire.  

History says it takes a lot of my time to get my assitant up to speed.  In the first few months it will take me 20 minutes to teach my assistant about a thing that I can do in two minutes.  And there are hundreds of little things.  Somewhere around the six month mark is when it switches - it takes less time to teach the assistant ...  My past teaching time starts to pay off!

I like the idea of a VA that will get better every year, be part of the team for 20 years, and maybe get to the point of hiring a dozen additional VAs.  

It's a tough job. Work. Grind, grind, grind. The more you get done, the bigger the todo list gets.  The only good part is that we really do make a positive difference - and there are a lot of very lovely people that will express their gratitude.    

I am looking for somebody full time.

I will be doing quite a lot of the training, but my past assistants, Liv, Nicole and Adrien will be helping a little too.  

If you're thinking "maybe" then here is a questionnaire i made where you can tell me more about you, and your email address.

Any questions for me or my past assistants?