Sorry for the lapse!

Howdy all, been flat out at work (yes this is still the 4 hour work week challenge) and been away.

Much has happened since we moved out of the van. We went down to Victoria for Easter to hang out with family and saw some of the Bells surfing comp.

The other big news is we are having a baby! Mrs Smith is now 14 weeks pregnant and so as you can imagine, there have been distractions :) Our businesses have stalled and my work has been hectic in the extreme despite the break.

Obviously these things have slowed our progression a little. However we are now settled in, in Glebe and will be moving to Bondi (again) in May so much going on. I will give Mrs Smith a nudge to give an update.

Until next time...

Challenges

Well although the caravan has provided a fantastic insight into living with less, I must admit it can be difficult sometimes when you are working 12-hour days and leaving when it's dark and returning in the dark. Sometimes you just want a familiar environment to come home to when you're tired and exhausted. It certainly has given me more motivation to continue with our quest for the 4-hr work week, as we are currently a long way from that yet!

Having said that, Mr Smith and I spent our first weekend together at the Caravan Park and with no housework or tidying up to do, it allowed me to truly relax, go for a swim at the beach, read my book and watch the goings on at the park.

Bring on work efficiency and time reclamation!

Cashing up!

Well Mrs Smith and I have decided to buy an appartment. We figure that it will be great investment. We are really enjoying our new found liquidity as our current lifestyle means our outgoings are very small. No credit card debt means there is cash burning a whole in my pocket and it is an amazing feeling.

We will buy something in the back half of the year when the first home buyers grant disappears. My preferred option is in Freshwater Beach in Sydney - we can stay there for a bit and then move out and positively gear it. As part of our 4 hour work week challenge, this will become one of our passive income streams.

Until then we will continue house sitting which I am really beginning to enjoy. It takes a little organisation to begin with but once you are set up it rolls very well. Onward and upwards!

Aloha!

Well we've just booked a trip to Hawaii for 2 weeks with Jetstar for $1300 return for 2 x adults (incl. taxes!). The beauty of being transient is knowing that your accommodation is essentially your rent/mortgage for 2 weeks.

The caravan is going well and we survived a significant rain storm. It will definitely give me an appreciation for smaller spaces, which we'll need when purchasing our properties at the end of this year.

I have also realised that I don't need to live with as much stuff as once had. My wardrobe has been halved again with the majority of my clothes/shoes now in storage. It challenges your creativity with outfits but makes decision making that much easier!

Outsourcing and caravan parks

Well, a lot has happened in the last little while. First of all we moved into Narrabeen Lakes Caravan Park and I have to say it is excellent. Walked across the road and had a surf on Saturday and Sunday morning (no shark sightings) and the weather was awesome. With 5 weeks to go - it looks like it will be a lot of fun. Too early to say if we will get sick of it but so far so good - that represents the elimination section of our 4 Hour Work Week challenge.

The second great result has been the initial response from my outsourced work to India from my previous post. The quality has been excellent and I am very impressed! I will be definitely using them again. For those of you who are interested their website is http://www.brickworkindia.com/

Signing off in the annex :)

Outourcing, outsourcing, outsourcing

We have been using Elance.com to do design but today I briefed Brickworkindia.com to do a whole bunch of desktop research for a client prject I am working on. It is the first time I have used virtual assistants in India to do work for me. I written a brief and am hooking up with them by phone today to talk scope and rate.

Will keep you posted on how I go - If it works it could change my life at work!

Muse creations aplenty!

Well Mr Smith and I have been brainstorming muse creations. These are what Tim Ferriss argues is the tool by which you can fund your lifestyle redesign.

I have started work on one muse in the coffee industry. Once the site is up and running, I will reveal what it involves. After briefing my designer via Elance http://www.elance.com/, she has come back with some fantastic logo concepts and we have almost chosen the final version. Her Elance profile is under ohSnap. The next step will be briefing in the website which I will also do via Elance or Guru.

Mr Smith and I have also come up with another idea around house-sitting. We have had frustrations with trying to find suitable places to house sit and have resorted to friends. This has made us realise there is a gap in the market which we can fill. I have again briefed the same designer (she is highly creative, quick and efficient) and looking forward to seeing her concepts.

Mr Smith is also using her for his muse logo which has just been finalised!

The ultimate aim by the end of this year is to have 3 online businesses up and running so that we can have multiple streams of income and apply E Myth principles http://www.emyth.com/ to them to ensure we have an efficient organisation that frees up time for us to focus on fulfilling our lifestyle dreamlines! E Myth by Michael Gerber is a fantastic how to book for small businesses to run your business more efficiently by working on your business rather than in your business!

Not only are we going to have more flexible income streams but also I'm learning how to set up a business from scratch and adopting skills along the way i.e. web design briefing

Lots of fun to be had!