How to save 1 hour per day by having a personal assistant in Indonesia – for free.

TL; TR: I can't live without Amy anymore, my personal assistant. She takes care of all my orders and deliveries, books flights and reminds me of things. Therefore, I have now more time for more important things. Every day. And I don't pay a dime for it. (Disclaimer: I'm one of the founders of this service in Indonesia and The Philippines.)

I grew up in Berlin, and independent as I am I was used to taking care of all things myself. Back then, I would have never given it a thought to get myself help of a stranger for my personal tasks.

When I moved to Jakarta a few months ago, I was not aware of all the challenges I might have by not speaking the language (yet) and also by being new to the culture and people. Even tho, I know now my Indonesian friends have the same challenges even with speaking the language. 

I was struggling with simple things every day, like ordering food, buying movie tickets online, finding a particular service, making a restaurant reservation, or where to find specific items – you name it.

Of cause, not speaking Bahasa Indonesia makes a huge difference here, but more and more the central issue became the time needed to get those everyday things done. Let me walk you through a typical day of mine; maybe that describes it the best.

Monday morning, 7:42 AM

I'm about to head out to the office; I need a ride to get there. I could open one of common transportation apps like UBER, GRAB, or GO-JEK, and wait for a few minutes until I found a driver, have a call with him to confirm and most likely another call because he can't locate the place. I rather drop Amy a messages and get my GRAB driver within 5 minutes instead of 15. Amy knows my address and makes sure I get to the office in no time. 

9:27 AM

The week starts busy, like always. I got some important documents I need to get delivered to the lawyers. ASAP. And I feel like having a fresh avocado juice from any vendor around and coffee from Starbucks. I could open a delivery app, get myself a driver for the documents, and find another driver to get my coffee; makes, at least, two calls, probably even 3. And for the juice, I would have to go out myself and find a vendor in the area. Instead of dealing with three people and waste 20 minutes I just let Amy take over which takes me about 3 minutes in total. After 25 minutes I was enjoying my coffee, juice was in the fridge for later, and my lawyer confirmed the documents had arrived. Check. 

11:15 AM

Got a call, Partner meeting on short notice, I have to go to the center. Amy orders me a GRABcar, recommends an excellent restaurant in the area and the best book shop. After the meeting, I want to buy a book for my friends birthday on Friday. I guess I saved 10 minutes. 

2:20 PM

Meeting done, partner happy. Hitting the bookstore now (Ak'.sa.ra) and found 60-minute Brand Strategist, seems perfect for my friend Ryan. Unfortunately, I'm holding the last one in my hands, like many people before me, that's at least how this one looks like. A job for Amy, besides the ride back she ordered me a shiny new one from another store and delivered it to my office within 45 min. I might have saved 15 minutes not even mentioning the efforts I would have had by calling other bookstores. 

5:12 PM

Haven't been in a movie for a while, would be nice to know what's trendy these days. At least, it's good to know. Saved what, 5-10 minutes of research?

6:15 PM

I'm getting hungry, and I feel like having something different than company catering today. What are those fried noodles called again? Amy knows, for sure. Food arrived within 20 minutes. 

8:40 PM

End of the month, my data volume will be empty soon. Amy reminds me of that and tops it up before she orders me a ride home. 

(I only put a few text screen shots in so you get an idea)

Conclusion

I guess I saved more than an hour today, and I haven't even booked flights or ordered other more time-consuming things.

For sure, sometimes my personal assistant is quite busy, and it takes her a moment to get back to me, but for me more than 60.000 other people it is worth waiting. This service is called YesBoss and is entirely free of service charge; you only pay what you order. Amy, Laura, Tasha, Tommy and all our other personal assistants are happy to make your life easier, every day. 

So, if you would like to have more time for more important things in life, whether it is for business, family or friends – why don't give it a try? Please sign up here if you are living in Indonesia or here if you are living in The Philippines –we will try to activate everyone as soon as possible. (it may take a few days or even two weeks depending on the demand since we want to make sure everyone can enjoy the same service quality) 

P.S. You don't have to be a manager to make use of it. We have everyone from housewives, young professionals, offices managers and executive assistants using our service.

P.S.S. Our team speaks Bahasa Indonesia and English at YesBoss and English and Tagalog at HeyKuya. 

Cheers and have a productive day ahead! – Chris