Thanks to Rob for the pointer.

And if you haven’t seen The Machine is Us/ing Us, here it is:

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mark at T4G for almost five years. This couldn’t happen to a nicer and more deserving guy.

Way to go, Mark!

I met my cousin Rob last Thursday for one of our attempting-to-be-regular breakfast get-togethers and recommend to him a book I’m reading: Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek. Only four days later, there is an article in the Globe and Mail titled, The $2,000 executive assistant. It’s an article about outsourcing admin work, as espoused in the Ferriss book. And Rob is cited as an example, including a big picture of Rob sitting at his desk (in the act of outsourcing some work?).

“It’s a great way to delegate to other people parts of your job that you really don’t enjoy doing,” says Rob Hyndman, a one-man Toronto law firm. “I can simply parcel out individual tasks to individual providers. It makes me faster. It makes me more nimble.”

Last year, Mr. Hyndman paid nearly $2,000 for a “virtual administrative assistant” to schedule his meetings, organize his contacts and do all the other office work that once kept him behind his desk until late. As the personal offshoring business evolves, he’s finding more and more tasks he can farm out to India.

NB Telegraph-Journal | Money – As published on page c1 on September 25, 2006

T4G Limited helping to keep Saint John online. Growing Service company one of the fastest growing in Canada

Kate Shingler
Special to the Telegraph-Journal

GRAND MANAN – The technology services company T4G Limited is an Information Technology consulting firm making waves across North America and beyond.

With several hundred employees in Canada, the project-based company works with more than 100 leading firms in a wide range of industries, namely retail, communications, travel, healthcare and financial services, including leading Fortune 500 companies.

T4G does everything from developing online catalogues for companies like L.L. Bean to analyzing sales data for other retail giants like J.

Crew, Orvis and Best Buy, to managing content for government tourism websites, including the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The private firm was established in Toronto in 1996 with a team of 23 employees, but founder Geoff Flood, a Saint John native, soon opened up an office in his hometown. T4G expanded to Saint John in 2001, and opened for business with eight employees on board. Now there are more than 50 people on staff. Flood lives in Saint John, and works in the Toronto office part-time.

“New Brunswick is a great place to do business,” says Flood, who applauds the mayor of Saint John, Norman McFarlane, for promoting technology and turning the city into an IT-friendly place. “It is a destination of choice for a lot of people. We’ve got a lot to offer in Saint John.”

Business is so good that the company, also an authorized training centre for Microsoft, is constantly recruiting.

“There is full employment in the technology market in New Brunswick and in Saint John,” notes Flood. “Really good people are in high demand.”

T4G is one of the fastest-growing professional services companies in Canada. The company’s revenue has more than doubled over the past three years from $12 million in 2002 to $25.5 million in 2005. The target for 2006 is $30 million.

In addition to the Toronto and Saint John operations, T4G now has offices in Vancouver and Halifax. It has distinguished itself as an award-winning solutions provider and is the first company in Canada to earn five Microsoft Gold Certified Partner awards.

The company attributes some of its success to its practice of combining teams from across Canada.

An employee with the technology services company T4G sits at a work station in the above photo.

One of the company’s key players, Director of Travel and Hospitality Solutions, Dave Hyndman, works from his home office on Prince Edward Island.

Hyndman, a sought-after IT consultant who has worked all over the world, is currently in Toronto for a 10-month stint while his wife completes her doctorate.

Whether he is based in Charlottetown or Toronto, Hyndman heads up a team that is working with several provincial governments on developing comprehensive tourism websites.

T4G’s MyTravelHost is an innovative tool that uses technology to help boost the province’s tourism industry in many ways. It enables consumers, tourism operators and government to exchange information, ultimately generating interest and attracting more visitors.

While Hyndman acknowledges he travels several times a month for his job, he believes T4G’s unique organizational structure works because it allows employees to work where they want to live.

“People work on things irrespective of their locations,” says the father of three, who adds that while there are benefits to being in a big city, he prefers the quality of life on PEI.

T4G’s Atlantic Operations General Manager John Ceccarelli is originally from Ontario. He admits he had reservations when he moved east to head-up the local office.

“I was working in downtown Toronto when I moved to Saint John… I was reluctant at first,” he says.

Now, he is enjoying the city and working environment so much he is trying to persuade his former colleagues to join him.

“We have a good roster of employees in other offices – we would encourage them to move to Saint John.”

While Ceccarelli acknowledges that Saint John doesn’t have the customer base of larger urban centres, he says in terms of delivery of services the local operation is among the best in the country.

“Development teams can be anywhere; in the technology industry you can deliver anywhere,” he says calling T4G an end-to-end technology services organization.

With the company’s four offices spread out across the country, he believes T4G has the best of both worlds.

“With 200 employees and a federated business model, T4G is able to deliver sophisticated enterprise solutions while paying close attention to customer requirements,” he says. “We deliver measurable value with each project.”

One of the secrets to T4G’s success is that its employees have a passion for learning new technologies and they are always eager to find opportunities that allow clients to achieve their goals, according to Ceccarelli.

“For a number of reasons, including good luck, we have been able to hire talented, creative and entrepreneurial employees,” he says.

Life is made up of the lost and found. The search for things that have left you, or the discovery of something you’ve never had. Lost & Found explores personal stories on everything from confidence and identity, to love and luggage.

Tune in to Lost & Found, airing weekly beginning this Saturday, 1-2pm.

Note: I have no connection to this property or its owners. Just looked nice.

• On Sunday, my Mom & Dad went back to East Hampton, after a great, month-long visit.
• On Monday, my sister, Paige, and her family went back to East Hampton. Paige, Bill, William and Christopher are a big part of our wonderful summer routine. Their leaving signals a big change for us and leaves us (and many others) looking for something else to do Sunday afternoons and evenings.
• Today, Alex started school.
• Thursday, Abby starts pre-school.
• and the temperature dropped … significantly.

Too much. Too soon.