Virtual Assistants - What do they do for you?

Discussions
#21

I’ve tried virtual assistants from a few different places. Zirtual, Fancy Hands, and YourVirtualWorkers. I’m currently using Fancy Hands and have found it a great resource to get random tasks done.

Despite many book, blogs and checklists from others, I’ve found it hard to know exactly how to use a VA in my business. It’s an odd tension between needing to trust someone and also not needing to detail every single task.

When people ask me about VA’s I send them an email I’ve drafted. I just posted that email to my blog and you can read it here http://gbake.com/lets-talk-virtual-assistants-aka-vas/

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#22

VAs have been life savers for me so far. I use them mainly to manage content publishing on our websites.

I know this is highly subjective and I don’t mean to generalize, but my personal experience with Filipino VAs wasn’t positive. They’re amazing people, down to earth and very friendly BUT I struggled to make them perceive the importance of some tasks - I remember once assigning her a delicate and urgent task and she didn’t complete it because she said “she slept all day”.

I’m sure I have just been unlucky, but afterwards gave it a shot by hiring a European VAs and things are now great - though it’s more expensive.

P.s. I don’t like working with VAs from agencies, I prefer the 1-1 human interaction. So, if the project grows, the VA scope might grow too. I prefer seeing them as an actual part of the team rather than “my-boring-stuff-doers”

#23

I can see how that would be irritating!

I wonder if there are regional differences in that country in terms of culture. Here in Italy for instance there is a pretty big difference between the north and the south.

Yes, I think ultimately that if you get someone who is good, you want to stick with them.

#24

Hey David,

I have worked with both Northern and Southern Italian VAs (and also with high-caliber designers and developers).

In my experience, Southern have been far more hard working, talented and down to earth. But this is just my experience: some of us know how delicate is the social situation between North and South in Italy.

How was your experience instead?

#25

I work in Northern Italy, which, as a whole, is wealthier and more productive than the south. There are a lot of reasons for this, and it’s complex, and so on. I don’t think I’d hire VA’s in Italy just to keep my US-based bootstrapped business fairly detached from Italy. As far as individuals go, I’ve met plenty of people from the south who were very smart, productive, etc… So I think it’s mainly a question of environment. But, that said, there are cultural differences, and I’m curious if the Philippines has something similar.

#26

I’ve used a VA from the Philippines for over a year now. I haven’t had any real cultural issues with her so far. She is great at following a process document and doing independent research, given some specific criteria. She’s works hard and meets my deadlines. Maybe it’s just her being extra smart, but my friends who use Philippines VAs seem to have similar experiences.

#27

Yeah, I have to say that the guy in the Philippines who works for us couldn’t be better. He’s very proactive and able to handle complex tasks without a ton of direction. It helps that his english is almost perfect.

That said, it seemed like a lot of the people I interviewed would have required a lot more direction on my part. I don’t think that they’re any less capable. I just think they’ve been trained to work in very hierarchical places where you do exactly what your told.

I’m in mexico now, and it’s kind of similar here. Horizontal organizations aren’t the norm.

#28

How do you handle the tax implications of paying a VA (if there are any)?

#29

I have them invoice me and treat them like any other contractor. Then I do whatever my accountant tells me :slight_smile:

#30

That makes sense :slight_smile:

#31

I’ve had a full-time VA (Philippinnes) for a year and planning to hire a 2nd soon.

I’m the past, I made the mistake of hiring VA before I was ready. I was very busy, but lacked systems and procedures. The things that kept me busy weren’t repeatable processes, they were one time tasks. So I struggled with delegation (it’s faster to do it myself than train him).

I learned its best spend a few months working “as if” you had a VA. As things come up in your work day that you’d like to delegate, add them to a running list (I use Trello). Do this for 3-6 months.

Then review the list and find the stuff that you do repeatedly. These are the things you’ll want to plan to give your VA.

When you’re nearly ready to make the hire, list out exactly what you plan to fill their plate for the first week. If you can’t fill 1 weeks worth of tasks, you’re not ready.

I also recommend coming up with a few “downtime” tasks. Things they can do (anytime) when you have nothing else for them to work on. Social Media posting is a good one.

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#32

The primary benefit of odesk for me has been the “automatic” payment system. Yea, they take a chunk off the top, but I love the convenience of my VA being able to log his hours and his pay is automatically deducted from my paypal via odesk. I like not having to manually send payment, check hours, etc.

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#33

Brian, that’s a great note about how to get organized before hiring your first VA. I’ll have to start a log. Repeatable tasks that are doable is key.