If you have read The Four Hour Work Week, you know that the author, Timothy Ferriss, writes about hiring a virtual assistant to outsource your life. One of the companies he suggests is named Your Man in India, which is not the right company. YMII is for Indian expats who need stuff done back home. There is another company called GetFriday.com which is the right one. They have virtual assistants on a variety of plans you can hire. SmartMoney’s A. J. Jacobs has the most well-known article on the topic of hiring virtual assistants. Other companies include Brickwork and Task Everyday. I have more modest needs.
Get Friday is a service that I have used before, and now am ramping up a bit. I had Get Friday on a retainer of $10/month. At this rate, tasks are billed in 15 minute increments at $15/hour. I’ve used them here and there for odd jobs. I’ve gone months without using their service just paying the $10 retainer. I figured that I had little to lose by keeping them on my payroll and on standby. I’ve used the service sparingly because, at $15/hr it’s more than I earn. I have to really, really not want to do something in order to outsource it.
Making assignments is simple enough. I send out an email to my assistant, Sahnaz, with the details of the assignment. She lets me know when it is done. I have not used my virtual assistant to do any shopping for me. Perhaps that will change in the future. In any event, my interaction with my virtual assistant has been very easy. What’s even cooler is that I received a Christmas card from Sahnaz today. I thought that was very thoughtful. It’s also my first piece of mail from India.
I have a feeling that things are about to get busy for me. I have demands from all different directions by people who want me on their team. For this reason, I have increased my monthly subscription to the next level. For $120/month Get Friday will give me 10 hours of service. The billing is in 10 minute increments. If I go over, then I am billed at $14/hr. They have other monthly plans at 20, 40, 80, and 160 hours per month ranging from $200 to $1120 per month. The more hours you contract them per month, the lower your hourly rate. Of course, it all depends on your needs.
I don’t know what task I’ll be sending Sahnaz for February to fill those 10 hours. I decided to buy the block of time rather than work up to 10 hours so that it forces me to delegate. Being a “boss” is a learned skill. You have to learn to let go of certain things and trust somebody else to get them done. I hope that she will be useful in earning more money so that I can upgrade my plan.
I have some ideas as to how Sahnaz will help me. One way in which she could help me out is to help me stay on top of important dates. Another possibility is to keep track of my business transactions. I enjoy fixing computers and helping people. I can’t say that I enjoy the accounting part. In fact, it makes sense to make Sahnaz a part of my business. My computer services business pays me more on an hourly rate than my day job. Using Sahnaz to help me with my salaried day job is all cost. Using her to help me make money is a cost of doing business. I only pay more when I make more money.
For now, this is experimental for me. I don’t know how hiring a virtual assistant for a fixed number of hours per month will help me. More than anything, I hope that I make smart decisions as to what I should outsource and what I should do myself. I’ll keep you posted at the end of February how things go.
15 Comments
This is a very interesting concept, but it seems rather expensive. I suppose it’s worth it if it saves you a headache or two!
I know what you mean. I agree it’s a bit expensive. I hope that I can have my assistant do things that cost me more by not doing them. For example, I’ve been putting off making some flyers for my business. That’s probably costing me. I’ll know by March if it works out. Who knows, maybe I’ll upgrade or downgrade the plan.
www.BPOVIA.com is the best virtual assistant service provider operated in China. BPOVIA can provide full time professional Virtual Assistant service for only $900 per month. The rate is less than $6 per hour.
Wow, that is a bargain. Reading into the web site, it seems like they would be great for establishing a component of your business in China. Certainly their hourly rate of $10 is not bad.
I’ve heard that there are also companies in Eastern Europe that are competitive in the Virtual Assistant market, but have not seen any.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Shaine,
Your idea of getting your VA to help get you more business is a good one. If it goes well tit would make sense then to drop some hours from your day job, especailly as you earn more from it.
However you need to be thinking differently if you want to live the 4 Hour Work Week that Tim Ferriss espouses.
Gavin
www.OutsourceSuccess.com
hi shaine. i did read that article and that he was able to skip those 7 steps for a low cost. that he had more time to concentrate on work. i do agree that outsourcing will do you good. you can hire tons of outsourcing company especially in the 3rd world country. where you can get it for less.
Hi Shaine,
Virtual Assistants can not only be a part of regular/routine work but also frame business strategies and help you with its implementation as well.
OutSorcerer.com is one such example that provides low cost high skilled strategic virtual assistants.
For more details log on to www.outsorcerer.com
—-Regards
—-Arihant Kothari
—-OutSorcerer.com
BPOVIA.com is much better virtual assistant provider compare to Getfriday.
We compared the Cost, Signup Process, Payment Process, Cancellation of Service, Refund Policy of 2 companies.
Please read the full article here:
http://www.bpovia.com/blog/china-outsourcing/bpovia-vs-getfriday.html
Hello James,
Have you tried OutSorcerer.com?
Dont just go by costs, our virtual assistants go beyond and help with strategic issues such as forecasting, decision making and analyzing in various business scenarios.
Visit www.outsorcerer.com and fill up your present task requests to know more.
—-Regards
—-Arihant Kothari
—-OutSorcerer.com
Thanks for the updates. I will be looking at all the different options available. I think many people will agree that outsourcing has many advantages. What is important is that people try one or two of the options to find out if outsourcing is for them.
Hello,
I say from experience that one doesnt need to try out 1-2 options to see if outsourcing is for them.
Specific traits that one needs to look for within himself to see if outsourcing is for them are- supervision capability, leadership, understanding others (listening/writing), aggressiveness and time to train your outsourcing service provider/virtual assistant- many a times, the project owners or the clients are so busy that they do not coach their service providers/virtual assistants well and the end result is a failure- client saying that outsourcing is not for them.
—-Regards
—-Arihant Kothari
—-OutSorcerer.com
I enjoyed reading the Four Hour Work Week and have thought about using a VA for my business. I have been a little hesitant though because I feel like I don’t have enough work to outsource. I will be checking out your other posts about using a VA.
Good luck, Chris. Remember, there is some training involved. You cannot expect your VA to know what you need right off the bat from one email or phone call. Fortunately, VAs offer pay as you go rates so that you can get into that groove of outsourcing.
Hello Chris,
As Shaine has rightly pointed out there is some training involved so that the VA meets your expectation and this comes with time. For this the initial start should be slow and gradually increase.
—-Regards
—-Arihant Kothari
—-OutSorcerer.com
I have a good read,I will certainly come back for more reads later. Thanks for sharing.More power!
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