Virtual Assistant Recommendations / Expectations?

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fawkes

New member
Oct 19, 2010
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Hey guys (tits as peace offering at end!),

I'm looking to hire a Virtual Assistant (or 2.. or 3). I'd really appreciate some recommendations and I trust you guys =D

Ideally it'd be a managed solution (tiered with an assistant working through a management structure that checks their work, or distributes work through a team), but I'm not sure that that's possible.

What kinds of pay structures exist (hourly/salaried/per piece of work)? What kind of rates am I looking at? What kinds of work should I completely avoid giving the VA?

Any other tips? Any other resources on VAs?

Thanks!

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I had 26 VA's last month and now I cut it down to 15 with the same work done. So I think Im qualified to answer your questions.

Ideally it'd be a managed solution (tiered with an assistant working through a management structure that checks their work, or distributes work through a team), but I'm not sure that that's possible
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Yes its possible. Distribute the resources, like a puzzle, never give ALL 1 process to a VA unless you know him/her personally. With my experience, giving a whole loads of info on your VA just makes them
1. In over their heads, demanding more salary every 2-3 months.
2. Stealing your process and making them a competitor in the long run.

Here's my tip in work distribution. For example this is a service like mine, I have FB, Twitter, Pinterest, linkedin and more. 1 VA will handle account creation on FB, pinterest and 2 more. Another VA will handle the Pinterst, Linkedin etc creation. 1 VA will manage the posting on FB, 1 VA will manage the follows on INstagram, pinterest and twitter. So 1 small process is divided into chunks. On the other side it can never be complete unless all ot them finishes their work, and for example 1 VA did not finish the work. You are there to get it done.

What kinds of pay structures exist (hourly/salaried/per piece of work)? What kind of rates am I looking at? What kinds of work should I completely avoid giving the VA?
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Depending on the work done. My service is a monthly contract with clients. and MY VA's are getting different salaries. Like the account creator is on Commision basis, per piece of work. But my Follower guy is on a monthly basis NOT hourly. Getting in on hourly rates will just cost you morei n the long run. Have a contract ready on a monthly basis cause its much more cheaper and you will not have to give out money every single day. Ofcourse if you are starting out a daily rate in 1 week is required but after that every 2 weeks would be nice for both parties.

"Any other tips? Any other resources on VAs?"
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Most of my VA's are from the Philippines. I got 2 from Odesk, 4 from freelancer dot com and mostly are referrals of them. Yeah they have problems, but hey they're the nicest VA's Ive ever met with an average SEO knowledge, great to talk with and are always following good instructions. Problems with My Va's are minimal like storms and floods and that's about it, but is a big hit cause it takes them almost 3-4 days.

Absents are minimal(aside from the storms) cause I give them Attendance Bonuses. I call them everyday from skype to check how they feel (cause that's more important to me than anything) How they feel = Results on my work. So I always encourage them to feel good and always to smile cause it reflects in their projects. Anyways feel free to ask more if you need more answers.
 
Thanks Flip, that's really useful. What kinds of rates do you pay / should I expect to pay? The best all-around service (sorry forget the name, it's on a sticky at the office) around $700/mo for a full timer, but I always get into trouble googling for services like this :s

Do you have any referrals you might be willing to give or do you use a service? Feel free to PM me :D
 
Yo flip, I'm considering hiring some VAs for a new site, instead of doing it all myself. I previously was considering hiring 1 php guy to build the site, while I design the style, and another for simple content.

You've got me wondering if the coder may take this idea (it's da bomb) and start a venture of their own (perhaps a theme on themeforest), how would you go about splitting up code work? Perhaps confidentiality? I think it would be best to have one guy doing code so that it doesn't get fucked up, but ....
 
fawkes said:
Thanks Flip, that's really useful. What kinds of rates do you pay / should I expect to pay? The best all-around service (sorry forget the name, it's on a sticky at the office) around $700/mo for a full timer, but I always get into trouble googling for services like this :s

Do you have any referrals you might be willing to give or do you use a service? Feel free to PM me :D
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Hey no probs,

What type of VA are you looking at? My writers are being paid more depending on their Writing level. My writers are around $500-800max /mo for my site and services. But an ordinary VA that does the following on Pinterest, instagram and twitter & the one copy and pasting daily receives $300, because they just need to repeat the process everyday and they don't need to think like the writers do.

It really depends on the Types of VA's you need AND THEIR LOCATION. If its a repetitive task, get someone from the 3rd world countries, go to odesk or freelancer and find yourself one. But be advised that if you get them bored without a goal, get them underpaid, no bonuses offered etc etc then you'll loose them in a short time. As said above that $300 tend to go up to $400 as I am giving out $25 bonuses weekly if they have complete attendance with no lates. If its article writing then its a different setup depending on your needs again like 2nd tier, site content, a Perfect content etc etc. For My writers its pay per finished work.

With the referrals, yeah I can get you a skype contacts of my Previous VA's but would you like to? I already spit them out cause they're at the bottom on my list, why take them right? either way PM me if you want to get them :)

Weeds said:
Yo flip, I'm considering hiring some VAs for a new site, instead of doing it all myself. I previously was considering hiring 1 php guy to build the site, while I design the style, and another for simple content.

You've got me wondering if the coder may take this idea (it's da bomb) and start a venture of their own (perhaps a theme on themeforest), how would you go about splitting up code work? Perhaps confidentiality? I think it would be best to have one guy doing code so that it doesn't get fucked up, but ....
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A Small tip. DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF for a month or two even if its programming or whatever. If you dont know how to code then study the basics then try to work with the basics first. What will you get with this?

First you will not know how to spot any mistakes if you dont know anything about it. Second its much better, really based on experience, to know it all first before letting a VA do it.

If you dont know it, you would not know the REAL timeframe it will be finished, the real deal on how much effort needs to be applied, so your rates can be deteriorated and a lot more. You can get a cheating bastard or a slow poke, but if you know how, you will have the capability to know the TAT and the real price you are willing to give yourself for the work done.
 
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