http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/12/06/the-personal-outsourcing-olympics-bangalore-butler-or-american-assistant/

Tim may take the concept further than most people but definitely opens up the field of ideas.

Just think of a VA as an actual assistant who simply telecommutes :) This may help you with understanding how it fits in your life and business.

I will say from people I have talked to and my own experience, the better defined the task the better the end result. Don’t give wide open vague task requests. Give specific ones and your success will be greater.

Amanda
Virtual Assistant :-)

But it’s also worth considering that it will take a professional administrator a lot less time to complete the task in the first place – and it will be to a higher standard.

My advice when looking for a VA would be this: there are plenty of them around – choose one with the appropriate skills (obviously) but also someone you can work with closely and build up a lasting business relationship with.

That way you’ll both succeed!

The ‘agencies’ mentioned earlier like Elance and Ask Sunday, may be cheap but not necessarily the best way to outsource your business administration. Many of the people available from these sites are based in countries where English is not necessarily their first language and the cultural differences may affect the way your request for work is carried out.

There are many VAs in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada etc where you will pay more per hour/monthly retainer to work with you, but they are all (generally) running their own businesses, have worked as PA/EA in the corporate world and therefore are very experienced not only in the administration side of things but also are business savvy, and it is this which could be more useful to your business than just cheap outsourced typing.

Dawn

To find the perfect Virtual Assistant for you make sure you ask the people in your network. Ask your Facebook friends or ask on Twitter, you might just find exactly who you are looking for. A referral from someone you know and trust is a valuable piece of information.

Make sure you take the time to ask questions about their work style and their communication style. In the end these 2 questions are just as important as their skills and experience.

What amazes me is how many still don’t know about all the Virtual Assistant networks out there. They show up in Google searches.

Many of these VA networks have membership criteria for their VA members and run a Request for Proposal (RFP) or jobleads service for clients who just fill out a form for what they want and then suitable VAs respond to it. No cost involved in using these services and you get good quality VAs making contact with you.

I have exactly that type of service on my own site with Virtual Assistants available in 18 countries. The VA will liaise with the client and advise their rates and turnaround time once they have a good idea of what’s involved with the job.

As a very extreme example, I doubt that Warren Buffet puts new shingles on his roof when they are needed. Could he does this and save a few bucks? Sure – but it’s not a very efficient use of his time. His time is much better spent researching companies that Berkshire Hathaway can buy.

There you go, Lazy. You’ve been mentioned in the same breath with Warren Buffet.

Free, risk free and all our virtual assistants are bound by a code of conduct that is montoried by a professional standards panel, sign a deed of confidentiality with each of their clients and negotiate rates independently.