Ever wish you had a Virtual Assistant?
Collis Ta'eedI first heard about Virtual Assistants from the Timothy Ferris bestseller - The Four Hour Work Week. Although I haven’t been lucky enough to actually have one, I often think it would be pretty neat. Today I found out that Elance - the huge job portal - is giving away $5,000 to be spent on hiring a Virtual Assistant in 2008.
The competition is pretty simple to enter and you have just over three weeks to send in an entry. So if you feel like making 2008 the year you became a high flying executive freelancer with their own personal assistant, head over to Elance’s Competition Page and enter.
And if you do win, make sure to write an article about how Virtual Assistants can help freelancers and email it to us!
Jeff F
December 24th, 2007
I am currenty working as a Virtual Assistant for a real estate developer in Las Vegas. It has been wonderful for me to work remotely, as current technology truly allows for a great client experience. It’s good to see some buzz going on in the industry.
Also, I am always looking for more clients that need office work done…
jobs [at] foster2 [dot] com
Nathan Ketsdever
December 24th, 2007
Getting a virtual assistant is very smart and targeted 80/20. It allows for better focus and better niche development. Coldplay, We are Scientists, and Jack Johnson wouldn’t be half the musicians if they had to do all their PR and legal work too.
Skellie
December 24th, 2007
The idea of a virtual assistant is one that I’m kinda unsure about. I’m still not sure if I agree with the recommended practice of outsourcing to poorer countries where you can pay an assistant below their real value ($4 — $10 an hour for an Indian virtual assistant according to an article on TF’s site). I say that I’m ‘not sure’ about it rather than firmly against it because there’s an argument to be made, I’m sure, that $4 US translates to a decent wage in other places… though someone in the know would have to tell me if that’s the case.
I think there’s a counter-argument to be made that we should pay people in the same way that we value ourselves. For example: what would I expect to be paid if I were doing the same job? Certainly more than $4 - $10 an hour.
Just some thoughts running through my head. I’m not really strongly for or against, so I don’t mean to be playing Devil’s Advocate.
Lea Woodward
December 24th, 2007
I have a VA - in fact I’ve tried a few - but the one I have now is absolutely excellent.
Skellie - I was like you…I had initial concerns about the low wages and outsourcing to poorer countries too but now that I work and travel permanently and have spent time this year in countries with far lower costs of living than the US/UK, people who earn $10 per hour in some of these countries are making an excellent salary. There are plenty of VAs in the US/UK who charge much higher rates so there are plenty of options - the challenge is finding a good one.
I agree - if you’re paying somebody below their ‘real value’ then there’s a problem but it’s a question of how you define value…if someone can buy a full week’s worth of shopping with $30 then after a three hours of work as a VA they’re sorted. Equally $30 doesn’t get you much in somewhere like London or New York so if a VA who lives in one of these places charges $10/hour, you’d naturally be suspicious and wonder just why it’s so low.
If you base pay rates on how much you’d be expected to be paid, then your qualifications, skills/knowledge, the fact that you’d do the job quickly etc. etc. are likely to factor in - your assistant may have fewer skills/qualifications/experience. I guess it also depends upon the kind of tasks you’re talking about.
Outsourcing to poorer countries has been going on for years and years (altho of course that doesn’t make it right) - and it has helped some of these developing countries create new industries and millions more jobs through international trade than they would otherwise have developed themselves.
I think the internet has opened up a massive opportunity for people in poorer, less developed countries to generate an income they otherwise may never have had - for me, this can only be a good thing.
Tara Kachaturoff
December 24th, 2007
Thank you for posting this article about Virtual Assistants. I work as a virtual executive / virtual assistant, managing all sorts of projects for entrepreneurs and corporate careerists located around the world. I love the work I do and I love the people I work with. What I most enjoy is that I can offer services that allow others to free up time to pursue their most important projects and passions. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs I know have virtual assistants. I believe we’ll see more and more work for VAs in the future. One day, I think everyone will have an assistant of some sort — whether that person is a personal or business coach, virtual assistant, or career agent. We all know that two heads are better than one for accomplishing anything. If you haven’t tried working with a VA, give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised with the results.
Jason S
December 24th, 2007
The closest I’ve come to a VA is IWantSandy.com. You’d be surprised how many of my clients think she’s a real person when I cc “her” and they get emails from “her.” It’s pretty cool.
Kay Elgee
January 2nd, 2008
Regarding outsourcing of VA jobs from US/Britain (et.al.) to the third world:
The basic assumption here is that it’s a “global economy”, and the *job* competition is fair, if not the *wage* competition.
The reality is the *job* competition isn’t fair, either. Bottom line: India, Philippines, etc. are taking our jobs (American, British, European), *but not providing any*. Their economies don’t provide jobs for anyone, let alone us. That’s why their people are taking ours (it’s basically parasitical. Call ‘em as you see ‘em).
It would be different if I, an Indian, and a Filipino VA were competing for jobs here, in India and the Philippines. But we’re not. We’re only competing for jobs *here* (in the first world).
And it’s all well and good to talk about how, if $10 a day can buy a week’s groceries in India, then $10 a day is a fair wage for them. But we all know $10 a day can’t even buy a *day’s* worth of groceries here in the U.S. So, how can I compete with that? *And why should I have to? This is my economy – I have to live in it and pay its prices, not my Indian competitor* — who lives in an economy that DOES NOT provide for ME anything but a COMPETITOR, while MY economy provides her a LIVING! That’s “global”? How?!
And the real culprit is the capitalist who does an end-run around the system and hires these folks, permitting them to make a living from OUR system, while denying US the ability to do the same – make a living from OUR own system. Lord knows, *their* economic system isn’t going to provide US a living. It can’t even provide for its own, it can only take from others. BTW – that’s pretty much the definition of a parasite.
Think about this:
As Virtual Assistants, we’re small American (or Canadian, British, Australian, European – first world economy) business people. For the most part, we work for other small business people. Let’s say I work for John down the street. John makes widgets. He sells them for $125 USD a piece. John wants to focus on making and marketing his widgets from his shop/garage, so he hires me to do all that boring paperwork, answer his emails, etc. He pays me $35/hr. One day, surfing the ‘net, he discovers he can hire an Indian VA for $4.35/hr. So he fires me and hires her.
Let me ask all of you something: is John going to sell his widgets for less, now that’s he saving “all that” money he used to spend on me? OH NO! His widgets are worth $125 bucks a piece, and not one penny less! He’s gotta make a living, doesn’t he? Screw me, as I lose my home and have to declare bankruptcy when all of John’s business colleagues – and my former clients — jump on John’s outsourcing bandwagon. Guess I DON’T have to make a living! But that girl in India, she’s doing just swell – working for AMERICAN companies, helping them sell their AMERICAN products to AMERICANS . . . who will eventually no longer have jobs to pay for the products, because all the jobs are in INDIA (Mexico, China, Taiwan . . .)!!!! Who’s John going to sell his widgets to, then? The Mexicans? Chinese? Indians? Filipinos? Why don’t I think so? NOW *THAT’S* THE “GLOBAL” ECONOMY, FOLKS!
cyb3rassistant@gmail.com
Ryan C
January 9th, 2008
I agree with Kay in the last comment. I prefer USassistant.com–they employ skilled, educated American homemakers who work from home as assistants for clients–these former profressionals understand the culture better and are situated in the same community as their clients, making it possible to run local errands as well as office work. They even guarantee the work.
F. Bunton
January 30th, 2008
Hello, I am interested in becoming a VA, what are the best companies out there whom hire virtual assistants where I can apply?
jay r
April 17th, 2008
Hi folks! I’m a virtual assistant in an outsourcing company here in the Philippines. And it’s great to hear that that there are an affirmative feedback in the industry in general. It’s so tiring but t’was fun though!
Isaac
May 19th, 2008
I strongly disagree with folks in the earlier post about third world countries and stuff, the main issue with people getting scared about the third world countries etc is the pricing $3- $ 10 for a job done by a virtual assistant at $ 30 - $35 in U.S.or U.K..
The main difference would be not the price but the people from other countries are more dedicated and they give the best deal for the money, that is the reason why almost 75% of the work is being outsourced to 3rd world countries, so please dont underestimate your virtual assistants in other countries :).
Renee
June 10th, 2008
Isaac, you are able to give the “best deal for the money” because your economy’s cost of living is so low. Third world countries do no better work than the U.S. or U.K. workers. You would have a different opinion if you lived in the U.S. and had to pay $2000 a month to live a “simple” lifestyle.
Bottom-line is GREEDY U.S. companies who are outsourcing to third world countries should be ashamed, but I know they are not because…well…they are GREEDY. If a company hires a virtual employee, then they should be bound to pay that person the MINIMUM WAGE required by law in the country that their company resides.
By the way, if the third world VA’s would quit accepting such low pay they could really be living quite a better lifestyle. Imagine instead of you accepting $.25-$2 an hour, you were actually paid the minimum wage of $5.85 an hour. NOW THAT WOULD BE SMART!
By the way, here is a website for VA’s who do not allow the companies to treat human beings like dogs. They require them to pay their assistants a minimum of $8 an hour. Guru.com