[joelrunyon]

I got a VA from the Philippines earlier this year & it's changed my business. I spend less time doing basic research, and repeatable tasks that I can do - but is simply not a good use of my time.

I finally sat down, did a few of my tasks & documented each one, step by step, creating SOPs (standard operating procedures) for each one. It was a little tedious as first, but once my VA got after it - it freed up tons of time for me (but almost more importantly - head space & energy).

Most people who have bad experiences with VAs either don't have a good idea how to manage them or don't have a budget to get someone competent for the tasks they're requesting (paying people $2/hour & you'll get what you pay for).

Go in with reasonable expectations, good systems & processes in place & you'll have a great experience.

[martin-adams]

I keep wondering what my repeatable tasks are. I suspect I just don't recognise them because I don't have documented procedure.

I don't suppose you'd elaborate on some examples of tasks you give to your VA?

[joelrunyon]

Data entry & research. Used to spend hours for lists, contact information, etc. Can be done automatically. Lead sourcing is another big use here.

Competitive research. Having your VA research these tasks & put together a database of information becomes a 1-day task that has immense value down the road.

Customer Service - haven't done this yet - but having them take messages, be my secretary, handle refunds & answer 80% of the support messages that come in (usually variants of the same problem with a fixed, simple solution).

Basic writing skills (non-native english is tough here, but if you want just a paragraph or so written, they can usually do a pretty good job here - after which I have an native-english editor / copywriter go back through & clean up any leftover artifacts).

[mgl]

True, we decided to outsource, at least partially, lead sourcing for http://codedose.com, as it was just way too much time consuming and steering away from other more strategic tasks, like e.g. "processing" these leads.

[russjhammond]

I use mine to research all the conferences & trade shows for the upcoming year that I might want to go to. They find out the price to sponsor as well as the price to attend. They even go as far to look for flight and hotel costs.

[joelrunyon]

Also (and I wouldn't have guessed this) but my VA at least is pretty fantastic at handling various social media outlets. Almost zero input from me & she "gets" it. Fantastic.

[im3w1l]

How much do you pay then?

[joelrunyon]

$6-$10 for a high-quality level Filipino agent.

Lots of people try to skimp by by paying $2-$5 (I've tried this) but if you take into account extra time correcting, supervising & fixing their work - it simply isn't worth it. Outsourcing is supposed to make less work for you - not more!

[dusing]

Where did you hire them from?

[joelrunyon]

http://supportzebra.com

[dman]

what does VA mean in this context?

[charlieirish]

Virtual Assistant

[joelrunyon]

Sorry - VA = virtual assistant.

[dman]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I had not considered having a VA at all but am now going to give it a try.