Virtual Assistants - Need Advice...

David Hooper

Looking for advice from people who have dealt with vitual assistants.

Have you had good luck with them?

What do they do for you?

Do you recommend them over in-house employees?

What do I need to look for?

Anything else?

Have had several employees in the past, none of which has really worked out and the interns I have are basically like another client I have to deal with. I recently let go of two in-house people in an effort to simplify my life and am hoping a good VA is the way to go.

Alice Seba · Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 3:35 pm Post subject:

Hi David,

I have pretty much had a VA working for me since I started my online biz -- there's no "employees" in my itty bitty home office. In the past 2 years, I've had 3 VAs. The first kind of flaked out on me and just disappeared, but c'est la vie. It happens with employees all the time. I now have 2 working with me and it's working very well. In fact, I'd go insane without them.

My VAs answer my email, add content to my site, do research, scheduling, spreadsheets, some bookkeeping, JV offers, editing, list management, ad sales, customer support.....you name it.

There are organizations that "certify" VAs, but I don't think it's necessary that you use one of those. In fact, my VA that flaked out on my was certified. The 2 I work with now are not certified and they don't ask for a lot in pay. Of course, I'm happy to pay for good work, but they just want to earn a little extra cash to stay home with their kids.

Anyway, I'm taking great interest in this thread because I actually work with moms who have online businesses and many of them turn working as a VA to earn money. I can help you connect with some of those moms and they often charge $10-15 per hour. I don't get anything out of the deal, except to help moms get some work and you to get some work done.

PM me if you'd like...and if anyone else is interested, you can also PM me.

Alice
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Paul Short · Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:12 pm Post subject:

Jeez,

I'd love to hire someone to write a 400 - 600 word article for me every week - or - just write them in bulk lots of 10 at a time. I could easily supply a list of topics and a few research sources for each article...

Anyone know where I could look to have this done economically?

Thanks.

Paul Short
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Alice Seba · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:14 pm Post subject:

Paul have you tried placing a job on elance.com?

Just another thought. Do you want them ghostwritten or do you just want original content even if it includes someone's byline? If you don't mind the byline with original content...it's pretty easy to convince people to write original articles for really low, low prices. Wink

Alice

Paul Short · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:17 pm Post subject:

Hi Alice, and thanks for the suggestions.

What I'd really like is something I hold the copyright to, appearing as if I had written the articles myself.

You see, my biggest two problems are: 1. I type slow. I have slight nerve damage in my right hand from a motorcycle accident when I was 18. And 2. The type of articles I have in mind would need to incorporate SEO, be informative and well researched. I'd be submitting them to article announcement lists, directories and ezine publishers.

I'll give Elance a try and see if the bidders will provide me with samples or something.

But you mentioned in an earlier post that some of the ladies in your online community were looking to earn extra money... Do you know anyone whose a decent writer?

It would be a one time gig for now and I'd probably need about 4 articles to start with, just short ones, 400-600 words geared toward RSS and marketing. I could provide the research links and I'd also do the title and byline myself.

Any ideas? Wink

Paul Short
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Alice Seba · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:57 pm Post subject:

Hmmm....let me think if I know anybody who would have the expertise to write such articles. I'm sure there is someone. If you go to my forum and look at the place where people can submit articles, somebody's writing may catch your eye. Let me know and I'll tell you what I know about them. Wink

Hey, if you have trouble typing, have you tried Dragon Naturally Speaking? You can buy it off Amazon or at a local Staples (get the "Preferred" version). You speak and it types. There's actually a pretty big training process in getting it to recognize your voice...but it's totally worth it. It's a really powerful program.

I have it and have trained it well. My only problem is that I express myself better in writing (and type a cajillion miles a minute) than in spoken word. LOL...so I don't use it all that often, but it does come in handy sometimes.

Alice
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Andre Chaperon · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:31 pm Post subject:

FrankKern · New Joined: 12 Dec 2004 Posts: 6

Hey Dave - hope you're well. Haven't heard your name in a while.

I can vouch for Workaholics4hire.com. Used them since 2002.

Great folks. Look no further.

Frank

kellymccausey · Active Member Joined: 13 Dec 2004 Posts: 60

Hi there all Smile

Alice turned me on to VAs a year ago when I first started to really amp up my business. I have had two, the first one fizzled out. The second one has really been working out well but has required a bit of training on my part. She is eager and willing to be stretched so I'm hoping we can work together for a long time.

She handles link exchange requests on a couple of my sites and has helped me manage a big Christmas contest I have going on.

I have also used VAs for short term projects, like setting up a multi page spreadsheet to track my profits across several different projects and doing web research. On those smaller projects I pay $20 an hour with my other VA we have negotiated a monthly fee.

I have a local friend who is very interested in developing some online income and I am going to work with her quite a bit in the new year, teach her how to network and pay her for it Smile

I plan to explore even more options as I go. My goal for 2005 is more income - not more work! LOL!
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Jim Allen III · New Joined: 13 Dec 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Tampa

Interesting replies and topic here. You mean you will pay for someone to do your research and write your articles and you take credit for the finished product. Sounds crazy but that's what makes the world go round I guess.

I smell a new business coming as I know some good folks that write great stuff but lack experience or resources on getting their stuff seen. Maybe a JV in the making.

Give me a shout we may be able work something out.
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Scott Stratten · Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:32 am Post subject: awesome resource

VA's have been a life saver. I'm not a big fan of doing grunt work. More of the "idea" type of guy Twisted Evil

I always wished someone else could do the busy work side of things, and now I have them.

I use www.virtualaccuracy.com
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kellymccausey · Active Member Joined: 13 Dec 2004 Posts: 60

You know, I do know a 'friendly ghostwriter" Smile

She's a work at home Mom. You can find her here: http://www.laurieayers.com
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kathiemt · Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 4:34 am Post subject: Virtual Assistants

I am a VA and a client of mine (for over 8 years) sent me your message and asked me to respond. I did suggest she might like to - but she's busy and that's why she has me!

I've been operating a business for 11 years and started out as a homebased secretary (with 20 years corp exp behind me) and then changed to the title of Virtual Assistant when that really started to take off in the late 1990's.

There are around 16 VA networks globally today with lots of VAs just waiting to help a client. Well, we don't sit and twiddle our thumbs, we're already working but still happy to take on another client. Some of us work fulltime, some parttime, depending on our personal life situation. I work fulltime and love this style of working and the contacts I make. Some clients are one-offs and therefore short-term, others I've been servicing for well over 8 years and many inbetween.

http://www.allianceforvirtualbiz.com/ would be a good site for you to visit as that gives a background on the Virtual Assistant industry, lists of the various networks, examples of how a VA can assist you, lists of various industries that already use VAs and so on.

Hope this helps all of you who are interested in exploring the use of a VA more!

Regards,

Kathie
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Kathie M. Thomas, AFAIOP, MVA, ASO
Award-winning "A Clayton's Secretary"Â®, Network est. 1994
The Secretary You Need When You Haven't Got a Secretary!
PO Box 2918, Cheltenham, Vic, 3192, Australia
http://www.asecretary.com.au

Alice Seba · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2005 11:37 pm Post subject:

I've had a few people PM me to ask about these mommy VAs, so I've compiled a list that you can all view. I have no financial interest in this list...I get nothing if you contact anyone. I also didn't charge anyone to be placed on this list. In fact, I paid my VA, out of my own pocket, to put the list together. Wink

Mom VAs, Support People & Writers

But please note -- I haven't investigated any of these people...so my providing the list is not an endorsement of their services. I'll leave that up to you.

Alice