Where's the Cheap Virtual Assistants???

Question

Jesse Tsai · Answer

I use onlinejobs.ph. I only hire full-timers that (hopefully) work only for me full time. The VAs there are individuals in the Philippines that work from home. The skills and desirability are wide ranging, though I've found a sweet spot around $3.50 per hour or about $550 USD per month to get descent quality VA's. $3.50 is more than just about what everyone else pays, since most people pay around $2. This attracts more applicants so I can pick the best one.

I prefer Filipinos because they have a culture of loyalty, a strong command of the English language with an acceptable accent, and a relatively descent education level.

I've found the key to employing VA's is the initial screening process and how well you train them. For screening, I make sure to make the application a multi-step process that easily gauges their ability to follow detailed instructions.

An example would be to email the resume in a specific format, include a specific subject line, include a certain thing in the email, include a voice recording of specific length about a specific and random topic (so they have to record one just for you). Then i just create gmail filters to filter out the emails that don't meet the requirements and auto respond with a rejection.

Shaunda Hayes · Answer

@Alex Brookbank @Nicole W.

Hi guys! VA's can be very useful in SOME cases. If you need to automate certain tasks or routines related to lead generation, follow-up or customer service, using a VA can prove to be highly useful, and a big time-saver for investors. There tends to be a huge misconception about what a VA does. A VA does not typically serve one client, they serve multiple clients in their specified niche. It's best to use a VA to complete specific, routine tasks with which they are already trained, or at least somewhat trained. Some tasks that you could ask a VA to complete in reference to REI would be,  mass cold calling, creating a direct mail merge, scraping FSBO sites, managing Craigslist ads, skip tracing leads, finding frustrated landlords, and scraping county tax records. As you can see, these are all task she that require LOTS of time. Time that you can spend on activities that really require your attention. Outsourcing is key to getting the most out of your time, and ensuring success. Hope this helps!

Alex Brookbank · Answer

Account Closed is a virtual assistant even necessary? If it's not a great fit it would just be another layer of BS, no ???

Shaunda Hayes · Answer

Account Closed You can certainly find affordable REI support. But the real average range for a qualified overseas REI VA is more like $5-$10 per hour. Please be advised that UpWork (formerly known as Odesk) also offers a fixed price option. You can decide what you want to pay for a particular task and then post your job. It may also be beneficial for you to do a video chat with potential hires so that you can listen for heavy accents and command of English. Hope this helps, good luck!

Joel Owens · Answer

I tried VA's over the last decade in various forms.

I do not like it. Out of the country, out of the state, in state etc. it didn't matter. Out of the country they tend to have big language issues plus a big time zone difference and subject to country blackouts. By blackouts they might get hit with big storms in under capitalized areas and go down for lengthy periods at a time. They might do it for extra cash and move on to something else when an opportunity presents itself.

The better ones that are proven tend to command the most money per hour. They have divided interests with multiple businesses and might share trade secrets with similar competitors.

I ended up hiring a full time person in my office building. They are only dedicated to MY business full time. I do not pay a ton of money per hour but as the company succeeds they get more upside pay and are usually averaging way more in income then is typical for the position. So I like the win together,lose together strategy. If employees are lazy they do not last or get started to be marginal. If they are a performer that wants to excel and do well then the compensation is there.

Chris Purcell · Answer

Use the filter function

Andrew Syrios · Answer

They're still on Odesk, although prices have gone up some. Just use the filters and put in $10 an hour and below.

Account Closed · Answer

Virtual assistants make more sense when you are just starting out your business. Especially when you have less funding and do not have the office space to hire a full-time in-house team. https://virtualouspro.tech/ provides virtual assistant services for just $4/hr.

Nicole A. · Answer

I, too, am curious why a virtual assistant is necessary. Seems like an unneeded expense unless I'm mistaken and you're doing a ton of deals a month.

LeeAnn Putnam · Answer

The really cheap overseas Virtual Assistants are very task oriented and you really need to check for command of the English language if you want them to speak with people on the telephone.

Where's the Cheap Virtual Assistants???

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