Hiring a responsible Virtual Assistant?

[INCC]

I am thinking of hiring a Virtual Assistant, but I have found that you can't really find reliable folks on IM forums (I might be wrong about that).

My question is, how do you find someone reliable to work with for months, or a year or more?

How far can $1000 a month go in countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippines etc?

I know this is above what people usually earn in those countries, but is the same true with younger folks working with computers and IM?

@indianmojojojo told me ages ago to hire help... I am just worried it will be super-hard to find, and you can get badly burned with this... they burn a client, and I'll be paying it out of my own pocket.

Any suggestions? Perhaps there are platforms that specialize in this? I could do a quick Google search, but the info is usually questionable at best, so I thought I would ask here.

 

[Octavia]

All my past VA's sucked

They take everything literal which I would like for my automation but VA's should think a bit out of the box and come up with their own solutions, to problems faced. The one time I gave a VA free reign on video creation he did great in the first month, but after that late with work and just not motivated.

 

[TheVigilante]

$1k a month here in India is considered good provided one is from a tier 2 city

Probably offer them perks from time to time and improve your delegation style and micro manage them?

What sort of skill sets do you usually look for in a VA?

 

[t2van]

@INCC I will reply later to this for you

 

[AOT]

With a $1K monthly budget , I feel like you should’ve found a reliable VA.

 

[INCC]

All my past VA's sucked

They take everything literal which I would like for my automation but VA's should think a bit out of the box and come up with their own solutions, to problems faced. The one time I gave a VA free reign on video creation he did great in the first month, but after that late with work and just not motivated.

This is how it usually is.

If you hire a VA through a forum, you are not their only client, so they are likely not focused or 100% committed.

Most of these forum sellers act as middlemen between the VAs, and the work quality is always questionable.

It is easy if you live somewhere around them and can meet them face to face... but finding a 9-to-5 guy over the internet you can count on is hard.

 

[allan.d]

$1k is not bad.

It really depends on the tasks you expect the VA to handle and how many hours per day you need him/her to work.


If you’d like, I can review your requirements and point you to someone suitable. They’re not from any of the countries you mentioned, but they're based in Europe.


Yes, you read that right — Europe.

 

[Aristocratic]

$1k is not bad.

It really depends on the tasks you expect the VA to handle and how many hours per day you need him/her to work.


If you’d like, I can review your requirements and point you to someone suitable. They’re not from any of the countries you mentioned, but they're based in Europe.


Yes, you read that right — Europe.

Couldn't agree more!

 

[indianmojojojo]

Don't hire a VA from a marketplace or any forum for that matter if you are looking for someone dedicated.

I usually use job postings on LinkedIn and other local job boards.

There are a few top class VAs that do an excellent job.

However don't do a job posting asking for a VA.

Rather make a job posting that talks about the Job and use fancy job titles.

Mention about your company and say its a company based in the EU.

You will attract top talent imo if you follow this.

 

[t2van]

Right I didn't reply earlier because it's Sunday and im up tot my eyes in jobs and eating.

Ok my take on it. I could intro you to a company / team that hire staff and they do all the interviews and whittle it down so you can interview the final 3-5 but for a single VA higher I doubt it will be worth it.

My advice would be start on something like Upwork as mad as it sounds. Id set mid budget expectations and see what people come to you with, you will get 100s of replies all with different wage requirements thats how I found my customer serivice team the person I hired is now head of customer services and she brought in 3 members below her from her previous job.

I hire from the Philippines, I find them to have good manners a good level of English and often can speak other languages and have multiple degrees and good educations backgrounds. Customer service for example my head of CS has over 20 years experaicne working for banks, insurance and big tech companies.

I've got a steal of a deal to be honest for what I get.

(no offence to anyone who reads this on here)

But you have to really BREAK jobs down for them and explain it like they are 5. I find to get the best results if you start mixing things in before they settle they dont have a flipping clue!

You also need a way for them to check in and track back work and progress because there are plenty that take the piss.

I offer 3 months probation at a reduced rate with the option to ditch them in 6 and 9 months time as the first hire on 3 months will be great but see what they are like in 6-9 and they can be a total nightmare.

So my advice would be to shop around on upwork or similar to start start speaking to people and see how you get on with them. Once you get a list just trial them.

A $1000 is MORE than enough to get someone decent but id offer that same person 500-700 a month to start off to see how they fit in.

There are more than enough VAs that will bullshit their way through the interview just like anywhere to be honest, but if you push them past 6 months you get to whittle them down.

Staff hire and management is a tough all game.

I've hired from Serbia for development work and that's been spot on every single time and the work to match.

India I've worked with various people out there and it's been OK HOWEVER (no offence to Indians here) I've to explain work in the past because of the language barrier like they are 2. I once sent an Indian developer a jpeg with notes of how I wanted something changed with an arrow pointed at it.

To be fair he done the work brilliantly but also coded in a CSS arrow on the page as well lol!


Job rolls etc.

Make a list of what you can do and what you can't do then everything you don't have time for thats your VA job. Then what you do is look at what you need doing and craft the job and title around that (I can send you one of these spreadsheets when im in the office tomorrow if you want)

Give the job title then something like Remote Office Administrator, Junior Advertising Role, or whatever it may be if you go posting VA most won't take it seriously and you will get people who will sub it out to a VA farm and it will just put you off for good.

Your first hire is the longest and the worst. But once you find the person person things will just click. Don't be afraid to fire people as well (I love that lol) finding the "perfect" person for you will take time.

 

[INCC]

Thanks @t2van A LOT of good tips here which I will definitely use.

3 months probation is the way to go and I already thought about something similar.

 

[t2van]

Thanks @t2van A LOT of good tips here which I will definitely use.

3 months probation is the way to go and I already thought about something similar.

Yeah make it 3 months, then if you do a contract or something put in they are still on probation for 18 months an subject to performance reviews or whatever you want to call it you can let them go any time during that 12-18 months as believe me now...

Some are amazing to start but plenty turn into pricks. I've got horror stories but I won't scare you with them.

Taking on your first hire is a good place to start. Good luck with it.

If you got questions or need help etc or interview questions let me know, ask them non work questions as well like:

what would they do if they won the lottery
whats their ideas of a good time

non hire related questions so you can get a feel for them, some will have some mad answers as well, keep them if you ever decide to write a book one day lol

 

[SEO FOX]

I came here to type some points or tips But Jaw opened with the points said by @t2van. Really, Great one and I will follow it for my upcoming hiring.

 

[PBNHOSTING IO]

$1,000 for a VA position? AHHH, TAKE MY MONEY - wait, no, I mean TAKE MY HELP!

Let me know what skills you need and how I can help.........

 

[t2van]

@INCC

This is what I use it's a refined skill matrix I have two:

1. I keep one for staff. It's easier when you have to manage a larger team base. We can see where team leaders and team members are spending time and what they are good at AND If they have eveolved in any areas - this comes back to often when staff wanting pay rises, want to do new things etc, its weather its worth time or not the same applies like asking soeone to do admin is a waste of time if they never done it. There's an example above where someone has never done admin work!

So I use that to track what my staff do, how they develop and improve and also for course managment like forkift operations, first aid, chemicals etc and we keep dates of when those expire in another sheet for referslas of either they need a refresher or JOE BLOG is helping in warehouse and has been i the forklift or is spraying something which is OK but really for liablity they need training etc.

Skills are marked from 0 (meaning no experience) to 4 (very confident)


2. The other version of this is how I track WHAT I DO. One of the biggest issues I've had as a business owner is understanding when I'm working on the business and when I'm working for the business as they are two totally different things. So with me if after the end of the month I hit say 1 in Leadership constantly, then after 2 months it's time for me to get another manager in as my time is being taken up by other things.

BUT also if I'm spending all my time hitting the same stuff day in day out then I also need help.

I never knew anything about this till I started to get help and mentorship for moving the business forward and to another level. So happy to share what I learnt whenever to help others move past hurdles I've struggled with.


EDIT:

I'll clean up typos later, rushing between other stuff, sorry if doesnt make sense if a mod is wanting something to do, enjoy.

EDIT 2:

I should say before I went looking for staff I tried and tried to find a number 2 or build up staff to do exactly what I do, and i's fucking impossible. So I decided to make teams. Start with jobs I hate and then build up departments around that and then as things grow it gets easier. Lots say get an accountant in house first, nah for me I done that after I hit 8 staff members on full time roll.

In-house accountants are great because they deal with pay, chase invoices and whatnot. BUT They suck as well (in a good way) I like to spend money on product development, ideas and just do it. Don't get me wrong, I still can, but sometimes that person puts the brakes on things to plan it out to stop me just spending 1000s on a new product line because the sales guy just likes to listen to me talk. Or because I had the idea in the car or drinking vodka etc

 

[INCC]

EDIT:

I'll clean up typos later, rushing between other stuff, sorry if doesnt make sense if a mod is wanting something to do, enjoy.

This is worthy for a separate thread as a guide, might have more visibility as I am sure others need it as well but it gets buried soon under this thread.

 

[t2van]

This is worthy for a separate thread as a guide, might have more visibility as I am sure others need it as well but it gets buried soon under this thread.

I'll type it up and link here when I next have break as I can expand on it also.

Thanks