Where to Find a Virtual Assistant?

This is probably the most common question I am asked.

First of all, there’s no ONE place. I normally hire from Online Jobs, which is based in the Philippines, but the truth is, if you google “Where to Hire a VA in the Philippines”, so many choices will pop up, and for the most part, one is as good as the other. That’s because unless you want to use an agency (which I don’t recommend), these sites are simply data bases of people looking for work. They haven’t been screened much, except maybe to verify identity, and range of skill level in any given specialty is vast.

What’s far more important is HOW you hire, not WHERE you hire.

We follow a very structured process:

✔️ Job posting with very specific detail about who we are looking for, who we are, and the skills required.

✔️ Very specific instructions about what to do next 

✔️ This process alone will disqualify the majority of the applicants, who don’t read the directions

✔️ Those who have not been disqualified will receive a link to an external job application on a Google Form

✔️ Their responses on the Google Form will automatically disqualify many of the applicants.

✔️ Remaining applicants will be invited to complete a very brief test task

✔️ Based on this test task, only a few candidates wll remain

✔️ These candidates will complete an “interview” on a Google Form

✔️ The candidates remaining will be invited to a Skype interview

✔️ If more than one candidate does well during the interviews, they are invited to a trial week.

✔️ The person who best performs is offered a position.

This seems like a lot, but this entire system is templated, and mostly automated, until the applicant gets to the interview process.

I share this system in my program, Front Row CEO. All templates, forms, scripts and checklists are included, to make for a truly “plug and play” experience.

So, as you see, it’s not really about WHERE you hire as much as HOW you hire.

We’ve found very good VAs at Online Jobs so that’s where we usually post.

If you are looking for a freelancer, I love Upwork and Fiverr, because you each person is rated on their previous work by previous clients. You can see how many jobs they’ve completed, their success rate, and their overall rating. Clients also leave written reviews. In this post, I shared some of my favorite freelancers from those sites.

Earlier I mentioned that when hiring a VA in the Philippines, I discourage hiring from an agency...why is this?

Because typically, you will NOT be matched with one person. You will submit work through a portal, and they hand it off to whomever is available. This makes it difficult, if not impossible,  to establish rapor with a VA, which is, in my opinion, the best part of working with a virtual assistant. Also, continuity and consistency inevitably suffer when so many different hands are working in your business.

If you prefer to hire only in the USA/UK, there are wonderful independent virtual assistants! Typically the difference comes down to a big difference in rates (and time zones), which I discuss here.

Some of my favorite USA based VAs are, Gr8Collaboration VA, RocketGirl Solutions, Most Stellar Virtual and Assistants.

Have you hired a virtual assistant or freelancer before? What has been your experience? I’d love to know. Post in the comments below.

How Much Should I Pay a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is a person who works remotely in your business. This means that they could be on another floor in your office building, down the street, or across the globe.

I know virtual assistants who charge $100 per hour, and virtual assistants who charge $4 an hour.

Typically, as you might expect, the more specialized a person’s skills, the more you will pay. Also, if you are hiring in the western part of the world, where the cost of living is high, you can expect to pay more. If you hire from somewhere like the Philippines, South America, or India, you can expect to pay less.

There are lots of misconceptions about these rate differences.

Misconception #1:

Paying someone less than $10 per hour is unethical.

False.  If you hire someone in the Philippines, for example, understand that the cost of living there is much less than in the USA.  The infographic below shows just how different the cost of living is:

For the small business person who can’t afford to pay $25+ per hour, especially at the start, this is a perfect solution.

But the key to success for the business owner and the VA, and what we teach in our program The Front Row CEO, is that it’s important to 1) guarantee hours/use a salary model  2) include bonuses or profit-sharing opportunities.

The salary model:  After a trial period of a week to one month, paid hourly, it’s a good idea to start paying your virtual assistant on a “salary model”. (It’s not *really* a salary, as your VA in the Philippines is not recognized as an employee of your company. They are technically freelancers. But you basically pay them the same amount each week.)  This will go a long way in instilling confidence and trust for both of you. For the VA, this security will almost guarantee that they will stay with you for years, rather than just weeks or months. The mindset here is that the CEO is more concerned with the work getting done, rather than policing the clock.  

Bonuses and profit sharing: As your business grows, everyone grows. When you and your team have success from a product launch, for example, consider rewarding everyone with a cash bonus. Setting goals, with cash rewards, is also a wonderful way to keep morale high. For the VA, this creates a true sense of ownership in your business.

Misconception #2

“The pay is less, but the quality of work is not as good”

False! You can expect to find highly skilled, fluent-in-english, hard-working, dedicated, professional VA’s in the Philippines and all across the world.  If you’ve ever hired a virtual assistant and ended up disappointed, there’s a good chance that 1) your hiring process was not set up to screen out those who were unqualified 2) your onboarding process didn’t include the components necessary to set him/her up for success or 3) when he/she started working for you, there were no systems and processes in place, or, those systems weren’t clear.

A common pricing model for the Philippines would be to start at $5 per hour for a trial week, or a trial month, paid hourly. 

Once hired, if a full time position, the salary would be $200 per week, or $800 per month.

If part time, $100 per week, or $400 per month.

You can read more about why I recommend a salary model over hourly, here.

If you are hiring in the United States, you can find a general virtual assistant for $25-40 per hour. For 40 hours per week, you should expect to pay $1000 per week, or $4000 month.

The cost of living in the Philippines is much less than in the US. Small business owners can leverage the exchange rate to create a win-win for VA and CEO.  If you offer a salary model, and supplement that with generous performance bonuses, holiday bonuses, and profit-sharing, it can be life-changing. The idea is to hire an assistant who will be with you for years, not weeks or months. This is someone who will grow with you, and together, you will grow your business. Over time, the idea is that your VA can be paid the equivalent of a VA anywhere in the world, because your business will have scaled to a level that makes it possible.

Are You Ready to Hire a Virtual Assistant?

What is a virtual assistant?

A virtual assistant is a human being (I’m not referring to Siri, or Alexa, or an operating system akin to what you may have seen in the movie, “Her”). This is a person who works remotely in your business. They could be on another floor in your business, or on the other side of the world.

When I talk about virtual assistants, I’m referring to a generalist. This person will likely have expertise in one particular area, but their role in your business will be broad.  When looking for a specialist assistant, I think more of “project manager”. 

“Am I ready for a VA?”

More often than not, I am inclined to say “yes you are”.

How can that be? How can I be so sure that you are ready when I don’t know you or your business?

Because, when set up correctly,  two heads are better than one. It’s that simple. 

I don’t need to know your revenue  in your business, because you can start with a virtual assistant, part time, for about $100 a week. (If you cannot spare $100 a week in your business, I would argue that you don’t have a business, you have a hobby.)

I don’t need to know what industry you are in, because whether you are B2B, B2C, brick and mortar, or a professor at an ivy league school, a virtual assistant is going to help you get where you need to go, FASTER.

But there are certain things to consider before you take the plunge:

The first and most important question to ask yourself is, “Am I ready to let go of some things?”.

I have a friend who runs an online business who told me that she left her corporate job because she was sick of managing people. She loves being alone in her business. She loves the feeling of freedom that comes with that. She knows her business would grow faster and that she would be more profitable if she hired someone, but to her, it’s not worth it. She’s happy with the slow but steady growth of her business. So obviously, it would not be a good idea for her to hire a VA.

You need to make sure that you WANT the help. That you WANT to share the highs and lows and twists and turns with someone else.

It may be that you’ve hired someone before, but it was more trouble than it was worth. Either they didn’t perform as well as you had hoped, or you spent so much time trying to keep them busy, you didn’t get anything done! You fell into the “might-as-well-do-it-myself” trap. And this is very common.

The good news is, once you make up your mind that you want to hire a VA, the pre-work you need to do ahead of time to set yourself up for success  is not as overwhelming as you imagine. 

You don’t have to have perfectly organized Drop Boxes, meticulous spreadsheets, a content calendar, or a color-coded Trello board.

But you do need to take these next steps: 

1. Define : What is it you need help with most immediately? Social media posting? Email management? Research? If you don’t know what you need help with, you won’t be able to set success metrics for your new VA. Everyone needs to know what success looks like.

Completing the following sentence will help you to hone in on exactly your expectations are: 

I need help with _________(social media management)_________ so that I can___________ (increase new leads by 20% each month)________.

Now that you know why you need a VA and what you want him/her to help you with, it’s helpful to put in place a few systems or processes so that once you hire your VA, they can work without you, or with minimal oversight.  The more you can remove yourself from the process, the better.

Here’s an example of a simple social media management process.

Click here to access our Trello board and make a copy.

Click here access Social Media Management Document.

Here’s an example of a newsletter process/system.

Click here to access our Trello board and make a copy.

Click here to access our newsletter process document.

2. Guide: Often I hear from people who were disappointed with their VAs because they started the journey assuming that once they handed things off to the VA, they could peace out. Not only is this not true, you don’t want it to be true. Guidance is where the magic happens. No, you don’t want to be holding your VA’s hand all day long. Of course not. But with your feedback and guidance, your VA will become a better VA, you will become a better CEO, and your business will become exponentially more efficient and a place where you and your team will thrive for years to come. 

How to give guidance and feedback without eating up all of your time?

3. Weekly team meetings: each week it’s a good idea to have a short meeting via Zoom or Skype to review what’s ahead. My team meets every Monday at 9am EST. Our agenda is always the same: 1) we review the calendar 2) I review our newsletter via screenshare 3) Each person shares anything they need feedback on, or any announcements that the team needs to be aware of. This meeting is usually between 15-30 minutes.

4. A daily shared Google Doc.  This sounds so basic and that’s because it is. Don’t be fooled, though. It’s really powerful.  I share a Google Doc with each of my VA’s. In other words, each VA shares a Google Doc with me that is just for the two of us. 

There are 3 questions on the document:

1. What did you accomplish today?

2. Do you have any questions?

3. Do you have any suggestions?

We always stay inside the one document, and the VA updates it daily and submits it to me at the end of her shift. We are literally on the same page and I’m able to give feedback and guidance without interruption throughout the day. By asking “do you have suggestions”, I am able to tap into hidden talents! The feedback you will receive from this one question can transform your business.

Quarterly reviews. It’s very important to set time aside for your quarterly reviews. Everyone needs feedback to improve. Leave room in this meeting for your VA to give you feedback, too. 

Final thoughts:

You are ready for a VA if you are ready to scale your business by handing over tasks that are keeping you from focusing on the work that only you can do. If you can slow down long enough to create some simple systems and processes before you hire, define what it is you need help with, and give structured guidance to your virtual assistant, you are ready to hire a VA. And remember, you don’t have to have it all figured out at the beginning. Your VA will ideally be with you for years and as time goes by, your business, and your relationship will change and grow and flourish.  It’s a worthwhile journey!

What Kind of CEO Are You?

I recorded this episode with you in mind. After working in the entrepreneurial and online marketing space for several years I recognized a pattern. First in my own business, and then with clients. No matter what type of business, or what field of expertise I saw the same struggles. 

Are you a solopreneur or a CEO?

Are you the queen of doing it all? This was me at one point in my business. I’m sure you’ll see some similarities. 

Are you successful but stuck and feeling swamped? It’s more common that you might realize. I’m breaking that down as well. 

Maybe your business is a series of on again/off again cycles. How do you find the way to a regular sustained income? I’ve got the answer.

Why I know this will help you. 

Hire your VA. A professional who can become a partner in your business and help you grow. That’s the next step.

Listen to this episode and hear why this is the right time. There’s always a reason not to. Now let me explain why you should. 

My team (I love saying I have a team!) and I figured out how you can find the exact right person (or people) that will help you get back to the work only you can do. 

Find out why I know this will work for you. Not in theory, not in the hazy some day future. Right now. 

RESOURCES

How to Know When It’s Time to Hire