Virtual Asistants--Some Feedback

Been meaning to do a post on this virtual assistant phenomenon lately.  If you don't know what I mean, there are firms offshore (and individuals in the States) now that will let you have an assistant for 20 or 40 hours a week, let's say, at a very affordable rate.  They are committed to your business for the contracted period.

Typically these are MBA-quality people in the case of those in India.  They are adept at research, digesting information, preparing it for presentation (powerpoints, etc.) and that sort of work which would not require their physical presence.  If you consider it for a moment, this could be an awful lot of things which traditionally can get in the typical executives hair and distract them from income-producing activities, such as:

• Travel arrangements
• Copywriting
• Various creative services
• Legal work
• Administrative duties of almost any shape and size
• etc.

This is a growing profession and according to Wikipedia, has between 5,000-8,000 members (VAs) in the States.

A business partner and friend recently used an offshore VA for a month.  I was dying to know how it went since I had just read a book about VAs and it seemed very innovative as a way to get more done without having to take on a lot of salary.  Greg, my friend, said you can get a VA overseas for about $1,000 for 40 hours of work, if I'm not mistaken.

We caught up today and had a quick Skype chat where I asked him how it went. Here's what he had to say...

Me: hey did you ever get a VA in India like you were going to do?? how did that work out?
Greg: yes, i used him for 20 hours a week for one month. he was reliable and did everything i asked him to do. i would give him a grade of B for the quality of his work. i found some errors... i might try the second company next time.
Hans: so not horrible, but needs refinement.
Greg: yes. if i was tracking progress more, i could have trained him re how to do it better, but i let him run for a long time, then doubled back to check his work. so the lesson is, make sure you scrutinize the work early on, correct him asap so he knows what you need and want, exactly.
Hans: makes sense. typical with any [new] employee situation probably, except the distance makes it less likely you'll keep regular tabs. Probably typical to any [new] "teleworker" situation would be my guess.
Greg: yep

You heard it here first!  :)