I am looking for very basic personal and professional virtual assistance. Excellent English required. Projects and tasks include document creation, web research, text updates to website, light blog maintenance, database management and updates. Customer service experience a plus. This position will start at 10 hours per month and can quickly grow for the right person.
I received 12 bids from the US, Canada, India and Pakistan. The price ranged from $2 per hour (that is not a typo)to $20 per hour. I agree with the editor of Esquire, US service providers are in deep deep trouble. If I didn't already have a Fabulous US-based VA (your remember Amber of Smart To Finish, right?) I would absolutely go with the US or Canada option. However, with such an expert already in place to provide guidance, I started looking at the India and Pakistan options.
That put me in the $2/hour to $5/hour range. A very strange thing happened at this point. I actually started debating the merits of spending an extra $3 per hour - $3 measly dollars!!!! Anyway, not all providers are created equal as I quickly found out.
At the top of the price range came two very different bids. One in excellent smooth English with a reassuring voice and presentation of remarkable credentials. The other was, well, not that at all. Lots of Sirs, and typos and sentences I had to read several times to understand. Next.
In the $2 price range came two bids - one from a very experienced Elance provider with excellent reviews (it pays to read these) and an incredible skill set. The other from a newer provider who had the web design skills plus administrative skills that made me drop my teeth. Both were presented in excellent English.
What is an Outsourcer to do?
Well, I narrowed it down to three and gave them a short test project to complete - I got their agreement to this ahead of time.
$5/hour Smooth English returned it in record time though not in exactly the format I'd asked for. $2/hour Newer Provider returned it next with an exact accounting of how long it took and in the exact format I'd asked for. Provider #3 has yet to respond so they are out of the running.
After much gnashing of teeth I finally decided.....to hire both. I mean honestly for an average of $3.50 an hour I have two assistants with very different skill sets. How can I possibly beat that?!
Today we are working out the Terms and Conditions and I am using Elance's sample work contract to make sure everyone is on the same page.
I am on my way!
Reality is negotiable.
Sarah
2 comments:
Hi Sarah,
Loving your blog - I'm doing very many of the same things, including changing from Get Friday to using Elance - I just couldn't get enough responsiveness from Get Friday for my liking. And if they're that unresponsive to selling, I couldn't imagine that they'd be able to provide the level of service I had hoped for.
A question for you: any thoughts on your elance experience for those of us who are just starting (I posted my project tonight)? Any pitfalls that you ran into that you can help me avoid? :)
I'm going to start blogging my experience with this - to this point, I've been quiet about it on my blog.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike!
I am thrilled that you are enjoying this blo. It is lots of fun to write.
If you read my latest post about firing my first VA, you'll see that I did not get it right the first time.
Here is my recommendation and what I will do next time: Give them a small project to do. Use that project as the evaluation of how they will work for you. The first project I gave my former VA took 4 hours and I could not use the end result. I took far to much responsibility for the project going badly (i miscommunicated, I wasn't clear enough) etc. AND I did not ask if I would be billed for work that I could not use.
Big mistake. Get that clear on the front end. Incidentally, it was internet research that I completed myself in about 20 minutes. So, be clear, set time limits, have them check in with you often at the beginning. And the minute it doesn't feel right, pull the plug. Oh how I wish I had taken this advice!
What is your blog called? Feel free to post a link to it here. The more of us on this journey, the better, yes?
Sarah
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