VA Task Results

[Vagabond]

Well, I just finished my first task with Get Friday and I will say that it was a good experience and a success.

It took them about 2 weeks to get back to me initially since theyve been inundated with requests but once I got my team leader there has been effortless communication back and forth. She is exceedingly nice and honestly it is nice checking you email and see that work has gotten done while you were sleeping.

As of right now, I dont really need any other tasks so I'm staying on the pay as you go plan, but can definitely see the benefit of this.

Also, I needed research on prices for something located in Asia/Middle East so I figured they might have better luck with prices. Well they got me a quote for HALF of what I was able to get myself. Just this alone will save me thousands! Not bad for an investment of about $55. (3 hrs + $10 monthly retainer)

[Drewkerr]

Out sourcing is key! Congrats on the success!

Drew

[NatalieMac]

I really wish GetFriday would get back to me. Two phone calls, three emails, and I faxed my form nearly three weeks ago. I'd love to use their services.

I understand that they're inundated, but the fact that they don't even acknowledge my communications leaves me a little worried about the level of service I'll get once I finally get through.

[Marcie]

I just hired someone from elance.com to write a report for me, and she is in the US. I searched around a bit for VAs out of curiousity (I needed someone very specific to my task) and there are a lot of people bidding for this service. Point being, I really like the elance format since I can choose from all the options. I chose the US bid because she was very communicative with me and that was important. I think Tim said somewhere that it's not about the location...

The cheapest bid I got was from India, but he was promising a very detailed report overnight when everyone else said 2 weeks - 1 month. It just didn't seem like I would get the quality I needed that way, and he never returned messages/phone calls.

In addition, you can look at the feedback from their other projects. Sort of an ebay for workers.

HTH :)

[Vagabond]

Thanks for sharing, I have def been intrigued by elance.com and I think its amazing that anyone can have easy access to SO MANY different types of services. I basically think of it as having an entire marketing department at my disposal.

Its such a great concept.

[Webzu]

A tip on elance that I picked up and I've found helpful...when putting out your project for bid in the middle put in "please respond to this bid with this code: whatever in the subject line of your quote". It doesn't have to be whatever just a code you want to use. That way you'll know that they actually read your entire specs. I've heard that many don't read the specs they just reply. You want someone who has actually read it and is responding with a quote after reading your specs. The code buried in your specs will let you know they at least read it. :D

[Vacman]

Webzu,

Good idea about the embedded code in your requirements!

I felt like a ton of people on elance were just spamming responses and didn’t even really read anything.

Some of the bids just seemed weird too, like too low or too high for no real reason.

I eventually went with someone who was able to reiterate what I needed in their own words. Basically they were able to sum up what I needed, plus some other insights that would only be able to communicate if they truly understood the concept.

Personally, I think when you are working with someone it's very important for them to be on the same page as you and that they fully understand the vision.

[RichB]

What a simple but AWESOME idea. I do a lot of offshore VA type work now and that will be a dramatic change in assessing the bids.