Where are those $4-$6 VA's

[sedinger]

I have been searching the web for all of the incredibly talented and available VA's for $4-$6 and all I have found are talented and available VA's for 2x or 3x the price Tim talks about. Where do we find those folks he mentions in the book? I want to try this but don't want to start by spending $12-$15 an hour.

Where are they?

[Webzu]

I think the ones Tim mentioned like YMII (Get Friday) have become very popular now so the prices have gone up. I also couldn't find the $4-$6 VA's. I'm sure you can find them but you'll have to do the leg work and take the risk to determine if they're worth the lower price vs paying the higher rate for an established company like Get Friday.

[Marcie]

Try elance.com.

[sedinger]

Marcie--thanks for the reccomendation to elance.

If there is a moderator for this forum I'd be interested in Tim's response to this question. He does such a good job of highlighting the benefits, but the resources are not nearly as accesible/cost effective as portrayed.

[cheez avenger]

Marcie--thanks for the reccomendation to elance.

If there is a moderator for this forum I'd be interested in Tim's response to this question. He does such a good job of highlighting the benefits, but the resources are not nearly as accesible/cost effective as portrayed.




Take it with a grain of salt... the book was just released, assume the info is 6-12 months old and adjust for accuracy.



-cheez avenger

[searstower]

I have no idea how these guys are to work with but they caught my eye when they bid on one of my elance projects: http://www.elance.com/p/?q=eolproviderprofile&view_person=skginfotech#0

They say they charge $6 an hour and their profile shows some very well done examples.

Have at 'em!
Rebecca

[Bob Carpenter]

I have been searching the web for all of the incredibly talented and available VA's for $4-$6 and all I have found are talented and available VA's for 2x or 3x the price Tim talks about. Where do we find those folks he mentions in the book? I want to try this but don't want to start by spending $12-$15 an hour.

Where are they?

I got the impression that the Indians are much like the Filipinos....when an American is interested, the pricing goes through the roof and removes the incentive to use their talents. In my area in the U.S. I can find capable people in need of work for $10 per hour and can talk to them during daylight hours. They have this idea that we are all rolling in money. If that were true, I would just be retired and not building a business.

When Tim was writing the book and they probably knew it, they gave the answers everyone wanted to hear.

When dealing overseas, especially in Asia, you need to have a native negotiate and not show your western face until the contract has been or is ready to be signed. Then if they don't sign, don't make the deal.

Bob C.

[cheez avenger]

I got the impression that the Indians are much like the Filipinos....when an American is interested, the pricing goes through the roof and removes the incentive to use their talents. In my area in the U.S. I can find capable people in need of work for $10 per hour and can talk to them during daylight hours. They have this idea that we are all rolling in money. If that were true, I would just be retired and not building a business.

When Tim was writing the book and they probably knew it, they gave the answers everyone wanted to hear.

When dealing overseas, especially in Asia, you need to have a native negotiate and not show your western face until the contract has been or is ready to be signed. Then if they don't sign, don't make the deal.

Bob C.





If you you were to hire those people in your area for whatever amount, you'd technically have to be there in person to talk to them (assuming they're not just a phone call away). Doing it through a VA, it frees your time to work on your project at your leisure (4 hours a week). That's the main point.

As far as dealing over seas, why not hire one VA to handle your proposal, have it translated in whatever language, and sent to your VA that will handle the bulk of your business's inner workings. It's like having a native on your payroll trying to get a good deal for you.

It seems like to much of a hassle. That's the whole point of this. We'll never ever see those VA's in person, so how will they price gouge us??? If we don't like the price we'll get someone else, and there are a TON of them willing to work for 5-6$ (generally speaking).

It's all about doing the footwork early on.

-cheez avenger

[Bob Carpenter]

If you you were to hire those people in your area for whatever amount, you'd technically have to be there in person to talk to them (assuming they're not just a phone call away). Doing it through a VA, it frees your time to work on your project at your leisure (4 hours a week). That's the main point.

As far as dealing over seas, why not hire one VA to handle your proposal, have it translated in whatever language, and sent to your VA that will handle the bulk of your business's inner workings. It's like having a native on your payroll trying to get a good deal for you.

It seems like to much of a hassle. That's the whole point of this. We'll never ever see those VA's in person, so how will they price gouge us??? If we don't like the price we'll get someone else, and there are a TON of them willing to work! :)

Cheez, I have to agree with you that we need to consider our time and its value and not be penny wise and dollar dumb.

I wouldn't have to micromanage a local person here any more than I would an Indian over there.

The way they gouge us when we never see them is when we send an email or call them and can't speak their language, then the company quotes the "American" price and probably pays the actual worker the least that they can get them to work for (I'd estimate $3-$4 per day, maybe 5 or 6 per day). I estimate because I haven't yet been shopping in India, but have been in other third world countries in Asia.

In third world countries, I always pay more than what it takes to get help because the people who work need to be able to live decently and usually they cannot on what their countrymen will pay them. Pay them generously but not enough to blow their minds and they will usually be very loyal helpers.

Tim's argument, however, for a company that can replace a sick worker without us ever knowing it needed to be done is a plus.

To be completely honest, when I read $5 or $6 per hour, I was naive enough to believe that I would find that, since it was clearly stated, and knowing that in third world countries that kind of money is like $30 per hour here...really good money.

I am trying to use the book to get facts to help me accomplish what the title suggests. The theory presented sounds very good and realistic. I am now starting back through it to actually follow the procedure and work the plan. I hope the sites listed, etc are really what Tim said they are; i.e. as practically useful as presented. If so, the book is exceptionally outstanding.

[InTN]

I found one for $5 on elance and have already give my VA a few tasks that have been complete very well. Mine is from the website www.vmgbpo.com. At this company, they don't actually assign you one VA. Instead you have a project manager that gets differnet VAs to do different tasks. The project manager coordinates everything and sends you the completed work. That way someone is on call 24/7. I have no complaints so far.

[wildsoul]

I've got a $40/hour American VA, but she's not worth the fee for some tasks and/or they aren't her strong points.

Your referral is the first site that actually lists the things I've been looking for. I'll check it out.

Appreciate your sharing!

[seven]

I was kind of wondering why all the VA's he mentioned were based in India and none in the Philippines. It seems to me that Filipino's speak much better English. Of course, I'm married to a Filipina so that might make me biased.

I considered starting a Philippine based VA company as I think you could definitely charge the $4-$6/hr mentioned in this thread. But, that business would be more hands on than what I want, so I'm going to keep looking for a muse for automated income.

7

[thenewrich]

i hope i am not reduplicating what someone has said. i was looking for those cheap VAs as well. When i went to elance.com as suggested it seemed like they were 10.00 an hour...

Here is the secret.....once you sign up for a project for elance the MINIMUM is 50 bux for a basic project. ONCE YOU CREATE A PROJECT...the fun begins. I have two potential VAs- one from Tamil Nadu India, the other from Hungary that are willing to be my VA for 2.00 and 3.00 per hour!

Now the fun begins, interviewing. So far im happy with their english and their background (graphic design, microsoft office suite, web design etc) if anyone wants me to refer them once or IF i choose their firm feel free to email me. im not getting anything from it, but i love helping others.

I couldnt believe it! Not "third world" (i hate that term) stereotypical, broken english people neither. They sent me resumes of their staff, explained their credentials and get this....Not an individual, but a team of people to select from within the firm. (as timothy stated in the book)

naturally, i wont have these people utilizing my checking account info etc, but as the trust grows I will just delegate one credit card with a low balance to handle small financial transactions that i feel entrusting with my VA

The moral to this story? This can be done. What i learned is sometimes in life you have to take a chance and jump out there instead of speaking to people that havent performed the task. i never would have believed Timothy Ferris when he said that there are VAs for 4 bux until I SIGNED UP, TOOK A CHANCE AND SEARCHED FOR ONE. lastly, remember what he says...out side of physical laws and science everything else can be negotiated and broken...(remember the Terrible 2's comfort challenge? say no to everything?) just because Yimm.com and these other outsourcers say 12 -16 dollars etc DOESNT MEAN that will be YOUR rate....We only get what we accept...

im long winded....sorry...nevertheless I hope this helps someone

[callivex]

Hi, everyone. I had previously submitted this post to the board, but I got logged out, and my post was wiped out (!). So forgive me if I'm brief in my explanation.

Engaged an Indian firm. $5/hr. Prepaid $50. Test ran with a online research project. Excerpt from my project description follows:

Goal of Project: To compile advertising rates and other relevant information for Japanese newspapers, magazines, and professional association publications that are located in MY CITY, MY STATE, USA. My target customers are mid- to high-income Japanese business executives, managers, supervisors, professionals (well-paid engineers, computer/technical, biotech, and other business professionals) who are non-native English speakers and want to reduce/modify their foreign accent.

Requirements:

PRIMARY TASKS

1) Types of publications requested: Japanese newspapers and magazines in MY CITY, publications (such as online and print newsletters and journals) from Japanese professional associations/societies.

2) Please compile the following information for each publication on a spreadsheet:

• Readership # (number of subscribers/readers/members)
• Demographic information of readers, if available (income range, types of professions, age, percentage of female/male, etc.)

etc., etc.

Note: Sometimes professional societies have something called “sponsorships” (sponsorship for meetings, conferences, and so on). If you come across details (e.g. prices, deadlines for submission) about such sponsorships, please include them as well.


SECONDARY TASKS

For magazines and association publications (e.g. newsletters, journals), please indicate whether they accept article contributions from outside experts. I would like to get my articles on communication skills and accent reduction published. If they do accept such articles, please include/attach relevant information, such as submission deadlines, maximum number of words allowed in an article, and other writers’ guidelines.

Deadline:
Please begin the tasks as soon as possible. Please stop after 5 hours and tell me what results you get. The deadline for these 5 hours is end-of-day this Saturday Pacific Time. I will review the results and let you know whether to continue.

--- end of excerpt ---

Got results Sunday PM Pacific Time. Spreadsheet with 7 entries, all from outside of my area; most are for publications from Japan. A number of them are ANIME magazines. Are these people off the mark or what? Sent company e-mail. Contact person said they couldn't find any in MY CITY but they decided to include other results from their search. Instead of wasting time looking up info for irrelevant entries, shouldn't they have moved on to other tasks, such as searching for associations?

I decided to conduct a search for "Japanese newspaper (MY CITY)." I didn't see any Japanese newspaper listed on the first two results pages. On the other hand, a local Japanese society was listed (with a couple of relevant resource links listed on the website).

I want to ask them to give me a partial refund (for unused hours). I am disappointed with the outcome. I wonder whether I should have gone with a more high-end company like Brickwork ($15/hr). I was hoping to find competent assistants for $5/hr. I was going to have them re-do my webpage but I now hesitate.

What do you guys think of this whole thing?

[callivex]

I found one for $5 on elance and have already give my VA a few tasks that have been complete very well. Mine is from the website www.vmgbpo.com. At this company, they don't actually assign you one VA. Instead you have a project manager that gets differnet VAs to do different tasks. The project manager coordinates everything and sends you the completed work. That way someone is on call 24/7. I have no complaints so far.

Thanks for your suggestion. I contacted this company and found out that their fee structure and hours of operation have changed:


"The fee schedule for our Virtual Assistant Services will be as follows: One time account set up fee $10 + Monthly fee $4.99 + Number of hours x $6 per hour of work."

"We work 24 hours on all week days. Saturday and Sunday is off."

[gohabsgo]

Has anyone found a good priced VA with translation skills - especially some more common North American / European languages?

[Talon]

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VServe Solution is a Knowledge Process outsourcing Company

[Phriend]

I found one for $5 on elance and have already give my VA a few tasks that have been complete very well. Mine is from the website www.vmgbpo.com. At this company, they don't actually assign you one VA. Instead you have a project manager that gets differnet VAs to do different tasks. The project manager coordinates everything and sends you the completed work. That way someone is on call 24/7. I have no complaints so far.

Well, I have a complaint: I e-mailed them twice this past week and never received any reply. (Hopefully it's not because I'm white). :cool:

[WebErika]

To second "thenewrich"'s post:

I tried both eLance and RentACoder.com. I used eLance to search for the VA since I had read the $2-6 range on another marketer's website.

First, I did a search on Providers using the term "virtual assistant", narrowed down the criteria a little to keep all rates under $20 an hour, then sorted the search results by rate. Sure enough, many listed quoted $2-6 an hour.

I then read all their qualifications, visited their websites if they had one and checked their resumes.

I then directly emailed a few to get a feeling for their English.

THEN, I posted a job, stated what I needed, made sure I used the term "virtual assistant" and sure enough got immediate bites.

I just hired my first guy at $2 an hour. I think it's a ridiculous price and I feel VERY guilty about it right now. But I will see how he works out. I talked to him over MSN and am happy with his demeanor and his English. He appears extremely eager and works with 2 other people.

I gave him 2 weeks to do the first bunch of tasks. 15 hours each week. eLance does not let them bid under $10 an hour for anything, so don't be surprised when they bid on your jobs. Just make sure up front exactly what you are paying and make sure they explain the bid they quote.

The eLance contract and NDA is very thorough as well.

Good luck everyone.

The tools are there if you look hard enough and have a positive outlook. :)

[WebErika]

I forgot to expound on RentACoder.com ...

I went there because I had some separate article writing and research I wanted done. I didn't want to farm it all out to the same person immediately and I have had excellent luck with RentACoder for a couple years now.

I'm getting approximately 45 articles and blog postings written for $85.

I'll run those through the duplicate content checkers, perhaps have my new VA do that chore ;) then voila! My content will be ready.

Since I know the new VA will be great, I'll have him post everything, then he will submit it to all the directories. 5 different sites later, over a week of my time saved, all for under $150.

Leaves me to research and do my next thing. :)

[Jimmy Smith]

I've found a few $4 VA's but they are just your basic VA's. If you want specaility tasks like website management, research etc etc, it is going to be more expensive.

Jimmy
www.jimmysmithtraining.com

[garageband]

I agree with finding people in the USA. I am an office assistant and I am considering quitting my job to start my business as a V.A. for people doing 4HWW stuff.

[urlwolf]

I got a $4 VA from philippines. Things are working fine right now, although her English is not good enough for anything that the general public will see (blog posts, mail, etc). I outsource repetitive tasks only.

For tasks where English matters, I found an American willing to do $1 per post. Pretty impressive.