First VA disaster, but....

[turk]

Hi,
As a foreigner who lives in the US. I'm glad Tim finally brought to light what I've been telling my clients to think like.... Naturally all my clients received a copy of his book.

I hired a VA team from Elance I already had an Elance account and used them for other services.

The VA company $5.5/hr. On paper they seem to do everything I need them to do. But when it came to delivery of the first project. There were delays, unreturned calls, and when the project was completed the quality of the work was unacceptable. So, I ended up doing the work myself.

But, the exercise was great. And it helped me tremendously.
I'm already looking for another VA.

YMII Tim mentioned in the book is already increased their prices and enjoying the plug I am sure.

If you can share pointers and/or any VA company you like working with I'd appreciate if you share.

[ardor]

I would give the VA company I am working with a 7 out of 10.

customersolutionz.biz 5$/hr haggled my first invoice to correct over billing.

They can be a little slow to reply, but they handled both jobs I've given them, after having to pass work back and forth.

For example, Dealing with the VA costs time. Vs Doing the Work cost Time.
I would say, I saved 80% of the time dealing with the VA, but that doesn't mean I didn't have to "Correct Misunderstandings" get them to redo work ect...

PS: your website is broken on the contact page.

[WriteStyles]

I have worked quite a bit as a provider for eLance and always remained in constant contact with my "buyers". Perhaps, it may take awhile to find the right fit. Keep trying - there are a lot of good VA companies. Communication is the key, especially at the start. Also, cheaper isn't better.............

[DaveCraige.com]

sorry to hear about your problems. might I suggest a simple one hour test (http://www.dogreatwork.com) you can give your VA to avoid having the headaches in the future.

you can just hand somebody $5 and see their work right away. you don't have to waste a lot of your time.

[Jimmydee]

Yeah, VA disasters are normal when you are starting out.

I've got plenty of stories, and a lot of mistakes. I was actually quite a slow learner, but now, I've learned from them.

Dave is right.

I would definitely give them a quick test.

Here's something I learned, you have to communicate really well with all your staff. Nothing is ever perfect the first time.

Give them a task, your expectations, and what you want the deliverables to be (the final product of the task)

Then review their results. If they make a mistake, give them some corrections. Tell them what to change, then review the changes they made.

I learned to never expect perfection up front. No one will read your mind and do things exactly like you want them to do the very first time. I look for people who are skilled, fast learners, and who have a great work ethic.

The rest is just up to how you train and manage them.

My biggest mistake was looking for perfection on the very first time.

So here's some golden nuggets:

1. Be very specific and direct with your communication
2. Give them a task and review their results. Then give them feedback
and tell them to incorporate the changes. Soon they will start to think
like you and and do things exactly like how you want it.
3. Communicate with them daily. Encourage them to ask a lot of questions at
the beginning. When you're working with someone new, they might ask
some questions just to get used to your working style. After a couple of
days, they would be trained on how you want things to get done.

Hope this helps.

The company I've been using is staffinseconds.com (http://staffinseconds.com)

Best part is that you can try their VA's free for 3 full days to see if there is
a match.

Just send me a message if you have any questions about them or this post.

[DaveCraige.com]

thanks for the kind words.

staffinseconds looks pretty good. phiillipines. but the $699 per month is a little steep for us right now.

[nghs22]

sorry to hear about your problems. might I suggest a simple one hour test (http://www.dogreatwork.com) you can give your VA to avoid having the headaches in the future.

you can just hand somebody $5 and see their work right away. you don't have to waste a lot of your time.

Great link mate!! THANKS!

[camdengirl]

For UK based assistants try: www.societyofvirtualassistants.co.uk or for USA/Canada based assistants try: www.vanetworking.com

I believe VANetworking are also about to launch an approved type scheme too.

Okay, these types of assistants are going to be more expensive, but wouldn't it be great just to hand the work across and know it's going to get done without micromanagement???

[Merlin]

Dave, you made my day with that link. What a fantastic way to test VA's. Thank you.

[DaveCraige.com]

I must appologize, I switched the test to find a great blogger.

Here is the winning result. The guy is great. I now work with him everyday.
www.grassroots.tumblr.com

But yea, the bottom line is past performance IS a huge determinant for future performance. And yea, most people promise the world in what they say. Simply look at their past work to see their true standards.