Finding a Great VA

[SpeakerMike]

I have posted on elance.com (a service I've used for a long time on other projects) for a VA. The best company does not do hourly unless there are minimum hours. For instance, a minimum of 4 hours a day Monday - Saturday. Then, the rate is roughly $5.00 per hour.

I've also looked for a VA on www.guru.com. Their fees are much higher than elance.

Has anyone found a resource for a low-price and great VA firm?

[luv2trvl1]

Welcome to the forum Mike!

What you are asking for is a bit of the holy grail around these parts...

Most of the VA firms listed in Tim's book are swamped with business causing weeks of backlog, with others not even replying to emails.

In general, the cheap ones require you to commit to blocks of time, like you have found, to get the hourly price down. Results here at the low end have been mixed, with some basic tasks getting done, but real problems with the higher IQ type stuff. There have also been a couple of reports of overcharging for assignments. To be fair, factor in that some people are just better at explaining what they want done, than others, too.

Since you have had some experience with elance in the past, you might do alright there if you keep trying.

For a great VA firm, look locally, but they won't be cheap. However, depending on how busy they currently are, you should be able to negotiate the price down. I found two web sites that just listed VA's in my home state and found over 100 that I could shop from, with 5 within a short drive from my house. The idea of meeting f2f over a coffee to explain something complicated you need done, is a value I would be willing to pay more for.

The path I am trying...if you have any international friends or current/past co-workers, describe what you are looking for in a VA, how many hours a week you might need and what you are willing to pay. See if they know of someone who might be interested? I did this and have received three excellent recommendations so far, with a nicely complementary mix of skill sets. I hope to keep at least two busy on a part-time basis and would much rather work with a friend of a friend anyway.

I will report in a couple of weeks on my progress.

Hope this helps, but I too would like to hear some success stories in this area.

[final_id]

I'd like to outsource my LSAT studying. I'm sick of logic games. Could I get someone in Chandrapore to do them for me?

[markus]

Most of the time you get what you pay for unfortunately. There are exceptions, but they are far more difficult to find than the book would have you believe.

You might want to try your local craigslist as an option or even think about sponsoring an internship work program with a local college.

[MariaG]

I currently work at a University, and I've found that it's pretty easy to find a student to do things like internet research, web editing, and scheduling for pretty cheap. Most undergrads in the upper Midwest are happy with $6 hour + food. I've got a grad student doing some web site tweaking for me and I'm paying him $10 hour cash and buying him copious amounts of coffee and Snickers bars and he's a pretty happy guy!

[SpeakerMike]

Has anyone worked with one of the following VA firms?

www.yourmaninindia.com (from the book)

or

TransForm Solution (from elance.com)

[luv2trvl1]

See the string "VA and Elance" in the "Elimination: 80/20.... subgroup of the forum