Nice experiment Nick…funnily enough, we’ve just done the same with Longer Days vs Get Friday vs individual VAs (but not Ask Sunday).

(Thanks to your suggestion to try LD in the first place!!)

We tried Get Friday quite some time ago when none of the other services were up and running. They were actually pretty good - and in terms of results of tasks, I’d say they were on a par with LD and the individual VAs we’ve hired.

The language was a minor challenge at times - more just a case of being very careful and specific with how you phrase things so that it is easily understood. On the sign up/security front - it is a comparatively arduous sign up process but we fortunately didn’t experience any security issues which was a plus, despite our misgivings at faxing things off initially.

Like you though, we’ve found that LD’s service just seems to have a bit more attention to detail and the whole process of working with them is smooth, efficient and worth that initial learning curve of outsourcing your work.

Oh, cool. I never got through more than like 1/4 was through 4HWW (yeah one-book-a-week FAIL!) and even though there was the mention of the VA I never really comprehended the idea (even if TF had explained it better later on). But now that you’ve actually outlined the process and stuff… it sounds rather cool!!

Good job on being OUR virtual assistant and doing all this research for us!!!!!!

Nick, thanks for sharing the details of your experiment! I looked at Ask Sunday for doing little tasks like making reservations and found the same thing you did - it’s not very economical. However, I did a little digging around and found that my Visa Signature card comes with complimentary concierge services!

I’ve used them several times for things like researching travel options and handling bookings. I wrote a post detailing my “free” VA.

Nice post. Nick.

We use BPOVIA, which is much better virtual assistant provider.

BPOVIA is the only virtual assistant service provider ever been nominated for “Red Herring 100 Asia” Awards 2008.

Thanks for doing this legwork on the VA “taste test” and for being so detailed in the reporting. This is a GREAT way to put stuff off! I’m enjoying your commenters’ suggestions, too.

I’ve used many (15+) US-based indie VAs (research and book reports) and found a HUGE range of skill, honesty, rates and professionalism. Yeesh! Most came in about 50% of expectation; the few who hit 100% have bloomed into their own businesses now.

I’ve also used an indie from India (via eLance) and we’ve become pen pals since he went into another field — but always gave results near 90% of my expectations.

Thanks for leading by example too; I now intend to preface all requests with “Kindly.” Terribly civilized, thank yew.

Nick,

Thanks for sharing the results of this experiment. I’ve been toying with this idea myself. Longer Days sounds great, but $210/month? Yeow! Call me a cheapskate, but that’s a lot of money.

UPDATE: AskSunday have been in contact with a transcript of my requests to them, which include two files from their projects team. Though I’ve checked my own archives and never received this message at the time, I suspect very strongly that this is due to Gmail’s spam filtering and through no fault of AskSunday.

I’ve updated the article to remove the notes about my contact difficulties with AskSunday’s projects team. Kudos to their team for keeping track of who’s talking about them!

@Lea Woodward - Thanks for adding your thoughts, Lea. It’s great to hear some positive feedback about GetFriday, as I would have really liked to try them out were it not for my sensitivity to faxing credit card details; I’ve been stung that way in the past!

I think language barriers become all the more important when you’re asking a VA to field and reply to your phone calls and email. When you’re the only one interacting with them, I’d suspect it’s less of an issue, but still an important factor for many.

On another note, I’ve just bought your book on location independence, X Marks the Spot. It’s a terrific read, and it’s inspired us to start planning our own getaway!

@Sunili - There really are a lot of hidden benefits to outsourcing. You need to have a fairly good idea of what you’d like to use someone else’s time to accomplish in your own life, though, otherwise you end up spending more time thinking of things for them to do than getting anywhere!

@Maria - What a great idea! I get some free services through my cardholder too, but I’m locked into purchasing flights and hotels through their own service, which often makes it counterproductive cost-wise.

Concierge-style services are a massive plus, though, and the number of companies offering them as a ‘platinum service’ or add-on are increasing. Vertu, the Nokia-owned premium mobile phone manufacturer have even built a dedicated concierge button into their handsets that speed dials a personal assistant. It sounds lovely, but it doesn’t come cheap!

@GirlPie - ‘Kindly’ is a double-edged blade: though it makes firm requests seem all the more polite, it also makes insults so much more cutting (’kindly refrain from being such an arse’).

I initially intended to test VA corporations against independents, but the sheer number of options and specialities of each individual made it too tough to choose, so I wimped out and went for the better-known big players in the end.

If anyone wants to suggest an independent VA they are very welcome to, though — I fully recognise that they’re a very healthy and valuable part of the market.

@Dave Caolo - It depends very much on how you use them. If you request that they stand outside for ten hours and let you know when it stops raining, $210 is a lot of money.

If you tell them to handle your email while you take on client work or play with your kids, most would probably find that the return in investment is well worth it. Add to this the fact that it often pays for itself, and it’s a no-brainer for many. (If you’re on a $200 plan with 10 hours of available help and you charge $40/hour in your own line of work, just bill 5 hours at that time to your clients and you’ve covered the bill. That leaves 5 hours extra play time or work team you’d never normally have had for free.)

Thanks for putting this together, Nick. I currently use a private VA, and she is wonderful. But I have considered trying out services such as these as a back-up. So this has saved me some time. Thanks again.

Good info Nick. Thanks for sharing the details of your tests. We’ve only tried VAs through eLance, so we’ll definitely give LD a try.

And yes, @Lea Woodward’s “X Marks The Spot” is an inspiring read. My wife enjoyed it too.

Ahhh, I’ve been waiting for this post, mostly because I’ve been seriously contemplating this type of service for some time now, but wanted to hear about the experience from someone other than Tim Ferris.

Cheers, and thanks for going through the hassle to educate us :)

Nick,

Thanks for this great article (witty title!). Obviously I have opinions about the topic bc I own The Virtual Legal Professional, Inc. but I feel like you did a fair job. I will say that it is imperative that people trying out overseas VA’s, especially for writing assignments, do a trial run first. I’ve had many clients come to me (ala Tim) after a trial run with a VA in India or Pakistan, only to have the work redone due to language barrier issues.

I think the advantage of a VA agency over an individual is having built in backup and a larger repertoire of services.

Thanks again!

Its nice to see another review of these services. I’ve been wanting to try one since reading 4hr work week, but haven’t really felt like I had enough work to justify it.

I’m trying one out now, though, for the first time.

I think it would be neat to see a follow up post to this one talking about some ideas of what type of things (for creative freelancers and site owners) that you could successfully outsource.

I know there’s a lot of low level tasks I do on a daily basis that could probably be outsourced, but its hard to step away from what you do and analyze areas for change.

Great post, and very timely. I (and just about everyone I know) seems to be considering VA’s but we’re all waiting for someone like you to try it first and write something like this :)

Thanks for doing the test, Nick!

Ever since reading the 4HWW, I’ve been curious to try a personal assistant. I actually almost registered to GetFriday — even printed out their form, but it was all so complicated that I never finished the registration.

That’s why it’s great to find these other, easier alternatives!

The other problem for me has always been what to use these services for. After all, as you said, most people (myself included) rather save a few Euros and do their restaurant reservations themselves.

That’s why I think the most important content in this post were the tasks you gave to your virtual assistants. I already got a few ideas that might help me finish my next blog post on time (and not two weeks late like last time ;))

Great post, Nick…truly!

Another thing folks will want to consider as they think about going down this path.

Virtual Assistance (the profession) was created in 1997. It’s not new…not by a long shot. And it was never created to be the cheap alternative to hiring employees, but the creative, effective, efficient alternative to it.

The vast majority of VAs work in individual practices. They own their own businesses, and work with just a handful of select clients, long term and collaboratively. They know that where they create the greatest value for their clients (and find their own greatest professional satisfaction) is in being a client’s right hand person. So these VAs want to climb into their clients’ businesses (and lives), understand and be involved with what’s going on (across the board), and provide assistance in every way possible. Their clients work with the boss, not with someone who has a boss (meaning, clients work with someone who owns/runs a business, and understands and lives that reality, rather than working with an employee who may not (probably doesn’t) have a clue about how to be anything other than an employee–these two roles have very different mindsets).

These VAs are one-stop shops for their clients. Quite literally, anything their clients want/need, they do or get done. So, they not only take care of the tasks of today, but work on the strategy for tomorrow, as well. I’ve seen VAs do everything from replying to email, to brokering a client’s yacht from Hong Kong to NYC, and everything in between.

The power in working with VAs isn’t in getting your “stuff” done on the cheap. It’s in developing a relationship with a person you can trust with your business, your clients, and your reputation. A person who knows who you are, what you’re up to, what your goals, aspirations and dreams are…and who helps you in getting to them. Someone you feel confident in having represent you, so YOU don’t always have to represent you.

Now, that kind of relationship isn’t for everyone. And for that reason, it’s *great* that there are services, both in the US and abroad, that are task-based, and project/piecework oriented.

Many people find, however, that it makes the most sense to use the more involved VA for everything, as only then will the person doing the work understand, sometimes without a word, what needs to get done, and make it so.

My VA has been supported me for so long I can’t even actually remember…nine or ten years. She knows where all the proverbial bodies are buried. She knows all my history. She knows all my goals and dreams. She knows what has to happen on a daily/monthly/quarterly/yearly basis so that I’m sane and my business runs smoothly. Her motto is, “It never occurs to me that there are things I cannot do,” so I ask her to do a LOT. We’ve met twice. Just twice. And whether I ask her to call and confirm a doctor’s appt, or plan/execute a complex matter for my training program, it happens quickly, efficiently, effectively, and I pay only for 100% productive time. She frees me to do only the stuff that I love to do *and* do well.

I get what I need, done at a high level, and never waste my time getting it, or my money in paying for it.

Just thought I’d share that as another side of all this to consider. :) If you have any questions I can help with, don’t hesitate to be in touch!

Stacy

I am bitterly disappointed by this post Nick. I really did expect a lot more from you and have admired you for some time now.

However, to read that you eat at the unfashionably early time of 7.30pm just left me feeling sad and empty.

It’s not like your American or over 65, so where did it all go so terribly wrong?

I’ve been thinking about this since I read 4hr work week. Thanks for the review and comments, will use this as a reference when I start to use VAs

Interesting post…

Great post. I have been using a variety of VA’s for about a year now, for everything from simple research tasks to ghostwriting articles. Fortunately, I haven’t encountered any significant problems. Yet.

Great research, great article. If more people knew of the benefits of a good VA, there’d be a lot more people in the writing business. Your article fills a huge void. Wish I’d thought of it.

For those interested in the benefits of LongerDays, but at a lower price point + with a more satisfaction oriented approach, check out http://www.timesvr.com

Disclosure: I happen to be the CEO. But you can try our service for free and make your own judgements :)

Instead of dealing with VA companies, I prefer working with VAs one-on-one .. that way you get to know each other .. and they understand how you like to have things done. Of course, finding one you can trust is not easy.

I recommend Bilal @ http://www.taskmenow.com

Jed