Hiring offshore virtual assistants (VA) is the biggest craze to hit the solopreneur world since the Blackberry. The main difference being that Blackberry’s work. Don’t get me wrong; in concept VA’s are great – relatively cheap labor that works while you sleep. I just think it’s getting a lot more hype than it deserves – so I’m hear to tell a more balanced story.
Tim Ferriss, in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek (review), spends a lot of time pumping two VA services, in particular: Your Man in India (aka: GetFriday) and Brickwork India. And to his credit, he does emphasize that you should be patient when initially working with your VA. He even says you may need to try a few VA’s out before you find the one you like. But looking back it seems like Mr. Ferriss must have really glossed over any frustrations he experienced in dealing with inept VA’s. In my case some VA’s have been enough of a time drain (yes, drain) for me to discontinue my services with one provider altogether. On the other hand, I’ve had some successes, too…and I’ll definitely tell you what’s worked.
I’m not just another guy who tried working with people overseas only to be “surprised” by time zone differences and communication barriers. In a previous career I managed sizable teams of developers (20 – 30 individuals) in both Manila and India for major corporate IT and consulting projects. These workers performed (and I managed) far more complex tasks than I’m assigning to my current VA’s. So, I’m capable of and experienced in managing offshore/outsourced work, and I think I have a good perspective from which to compare the services provided by the VA firms I use. If it’s hit and miss for me and other experienced managers of offshore workers, I have to imagine it’s a nightmare for a lot of people.
Also See:
- Virtual Assistants: Special Management Skillset Required
- Is the Virtual Assistant Fad Fading?
- Reviews of Virtual Assistant Firms and Other Resources for Outsourcing
June 19th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Hello..
BEWARE OF YOURMANININDIA. They are not reliable.
First they will charge a nominal fee for their services. Then they will increase the charge to a huge amount citing all kinds of reasons.
Finally they don’t deliver the services and will charge a huge conveniance fee.
You can’t dispute the charges as its a Service and Paypal, Amex and Visa don’t cover non-tangible services fee…
BEWARE OF YOURMANININDIA. Sahara is better.