| My motto is and will always be, "Do What You | | | | experience or specific skills, especially when it |
| Love and Outsource the Rest!" | | | | comes to creative services; cost and time |
| Now that is an easy premise for me to put forth, | | | | overruns; lack of project and process continuity; |
| but what does it actually mean to the | | | | and need for close and continuous supervision. |
| entrepreneur who badly needs ongoing assistance | | | | While some services might be well-suited for |
| to build and grow their business? | | | | offshore outsourcing, others simply are not. |
| As a business owner you realize by now that | | | | Consider content creation - all those articles, press |
| running a business, be it a traditional brick and | | | | releases, blog posts, newsletters that businesses |
| mortar business or an online endeavor is one of | | | | now use as part of their marketing. Even if, and |
| the most time-consuming things one can think of. | | | | it's a big if, the content is grammatically correct, |
| Your life as you knew it changed dramatically the | | | | there's still the relevancy issue. It is unrealistic to |
| moment you became self-employed. Being your | | | | expect an offshore virtual assistant to |
| own boss and enjoying creative freedom is for | | | | communicate effectively with target audiences |
| many, a dream come true. But honestly, how | | | | that are distant in terms of geography, language |
| many hours have you spent on the dull, | | | | and culture. |
| uninspiring, and extremely time-consuming work | | | | Cost and time overruns are not unique to |
| of keeping a business running? Across the board, | | | | offshore vendors. But they become much more |
| entrepreneurs of all descriptions describe the | | | | difficult to control when combined with inadequate |
| biggest drawback in their business life as the drain | | | | communications and cultural barriers. If choosing |
| of the daily minutia that chews through hours and | | | | an offshore virtual assistant, you need to make |
| drains creativity. | | | | sure to communicate early, often and state your |
| As a business owner, you end up wearing multiple | | | | concerns or requests in a very clear way, all of |
| hats. You are your own accounting department, | | | | which can become very time-consuming. |
| marketing department, sales, tech support and | | | | Another very common complaint is the amount |
| customer care. On especially bad weeks you | | | | of close supervision, if not scrutiny, that is |
| might find yourself spending more time on these | | | | required when working with offshore assistants. |
| tasks than on actual billable work. | | | | Sure, even if you hire a local VA, you might have |
| Hiring a virtual assistant, someone who can take | | | | to do a bit of hand-holding at first, just so that |
| care of things you don't have time for, can help | | | | your assistant learns the ins and outs of your |
| you build and grow your business while retaining | | | | business as and your management style. But any |
| the creative passion that launched you into | | | | close supervision beyond this adjustment period |
| entrepreneurship in the first place. You can now | | | | defeats the entire purpose of hiring virtual help. |
| find Virtual Assistants offering pretty much any | | | | Keep in mind that the VA you decide to work |
| service you might need assistance with, from | | | | with is ultimately going to help you build and grow |
| administrative to social media marketing to web | | | | both your business and your online presence. A |
| design. | | | | highly technical, highly competent Virtual Assistant |
| If your business is in its infancy, or if you have a | | | | actually partners with you to help you meet and |
| very limited budget you may be considering | | | | exceed your business expectations. You should be |
| outsourcing some of this work to other countries. | | | | able to have complete confidence that your VA is |
| At this point, especially if you've read Tim Ferris's | | | | treating your business that same way she/he |
| The 4-Hour Work Week, you might be thinking | | | | treats their own business. As if it were the most |
| about hiring an offshore virtual assistant, probably | | | | precious thing in the world! |
| based in India or Philippines. You can find many of | | | | The extremely low rate of offshore services is |
| these "Virtual Assistants" on Elance.com, and | | | | the reason behind yet another commonly-cited |
| similar sites. You can also find them by performing | | | | problem. Virtual Assistants who charge such low |
| a simple Google search by using the term | | | | rates make money on volume. With hundreds and |
| "offshore virtual assistant". | | | | even thousands of clients and projects, they |
| Offshore VAs can offer a wide variety of | | | | simply don't have time to ask all the questions, |
| services, including some very technical ones such | | | | review the alternatives and advise you of the |
| as web design. And their rates are incredibly low | | | | best ways to handle specific tasks. Another issue |
| compared to their colleagues in the US and | | | | is that they primarily work on one-off projects. |
| Canada. It is not uncommon to post an RFQ on | | | | For example, instead of dealing with just one |
| Elance and receive bids with rates as low as $3 | | | | project manager for all your tasks or projects, |
| per hour. Virtual Assistants in the US and Canada, | | | | you might end up communicating with several |
| on the other hand, set their rates to an average | | | | people. |
| of $30-35 per hour and some go as high as $70 | | | | This is exactly the opposite of how higher-paid |
| per hour, depending on their core competencies. | | | | Virtual Assistants approach their clients' work. |
| Given these wildly different rates, making a choice | | | | Even though many accept occasional projects, |
| seems like a no-brainer. Pick an offshore VA and | | | | they build their businesses around ongoing work |
| save both time and money, right? You might feel | | | | with a handful of clients. These Virtual Assistants |
| a twinge of guilt over sending work overseas, but | | | | go beyond simply completing the tasks assigned |
| then you have to think of what's best for your | | | | to them. They approach each task while keeping |
| business, don't you? | | | | the bigger picture - their clients' business goals - in |
| You're absolutely correct - your business interests | | | | mind. As small business owners, they relate |
| should be your top priority. That's exactly why | | | | especially well to their clients' concerns. |
| the "no-brainer" choice, the one based solely on | | | | On the other hand, offshore VAs are mostly |
| cost differences, might not be a good one for | | | | employees of virtual assistance companies. It is |
| your business, and may actually hurt it. | | | | simply unrealistic to expect an employee in India |
| Most bestseller business books and | | | | to really understand the issues facing a business |
| top-of-search-engine articles on the subject will | | | | owner in the United States or Canada. |
| wax eloquent about all the potential benefits of | | | | We all look for bargains. Keeping costs down |
| cheap overseas labor. But search for "offshore | | | | definitely helps maintain a healthy bottom line. But |
| outsourcing problems", dig deeper into Elance | | | | when looking for a Virtual Assistant, a business |
| reviews, and talk to fellow business owners who | | | | owner needs to remember that a VA is much |
| tried this option and you start getting a more | | | | more than simply an implementer and that price |
| balanced picture. | | | | and value are not the same. There are potentially |
| Most of the complaints about offshore vendors in | | | | many hidden costs and lost opportunities hiding |
| general and Virtual Assistants in particular mention | | | | behind a low rate offered by offshore Virtual |
| issues such as language and cultural barriers; | | | | Assistants. |
| inadequate communications from vendors; lack of | | | | |