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Tips for managing a US-based virtual assistant?
I have an offsite but local woman who works for me and some other companies as a Virtual Assistant. I pay $20/hour to not have her be my employee.
1. If I ask her to track how long it takes her to do each project, then I am saying "I don't trust you" (I do!) and "You are slower than I would be." I'd be paying her to twiddle around tracking her tasks in 15 or 30 minute increments, which is annoying and time consuming for her. Also, when I see the tracking, it will irritate me that it DOES take so long to do basic tasks, even if she does them as fast as I would, e.g., 15 minutes on hold for a simple call to our hosting company.
2. If I let her just charge me for the hours she says she worked, as she does now, I will end up getting wildly different sums every two weeks.
3. If I put her on salary, she's incentivized to not do much at all and I'm concerned that critical tasks will be left undone. She's human, not a bad person.
I briefly had a foreign-based VA working for me, too, and that was a nightmare! I see a lot of advice online (written by people who own foreign-based VA companies) about managing them, but I need to know how to pay/monitor a plain ol' American woman who has decent job skills.
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2 Answers
Hi Wendy,
A detailed answer could be a couple of pages long, so to summarize:
Administrative Consultants (AC) (a.k.a. Virtual Assistants) are business owners just like you, so you don’t monitor or manage them as you would an employee. The relationship should be business owner to business owner (or professional to client), not employer to employee. The main benefit and true value of working with an AC is the ongoing, collaborative relationship that is developed. Of course you will delegate administrative work to the AC so you can focus on revenue generating projects and services as well as be able to actually live and enjoy your life. However, what you really receive is the time and energy you need to achieve your goals.
Project / piecemeal work is also known as secretarial services, which is what foreign-based VAs offer at bargain basement pricing. While the transactional work may be taken care of, people who hire them (their business models are about employer to employee) will miss out on the invaluable total support an AC can provide. You will still feel overwhelmed and overworked despite a few projects being removed from your plate.
Some AC charge by the hour, and some offer retainer packages (e.g., up to xx hours of support per month). The average hourly rate for a U.S.-based AC is $30-$75/hr. and the average hourly rate for specialized services such as website design is $75-$125/hr.
I recommend reading the Client Guide at the Administrative Consultants Association for more information about what an AC is and how to work with one. It's located at http://administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/working-together.html
Also, should you or a colleague ever need to find a new AC that is an ideal fit for you, I recommend these two directories:
- Administrative Consultants Association Directory located at http://administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/directory/
- IVAA (International Association of Virtual Assistants)Directory located at http://ivaa.site-ym.com/search/
I wish you continued success!
Correction: IVAA stands for International Virtual Assistants Association
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