Almost a year ago, we started our trial of GetFriday, a ‘virtual assistant’ or ‘outsourced assistant’ company based in India. Their fees start at around $10/hour and go down from there the larger the monthly plan you get. We eventually decided to part ways with them, mainly due to a few factors: 1. cost-cutting on our part, and 2. our need for more technical skills.

Here’s what we learned, which you can use in many ways when looking for a new VA:

  1. Know what you need going in. Estimate exactly what you want your VA to do and estimate how long it will take. Knowing what you want them to do will help in picking the right VA for you. Many VA companies (like GetFriday) are best doing relatively simple tasks, like making phone calls, booking appointments, and basic Web research. We found out the hard way that they’re not exactly programmers or sys admins, although GF did have some of those on staff.

    Estimate how long a task will take and then up it by a factor of at least 1.5 (could be 10x depending on the complexity of the task). Fact is you’re good at what you do because you do it all the time and have experience at it. A newbie isn’t going to get it right away.

  2. Be prepared to spend a fair amount of time either writing a detailed e-mail (or recording a video) of the task at hand. Be too vague and you will bear the consequences! Don’t fret if you have to send follow-up e-mails.
  3. Be firm with them. You are after all paying them for a service; they should get it right. If they’re pushing back on you, push back or fire them.
  4. Ensure that their English is good. Interview your VA first. If you don’t wish to do this over the phone or a VoIP service like Skype, exchange a few e-mails with them. [This point could arguably the #1 one in this list.]
  5. Speaking of English, India isn’t the only place you can look for help. Luckily for us Yanks, English is a growing language and everyone wants to know what crazy stuff we’re writing about the Internet and saying in YouTube videos. So that means you can easily look for help in places like Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Philippines.
  6. Don’t overlook homegrown or VAs in other Western countries like Canada and the UK. The economy being what it is, not to mention more people wanting to work from home on their computers means there are lots of opportunities for folks who wish to get a VA.

That’s it. Please add your own thoughts if you’ve had experience with a VA. While it wasn’t perfect, we learned a great deal and have used other VAs since because in the end a going concern can’t function without some sort of help, and a VA is a great way to get that help without the cost, overhead and commitment of a full-time employee.