Working with Virtual Assistants

If you’ve ever been turned off by the concept of a “4-Hour Workweek” then we already have something in common.

Tim Ferriss’s bestselling book, “The 4-Hour Workweek,” isn’t for everyone. A good friend of mine introduced me to this book around 2010 (it was published in ‘07).  He kept insisting that I read it. Well, not only am I not a big reader in general; but I really just didn’t like the concept. I mean sure of course I’d love to work just four hours a week... who wouldn’t? 

At the time I really just thought it would come down to improving your efficiencies and processes (which it kind of did). In addition to that I had a little skepticism that it would be gimmicky per se.

One day, during a layover, I saw this big bright orange book at the top of the bookstand in probably what was (or similar to) a Hudson News store. I walked directly to it as I was drawn immediately from it’s bright orange hard cover along with a man chillin’ in a hammock between two palm trees and the text “The 4-Hour Workweek.” I actually remember this vividly… I picked up the book thinking, “Oh, well I’ll browse through the pages at least.” As I thumbed through the pages I really wasn’t drawn to it at first. But as I flipped through it more I started to see charts, worksheets of a sort and a ton of helpful tips and resources. I was hooked and I knew it.

I read the book in a matter of days and keep in mind I’m not a big reader so that’s saying something.

Without getting into the details and teachings of the “4 Hour Workweek,” my big takeaway was utilizing virtual assistants (VAs).

Here are three resources for you to consider if you’ve at all been interested in working with VAs.

• Fiverr: Fiverr.com is perfect if you just want to dip your toes in the water. You can find a VA to do so many things for just $5 – it’s incredible. The principle here is you get what you pay for. I wouldn’t recommend hiring a VA for hundreds of dollars to do larger projects; although that is an option. Fiverr thrives in small tweak type projects. The moment you start looking at higher level tasks, proceed to UpWork.

• UpWork: Most of my experience in working with VAs has been through UpWork.com. I LOVE UpWork. You can hire a VA from any part of the world and you can post any type of job on the site. It’s extremely easy to manage multiple VAs / projects you have going on. UpWork’s software actually records your VA’s screen so that you know you are paying for the right amount of hours.

• FreeeUp: In the Spring of 2017 I was introduced to FreeeUp.com from a local Mastermind group. This is where I have spent most of my time recently as it relates to VAs. What I love most about FreeeUp is that it matches you with a VA based on your job description. Using UpWork or even Fiverr for that matter actually requires a fair amount of interviewing. FreeeUp in a way does the interviewing for you since they match candidates. I still interview candidates here but as you can imagine the process is streamlined through FreeeUp.

If you’re wondering why Fiverr has 2 “r’s” and FreeeUp has an extra “e”... Well, sorry I don’t have an answer to that. I think it’s just a tech company thing ;).

BONUS

If you’re wondering what types of tasks can be outsourced in our industry (any business for that matter) here is one warm-up task to consider…

Flyers and other minor art edits:

I’ve worked with a lot of VAs for art purposes and my biggest piece of advice is to either keep feeding one artist work or have a “bench.” If you can find small jobs for artists pretty often then you won’t have to worry about getting off their radar. A couple years back I had one artist who totally got my style and she was quick, too (like 24-hour turn time quick). However, after the project was done I never really got back in a groove in working with her, since I didn’t have a constant need for art projects. So, since then I’ve had 2-4 artists that I can reach out to and their turn time is usually within a few business days. For our industry, this is GOLD.

My hope is that from reading this, you may be inspired to try out working with VAs if you haven’t already. I highly recommend it. Maybe in a future post we can discuss the Skills / Fun Matrix so that we can easily identify tasks that might be a good fit for trying out VAs.

Swag On, SwagSam

Sam Kabert is the creative director of ValueBP Marketing Group and the creator and co-host of the podcast “WhatUp Silicon Valley!” A risk taker who embraces permanent beta, Sam is leading the transformation of his family-run office supplies business into a promotional products powerhouse. Sam can be reached at Sam@ValueBP.com.