TimeSvr.com is a virtual assistant company that was founded in 2008. The company is based in Pakistan, and was actually the service I used to hire my first full-time assistant.

As a customer, you can opt for dedicated assistance or task/team-based service. TimeSvr virtual assistants (they call them “aides”) are college-educated young professionals with proficient English language skills. Depending on your needs, your TimeSvr aide can work flexible hours, which is helpful given the 12 hour time difference between the US and their offices.

These virtual assistants really get into your business. They stay up to date with and research the market and competition. They read and follow reviews, engage users and potential customers through twitter, facebook or LinkedIn.

Services

The task-based assistants handle your basic administrative tasks like online research, travel planning and coordination, setting up appointments and that sort of thing. With this plan, you can send in your task requests, and the first available assistant will get to work on it and notify you when it is complete. You can use their online interface to submit tasks or use email, Skype, or another instant messaging service.

With a dedicated rep, you have a little more leeway into training and ongoing processes. TimeSvr explains that their aides can double up as customer support reps, conduct PR campaigns, set-up user testing experiments, and a variety of other projects small business owners can think up.

I had my dedicated TimeSvr assistant work on my Google AdWords campaigns, data entry projects in Excel, and research and write company blog posts.

TimeSvr Review

Plans and Pricing

TimeSvr offers two levels of service: TimeSvr Personal and TimeSvr Dedicated.

They’re best-known for their personal plan, which allows you to unload “unlimited” basic tasks for just $69/month. Basic tasks are typically defined as one-off projects, usually lasting 15 minutes or less, such as managing appointments, making phone calls, online research, and travel reservations.

With TimeSvr Dedicated, you can get a dedicated Business Support Agent who works 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for $700 a month. It works out to less than $9 an hour. The advantage of the Dedicated plan is you aren’t limited by “basic” tasks. You get to work one-on-one with your assistant and train them just as you would an in-house employee. They can work for hours or days on one project without interruption.

TimeSvr Dedicated is quite affordable for this level of service, plus you don’t have to worry about payroll processing, employment taxes, benefits, or even providing a workspace.

Even though TimeSvr is one of the smaller virtual assistant companies, both of their plans offers a great value.

TimeSvr Alternatives

The closest alternative to TimeSvr is Efficise, a new virtual assistant company in Pakistan actually founded by TimeSvr alumni. They’re offering 50 tasks a month  for just $65.

Another entry is OkayRelax, with dedicated assistants out of the Philippines.

If you don’t think you’ll have enough tasks to justify an “unlimited” plan or the 50 tasks a month, you might consider smaller options from US-based firms like Fancy Hands or Red Butler.

If you have had experience with TimeSvr, positive or negative, please rate your experience below.

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MyTasker is a relative newcomer to the virtual assistant industry, but brings years of experience to the table. The India-based company was founded in 2012 by three veteran VAs.

Since the MyTasker team spent the time in the trenches, they know how to take care of clients and were able to recruit high-performing professional virtual assistants to join their team.

They started out as a contract service on Freelancer.com, and after gaining some traction on that platform decided to launch as a standalone operation.

Services

My Tasker offers a dedicated virtual assistant service starting at 10 hours a month.

This plan, dubbed Professional Assistance, plans target entrepreneurs who need affordable help in their business.

Your dedicated MyTasker VA can handle everything from customer support (online or over the phone), transcription, social media management and online marketing, online research, website maintenance and more.

Naturally, your virtual assistant can handle general administrative tasks as well such as appointment setting, travel or restaurant reservations, or other back-office tasks that can be completed remotely.

MyTasker Intro Video

How it Works

With My Tasker, you’re assigned a qualified VA based on the anticipated roles you need filled. You can communicate via phone, email, or Skype, and delegate tasks on a recurring or on-demand basis. For each task you delegate, they’ll either tackle it themselves, or request help from a qualified team member.

Your pre-purchased hours expire at the end of each billing cycle, but there are no long-term contracts and you can cancel at any time.

Your VA’s hours are tracked inside MyTasker’s internal dashboard so you can always log in and see how much time you have left for the month.

MyTasker Review

Plans and Pricing

The rates for Professional Assistance start at $120 for a 10-hour a month plan, and go all the way down to $7.50/hr for a massive 160-hour plan.

That means you can have a full-time 40-hour a week VA for just $1200, which is a strong value for ongoing business support. If you want to take the service for a test drive, I suggest selecting one of the smaller plans to start with, and then scaling up your engagement from there. (Use the discount code below!)

Pricing Table (accurate at press time):

• 10 hrs per month – $120 ($12/hr)
• 20 hrs per month – $220 ($11/hr)
• 40 hrs per month – $400 ($10/hr)
• 60 hrs per month – $540 ($9/hr)
• 100 hrs per month – $800 ($8/hr)
• 160 hrs per month – $1200 ($7.50/hr)

If at any time you go over your plan’s hours, additional time can be purchased at $15 an hour (assuming staff availability).

VAA Exclusive: Get 20% off your first month w/ discount code VAA20MT.

I asked Ronny, the COO, what sets My Tasker apart from the competition, both in India and elsewhere. He explained that the team’s extensive experience in the industry, especially on the customer service side, gives them an advantage.

“We have the freedom to go that extra mile to make sure our customers are satisfied,” he says, implying that other larger VA companies don’t necessarily afford that freedom.

Your Turn

Have you worked with MyTasker? If so, please share your experience below and help others with their decision.

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Sidekicks enables entrepreneurs and business owners to quickly hire and build their own virtual teams. The company does this by connecting clients with hand-picked assistants that are skilled in handling the tasks required.

I think this is my favorite name for a VA company I’ve come across so far — every superhero needs a sidekick!

About Sidekicks

The company went live in early 2015. It’s run by Jeremie Rodger, Erik Hatterscheidt, Collin Vine (Zirtual), Till Kruss and Todd Herman.

The company is based in Canada, and depending on time zone requirements they offer virtual assistants from the Philippines or Argentina. (Odd geography? Their community manager, James, explained they employ a bunch of US graduates living in Argentina.)

Sidekicks.co aims to connect clients with virtual assistants at a cost effective price, with their site stating ‘time is money, money is time’. They put a lot of emphasis on saving time and money by hiring one of their virtual assistants, known as ‘sidekicks’, affording business owners the time to work on other areas of their business.

Each sidekick is required to complete a 100+ step video training course. With only 3% of applicants passing their rigorous filtering process. This ensures that only the most qualified and competent applicants make it through to be matched up with their clients.

Their target customers are small teams, entrepreneurs, busy people, Amazon businesses, and any type of small business looking to increase their productivity through outsourcing tasks to a shared VA.

Sidekicks Founder Interview

In chatting with Jeremie, I was surprised to hear him mention the clients that tend to get the most value from the service are those already doing $500,000 in revenue a year, because the service seems like a strong value for businesses of all sizes.

Services

The company provides clients with a versatile and vetted selection of virtual assistants. So depending on the client’s type of business, the VA will offer support as directed by the client.

Sidekicks have a comprehensive and rigorous process when vetting their remote workers. They put their applicants through their own academy training course and only match them with clients after they have passed to a high standard.

As a client, you can discuss your needs with Sidekicks and you will be matched with the best-suited assistant.

For example, as an e-commerce owner you can expect to receive support with email filtering, implementing systems, content creation, travel planning, social media marketing, blog management, customer support, WordPress support and much more.

Plans and Pricing

Sidekicks currently have three monthly membership packages. You can choose to either pay $449 for their Part-time VA, $859 for their Full-time VA, or $1699+ for their VA Team package.

With the Part-Time VA you receive 20 weekly hours or virtual assistant time. This will be a shared sidekick available between 9-5 (UTC+8 — approximately a 12 hour flip from US east coast time), along with a CEO training course and email support.

VAA Exclusive: Get 25% off your first month of Sidekicks service through this link.

The Full-Time VA package gives you access to a dedicated sidekick for 40 hours a week, along with the CEO training, email, and phone support. The current $859 price-point is quite competitive among virtual employee options and perhaps reflects the relative strength of the US dollar overseas lately.

The VA Team package provides a team of sidekicks with 80+ weekly hours, along with the same training and full priority support. It’s the go-to option for small businesses with a lot of work to delegate.

Sidekick Alternatives

The virtual assistant marketplace is a crowded one, but in addition to Sidekicks I’d take a look at companies like Uassist.ME, Task Bullet, or Carve as viable alternatives.

When I asked Sidekicks what sets them apart from the competition, they argued their CEO training course and putting their assistants through the 100+ step video training course gives them a comparative advantage.

Your Turn

If you have hired a Sidekick? Please leave a review below to help others with their VA hiring decision.

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Legends Virtual Assistance is virtual assistant service offering virtual assistant services, as well as personal concierge services for their clients. Legends is a new company, forming in October of 2015.

Legends’ headquarters is based in Florida, US. Their team members stretch from coast to coast across the US, and all of their virtual assistants are US based and work from their homes.

About Legends Virtual Assistance

The company is relatively new, starting operations in October 2015. It was founded and is run by co-founders Katy Boyle, who is also the CEO, and Dustin Rusbarsky who is the company CTO.

Katy explained the company was born out of the confusion and turmoil around Zirtual’s sudden and surprising shutdown (and subsequent resurrection).

Being a new company at the time of writing this review I was interested in their business objectives and what makes Legends different from other virtual assistant companies. Katy Boyle believes the difference is in their concierge service, designed to find the best VAs to match their client’s needs.

Each client is asked a series of simple and insightful questions during an introductory call to determine their needs. Then they are presented with a list of hand-picked virtual assistants to choose from.

A meeting with the virtual assistant can be arranged if required (hard to imagine making a hiring decision without this meeting!), and there is a “cooling off period” in which you can request to be re-matched if it isn’t working out for any reason.

Services

When hiring a virtual assistant to carry out tasks for you, knowing you’re hiring a competent person and knowing a bit about them is a huge plus not always offered by virtual assistant companies. Legends however have pictures of all their virtual assistants and short bio’s on their website. This is a nice personable touch, and helps when it comes to building trust with your assistant.

I spoke with Katy Boyle about how seriously they take their virtual assistant training and she explained:

“We provide individualized support and training to help our VA’s be the best they can be, at no cost to the VA. We provide skills training to help polish and improve existing skills, as well as hold seminars for people to learn new skills like WordPress design, copywriting, social media management, and other relevant skills. We assist with the creation and refinement of their marketing materials (LinkedIn profiles, websites, etc.) on a case-by-case basis as well.”

Their target customers are C-level and senior executives, serial entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other busy professionals who need ongoing administrative support. 

Areas of specialization include:

• bookkeeping
• copy writing
• web/graphic design
• other general virtual assistant tasks

So with their comprehensive VA training and the concierge matchmaking service between their clients and assistants, the result should be a win-win for both parties.

Plans and Pricing

There are two parts to the pricing when hiring through Legends. Firstly you pay a matching fee, this starts at $250 and can go up from there depending on the number of hours you’re looking for, the complexity of your needs, and some other factors.

Next you pay the hourly rate as set by the virtual assistant. All their assistants are independent contractors and set their own hourly rates. Some offer discounts for monthly retainer plans and packages. This is to be negotiated with the assistant directly, however you can expect to pay $30 an hour on average.

Legends Virtual Assistance Alternatives

Worldwide101 offers a similar service, as does Time Etc, though without the upfront matching fee.

Assistant Match actually runs a similar model with an upfront recruiting fee, all US-based staff, and variable hourly pricing on the backend.

Also, if you’re comfortable doing the initial search and candidate screening yourself, you can always hire an independent virtual assistant on sites like Upwork. The obvious difference here is the lack of support or comeback if your chosen assistant doesn’t work out.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Legends Virtual Assistance? Please be sure to leave a brief review of your experience below to help others with their search.

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123Employee is one of the largest outsourcing firms in the world, with more than 350 virtual assistants working with clients all around the globe.

The company started its operations in 2006 with just ten employees, but has seen tremendous growth following a simple mission of helping small to medium sized businesses get more done at affordable rates.

They now operate 3 different outsourcing centers in the Philippines.

About 123Employee

The physical offices of 123Employee.com are located in the Philippines, and they have American managers on-site. This VA firm offers hard-working Filipinos the opportunity to use their outstanding skills, while enabling American businesses to increase their productivity at minimal costs.

In contrast to many virtual assistant companies who seem to try and remain anonymous, I really like how 123Employee features real VAs in their real offices. While there’s still a little bit of stock photography lurking around, it’s clear the workers and founder Daven Michaels like to have fun too:

Services

The virtual assistants from 123Employee offer professional help with:

• Customer Support/Service
• Research / Datamining
• Database admin
• Telemarketing
• Video Marketing
• Article Marketing
• Social networking
• Facebook fan pages
• Personal assistance

How it Works

Businesses provide their job descriptions and 123Employee matches them with candidates having relevant education, skill level, and experience and then allow the businesses to interview and select the best candidate. This is a great advantage over other firms that simply assign you a VA based on whoever is available.

You are in control of your VA’s working hours to match your time zone if necessary.

123Employee Intro Video

Plans and Pricing

If you sign up for 123Employee, you’ll get a dedicated virtual employee, with all the office infrastructure and support you’d expect at no additional cost.

123Employee.com offers 3 different Small Business VA plans, ranging from 10 hours a week to 40 hours a week:

• Silver – 10 hours a week, $497 per month ($12.43/hr)
• Gold – 20 hours a week, $797 per month ($9.96/hr)
• Platinum – 40 hours a week, $1287 per month ($8.04/hr)

The mid-level Gold plan is the most popular offering, and is the equivalent of adding a half-time employee. All plans require pre-payment via credit card after you hire your virtual assistant.

These rates are competitive but perhaps a little on the higher end to support the management layer and added infrastructure investments.

One downside to 123Employee is the one-time admin fee of $199 per employee, which covers everything the employee will use (chair, desk, phone line, computer, etc.). Many other VA companies have the same overhead expenses, but few charge this fee.

At press time, there’s an offer for 30 hours of free virtual assistant service plus an audio version of Michaels’ Outsource This! book.

Beyond the set-up fee and recurring monthly charges, there are no hidden fees or long-term contracts. You can cancel anytime.

If you selected “Enterprise” on their homepage, the story is a bit different. You’ll find a site that’s more call center-focused where you’ll have to contact them to get a pricing quote.

123Employee Alternatives

The trend among VA companies in the Philippines is to hire home office-based staff, so 123 is a strong entry if you prefer an assistant working from a dedicated office environment. (VA Staffer would be another to consider.)

If you’re comfortable with a home-based VA, you might check out Chris Ducker’s Virtual Staff Finder, a virtual headhunting service, or John Jonas’ OnlineJobs.ph, a virtual job board.

And if you’re not married to the Philippines, Uassist.ME out of El Salvador might be worth a look as well. Their 20-hour a week plan is similarly priced.

Your Turn

Have you worked with 123Employee.com? We’d love to hear about your experience in the reviews below.

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Task Papa is a virtual assistant company based in Mumbai, India. The company was founded in 2012, but have been flying under my radar until recently.

Their company philosophy is to provide virtual assistants, or ‘task officers’ as they call them, to busy business owners. They provide a cost-effective solution and free up time for the business owner as their task officers handle some of their workload.

About Task Papa

Task Papa operates out of the economic heart of India, Mumbai. All of their workers are based in their offices and managed in-house. I spoke with Amit Joshi, Sales Manager for Task Papa, he commented, “We strongly believe in giving awesome results to our clients and this is only possible when you have an in-house workers.”

Their team is currently 40+ strong and growing, with several on-site project managers, and an additional layer of operations management to oversee all the virtual assistants.

The company founder, Devang Selani, has over 10 years experience in the customer service industry. He was inspired to start Task Papa after visiting and experiencing working with clients in the US.

Amit described their target customers as, “anyone and everyone who wants to save time. This could be anyone from businessmen to self-employed workers to freelancers.” As for their areas of specialization, personal assistants and admin officers seem to be where they place most of their focus.

Services

Getting started with Task Papa couldn’t be easier. You can sign up via their website for a free quote, or to enquire about any special requirements you have. Plus, they offer a free trial period, with no credit card information or commitment asked of you.

If you know what you want, they have set hourly packages of 40, 80, 120 and 160 hours. With the hourly rate reducing per the more hours you sign up for. They also offer a pay as you go option, with a minimum of 5 hours per week.

Naturally, the task officers at Task Papa can handle a wide range of administrative tasks, such as:

• admin
• personal assistant duties
• HR and recruitment
• SEO and online marketing
• website maintenance and hosting
• writing
• customer care
• and more

Plans and Pricing

Task Papa currently has five different payment plans. They have four different hourly plans and a pay-as-you-go plan.

Their hourly rates start at $9.95 per hour for a 40 hour package, with the rate dropping to $6.95 per hour with their maximum 160-hour package. 

Their pay as you go plan is $10.95 per hour.

Full Pricing Table (accurate at time of publishing):

• 40 hrs per month – $398 ($9.95/hr)
• 80 hrs per month – $716 ($8.95/hr)
• 120 hrs per month – $954 ($7.95/hr)
• 160 hrs per month  – $1112 ($6.95/hr)
• Pay As You Go – $10.95/hr

Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Mention referral code TP-VAA for 10% off your first month!

Why Task Papa?

When I asked Amit what sets Task Papa apart from their competitors, he gave me a few points to consider.

Free Trial Period – Not all virtual assistant companies offer a free trial. Task Papa does, and it’s a great way to get a feel for their services.

Experienced Team – Task Papa has a strict filtering process to ensure they are matching their clients needs with the most appropriate virtual assistant.

Guarantee – They offer a guarantee that 100% of the work will be completed to the client’s satisfaction.

Dedicated Task Officers – At Task Papa they do not use shared task officers. When you hire an officer, they are the only person you are working with.

Discounted rates for NGOs – Task Papa are proud to support NGOs and offer some discounted packages. Contact them directly for details.

Task Papa Alternatives

Looking at virtual assistant companies based in India, My Tasker might be worth a look. Other well-rated firms to consider are Uassist.ME in El Salvador or Task Bullet in the Philippines. 

Your Turn

Have you worked with Task Papa? If so, please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Virtual Gal Friday is a company offering virtual office managers and assistants to all businesses large and small. The company has been in operation since 1998, which places them among the longer standing virtual assistant companies.

Their headquarters are located in Texas, US. The company’s virtual assistants work from their home offices and provide a wide range of services.

About Virtual Gal Friday

Virtual Gal Friday have been operating since 1998. The company was founded by Nancy A. Brown. Nancy has over 25 year’s experience working in office management and administrative assistance. All new clients receive a 1-on-1 call with Nancy to discuss their requirements, giving them a chance to benefit from her years of experience and start off with a clear line of communication.

Their target customers are business owners that want to grow their businesses and outsource some, or all of their office administration tasks. 

Services

Within the long list of services Virtual Gal Friday offer, they specialize in medical office management, bookkeeping services, virtual receptionist services, coaching practice management.

Virtual Gal Friday break their services down into three categories:

1. Virtual Office Management
2. Marketing Tasks
3. Website Tasks

They offer a wide range of support roles within these categories, and any bespoke tasks can be discussed on the introductory call.

The company has their own dashboard designed to manage the tasks and provide a clear line of communication between client and virtual assistant. In my experience this is always a huge plus when it comes to managing and checking the progress on tasks.

What separates Virtual Gal Friday from a lot of other virtual assistant companies offering similar services is the amount of support you receive from the company owner Nancy Brown. Nancy carries out an introductory call to discuss client’s business needs. Offering future calls and direct email support (depending on package purchased).

Plans and Pricing

Virtual Gal Friday offer two sets of packages; Classic and Premium. Within each package there are three different levels, each offering more hours of time from your dedicated virtual assistant.

The Classic packages include;

One assigned virtual assistant with telephone, email and chat access daily. Access to the client dashboard with email and online support, and access to project and task management tools. A 30 minute strategy call with Nancy Brown, an additional bi-monthly call and two emails with her per week.

The prices per Classic package are as follows:

• Starter – Up to 5 hours per month for $250 per month.
• Basic – Up to 10 hours per month for $500 per month.
• Classic – Up to 15 hours per month for $725 per month.

The Premium packages include all the services in the Classic packages, with an additional 30 minute call with Nancy Brown, unlimited emails with her, and a backup virtual assistant.

The prices per Premium package are as follows:

• Plus – Up to 20 hours per month for $950 per month.
• Premiere – Up to 30 hours per month for $1,425 per month. Includes 2 assigned assistants.
• Premiere Plus – Up to 50 hours per month for $2,250 per month. Includes 3 assigned assistants.

Virtual Gal Friday Alternatives

With rates around $45 – $50 per hour for Virtual Gal Friday, you’re looking at one of the most expensive virtual assistant companies I’ve come across, even for US-based VAs. (However, you can take a look at their “hiring” page to see how serious they are about only bringing on the best talent they can find.)

At similar or slightly more affordable price points, you might consider Time Etc or Worldwide101.

For the virtual receptionist service, you might consider Conversational or Gabbyville, though their offerings are more limited in scope.

Your Turn

If you have worked with Virtual Gal Friday please share your experiences by leaving a review below!

The post Virtual Gal Friday appeared first on Virtual Assistant Reviews.

Somebody 2 Hire is a virtual assistant company in the Philippines with a large number of virtual assistants ready to handle administrative, customer service, and marketing tasks.

Founded in 2013, they pride themselves on having virtual assistants with a wide range of experience and expertise.

Somebody2Hire are happy to take on small, medium, or large clients, and no task is too small, or too large. Each virtual assistant is managed in house, so clients can rest assured they will not be let down.

About Somebody 2 Hire

The company was founded a little over two years ago by founder Jozsef Kiss, with Mads Sorenson stepping on board as a partner. While this makes them a relatively new company in the virtual assistant landscape, it’s long enough to fill clients with confidence that they are here to stay.

When I asked what set them apart from other virtual assistant companies, Jozsef’s response was, “We have a dedicated support team on site in our office, in the Philippines. What makes us stand out as a leading outsourcing center are the skill sets that we can acquire to put in place for our clients.”

He went on to add that they only hire assistants with excellent English skills and years of experience, which anyone who has used a VA before will know is a huge advantage.

Somebody 2 Hire Intro Video

Services

The company provides a wide range of services, and are happy to discuss any bespoke needs too. However, they wrap most of their expertise into three key areas:

Administrative – Including handling email support, scheduling support and management, data administration, database management, customer support, research, and more.

Customer Service – Inbound and outbound services, online chat support, and email support.

Online Marketing – Handling social media accounts, SEO, SEM, website maintenance, WordPress assistance, graphic design, and more.

As with most virtual assistant providers, you will get most value by providing as much detail as possible when outsourcing and identifying early into the process how well the relationship is working.

With such a wide range of tasks being handled, I asked if there are any areas of specialization clients can use. Their response was that they specialize in ‘grunt work’, which while that may be an unusual choice of words, it paints the picture that they are happy handling any task.

Plans and Pricing

Somebody 2 Hire has a clear and simple pricing plan. You choose a plan by how many hours a day you want the virtual assistant, then you pay a flat rate. All rates are without commitment or contract.

You will see from the pricing below that you get considerably more value when you pay for the full 8 hour day package, which is something worth considering if you have a workload that will conclude once completed as opposed to daily ongoing tasks.

• 4 hours a day will cost $7.82 per hour / $625 per month.
• 8 hours a day will cost $6.85 per hour / $1095 per month.

These rates aren’t rock-bottom in the industry, but they’re competitive, especially for having a dedicated office infrastructure. I found Somebody 2 Hire very easy to contact and talk to. I would suggest contacting them if you have any specific requirements and want to discuss pricing.

Somebody 2 Hire Alternatives

There are a lot of virtual assistant providers in the Philippines. If you like the idea of office-based employees, VA Staffer runs a similar model near Manila. If you’re comfortable with home-office-based workers, you might consider Virtual Staff Finder or OnlineJobs.ph, though both of those will specialize in finding full-time VAs.

Have you worked with Somebody 2 Hire? If so, please post some comments about your experience below to help others make an informed decision.

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RemSource is an American virtual administrative assistant company based in Baltimore, MD. The company was founded in 2009 by Azi Rosenblum, who saw a need for a more professional, integrated admin service to help growing small businesses.

About RemSource

RemSource offers live administrative support during regular 9-5 office hours, including answering phones and emails, scheduling appointments, and customer service. Their agents can also handle ongoing business process outsourcing and bookkeeping tasks.

RemSource is one of very few US-based virtual assistant companies where the VAs work from an office and not from their homes.

Their team of administrative assistants works from their office in Baltimore (not overseas), and each client is assigned 2 dedicated admins (one primary, one secondary admin). The admins become a part of that business’s team, so the customers get used to speaking with the same people and can develop a long-term relationship.

The service is aimed at small business owners, solo practitioners, financial advisors, consultants, speakers, and other solopreneurs. The company has been recognized in the Baltimore Business Journal and SmartCEO Magazine for their innovative approach to administrative staffing.

Services

RemSource is kind of a virtual back-office for your business. They do calendar management and scheduling,  bookkeeping, answer your phone, and do proactive follow-ups with prospective leads and customers.

How it works is during your first 3 months as a client, they take a very consultative approach in finding the right opportunities for delegation and streamlining your business processes. Their team works with you to put systems in place for smooth operations and well-defined roles.

I asked Gali, their Director of Business Development, what sets RemSource apart from the competition? Her answer:

“We are one of the very few that offer LIVE 9-5 coverage for our clients. We do not bill by the hour, and we don’t work based on projects, we become essential components of the client’s DAILY operation in order to free up time and help the client focus on growing and building profits.”

That in-office presence that’s “on-call” during business hours is a big selling point. Clients don’t have to stress about counting tasks or running out of hours on their plan.

She also told me a story about how a construction company client of theirs actually won a bid, at least in part because they had a “secretary” answering the phone when the customer called. Little did they know it was really the RemSource VA!

Indeed, she picked up the phone on the first ring when I called.

Another example Gali shared was a busy graphic designer who felt bogged down by scheduling, invoicing, and following-up on proposals. Now RemSource handles all of that and she can focus on the work that only she can do: the talented design work that rings the cash register.

Plans and Pricing

Monthly packages start around $500-600 per month, but a more typical engagement is in the $1500 per month range.

Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Mention you found RemSource on VAA to save $100 on your first month of administrative services and/or $50 off your first month of bookkeeping services.

Where they used to put new clients on a 14-day trial plan, they found that didn’t serve the needs of either party very well. It was hard for RemSource to get fully integrated into a business and run at peak efficiency in that time frame, and it was also difficult to fully understand the scope of the client’s business and make process/delegation suggestions.

As a result, they’ve switched over to a quarterly engagement plan, in which both RemSource and their clients can take a longer-term view at their respective roles, responsibilities, and opportunities. These quarterly agreements are customized on a client-by-client basis, and are typically billed monthly.

RemSource Alternatives

As I mentioned, the virtual-but-still in-office admin model is rare for a company this size. (Most competitors run a model with home-based staff.) In the US, two similar services come to mind:   Longer Days in Michigan, and Virtual Assist USA in Pennsylvania.

Both of those options operate on kind of a hybrid model with hourly packages and access to a team of assistants for various business needs.

The RemSource service is what I’d consider a step up from just virtual receptionist services or UAssist.ME‘s low-level plan that promises a similar “all-day” coverage but shared among several clients.

Your Turn

Have you worked with RemSource? If so, please take a minute to leave a quick review below to help others with their decision.

The post RemSource appeared first on Virtual Assistant Reviews.

Bench is a remote bookkeeping service specializing in providing tax-ready financials for small businesses. Their clients are primarily spread across the U.S and Canada.

The company was formed in New York and has been in operation since 2002. They relocated to Vancouver, BC in the summer of 2013.

About Bench.co

Bench is a software company offering bookkeeping solutions for small businesses. They provide the tools for business owners to track their finances, as well as assigning a professional accountant to help manage the finances of the business.

The company moved from the U.S to Vancouver, B.C. in 2013, and this is where all of their employees are based.

Although 95% of their clients are U.S based, their bookkeepers are versed in the accounting practices and laws across several countries. So if you’re based outside of the U.S you can still contact them and discuss your requirements.

They are a tech savvy bookkeeping service, and use their own intuitive software as well as an app to keep in touch with clients. So you can easily connect with them directly and ensure your financial records are up to date, as well as keeping in constant communication with your assigned accountant.

Bench Intro Video

Services

Preparing tax returns and balancing the books is a time consuming part of running a business. Bench takes the burden of managing the financials from small business owners at an affordable price. Using their systems and team of bookkeepers and accountants, they take care of all the day-to-day financials of running a business so you can use your time working on other areas of your business.

Bench uses their software and an account manager to prepare the financials for a business on a monthly basis. They prepare cash-basis, tax-ready income statements and balance sheets and provide ongoing support.

They have a simple three step plan in place for new customers:

1. They set up a call to discuss your business and answer any questions you have
2. They prepare your financials for the first month for free so you can try their service and see how it works with your business before committing
3. You review the income statement with your account manager and decide if you want to purchase an ongoing plan

Plans and Pricing

Bench have four main packages to choose from. Each package comes with monthly cash-basis income statements and a balance sheet, as well as ongoing communication with the team.

The starter package is the Micro package. You get 2 bank and credit card accounts, and 1 custom add-on with this package and it costs $125 per month. Each subsequent package provides you with one more bank or credit card account and 1 more custom add-on, with the prices being $175, $250 and $350 per month respectively.

They understand that every business has some individual needs and welcome anyone to contact them directly to discuss their financials and what package would be most suitable.

They also offer a free trial. This is for one month’s worth of bookkeeping, allowing you to give their service a try and a get a feel for their software and processes.

Bench Alternatives

Hiring a bookkeeper is one of the first additions many small businesses make. Bench seems like a nice hybrid between hiring a contract bookkeeper from an accounting firm or a freelance bookkeeper on Upwork or another platform, and the full “do-it-yourself” option of just using Excel spreadsheets, Freshbooks, or Quickbooks Online.

Your Turn

I think the one month free trial is a great opportunity to give Bench a try if you’re unsure of what to expect. If you have worked with Bench please leave some feedback below to help others with their decision.

The post Bench.co appeared first on Virtual Assistant Reviews.

Remplo enables small business owners and entrepreneurs to outsource tasks to their team of virtual assistants. The company has a large team of hand-picked virtual assistants (primarily based in Sri Lanka) with a range of skills to meet their clients’ needs.

About Remplo

Remplo have been providing virtual assistant services since 2006.

Being in the virtual assistant space for that long and still going strong is testament to a good reputation and a lot of satisfied clients. The company is headed up by Roshana Mallawaarachchi, and their target customers are small businesses and entrepreneurs.

They claim to have worked with over 1,000 clients, and saved them time by having their skilled virtual assistants handle their tasks at a cost effective and competitive rate. 

Roshana pointed out that they have, “minimized issues associated in working with staff in autonomous and distant locations by keeping the contractors accountable and productive no matter where they are working from in the world.” That’s a mouthful, right?

He added that their hiring process utilizes a 10-step process designed by Richard Branson’s former executive assistant.

Remplo’s assistants are located in Sri Lanka, with sales offices in Australia and the UK.

Services

The company provides clients with VAs ready to tackle any day-to-day tasks a business owner would look to outsource. They do however group their virtual assistants’ skill sets into six categories as follows:

• Admin and Organizing
• Writing
• Marketing and Social Media
• Research
• Sales
• Medical Transcription

If your needs fall under any of the categories above, or you just have routine tasks you want to outsource, provide Remplo with as much detail as possible. The more detail you provide upfront, the better the communication and understanding is going forward.

One potential customer service hiccup: their “live chat” widget said they were online (“We are here!”), but after several minutes of no response to my message, it said no agents were available.

Plans and Pricing

Remplo has three easy to understand pricing plans.

Their Startup Plan costs $120. For this you get 20 hours of VA time @$6/hr to be used within one year.

Their Small Business Plan costs $400 for 80 hours of time, giving you a reduced hourly rate of $5/hr.

Their Dedicated Plan is $640 for 160 hours of time or $4/hr.

$640 for a full-time dedicated assistant is among the lowest rate I’ve seen. (Most other overseas virtual assistant companies charge in the $1000 per month range.) One reason for this is the lower overhead; Remplo assistants work from their home offices instead of from a dedicated call center-type cubicle farm.

As is common, the more hours you pay for upfront the better hourly rate you secure. All of their plans comes with a free consultation and setup to familiarize yourself with the company, and you can choose to have a dedicated virtual assistant.

There are no long-term contracts and each plan comes with a 30-day money back guarantee.

Remplo Alternatives

Among Remplo’s top competitors are companies like My Tasker and TaskBullet, but you’ll pay a slightly higher hourly rate at either of those.

Remplo has been in business for a long time and they do have a lot of experience in the virtual assistant space which goes a long way. I always recommend doing some due diligence and making contact with companies to see how they fit with your needs.

Your Turn

If you have worked with Remplo, please leave a review below and share your experience. This helps others with their decision, thanks.

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Outsourced.ph is an Australian based virtual assistant company with employees in both Australia and the Philippines. The company was founded by Mike Larcher, who has over 15 years’ experience in the digital space and also runs an award winning digital agency in Australia.

The company was founded in May 2012 to serve a core client base of small to medium sized businesses and entrepreneurs. They specialize in providing high quality technical virtual assistants to assist businesses with outsourcing tasks.

About Outsourced.ph

The Outsourced head office is in Sydney, Australia. They specialise in providing offshore virtual assistants based in the Philippines to businesses all over the globe. The company has a quality assurance directive, stating:

“We are dedicated to delivering quality assurance and are committed to providing staff of the highest standards, all backed by our award winning management in Australia with over 16 years technical staffing experience.”

The company recruit their virtual assistants in the Philippines to supply skilled staff at the lowest possible cost to the client. Allowing busy business owners to outsource time consuming tasks at an affordable rate, freeing up their time to work on growing their business or other areas.

Outsourced.ph: How it Works

Services

The company provides virtual assistants who are trained across a wide range of job roles, but as you might infer from their logo, they specialize in technical roles like web developers, QA testers, and IT support.

You can choose a virtual assistant based on their skill set to meet your requirements. They also have accountants, telemarketers, customer service reps, graphic designers, and many more roles.

This narrows down the selection for you. It’s then down to you to communicate your exact requirements and see how their virtual assistants match-up. 

Plans and Pricing

Outsourced price their service with an hourly rate per position of the virtual assistant.

The least expensive option for example is a Customer Service Assistant which will cost you $8 per/hr. While a Mid Developer is $14 per/hr, or a Senior Developer is $22 per/hr.

Outsourced state on their website that their pricing is only a guide, there is some room for negotiation based on your own unique requirements and the skillset of their assistants. If you want to secure the best possible price, have all of your requirements clearly laid out and be prepared to discuss this with a customer service rep.

Understand that as a recruiting agency, Outsourced.ph is making a markup on these salaries (just as any 3rd party VA company would).

Outsourced.ph Intro Video

Outsourced.ph Alternatives

There are lots of companies to choose from when sourcing virtual assistants from the Philippines. One other recruiting service that might be worth checking out is Zen Virtual Assistants Finder. 

If you prefer the do-it-yourself route, you may be able to find similarly skilled staff through a jobs board like OnlineJobs.ph and save quite a bit on your hourly rate by hiring directly.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Outsourced.ph? If so, please be sure to share a brief review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

The post Outsourced.ph appeared first on Virtual Assistant Reviews.

TayStone BPO is a business-class virtual assistant company, providing virtual assistants for entrepreneurs and small businesses all over the globe.

The company has been in operation since 2012. They are a family-owned business operating primarily out of Liverpool, England, while their virtual assistants are based throughout the UK, the Philippines, and in the US.

About TayStone

The company is managed by CEO Keith Taylor, with Sarah Taylor providing training and educational direction. Their headquarters are in Liverpool, England, with satellite offices in Northern Ireland, New York and the Philippines.

The company is completely remote, however they do arrange meetings in any of these locations for staff training and events when required.

TayStone specializes in working with all sizes and types of organizations from startups to established companies, entrepreneurs to small and large businesses. Although most of their virtual assistants are based in the Philippines, they also have staff in the UK and the US. This is to offer a “local feel” to their customers where required.

Keith explained they are extremely selective in their hiring process, eventually bringing on less than 1% of all applicants.

TayStone Intro Video

Services

The company provides two different services:

Dedicated Offshore Virtual Assistance – With this service, you are assigned a virtual assistant based in the Philippines. You will communicate with the VA directly and build up a relationship over time.

On Demand US or UK Virtual Assistance – With this service, you submit tasks to UK or US based virtual assistant teams to complete.

Both services come with a wide range of benefits as detailed in the plans and pricing below.

The two different services give you the option of either using virtual assistance from staff based in your home country and working normal business hours similar to yours, or staff in the Philippines, which is naturally much less expensive.

TayStone points out that they put a lot of emphasis on ensuring there are backup plans in place should the worst case happen. They are aware that Internet connectivity or power issues can be a problem when working with VAs overseas and have set emergency backup plans in place to ensure work flow is not interrupted for long.

Their larger plans also include a backup VA in case your assistant falls ill.

TayStone Founder Interview

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Plans and Pricing

TayStone offers four dedicated offshore virtual assistant plans.

These start with a Lite plan, which includes 20 hours per month at a rate of $8.75 per/hr.

The Part-Time plan includes 80 hours per month at $8.50 per/hr, the Busy plan with 120 hours per month at $8.25 per/hr, and a Full-Time plan with 160 hours per month at $8.00 per/hr.

These plans are sold as a monthly subscription service with a dedicated virtual assistant.

All plans come with a local US phone number, unlimited in/out calls, secure PC and high speed internet with backup and local US management. The larger plans have additional services bolted on, such as a backup employee in place, SMS alerts, call transfers, and more.

Their on demand US virtual assistant plans start at 10 hours per month at $27/hr, ranging up to 80 hours per month at $22/hr.

Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Mention referral code VAA for $50 off your first month!

With these on-demand plans, your hours are converted into buckets of tasks, each with a 20-minute allocation. For example, with the 10 Hour Bundle, you’ll get 30 20-minute tasks for your $270 subscription. If you have tasks you anticipate taking longer than 20 minutes, just let your VA know it’s OK to use more task credits.

(This seems like an unnecessarily complex conversion process, and would perhaps be simpler to just think of buying the promised number of VA hours.)

In contrast to the offshore plans above, these plans come with a dedicated account manager but tasks may be assigned across TayStone’s entire team of VAs, rather than a dedicated VA you work with each time.

Because there are a lot of services offered in their plans, I recommend contacting TayStone and detailing your exact requirements to be matched with the best plan. (This BPO division is part of a larger call-answering and admin assistance company, so they are well-equipped to handle a variety of business needs.)

TayStone BPO Alternatives

While the on-demand service is somewhat unique for US-based assistants, Time Etc is a well-rated alternative that offers a similar array of monthly packages in both the US and the UK.

For the dedicated offshore staff, your best bets are OnlineJobs.ph for direct hires or Task Bullet if you prefer working through a third-party company. With OnlineJobs you won’t have the infrastructure or backups, but you will have much lower ongoing costs. Task Bullet is a smaller operation than TayStone but has a unique pricing system where you just buy a bucket of hours that don’t renew monthly or expire until you use them up. 

Your Turn

Have you worked with TayStone, either with their US or UK team, or their virtual assistants in the Philippines? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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BDHire is a virtual assistant company based in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The company was founded in 2008, and has since been providing virtual assistant services to clients and business owners worldwide.

About BDHire

The company is headed up by Abul Kashem. Being in operation since 2008 makes BDHire one of the longer established companies in the fast-paced virtual assistant space.

Their target customers are social media and web design companies, travel, hotels and real estate businesses, as well as individual entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Looking at their in-house experts available for hire, they have a lot of services aimed at the smaller online entrepreneur. This was confirmed when I asked what their areas of specialization were, BDHire said, “full-time webmasters, link builders, SEO specialists, internet marketing experts, SBI webmasters and WordPress developers.”

Services

A lot of the company’s services are directed helping online business owners with their websites through the use of their virtual assistants. Their core services can be summarized as follows:

Link Building – They have a team of dedicated link builders, submitting articles and website URLs to directories and social bookmarking sites.

Keyword Research – They can find and provide a list of keywords in your chosen niche. As well as preparing a content creation blueprint.

On-Page SEO – They can analyze your existing content and ensure you are optimized for relevant keywords and your content is SEO friendly.

Niche Site Creation – BDHire have a team of experienced niche site builders. They can start a site for you either by choosing a niche or following your guidelines.

WordPress Services – Complete WordPress support, so you can invest your time in other areas of your business and leave the technical support to their experts.

SBI Services – Their experts will build a site from scratch or work on a site you already have. They can also move your site over to WordPress with a “smooth and successful transition.”

Plans and Pricing

Their rates vary per project and expert being hired.

Their minimum hourly rate is $17 per hour to give you a good idea of how much you will be paying and how they compare to other virtual assistant companies. BDHire representatives are happy to discuss each project’s individual needs and give you a more accurate quote.

In addition to rates that are 2-3x higher than their geographic neighbors, they also charge a one-time $250 set up fee, which is actually pretty uncommon in the industry.

BDHire Alternatives

What sets BDHire apart from general VA companies is their expertise in SEO, WordPress and niche sites. If you’re looking for support in these areas I would discuss you needs with them and get a quote.

If your needs are more varied or don’t require that type of specialization, you can probably save money by checking out competitors like My Tasker or VA Talks.

Your Turn

Have you worked with BDhire? If so, please leave a review below and share your experiences as it helps others with their decision.

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Xilium is a Philippines based virtual assistant company with offices in the US, and offices and virtual assistant staff in the Philippines. They provide a wide range of services and have been in operation since 2011.

If you’re curious what the name means, as I was, apparently it’s loosely derived from the Latin word “auxilium” meaning “assistance” or “aid.” So there’s your trivia for the day.

About Xilium

The company is headed up by Vanessa Estrella. I asked Xilium what their areas of specialization are and they said, “[we] specialize in virtual assistant services,” which wasn’t helpful at all. Then they clarified their target customers are “medical professionals, Amazon sellers, and business owners.”

If your businesses focuses on either of these areas and you are struggling to keep up with your workload it’s worth making contact with Xilium to see how they can help.

Xilium hire staff in the Philippines to take advantage of the geoarbitrage that comes with the lower cost of living in the Philippines (see plans and pricing below). You can hire part or full-time staff at a much lower cost than in the US. Staff in the Philippines typically have very good English skills too, so you’re less likely to encounter communication problems as you would with some other counties.

All of their staff are vetted, have college-graduate level qualifications and years of experience in the virtual assistant industry. Their staff work flexible hours, so your timezone or prefered hours of operation are not going to be a problem.

Services

The company provides college-graduate, professional virtual assistants ready to handle the day-to-day tasks you want to outsource to free up more of your time. Their services are categorized into three areas as mentioned above, with the breakdown of services as follows:

Medical Assistant Virtual Assistants

• Appointment scheduling
• Call answering and handling
• Calendar management
• Word processing
• Electronic medical record management
• Medical transcriptions
• Internet research

Business Virtual Assistants

• Handling business accounts and bookkeeping
• Personal assistant support
• CUstomer support
• Graphic design
• Technical support
• Website support and content

Online Marketing Virtual Assistants

• Email support
• Branding and product marketing
• Online reputation management
• Cloud services
• Product forum and support setup

Xilium Intro Video

Plans and Pricing

Xilium plans range from $335 per month to $1195 per month.

Their Bronze package is at the low end of that spectrum at $335 and includes a dedicated assistant for an 8-hour shift, one day a week. At 32 hours a month, it comes out to a little over $10 an hour.

The Bronze+ package gives you 10 hours a week, spread across a 5-day workweek at 2 hours a day. The current price is $395 per month (slightly less than $10 an hour).

The Silver package is $100 more but has some really confusing terms, hours, and scheduling so I’d probably avoid it.

Much simpler are the Gold and Platinum packages, at $695 and $1195 respectively. These are for 20 hour per week and 40 hour per week virtual employees. The Gold package averages out to around $8.70 an hour, while the Platinum clocks in at around $7.50.

Xilium Alternatives

There are no shortage of virtual assistant companies operating out of the Philippines. I’d take a look at Task Bullet or VA Staffer for a similar dedicated assistant set-up. TaskBullet has the advantage of not locking you in to a long-term subscription.

If you’re comfortable with a home-based VA, you might consider OnlineJobs, the largest virtual work job board in the country.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Xilium? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

The post Xilium appeared first on Virtual Assistant Reviews.

Equivity is a US-based virtual assistant company. Based in San Francisco and with virtual assistants across the country, the company has been in business since 2014.

About Equivity

The company is run by co-founders Eric Wall, and Heidi Hodges. Eric leads the strategic direction of the company and has a number of years experience as a patent litigator. Heidi oversees the operational strategy of the company and has an extensive background in content and digital marketing.

Their target customers are individuals, businessmen, and large companies. So a wide scope of clients from the solopreneur, all the way up to established corporations.

Services

The company provides virtual assistants ready to carry out a range of services from administrative tasks, marketing, bookkeeping and research support, as well as any ad-hoc tasks you may have.

Their team can handle tasks like managing appointments, carrying out property research, or making travel bookings. Just about anything you can think of, as long as you’re able to communicate your requirements clearly, their team is on hand to do the work.

EquivityVA.com virtual assistants are available to handle just about any tasks, no matter how large or small. If you are looking for support in any of the following areas, their team can help:

• Administrative assistance
• Accounting and bookkeeping
• Customer service
• Consulting
• Ad-hoc tasks
• And more

Plans and Pricing

Equivity has five different packages on offer. Rates range from around $30-$25 an hour depending on the package.

As is normal practice, the more hours you purchase the lower the hourly rate. Their packages are as follows:

• Assist – $149 for 5 hours = $29.8 per hour
• Elevate – $274 for 10 hours = $27.4 per hour
• Achieve – $399 for 15 hours = $26.6 per hour
• Professional – $749 for 30 hours = $24.96 per hour
• Executive – $1249 for 50 hours = $24.98 per hour

When you sign up you are assigned your own personal, college-educated virtual assistant. There are no long-term contracts, and flexibility when you can use the hours.

Equivity Alternatives

There are several worthy competitors to Equivity in the American virtual assistant realm. Time Etc has earned positive feedback lately and is priced similarly. Worldwide101 and eaHELP are also well-reviewed but come with a higher price tag.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Equivity? If so, please share your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Acelerar is a virtual assistant service company based in Noida, India. The company has been in operation since 2010 and provides virtual assistants round the clock to support clients around the world in their respective time zones.

About Acelerar

Acelerar operates out of a hi-tech suburb of New Delhi, Noida, India. The company currently employs 52 members of staff, and when I spoke with them recently they pointed out that they are planning to double this number by the end of 2016.

The company only employs college graduates and they put their virtual assistants through a number of background checks and other tests. Their candidates go through a two-week training course where they cover using MS office, social media tools, and complete dummy projects to develop an understanding of their roles.

Each virtual assistant signs a Nondisclosure Agreement so you don’t need to worry about your confidentiality being breached. When you sign up for a package you are assigned a Customer Success Manager. This member of staff acts as your point of contact to ensure you’re happy with how things are going.

AcelerarTech has implemented a time-tracking tool to keep you in touch with your virtual assistant. This allows you to keep up-to-date with how your tasks are progressing. You can view screenshots of your work being completed and contact your virtual assistant with any feedback you have.

Acelerar Intro Video

Services

When I spoke with Acelerar they summarized their services into the following areas:

• Administration assistance
• Data entry
• Customer service
• List building and lead generation
• Online research
• Recruitment
• Back office support
• Real estate services
• Ad-hoc tasks

Plans and Pricing

Acelerar has four different hourly packages. Their packages start at $160 per month and you can secure a less expensive rate the more hours you purchase. The complete pricing table is as follows:

• 20 hours per month – $160 ($8/hr)
• 40 hours per month – $280 ($7/hr)
• 80 hours per month – $480 ($6/hr)
• 160 hours per month – $800 ($5/hr)

If you’ve been comparing different VA companies, you know these rates are quite competitive.

They also offer a free trial to test their services. You do need to put down a small deposit, but it’s fully refundable if you are not happy with their service for any reason.

Getting started with Acelerar couldn’t be any easier. You can either give them a call, submit a form on their website for a free quote, or use a live chat box on their site for a quick answer to any questions you have.

Acelerar Alternatives

Among other virtual assistant companies in India, MyTasker or Ask Sunday might be worth a look. Their range of services offered are similar though their pricing packages are both slightly more expensive.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Acelerar? If so, please share a quick review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

The post Acelerar appeared first on Virtual Assistant Reviews.

FreeeUp is a virtual assistant service that offers virtual assistant services to customers all over the globe and specializes in the eCommerce industry. They are a relatively new company to join the virtual assistant space, starting operations in October 2015.

The company is based in Florida, US, with their virtual assistants based all over the globe. They offer a wide range of prices and skill sets, so there is a good chance most people will find a virtual assistant to meet their budget and outsourcing requirements.

About FreeeUp

The company is run by Chief Executive Officer Nathan Hirsch, and co-founder Connor Gillivan who fills the role of Chief Technology and Content Officer. They both have an extensive background in eCommerce business and started the company to primarily help other eCommerce business owners looking to outsource tasks.

The company utilizes virtual assistants that are experienced and highly-skilled in the eCommerce industry and puts each applicant through some tests to assess their abilities before adding them to their roster.

The company connects with each client one-on-one to learn about their business and discuss their requirements. This gives you the opportunity to talk through exactly what you are looking for from a virtual assistant, and they will do the rest matching you up with the most suitable assistant.

FreeeUp Intro Video

(It’s less than 30 seconds.)

Services

FreeeUp has a four-step process when connecting with new clients:

1. Step 1 – They connect with you to learn about your business and how they can best help.
2. Step 2 – You are introduced to the virtual assistant the company has matched you with.
3. Step 3 – You have an opportunity to work with your assistant and train them on your processes.
4. Step 4 – A representative checks in after a few days to see how the relationship is working out between you and your VA.

FreeeUp’s virtual assistants specialize in helping business owners in the eCommerce industry. If you run an eCommerce business or are looking to start one up, their assistants are experienced in the industry and can provide the support you’re looking for.

They offer support with inventory management, order fulfillment, customer service, product listing, advanced Amazon management, eBay store growth, content creation, digital marketing, and much more. This seems like a perfect fit if you’re involved in the Amazon FBA boom.

Plans and Pricing

You can expect to pay between $5-$50 per hour depending on the level of skills and experience you require in your virtual assistant.

They also offer a consulting service which ranges between $30-$50 per hour.

VAA Exclusive: Mention VAA for 10% off workers!

FreeeUp Alternatives

FreeeUp specializes in ecommerce, which separates them from other general virtual assistant companies. On the lower end of the price scale, companies like eLuminous Technologies and VA Staffer profess to have ecommerce expertise, and can be very effective if you already have some standard operating procedures to plug a VA into.

On the home front, you might consider Longer Days for quality US-based help with ecommerce experience, or even posting a specialist role on Upwork. 

Your Turn

Have you worked with FreeeUp? If so please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Surplus Hands is a virtual assistant company that employs exclusively US-based virtual assistants. Their offices are located in Philadelphia, and their assistants work remotely across the US.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider Surplus Hands if you’re not based in the US however. They have many clients in countries outside the US, such as Canada, Australia and all across Europe.

About Surplus Hands

The company is run by founder Yassine Jouichate. Surplus Hands started operations towards the end of 2015 and have been “growing exponentially” in their short time in the virtual assistant space.

Surplus Hands have a team of virtual assistants ready to handle any business tasks you’re looking to outsource. They always guarantee you will have a backup assistant too, so should your assistant take time off for an emergency or book holiday time your service will be uninterrupted.

Their assistants are all US College Educated, and capable of handling administrative tasks, research, development of WordPress sites, marketing, and more. When I asked them who their target customers were they said, “small businesses, entrepreneurs and fortune 500 company employees who do not have the equipment or setting to hire an in-person employee.”

Services

With their company directive to become the “go-to-company” for your virtual assistant needs, their assistants cover a wide range of tasks. To get the most from their services I recommend contacting them with as much detail as possible about the work you want completed and see how well their assistants match up with your requirements.

Virtual assistant services are typically not limited to the type of business, but more so the types of tasks you’re outsourcing. You should contact Surplus Hands and provide as much detail as you can about the work you need completed and see how their assistants and skill-sets match up.

There is also a free trial available by filling out a form on their site. Using free trials is always the best way to sample a company’s services and see how well they treat you.

Plans and Pricing

Surplus Hands break down their pricing into three different plans. You can also contact them to build a custom plan by discussing all your requirements and they will supply you with a quote. This is best used for large or one-off projects.

Their plans start at $199 for their “Starter” plan, which gives you 14 hours of virtual assistant time. Their next plan is their “Economy” plan, which costs $359 for 26 hours of time. While their largest plan is currently their “Business” plan, which costs $659 for 50 hours of time.

The rates seem almost suspiciously low, bordering on “too-good-to-be-true” territory. I mean, $13 an hour sounds great for US-based help, but can’t leave much margin to operate the business.

All of their plans come with a 3 hour trial period for free. Same-day turnaround on tasks, email, SMS and phone support, and your assistant will be available between 9am – 6pm in your time zone.

Surplus Hands Alternatives

For US-based virtual assistants, I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a company offering similar rates outside of freelancers on Upwork. If your budget allows, established and well-reviewed companies like Time Etc or Worldwide101 may be worth a look. 

Despite the name similarity, I wouldn’t consider Fancy Hands a direct competitor because they operate on a task-based model without a dedicated assistant.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Surplus Hands? Please leave a brief review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

The post Surplus Hands appeared first on Virtual Assistant Reviews.

TaskBullet is a virtual assistant company in the Philippines with US-sales offices in California and Utah. The company was founded in 2012, and has quickly become a leader in the industry.

The Task Bullet model is a virtual employee model, where all the VAs have at least five years of experience in their fields. You get an assistant who can handle your website management, email marketing, social media accounts, customer service, research and more.

Since they are your dedicated VA, you can train them to meet your specific needs and requirements.

About TaskBullet

Virtual assistants either work from their home offices or from TaskBullet’s central PCI compliant facility, which is ideal for assistants to handle inbound and outbound calls.

TaskBullet project managers are also located in the Philippines and there is a U.S. based customer support staff, if ever there is a problem.

TaskBullet virtual assistants go through a rigorous hiring process. In particular, they company seeks out VAs who are quick learners and who have advanced English skills.

How it Works

The Bucket System

TaskBullet doesn’t have monthly bills, contracts, or fees.

TaskBullet uses buckets of hours that the VA pulls from while they are actively working on your tasks. When your bucket is empty, simply purchase another bucket of hours and continue on.

You can upgrade, downgrade, or take a break, it’s up to you. Every TaskBullet Bucket of Hours comes with a project manager to oversee your tasks. You can delegate your tasks to your project manager for quick assignment to an available and skilled VA. If you have the same reoccurring tasks you can have a dedicated VA to delegate tasks to directly.

Your project manager will be available during U.S. business hours and your VA will work your business hours.

Assigning tasks

TaskBullet uses Basecamp, a very simple and effective task management system to upload and monitor your tasks. When you sign up you will get an email from them inviting you to set up your free TaskBullet Basecamp project.

All your tasks, files and communication can take place in one convenient location.

Getting Started

Getting started with TaskBullet is very quick and easy. They can usually have you submitting tasks the same day you sign up.

They offer a Welcome Call to all new sign ups, where they show you around Basecamp and help you upload your first task. They will send you an email asking you to pick a time for one of their on-boarding specialists to call you.

Task Bullet Founder Interview

Services

The company is able to provide dedicated virtual assistants, while still being able to tap into a team with a broad range of skills. You have 3 points of contact: your VA, your dedicated VA project manager, and your US-based team lead in Utah.

For advanced skills or roles your dedicated VA isn’t the best fit to handle, you can apply your pre-paid time to others on their team to get your work done without having to source a new company or freelancer.

It’s a service by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. As such, they have a strong understanding of what you need – affordable quality help, and what you don’t – stress, overhead, headaches.

Task Bullet service comes with no start-up fees and a 60-day money back guarantee. If you’re unhappy with your VA, the company will set up with a new one immediately. In addition, new customers receive a free consultation on how to most effectively work with their VA.

Plans and Pricing

I appreciated how they were upfront with their pricing – with none of the “contact us for a quote” stuff you see on some other sites.

The rates start $6/hour when you buy a 240 hour block, enough for the equivalent of 6 weeks of full-time support.

Customers aren’t billed on a recurring monthly basis, but rather can renew their hours or upgrade or downgrade at any time.

That structure makes sense if you don’t have a consistent workload each week, but are confident you’ll use the time eventually. And if you do have routine tasks to assign, you’ve got an affordable flexible VA service.

Highlights:

• You have 90 days to use the hours in your bucket.
• There are no contracts and no monthly fees.
• This is a one-time purchase for hours that you can use any time over the next 3 months.
• You do not purchase additional hours until your current bucket runs out.
• You can use as many or as little hours as you want per day/week/month.

TaskBullet Alternatives

While there are certainly other virtual assistant companies in the Philippines, TaskBullet is the only one I’m aware of that operates without monthly subscription fees.

Your Turn

Have you worked with TaskBullet? If so, please share your experience below and help others with their search.

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