I am an offshore Virtual Assistant from the Philippines, just like Shirley, I also charge $5 per hour but I just want to stress out that skills and the quality of services of a VA can’t be measured by rates alone. Sad to say but in reality, discrimination comes within the VA industry itself.

Offshore VA’s like me has the advantage of charging less because of the lesser cost of living. I’m sure that most offshore VA’s would agree with me that we do not aim to create a “cheap” impression for the whole industry as a whole. But can you blame us for living in a country with a weaker economy than the rest of the world?

I applaud you Mark for a very detailed and extensive research made. I guess this seemingly endless argument about virtual assistants isn’t going to end that easy…

I wish you the best.

Just because I only charge $15-25 an hour and I’m not certified by some website doesn’t mean I don’t provide quality services. There’s one simple reason for this. I am new so I have set my rates low to attract clients, and I don’t have the money to pay for those certifications yet.

Considering how supportive of one another most VAs are – and will even outsource to other VAs if they have a client who needs a task done that they are not well-trained in – its sad and disappointing to see some VAs put others down, even if it is indirectly and unintentional. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen very often.

I also wanted to address two other comments from your post:
1) Your assistant’s comment that anyone who would want to be a VA is a Type A and high strung. I am neither of those things. I want to be a VA because it allows me to work from home and own my own business while still doing the same thing I was doing in an office for someone else.

2) Regarding the training of a VA, I would welcome the opportunity to be trained on something rather than be resistant to it. Not only do I love to learn new things, it will also give me another skill to add to my list of services I can offer as a VA.

Regardless of how people may feel about your posts, at least its creating a lot of buzz about Virtual Assistants.

I actually founded a Virtual Buzz Network (VA’s in the US that specialize in new media marketing) because I found I never trusted traditional VA’s with my marketing communications.

The part about a US VA overseeing the remote VA’s is right on. Thanks for the lengthy article.

I have been saying for a long time that the VAs in other countries should raise their rates – imagine….they could charge almost double what they do now and we US based VAs still wouldnt be able to compete with their prices. That is why I dont even try.

My clients see the value I give them and that is all that matters.

I think your postings on this subject was right on the money and am probably going to make some VAs mad by stating as such, but you know what, I dont really care. Too busy with client work to worry about what they think

Again, thanks for stating something that a lot of us VAs also feel!

That word you used in one of your bullet points, what was it…. ah, yes, COMMUNICATING. Part of communicating is being a good “receiver,” as in the listener or reader paying attention to what is actually said/written. I’m glad I took the time to read what you wrote myself – it was very informative & interesting.

Thanks for both posts and the discussion they sparked. I’m looking forward to reading more of your work here.

I enjoyed reading this. It definitely gave me a list of things NOT to do when I start.

BTW, my pappy always said to never trust anyone with a “contruction” note on their website portfolio!

The assistant I worked with in India had plenty of initiative, but it was sometimes constrained by the cultural limitations. However, in at least one instance my Indian virtual assistant did something that turned out to be very beneficial, that a local virtual assistant probably wouldn’t have. She wasn’t constrained by a cultural paradigm that would have limited her in this particular situation.

Your “classroom” looks interesting and I’ll check it out when I get a chance.

Thanks for adding your valuable perspective to the discussion.

Phew…… I finally had a chance to review your lengthy rebuttal to your initial post on the “Ultimate Guide to Virtual Assistants”. This post certainly created an “active dialogue” which is great!

I myself have been managing virtual teams over the last few years and have trained and worked with many on-shore and offshore Virtual staff. I currently own and operate VAClassroom, a niche training center for Virtual Assistants.

I appreciate a lot of your insights and you certainly understand the positive business building effects of hiring virtual assistants.

Now, in reviewing your Virtual Assistant tasks, I would classify many of them at the elementary or basic level. They are not specialized and it makes sense that you could hire someone at a lower rate to cover off these basic tasks.

The term “Virtual Assistant” means different things to different people. For myself, I have watched the VA industry evolve over the last few years and I can honestly say that the term is morphing in many new directions. While many Virtual Assistants continue to perform mainstream tasks such as Document Creation, Scheduling, Emailing and Basic Internet Research, other VAs are carving out “in-demand” niches and specializing in such areas as Blogging, Shopping Cart Set-up, Social Media, Affiliate Marketing and many other areas. The beauty is that many are acquiring specialized skills, but still offer competitive rates. For example; if I was to hire an experienced Affiliate Manager, I would pay high 5 figures. With an Affiliate Marketing VA, I can hire them on an as needed basis at a decent wage rate – $25-40/hr to provide key affiliate management services. You might say that if they are doing specialized tasks like that, then they are no longer classified as a VA. Well, that one would be certainly open to debate:)

Given my own experience in working with both offshore and onshore Virtual Assistants, here are a few factors that stood out for me:

1. The “Culture” factor. Yes many Off-shore VAs speak good English, but I have personally experienced limitations in their ability to connect on a cultural level. For example; I had one Canadian VA that managed my key affiliate campaigns, a few of which drove some significant profits for our company. She built a great rapport with my key partners and was able to “shoot the breeze” on interesting topics such as particular holidays, family and such. For myself, this is VERY important that my VAs are able to connect with my partners as that just further solidifies this important business relationship. For this reason, I prefer to hire on-shore VAs for these types of task that are in-tune with the cultural norms. Again, there may be other VA tasks where this is not as important.

2. The Versatility Factor – Virtual Assistants I have worked with in India and other off-shore locations are very good at performing certain tasks IF I have laid out a clear system of training. As you said, once the training has been established, then it can work quite well. However, I personally found these VAs lacked some versatility and adaptability as I compared with the Western VAs. I would assign tasks to a VA, but would often require them to shift gears, take on new tasks and adapt on the fly. My Western VAs were able to do this much more effectively. There is no doubt that the offshore VAs had many wonderful skills, but there were limitations in their ability to adapt quickly to the shifting demands and needs of our business.

3. The “Initiative” Factor – Again, I do not want to generalize too much here, but I noticed that the western VAs I worked with took more initiative to complete additional related tasks that were not necessarily spelled out in the initial document. They were able to think beyond the task system I had laid out for them. While Offshore VAs can be very proficient in completing many tasks, their ability to initiate was simply not as strong.

Again, these limiting factors are based on my own experiences.

Just a few thoughts – you have done a nice job of “stirring the pot” and driving an extra bunch of traffic to your blog, I imagine:)

All the best,
Craig Cannings
http://www.vaclassroom.com

So far the regular readers who have commented seemed to think this stuff is at least slightly useful/interesting, so I’ll probably stick with their opinion. I doubt you are a regular because you found the page by doing a google search for the title of this particular post.

Regardless, I do appreciate hearing your opinion and hope you enjoy your cup of coffee.

As the client, you get to hire anyone you want at whatever rate you can afford. If your budget is smaller, there are MANY people around the globe willing to work for less, and that doesn’t mean their work product sucks.

But if you have a larger budget, well, it’s hard to beat the work ethic and problem solving you find in places like Sydney and New York.

Whatever. I’m so bored of this whole thing that I a) need a cup of coffee and b) plan to stop reading your stuff right now.

First of all, I am a “VA” and have to agree with you that the term is somewhat limiting but more often than not, we call ourselves VAs as a geographic term rather than a limiting skill set. Many of us who have been doing this for awhile have moved on from being generalists to having a niche (some are real estate VAs, some are bookkeepers, mine is nichign with coaches but specializing in marketing). Some VAs have even started coaching other VAs but still call themselves VAs. In a general sense I am a VA but I have started marketing myself as an “emarketing expert” because it better tells of my range of services.

I do want to clear up a few things though…

Coaching, consulting, and providing administrative tasks are all different. Actually, I work mainly for coaches and consultants and the basic difference between the two is that coaches coach you through making decisions without giving advice, while consultants will give you advice on what to do. VAs, in a very general sense, implement the business/marketing/strategy decisions that are made. I do have a degree in business management with 15 years’ prior experience working in the IT field and I could probably make a living being a business consultant but I’d rather partner with coaches helping them make decisions about their marketing and then actually doing the work. I know, crazy talk! It’s just a matter of what I enjoy doing and what I’m passionate about.

Now, about certifications. Different associations/training programs have their own certification exams. IVAA has EthicsCheck, Cert. Real Estate Support Specialist, and Certified Virtual Assistant. The vacertification.com site you mentioned is associated with only one program and they offer the MVA. Association/membership sites usually don’t provide training, so there may be no certification process/exams, it just depends on the program. An example is eMarketing Association; this association provides membership and a certification test – no training, no courses, just a test to see if you know your stuff. It’s the same with Microsoft – of which I hold a few certifications. And you’re right, no one really knows how much value a certification holds because it doesn’t tell you how good of a VA s/he is or if s/he is right for your business. For me, having a certification sets me apart from my competition – plain and simple.

I also agree with your entire argument about having a VA try out a project. I did this with my very first client. He is an author, Ph.D., and C++ software trainer. His standards were, and still are, extremely high. He wanted to try out a VA to see how well the person could follow directions since his projects require an extreme attention to detail (training sessions with C++ code embedded within Powerpoint presentations). I didn’t get offended, I offered him two free hours, and I worked hard to gain his trust and to prove to him I was the right person for the job. Three years later and I still work with this client. Another VA may have balked at his offer, instructions, and the ‘tsk tsk’ comments I get from him when I miss something. But hey, he pays me his hard-earned money so I had better deliver. Nothing wrong with testing the waters.

Like you, I’ve often referred potential clients to guru.com or other freelance sites because I know they could get pretty much the same service for much less. I even use these sites myself for things I cannot/do not want to do myself. I use a guy in the UK for PHP programming (exchange rate is killing me!) and a guy in the Ukraine for Flash banners. It’s called a “free market” and I’ve never thought less of anyone who could get a better deal somewhere else. I know the whole “$7/hr thing” was blown out of proportion, but even if the whole issue was indeed centered on the premise that you could get a VA for $7/hour, more power to you! I don’t view it as a threat to our industry and I’m not sure why other VAs would think so too. I know of a teenage girl in a rural town who provides transcription and she charges considerably less than her established VA counterparts. Is she threatening the industry because she charges less and may be viewed as something less than a professional because she is younger and lives at home with no expenses? Only if you’re insecure about your abilities.

Why would someone pay more for the same service? Call me dumb, but I just don’t get it. Working in the IT industry for 15 years and having one of my tech jobs outsourced many years ago, I know the full meaning of global economy. It is what it is and I don’t begrudge anyone for wanting to save money. How can I?

Instead of spending time and energy continually defending the industry, I would humbly suggest to my fellow VAs to spend that time building up your “expert” status and gaining credibility by posting answers to others in a forum where your potential clients visit. I find posting over and over again to an audience consisting of your peers does little in growing your own business (or making more money). Helping out now and again is great, but if we want to move to the next level, we need to stop getting mired in the minutiae.

Mark, thanks for putting a spotlight on the VA industry. I “get” your sense of humor and found myself more than amused with your posts. I think the fact that you actually work with VAs lends more to your credibility than someone, of course, who has never worked with one. So I do think we VAs have something to learn from your point of view.