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Ask the Readers: What’s Your Number One Virtual Assistant Tip?

December 9, 2010 by Chris 27 Comments

Live2Sell Family

Part of the ‘VBL Core4’, as I have recently started to refer to them as, is Outsourcing. When it comes to lifestyle design, we look more towards personal outsourcing, rather then the huge call center outsourcing that takes place so much nowadays. And, when we think personal outsourcing, we think of virtual assistants (on which there is 33 archived articles on this blog alone – click the link to see ’em!).

I’ve been involved with outsourcing for so long now that it is part of my daily life, more than most people can comprehend. Sure, I run an outsourcing company – but, I also provide content on the subject for many magazines, associations, business groups and other media sources, too, based on my 10 years of experience in the industry. However, personal outsourcing and working with virtual assistants has become such a huge topic that I now get more emails on this subject alone, when it comes to outsourcing, than any other aspect on the topic! I’ve even recorded a ‘short and sharp’ series of 10 related videos, which you can check out, too, if you like!

…

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Alone and Stuck With Your Online Business? Join a Mastermind Group TODAY!

October 21, 2010 by Chris 47 Comments

Join the Mastermind Group Today

This guest post by Juha Liikala is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!

I guess we’ve  all been there. You wake up, check your blog’s statistics for the morning, open up your blog and start thinking about what would be your next step. What can you do to make it better. No new comments today, is there something wrong? Have the audience lost their interest on my stuff? Will this lead somewhere or am I just wasting my time? Should I create a product about this or launch a service about that?

…

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Lessons From the Corporate World: Tips for Outsourcing Business Tasks

October 20, 2010 by Chris 13 Comments

lessons from the corporate world

This guest post by Eric Gati is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!

If you’re reading this post right now on Virtual Business Lifestyle, chances are you’ve at least heard of virtual assistants, and are perhaps interested in finding one or finding out how to utilize them effectively.  Congratulations, you’re already more advanced than the majority of people out there who believe that affordable help is difficult to find.  The fact of the matter is, outsourcing bits and pieces of your business (or in some cases, most of your business) is a critical part of making you as productive as possible….

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The Definitive Guide to Paying Home-Based Filipino Virtual Assistants

September 29, 2010 by Chris

paying home based virtual staff

PLEASE NOTE: This post was originally published in September 2010. Since then the ‘work from home’ industry in the Philippines has, and will continue to develop immensely over. I’ve therefore decided to update this post regularly, so that no matter when you visit, it’s always up to date!

Last Updated: January, 2017

One thing is for sure – if you pay peanuts, you’ll get monkeys!

Since launching Virtual Staff Finder back in 2010, we’ve received thousands of questions on the subject of working with virtual assistants – particularly from the Philippines. Everything from hiring and training them, right the way down to working with your VA on a day to day basis, and how to keep them motivated.

However, the number one question we hear more than anything else is “How much do I pay my Filipino Virtual Assistant…?”.

So, to answer this question in a concise, yet highly knowledgable way – based on years of experience – and the fact that myself and my VSF Team are based here in the Philippines, all year round, this post has been put together as a general guide to doing just that – paying your Virtual Assistant based in the Philippines.

Please bear in mind these salary guidelines are for home-based Virtual Assistant’s from the Philippines, working from their homes, for you directly. If you don’t want to work with virtual staff directly, nor train them, motivate them or even speak to them – then I suggest looking into a more professional outsourcing set-up.

Different Types of Virtual Assistants

So, here you go a guideline on the four main types of Virtual Assistant’s, what you can expect them to be able to do, task wise, and what you should be looking to pay them for both full-time, and part-time positions. Hope this clears a few things up for everyone.

Virtual Assistant Skill Sets

There are also other types of virtual workers available from the Philippines, such as video editors, audio editors, graphic designers and the like, however, based on us working with hundreds of entrepreneurs over the time we’ve been in business at Virtual Staff Finder, we’ve found this set of four to be the most sought-after.

Please note: After a full signup audit in November 2013, we realized that 72% of our clients are looking for General VAs (GVA), and therefore now only focus on this one role at Virtual Staff Finder.

Paying Your Virtual Staff in the Philippines

For the longest time, Paypal has been the standard for paying your staff in the Philippines… and it remains that way. It’s super easy for your staff to get their hands on their money, and a whiz for you to set-up – just be cool and pay the fees!

Salary Guidelines

Ultimately, its down to you, as the virtual boss to decide what you are happy paying for your virtual staff. However, to be able to attract, hire and keep great staff working for you virtually by outsourcing to the Philippines, you also have to be very aware that the industry has, and continues to change immensely. The people are becoming more and more experienced, and more and more in-demand.

They know this, and therefore it is no longer possible (in our eyes, anyway) to get a General VA for $250 a month. Not if you want them to do a great job for you, anyway!

The following are current average full-time salary guidelines that you can follow, keeping in mind that there are less experienced workers willing to work for less, and more experienced workers that will want to see much bigger numbers – its all relevant:

  • General Virtual Assistant (GVA) – $500-$800 a month
  • Article / Content Writer – $500-$700 a month
  • SEO / Web Marketer VA – $750-$950 a month
  • Web Developer – $800-$1,400 a month

Additional / Emerging Virtual Staff Roles

I’ve seen more people recently asking for additional types of virtual staff on a regular basis over the last year or so. They are as follows, and again – all rates are approximate and based upon market conditions and experience levels, obviously:

  • Graphic Designers – $700 – $1,200 a month
  • Audio / Video VA’s – $600 – $1,200 a month
  • Mobile App Developer VA’s – $800 – $1,400 a month (Note: not popular in the Philippines currently. Look to Eastern Europe for this for the time being!)

* Part-time rates would obviously be 50% of full-time rates.

Now, again, these are just guidelines. For example, 5-6 years ago, you could get a full-time General Virtual Assistant from the Philippines to work for you for that $250 I mentioned earlier. But, times change, and the home-based virtual staffing world is changing, too.

If you have any more questions on this subject feel free to comment below, or for more in-depth answers and advice, just reach out to the fantastic Virtual Staff Finder team directly.

Want Success in Business? Get Some GREAT Support, NOW!

May 27, 2010 by Chris 14 Comments

Location: Home Office – Reading Time: 8mins

Pictured with me above is my Personal Assistant, Stephanie (she’ll kill me for posting this photo, but – too late!). Steph helps me with my day-to-day business tasks, and definitely plays a big part in me achieving what I achieve every day – whether I’m working from the company’s HQ, or home (like today), or anywhere else for that matter!

Judging by the amount of visitors I get each day to the blog, which is growing every single day – and the 700+ people that have downloaded my free eBook on working with Virtual Assistants, I figure a lot of you, for whatever reason, haven’t gotten around to grabbing your copy yet. So, this post is actually a sneak peek at part of a chapter from the eBook, along with some new material (labeled clearly for the VBL devotee’s out there that have already read it).

This stuff is NEW: Most companies and individuals who have been working with virtual assistants with great success have one thing in common: they are pleased to have somebody else handle their time-consuming, repetitive, mundane, administrative tasks that get in the way of spending quality time with their family, or focusing on more important business issues, such as planning and growth.

…

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How to Work with Virtual Staff to Build a Business Empire (Tips from the Trenches – via Manila!)

April 21, 2010 by Chris 17 Comments

Location: At the Beach (Literally!) – Reading / Viewing Time: 9-10mins

A real treat for you guys today. A couple of weeks ago I flew up from Cebu (where I live full time) to Manila (the capital of the Philippines) to do a little business, and whilst I was there I met up with Dan Andrews from the quickly growing TropicalMBA.com and OutsourcetothePhilippines.com blogs.We chewed the fat for quite a few hours, and eventually figured it would be cool to shoot a couple of video clips.

In fact, Dan actually interviewed me for his Podcast, too, which you can check out by clicking here. It’s safe to say we had a lot of fun doing all this stuff for our respective audiences.

For those of you who don’t know Dan, he is a twenty-something guy from the USA originally, who now lives in the Philippines full-time, where he works with several virtual staff throughout the country, that help run and build businesses based back in the USA, California to be exact….

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My Top 10 Virtual Assistant Video Tip Series is LIVE on YouTube!

March 17, 2010 by Chris 24 Comments

Location: Company Offices – Reading / Viewing Time: 6mins

When I announced my Virtual Assistant Video Tip Series last week, with a quick, first clip from the fantastic island of Boracay here in the Philippines, I had no idea (seriously!) it would be as well received as it was. I have received a ton of email on this one (thanks to all of you who contacted me!) and so as soon as I got back today, I clean up the clips and had my PA upload everything to my YouTube channel for you to check them out.

Above is Tip #4, where I discuss the pro’s and con’s of working with a Freelance VA. At the end of the clip I mention Manny Pacquiao’s fight, which I literally got to the big-screen showing in time to see the clang of the first round bell. He won – very boring fight, however! But, it didn’t stop the HUNDREDS of Filipino’s watching the fight with me, my wife and a few friends, cheering and screaming when it was announced that he had won!

As I was shooting these clips, sporadically throughout the course of the week, in various locations on the island, I got to thinking that this subject matter is way bigger than just ten short video tips and a free eBook. I am curious to see if you guys would be interested in more content on this subject, in the form of a ‘real’ eBook with lots of stuff, such as:…

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