DISQUS

Jonathan from JonathanMead.com · 1 year ago

Although I haven't personally found an application for outsourcing my life, not yet at least, this is a great list of resources. Perhaps Mr. Feriss should feature you on his blog.

Liara Covert · 1 year ago

Its worthwhile to ask oneself why certain resources and brands become so popular? Do you aim to redefine, reshape your own success or popularity? You can think of Google and Yahoo or any of the useful resources you list in this post. The marketing strategy has a role to play. Yet, in terms of promotion, nothing compares to word-of-mouth and other initiatives of contented users. Sharing positive experiences of your own will invite hearing about positive experiences from others. Its a win-win scenario.

Danielle Keister · 1 year ago

The Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce is a fantastic resource for business owners seeking qualified and competent Virtual Assistant professionals. Of particular interest:

Client

Tom Stine · 1 year ago

I have thought of a dozen tasks in the past few months for a VA. I'm going to have to go through some of these resources and see what might work. Merci.

Jared Goralnick · 1 year ago

So now that you've compiled the resources...what are YOU outsourcing?

Evelyn Lim · 1 year ago

Great list that you've compiled here. Who knows....I may eventually need it!

Thanks,
Evelyn

Gary · 1 year ago

Great list. I have used two of the sites elance.com and TutorVista.com .Both experiences were good though needed some patience from my side before I could get comfortable. This is a new different way of doing business but great convenience and value for money. It shows that traditional way or even paying huge premium is not necessarily the best solution. I had used expensive offshore software company six years back , burnt through $ 300000 before abandoning and getting the same job done through elance with a small team from then Soviet Union. My daughter ( 9th grade) has been using TutorVista.com for the last one year with good success. Will definitely give other sites a try. Thanks for the article
Gary

Clay Collins · 1 year ago

@Evelyn: Yeah, this list won't be useful to everyone, but perhaps some people will find it useful.

Clay Collins · 1 year ago

@Jared: A blogger's got to have *some* secrets :-).

grant allen · 1 year ago

personally i think it is a very clear definition of outsourcing.....luring to taking one...in fact the writer is correct.....beneficial to others our material our concept their labor and is credited to us(outsourcing countries).....

Clay Collins · 1 year ago

@Liara: You are absolutely right. This post has less of a "human face" than many of my other posts. What are your thoughts on this kind of post? Are they helpful to you or do you think they detract from the main thrust of this blog?

Clay Collins · 1 year ago

Dear Everyone,

I'd like to reiterate the questions posed to Liara. What are your thoughts on this kind of post? Is this helpful to you or do you think it detracts from the main thrust of this blog? Sometimes I find it helpful to compile a list of resources on a useful topic, but if this kind of thing negatively affects the signal to noise ratio of the content on this site then I'd rather drop posts such as these. It's something I've been thinking a lot about recently and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thank you for taking me to task when necessary: it's one thing I really appreciate about your very thoughtful comments.

--Clay

Kathie Thomas, A Clayton's Sec · 1 year ago

You've left Australia out - our VA network is the second oldest in the world and we provide connections with clients (Requests for Proposals and Job Leads), lots of resources for Virtual Assistants, coaching and training, web hosting, chat forums and other resources. We also have information assisting clients to work with VAs through our website and the adjoining blog at http://www.vadirectory.net/blog/

We have Virtual Assistant members in 16 countries, so even though our head office is in Australia our members are spread far and wide catering for a number of langages and many types of services online.

Paul Montwill | Sharingmatters · 1 year ago

Clay, have you asked your VA to prepare the above list? :)

Jay Sennett · 1 year ago

@Clay,

I think this post is fine. It did finally help me catalize why I'm so uncomfortable with Ferriss' outsource your life mantra. Essentially, outsourcing says there are some tasks that must be done but that are too mundane/boring, etc., for me to do. So I will outsource them!

But outsourcing them suggests for me that I am somehow above these tasks, that I don't have to do them if I don't want to. By outsourcing them I remove myself from two possibilities: deleting the tasks forever because they simply don't need to be done and from the spiritual work that can occur when I am doing tasks "I" think "I" am too busy/important/etc. to do.

In the end, the world/human goal for me is to reduce, reduce, eliminate, reduce so that everyone, everywhere can live happy lives.

Not sure that answers your question!

J.D. Meier · 1 year ago

@Clay RE Liara -- yes your quality list of resources is valuable.

I think sharing your personal stories of outsourcing would be more valuable and encourate others to share theirs, or ask key questions. I find a lot of people are curious about personal outsourcing, but wondering -- who's done it how, for what, and with what results?

I think delegation/outsourcing is a tricky subject for five key reasons:
1. You don't want to delegate your "growth" tasks. some tasks you may not like, might be key for your growth.
2. It's very easy to add to your time versus reduce your time if you delegate to the wrong person.
3. It's very easy to erode your personal brand (unless you have the right people on the right jobs, which help raise your bar.)
4. You have to have a lot of self-awareness (your strengths, your liabilities, your growth opportunities .. etc.)
5. You get what you pay for (I've learned this lesson multiple times.)

For example, I used to delegate creating reports on team status. I hated the task -- it felt like minutia. Next thing you know, I lost key insight into the team and it cost me. I no longer delegate reporting on the team. On the other hand, there's some tasks that are no long my growth tasks, but opportunities for others. I share the reigns, they grow, I grow -- it's win-win.

Deirdre Shockley · 1 year ago

You can also add Virtual Assistant Forums, we have a Request for Proposal area, chat times, scheduled seminars, and resources for the Virtual Assistant to grow their business.

As far as the comment above about a person feeling like they are above the menial tasks... I personally enjoy the little tedious tasks that most people wouldn't enjoy.

http://www.virtualassistantforums.com/

Deirdre
Deirdre's Virtual Office
http://dvirtualoffice.com

Jared Goralnick · 1 year ago

Clay,

I think these posts are helpful. If you were echo'ing everyone else's aggregation posts then they'd be silly...but you do a great job on the research and help find the salient points.

A bigger question is whether it's a good use of YOUR time. Research on a topic like this would be a great thing to outsource :-).

But yes, keep these up!

J

Art Gonzalez · 1 year ago

Although I have got great tips from the 4HWW book, it should be viewed as a means to improve one

petulant entrepreneur · 1 year ago

These are some very useful resources, good on you for putting them up. But how about automation services? A VA might be cheaper than a flesh-and-blood PA, but what about a virtual phone system like gotvmail or others? In my experience they've worked well for replacing secretaries (at least in the way of routing calls), but what do you guys think of them?

Sanjana · 1 year ago

Well written post, good information, it will be great if you can also post such informative material in SiliconIndia.com, as I am a member of SiliconIndia, I am sure that such information will be helpful for most of the members.

Daniel | Winning Everyone · 1 year ago

Wow. I don't think I'd be having help from VAs anytime soon. Thanks for the write up. :)

Craig · 1 year ago

Hi there,

Great resources! I should also mention the Virtual Assistant Training and Job Center we will be launching in early May. We are working with many Internet businesses to craft relevant training courses that will seriously alleviate the headaches and time it takes to get new Virtual Assistants up to speed. As well, we will be offering a marketplace for you to connect with those VAs that complete our training programs. Check out a pre-launch page at: www.vaclassroom.com.

Sarah Greene · 1 year ago

Hi Clay,

Thank you for compiling a list of resources for those wishing to partner with a Virtual Assistant. Here's a few more:

If you are looking for VAs who primarily support real estate professionals, please take a look at www.revaprofessionals.com and www.ireaa.com.

If you are looking for VAs specializing in other areas (also including those who specialize in real estate), please check out www.ivaa.org.

Thank you.

Frances Palaschuk · 1 year ago

This is a great list of virtual assistant resources for both the VA and the client - thanks for that!

I would like to add a small list of niche areas that are becoming very popular for VAs to specialize in:

* Social Media Coordinator
* Blogging Assistant
* Affiliate Marketing Assistant
* Web Analytics Assistant

Don't forget to use your virtual assistant wisely. Remember that "wish" list of tasks on your peg board? Well dust it off and talk about it with your VA - you may be surprised at how easy and cheap it could be to implement them.

Kathy Sparks · 1 year ago

Hi:

Here are some additional resources:

The Directory of Virtual Assistants at
http://www.avirtualresume.com

For VAs: The VA Technical School at
http://www.vatechnicalschool.com

How to Find and Work With a Virtual Assistant Successfully E-book: http://www.vasecrets.com

Your Virtual Resource - Kathy

jay r · 1 year ago

I must congratulate you for your write ups it helps me a lot to add more my knowledge, so many links that you can go to yet very informative blog. Hiring professional people like virtual assistant takes a lot of effort for business owners in finding the right one. On the other hand, certain virtual assistant feels the same way, cos you know VA job is a multi-tasking job, you need to sort out every tasks that you do for your client. One more thing, it such a great challenge for VA people like me to deal also with the different behaviors of clients and see to it that you are performing well in your tasks effectively and efficiently.

outsourcing philippines · 1 year ago

Hello my friend!you really have an interesting post. Thank you so much for the good inputs, i learn from it. Continue your good post and please don't stop sharing us your knowledge.

Kathie Thomas, A Clayton's Sec · 1 year ago

Amazing, you don't list any of the Virtual Assistant Networks. We founded and grew the industry for goodness sake and you don't even look to the professional organisations for find a VA?

Why not try the professionals at http://vanetworknews.com/va-organisations/

Gopal · 1 year ago

Yes. I have found this site very useful. Excellent.

Anja Shau · 1 year ago

Very nice written and great source of information. Working with VA's is a great way to do it, but as always you need to make sense of it. Means VA's can do almost all tasked for you, but it depends on oneself to find a balance.
Since the number of VA's and VA service sites are growing, so is the need for making sure to find the right VA. Best is to start with small or easy tasks that you don't like to do, but don't mind to let other handle for you, speak a VA. Once the VA or the VA service does the job as you like, you can give more to them.

darlene reyes · 1 year ago

More, more, more! Here's your BIG APPLAUSED!