Newbie to Outsourcing questions

Hi there,

Trust is the key! You can learn more about a Virtual Assistant by reviewing customer feedbacks for example. The more positive feedbacks the better

Never do business without knowing more of your future business partner.

If you stick to these rules you should do well on odesk.

Good luck
Dennis

I hired my VA through oDesk and he is fantastic. He does a little writing, though not much since his English is good, but not great. Other than that he does everything. I have him do data entry, tweak my blog, post entries I send him, do backlinks....

The key is to ask questions. Ask them what they can do and are willing to learn to do. Be specific. Talk to them on Skype if you can. Also, when you put up the ad put something like "Please use the word "banana" in your reply." Less than half of the applicants I got actually read through it enough to do that and you want someone that can follow instructions.

Hire short term to try them out and see if you like them. The person I hired had no oDesk feedback but I gave him a shot because he was honest, asked questions, and really pushed to get the job. I could tell he really wanted it and he has worked out amazingly.

As for your account safety... I haven't built up that level of trust. I set up a Wordpress account for him as well as his own email. Most sites I use I set up separate accounts for him to use. Trust comes with time though.

Yeah odesk is a good marketplace to hire a VA.However before hiring them see their feedback and reviews left by other employers and ask them to give some sample work for which you are going to hire him or her.

In my experience with outsourcing, trust is built over time. It is something you would have to measure yourself, watch him or her for a while and determine if you can trust him or not.

Alternatively if trust is an issue, setup a separate account for him to work with. Obviously your account must be able to override his, this is important because you don't want to completely hand over your business to a "stranger"

Knowing the kind of job you give to your VA is all about knowing what he can do and learn. Make exact samples of jobs you'll like the VA to do and be specific. This will really save you time. Seriously. If your VA can't follow simple instructions, you are better off without him/her.

Finally, as with everything in this business, testing is really important. Test, test, test until you're convinced!

Tim

I agree Odesk is the way to go. I hire my VA there and is great.
I even train her to build sites . Just love outsourcing

If you want to save money yes.

Someone who is a great writer and a great linkbuilder will charge a higher hourly fee.

Good writers can be found at good prices and link builders (data entry basically) are even cheaper.

Hi HV,

How safe is it to allow your newly hired VAs to access the accounts you use for marketing your business brand name, products and services? As safe as hiring inhouse employees...

If you hire an individual VA: Sign the person up using a subcontract with NDAs and NCAs. The things in the subcontract and the relevant laws of the country where the person is based are just some factors that can dictate how safe it is to work with the VA and the counter measures you can implement once the terms are breached to correct issues and prevent possible problems...

If you work with an officially registered company in a country outside your own that has been operating for quite some time now, positive reviews from other companies included and a proven track record of successfully improving the traffic and sales margins of previous and existing clients: You'll improve your security from using such an outsourcing arrangement, since such companies won't most likely damage their reputation, something they've built through years and years of hard work and resources. Of course: Due diligence is needed. Find out everything relevant you can about the company...

Yes. Similar things you'd ask an applicant interested in working as your inhouse employee. I suggest doing the things you need to outsource and timing yourself from start to finish so you can draw humanly possible daily quotas...

Your due diligence will lead you to the right places. I don't have any recommendations, since I own and run an ICT outsourcing company myself...

• Originally Posted by hvo Will I need a separate VA for SEO/SEM, Web Developer & Content Writer? Or can all this be cover by the one VA?

My experience points out that it's difficult to find one person with different skill sets and substantial expertise in properly doing such relevant tasks. We've encountered high attrition and burnout rates after we implemented some tests. We assigned SEO/backlink building work to content writers, writing tasks to SEO VAs and backlink builders, SEO/backlink building tasks to Web developers, writing tasks to Web developers, graphics designa nd Web development tasks to SEO VAs and backlink builders and so on: We got negative results, so we know we shouldn't do this...

If you are worried about security make sure you have different passwords for your outsourcer's tasks - i.e. don't just have one set of passwords for everything - because if they turn out to be untrustworthy you will have to go and change ALL your passwords. Better to have different passwords for the two or three accounts they need access to.

My key assistant works locally - he works with me from my home four days a week. I had some bad experiences with VSa when I started out so I prefer to have someone fairly local so that I can at least meet them regualarly - trust is easier to guage that way. I knew within an hour of meeting my main asistant that I could trust him - it's hard to guage that virtually.

What I will say though is that virtual assistants (I use Odesk too - great) are fantastic for traffic tasks. I have a free guide (in my sig) which shows how to set up a system for getting the most from virtual traffic assistants.

there are many places to do outsourcing..

but recently i saw this guy in the classified ads section of WF and he is providing cheap coaching on IM and u get to use his personal contacts and services meaning u can use his PVA and his SEO expert for example.

so u get coaching and a security of the work that is being done.

i think its great if that is what u are looking for.

you can find him on the 1st page as of today.

here are some tips from the 4hour work week to work with your VA

1. Give him a small task to do first and see how he does it
2. Try out a few VAs and then pick the best
3. Outline your tasks very specifically such that even your friend can do it for you after reading the email.
4. If you can, get a team of VAs so you will not be left stranded when your single VA is not around for whatever reason.

I wrote a thread on this a few days ago. Might wanna check it out.

Click here ==> http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...tsourcing.html

I have now officially outsourced most of my business. So I can come in here, and screw off or go down the beach and leave the hard stuff to others!

I never hired a VA but I hired many programmers & developer most of them on Odesk.

I don't trust annyone too much. I would say check feedback and investigate any single negative one.

The higher the feedback and longer he has been the more you can trust him, but still. Once he done with the job I do change all passwords before I give him his feedback.

If I been with him for a long time I do trust them but it is better to be safe than sorry

When working with someone online you have to trust him/her to certain extent. Before hiring, I definitely read all the feedbacks and I only hire people who has 100% (not 99%) positive feedback.

There are lot of good people with 100% feedbacks so I don't spend the time investigating the 99% and downwards. 99% makes me suspicious even though the person could be a great honest person. It's a human psychological thingy I guess.

hire only SEO specialists and give them limited access

Hi HV,

It's good to know that you're planning and open to outsource your project.

Please check answers below:

* If VAs are accessing things such as my website, cPanel, social media accounts etc etc, how safe is it to allow this access.
* Are there any risks to this practice & what whould I do to avoid them.

- I would suggest to sign an agreement such as NDA or Client Supplier Agreement. We strictly follow confidentiality while working with various clients. We treat our client's information as well as their projects with utmost confidentiality. Please rest assured that all of your records from this project will be treated as confidential records.

* What measures must I take to avoid security breaches?
- You can rest assured that all information obtained during a project will remain confidential. To ensure that your data will not be divulged, each of our staffs signs a security agreement.

* Are there certains things I should know about, do or ask during the process of hiring?
- Yes, Our clients have the chance to participate in the selection process. we would like you to participate in the recruitment and the selection process. Samples will be provided to our clients and you can give tests and conduct interview via phone or chat to the shortlisted candidates.

* What are safe outsourcing places to look for honest employees & what are the ones to avoid? I'm going to try & find one through oDesk.
- Outsourcing is a business that trust is the first requirement. Business won't grow if you haven't trusted the company that you're working with. This business has it pros and cons, you just need to find the right company, ask for samples and client references so you can decide. There are lots of outsourcing providers who pretend to be the best, that's why you need to be careful and look for the reputable ones.

I suggest to hire a Staff leasing company instead of a freelancer. because leased staff are permanent workers of a company and are easy to reach in case you need them. Freelancers do not have employers so they do as they please and sometimes cannot be contacted for various reasons.

* Will I need a separate VA for SEO/SEM, Web Developer & Content Writer? Or can all this be cover by the one VA? Please share your experience of what has worked for you.
- You need hire/lease different staff for your various needs.

If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact us. Please see my sig for more information.

My Advice is to always have a trial of at least a week to make sure that they can really deliver before you set up a proper relationship. I tried out 5 different people before I got one that could really do a good job.

Hi,


Hiring a team is a great way to go, then you don't have to worry about people missing days off or not having skill sets, etc. Your team manager handles all that. And find good help here on the Warrior forum in the Warriors for Hire section:

Warriors For Hire

Here are helpful blog posts and articles I've published with lots more tips, too:

http://www.warriorforum.com/blogs/db...al-period.html


Moving Ahead Blog: Category Archive for Virtual Assistants

Moving Ahead Communications - Press Releases and Articles

Here's how I did with my outsourcing team. Start working with a few, see how well they do, the quality of their work, how much $ they charge. In time, you'll get a feeling which ones are good to trust or not.

Need a VA Check this out..

Odesk is great because you can see screenshots of their screens every 10 minutes. Like everyone else said, read their feedback.