Should I paid VA For his training time?

Hi

I don't know the answer, and it probably depends but this reminds me of a funny quote I read in Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Work Week:

Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him.
- Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM

Mahlon

Thanks
1 reply

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Marius_Puluikis

13 years ago

Originally Posted by onSubie

Hi

I don't know the answer, and it probably depends but this reminds me of a funny quote I read in Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Work Week:

Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him.
- Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM

Mahlon

I read that before in several books, ok it is clear what I am going to pay my VA

)

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mywebwork

13 years ago

Absolutely

You are using their time to train them. The training you give them, if properly done, will pay itself back quickly in the quality of work they perform.

I have spent several hours training all of our VA's. It has been time well spent.

Bill

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breezynetworks

13 years ago

Yeah, def pay your VA. If you treat them right they will be willing to work hard for you. I give each of my VA's a good couple hours training, especially on new tasks and even give them a couple extra dollars if they complete the training well and have the right attitude

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Fernando Veloso

13 years ago

It depends on so many things... where to start?

Is the training for YOUR specialty or for everything?
Is he working all day for you? Or just 2 hours per day?
Is he on contract? Or he's just another VA?
Is he a GOOD guy? Or a VA and nothing more?

I can go on with this, but you get my point

I don't pay a dime for VA's skills and/or training UNLESS they are really friendly, organized, polite and willing to be professional - even working 10 hours per week on my projects.

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MattVit

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso

It depends on so many things... where to start?

Is the training for YOUR specialty or for everything?
Is he working all day for you? Or just 2 hours per day?
Is he on contract? Or he's just another VA?
Is he a GOOD guy? Or a VA and nothing more?

I can go on with this, but you get my point

I don't pay a dime for VA's skills and/or training UNLESS they are really friendly, organized, polite and willing to be professional - even working 10 hours per week on my projects.

These are exactly the thoughts I was having in my head.

ie, "Is he long-term..." etc. If it's a once-off thing, obviously there's little need to pay him unless you're in a profitable biz or are required to by law.

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jackpot9

13 years ago

You definitely should. Don't expect your VA to spend time learning to do the job for you for free. The way I hire is to tell him he will be paid this much when he's in training. The moment he earns his wings his pay will rise by this much. I think it's fair and it makes him/her want to learn faster as well.

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Jamie Drew

13 years ago

If you were the VA and he was training you, would you want him to pay you for your time?

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Steve McBride

13 years ago

I have always paid VA's for training. Although I haven't ever hired one for something that is terrible difficult. Just mind numbing work I don't want to do haha! If I hired a VA for a complex task I would make sure to give extra paid time so I know it's done right.