Last week I became obsessed with Taskrabbit, now it’s on to virtual assistants. I’ve been meaning to hire someone using Zirtual and finally decided today was that day.

Zirtual

First heard of them from a Life Hacks class I took through Skillshare in NYC. Packages start at $97 per month for a US-based personal assistant. Most popular plan is $197 a month for a maximum of 10 hours of support (or ~$20 per hour).

I almost went with Zirtual because I was excited by the low monthly plans, the fact that assistants are based in the US, and the security features around credit card transactions on your behalf. BUT, I got hung up on $20 per hour. I’ve worked with freelancers on Odesk before and found you could get very smart, reliable, English speakers for $3 per hour.

Odesk

Odesk is a freelance platform that allows you to search for contractors that meet your needs. This labor marketplace includes a wide range of contractors from administrative or call center staff to technical developers. It also has a rating system similar to Amazon and allows you to see each contractor’s work history, total hours clocked on Odesk, and test scores for Odesk content expertise tests.

As of one hour ago, I posted a personal assistant job:

Busy NYC professional seeks personal assistant

Hourly – Est. Time More than 6 months, As needed – Less than 10 hrs/week

Hourly Rate: $1.00 – $5.00 per hour

I’m looking for a highly motivated, reliable, and detail-oriented personal assistant.

I need help managing both my personal and professional life. The types of tasks I need help with include:
– Transcribing notes
– Creating ppt slides
– Scheduling travel
– Online research, particularly around purchasing household items
– Managing craigslist account for selling household items

Qualities that I appreciate in an assistant:
– Excellent command of the English language including spelling and grammar
– Communicates clearly
– Very responsive over email and chat
– Detail-oriented
– Knows when to ask for help / ask questions
– Sense of urgency – will get things done quickly or let me know if something will take longer than expected
– Willing to learn new things

I’ve since hired June who is based in the Philippines and she is already starting on some work for me. Just note transcribing to start, but I’m hopeful that we’ll hit it off and she’ll be my new virtual best friend.

Re: purchases – I think I’ll get a separate credit card that only June has access to. That way it will be easier for me to monitor and be alerted to any fraud issues.

See also: Elance

Will let you know if I’m still singing her praises at the end of today. If not, I may have to do a find & replace in this blog post 😉