Efficise

Posted by Mica Harvey / Task-Based Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Efficise is a virtual assistant and business outsourcing firm based in Karachi, Pakistan. The company launched in 2012, with the goal of helping people all over the world enhance their efficiency and productivity.

Efficise reviewSince then, Efficise has grown into one of the most popular task-based services on this site.

VAA Exclusive! Use referral code VAAM for 30% off your first month on all plans.

Efficise Services

Efficise virtual assistants are trained to handle a host of tasks that include standard admin stuff, web research, and other one-time virtual “gofer” jobs. Many clients turn to them for help with transcription, travel planning, social media management, data entry jobs, and more.

They allow flexibility to allow process-outsourcing and recurring tasks in ways some other virtual assistant companies can’t handle.

Efficise has made some investments in their back-end dashboard that help provide a better customer experience. For example, you can prioritize two tasks a day, basically flagging them as important and jumping the rest of the queue.

In addition, users can maintain an account profile with your own instructions and preferences, so they don’t have to be explained anew each time.

Like US-based rival Fancy Hands, Efficise uses a pool-based VA system, meaning for each task you submit, a different VA can pick it up and do the work based on their availability and expertise.

Efficise Review

Efficise Plans and Pricing

Efficise has a simple menu of pricing plans available:

  • 5 tasks for $20 ($4 each)
  • 15 tasks for $45 ($3 each)
  • 30 tasks for $75 ($2.50 each)
  • 50 tasks for $100 ($2 each)

VAA Exclusive! Use referral code VAAM for 30% off your first month on all plans.

efficise pricing

These are tasks that can take up to 30 minutes to complete (other companies typically use a 15-minute guideline), but if you have longer tasks, you can apply multiple task credits to the job.

At those price points, Efficise is definitely one of the best bang-for-your-buck services out there, and $2-$4 per request is a pretty small price to get dozens of time-sucking tasks off your plate each month. Theoretically the $100 plan could save you up to 25 hours a month, which is huge.

Use referral code VAAM for 30% off your first month on all plans.

If a dedicated assistant would be helpful for longer projects, or recurring business-specific tasks, Efficise can help there too. Dedicated support starts at $10 an hour, and is billed by usage without any subscription commitment.

With this setup, you can outsource jobs like social media management, outbound calling, transcription, emails, data entry, and even customer service.

None of these plans come with any start-up fees, contracts or long-term commitments. You can track progress on your tasks in real time, and cancel your Efficise service whenever you want.

Efficise Alternatives

On a per-task basis, Efficise is much more cost-effective than Fancy Hands (mentioned above), which ranges from $4-6 per task — and their tasks only run 20 minutes. One company that operates a similar model is OkayRelax, which provides a dedicated assistant at $4 per task when you buy 25 tasks a month.

The drawback to going dedicated in any VA setup is that turnaround times will usually be slower than with services using the team-based approach.

Your Turn

If you have any experience with Efficise, positive or negative, please share your review below.

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Delegated (formerly Red Butler)

Posted by Mica Harvey / US Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Delegated (formerly known as Red Butler) is a US-based virtual assistant company. They offer a range of virtual assistant services and pair clients with college-educated assistants based in the U.S.

VAA Exclusive: Use our referral link for $100 off your first 3 months!

About Delegated

delegated reviewThe company is headed up by the founders of companies like SuperFat, Grasshopper, and Chargify. 

Red Butler was a long-running executive assistant and concierge service, actually dating back to 2003. So why the rebrand? 

Here’s the official line:

“In the past three years, Red Butler has grown from buying concert tickets and making reservations to reviewing business proposals, handling expense reports, and more. With Delegated, you can now delegate even more of your to-do list — so you can get back to the things that matter most.”

Delegated still serves both busy individual and family clients, along with business customers, but it sounds like they outgrew the “butler” tag and now handle a much wider range of tasks.

Looking through their list of services, whatever industry you’re in or the types of tasks you want to outsource, they want to hear from you.

Why Delegated?

VAA Exclusive: Use our referral link for $100 off your first 3 months!

All Delegated assistants:

  • are U.S. based
  • have real-world verified experience
  • go through an “intense” screening process

Another point of differentiation is every VA is an employee of Delegated, not a contractor. They argue this move increases quality, ensures availability during business hours, and improves accountability and information security.

On top of that, Delegated also provides proprietary training and on-going education.

How Delegated Works

To get started with Delegated, the first step is to select one of their pricing plans. (see below)

After filling out your details, a member of their team will contact you to arrange a call. On the call, they’ll ask some questions about your business so they can select the best-suited, dedicated assistant for you.

They’ll then introduce you to your assistant, your backup assistant, and assign you a member of their support team if you have any questions along the way.

You’ll then be given access to their workflow systems. Here you can track your tasks, see where your assistant is spending their time, and upload files and communicate with our VA directly.

Your assistant will be available from 8am-5pm your time. (Delegated also has some 24/7 team members available to handle emergency tasks.)

Services

Delegated’s virtual assistants will take on just about any business tasks that can be completed remotely.

They have a list of specific roles to give you a better idea of the areas they serve, some of which are:

Like most VA companies, they don’t limit themselves to any set tasks or roles.

In fact, they’ve also started hiring for specific industries. For example, Delegated now has Dedicated Assistants experienced in specialty industries such as finance, technology, medical, and legal.

According to my contact, “These hiring changes have provided us with a team that can not only cancel your dentist appointment but also handle legal & medical intake forms, expense reports, e-commerce administration, market research, and more.”

Whatever your requirements are, they’re likely to have an assistant with the relevant skills and experience.

Plans and Pricing

Delegated currently has four pricing plans:

  • Personal 12 – $420 per month for 12 hours ($35 per hour)
  • Family 24 – $800 per month for 24 hours ($33 per hour)
  • Executive 24 – $1,080 per month for 24 hours ($45 per hour)
  • Business 40 – $1,800 per month for 40 hours ($45 per hour)

delegated pricing

Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Use our referral link for $100 off your first 3 months!

The interesting thing about their pricing plans is that their hourly rate actually goes up for the larger plans — typically VA companies offer discounts for larger hourly plans.

This is because their Executive and Business plans include higher skilled and additional services, such as:

  • Scheduling and email support
  • Integrated travel and international support
  • Executive tasks
  • Proactive assistance
  • Slack integration

All of their plans come with a money-back guarantee. If you’re not satisfied for any reason you can cut ties and get your money back.

Delegated Alternatives

Alternative US-based virtual assistant companies with comparable rates and services to check out are Time Etc and Belay.

If your budget is holding you back, Time Etc offers more competitive rates for US-based assistants and has a good deal of positive feedback.

Prialto Time Etc MyTasker Boldly
Customer Rating
Established 2009 2007 2012 2012
Hourly Rate $27 $24-27 $7.50-14 $59
Minimum Package $1500 for 55+ hours $270 for 10 hours $140 for 10 hours $2360 for 40 hours
Dedicated Assistant
Minimum VA Experience Extensive in-house training 5 years In-house training 7 years
Team Access
Rollover Hours *does not charge overage
Free Trial
Learn More Learn More Learn More Learn More

*Specialist services are available for an additional charge.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Delegated? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

(And keep in mind that any of the reviews prior to June 2020 refer to Red Butler. Delegated is under entirely new management and structure.)

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TaskBullet

Posted by Mica Harvey / Dedicated Virtual Assistants, Featured, Philippines Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies, Virtual Employees

TaskBullet was founded in 2013 and has quickly become a leader in the virtual assistant industry. The company is owned and operated in the United States with the staff based in the Philippines.

TaskBullet uses a unique “Bucket System” of buying hours, which means no monthly bills, contracts, or fees.

About TaskBullet

task bullet reviewVirtual assistants either work from their home offices or from TaskBullet’s central PCI compliant facility, which is ideal for assistants to handle inbound and outbound calls.

TaskBullet project managers are also located in the Philippines and there is a U.S. based customer support staff, if ever there is a problem.

TaskBullet virtual assistants go through a rigorous hiring process. In particular, they company seeks out VAs who are quick learners and who have advanced English skills.

On top of that, they invest in training their team and treating everyone with value. After all, happy virtual assistants are more likely to stick around and make for happy clients!

How it Works

The Bucket System

TaskBullet doesn’t have monthly bills, contracts, or fees.

TaskBullet uses buckets of hours that the VA pulls from while they are actively working on your tasks. When your bucket is empty, simply purchase another bucket of hours and continue on.

You can upgrade, downgrade, or take a break, it’s up to you.

Every TaskBullet Bucket of Hours comes with a project manager to oversee your tasks. You can delegate your tasks to your project manager for quick assignment to an available and skilled VA. If you have the same reoccurring tasks you can have a dedicated VA to delegate tasks to directly.

Your project manager and your VA will be available during your business hours. They’re there when you need them.

Assigning tasks

TaskBullet uses Basecamp, a very simple and effective task management system to upload and monitor your tasks. When you sign up you will get an email from them inviting you to set up your free TaskBullet Basecamp project.

All your tasks, files and communication can take place in one convenient location.

Getting Started

Getting started with TaskBullet is very quick and easy. They can usually have you submitting tasks the same day you sign up.

They offer a Welcome Call to all new sign ups, where they show you around Basecamp and help you upload your first task. They will send you an email asking you to pick a time for one of their on-boarding specialists to call you.

Task Bullet Founder Interview

Services

The company is able to provide dedicated virtual assistants, while still being able to tap into a team with a broad range of skills.

Many TaskBullet VAs have several years of experience in their fields. You can get an assistant who’ll handle:

  • website management
  • mail marketing
  • social media accounts
  • customer service
  • research
  • and more

Since they’re your dedicated VA, you also can train them to meet your specific needs and requirements.

You have 3 points of contact:

  1. your VA
  2. your dedicated VA project manager
  3. your US-based team lead

For advanced skills or roles your dedicated VA isn’t the best fit to handle, you can apply your pre-paid time to others on their team to get your work done without having to source a new company or freelancer.

It’s a service by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. As such, they have a strong understanding of what you need – affordable quality help, and what you don’t – stress, overhead, headaches.

Task Bullet service comes with no start-up fees and a 60-day money back guarantee. If you’re unhappy with your VA, the company will set up with a new one immediately. In addition, new customers receive a free consultation on how to most effectively work with their VA.

Plans and Pricing

I appreciated how they were upfront with their pricing – with none of the “contact us for a quote” stuff you see on some other sites.

The rates start $6.50/hour when you buy a 240 hour block, enough for the equivalent of 6 weeks of full-time support.

task bullet pricing

Many TaskBullet clients begin with the “Starter Bucket”, which offers 20 hours of support for $220 ($11/hr).

In the middle, the “Light” plan is $9 an hour for a bucket of 60 hours.

Customers aren’t billed on a recurring monthly basis, but rather can renew their hours, upgrade, or downgrade at any time.

That structure makes sense if you don’t have a consistent workload each week, but are confident you’ll use the time eventually. And if you do have routine tasks to assign, you’ve got an affordable flexible VA service.

task bullet discount

Highlights:

  • You have 90 days to use the hours in your bucket.
  • There are no contracts and no monthly fees.
  • This is a one-time purchase for hours that you can use any time over the next 3 months.
  • You do not purchase additional hours until your current bucket runs out.
  • You can use as many or as little hours as you want per day/week/month.

TaskBullet Alternatives

While there are certainly other virtual assistant companies in the Philippines, TaskBullet is the only one I’m aware of that operates without monthly subscription fees.

OnlineJobs.ph Wing Assistant FreeUp Online VA Team
Customer Rating
Established 2009 2018 2015 2014
Hourly Rate $3-8 $6.878.75 $5-20 $7+
Minimum Package $69 to post a job $699 for 80 hours Free to post a job 20 hrs for $250
Dedicated Assistant
Best For Full-time hires Small & Medium Business Owners, IT Services, Marketing Agencies, SaaS Quick pre-vetted hires in e-commerce and marketing Small & Medium businesses
Team Access
Rollover Hours
Free Trial *For limited range of services
Learn More Learn More Learn More Learn More

*Dedicated option available.

Your Turn

Have you worked with TaskBullet? If so, please share your experience below and help others with their search.

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Remote

Posted by Mica Harvey / Recruiting Services, Virtual Employees

Remote is a global HR solutions company that provides a range of solutions to help businesses of all sizes find and employ global talent.

Remote is headquartered in San Francisco, CA but the company is fully remote with their employees living and working all over the world Unlike any other company, Remote establishes subsidiaries in countries around the world so that companies can employ workers with full legal compliance in each of those countries. You can see the growing list of country availability here.

Discount option 1:14% OFF Annual Plans

Discount option 2: 25% OFF Remote for Startups

Discount option 3: 25% OFF Remote for Good

Discount option 4: Remote for Refugees – Up to 10 Employees Free

About Remote.com

Remote empowers companies of all sizes to pay and manage full-time and contract workers around the world. Remote’s team takes care of international payroll, benefits, taxes, stock options, and compliance in dozens of countries. No matter where your team lives and works, our best-in-class global employment solutions provide the best experience for your workers. Their ironclad intellectual property protections and industry-leading security guarantee give you peace of mind across the globe. Best of all, Remote never charges percentages or fees: one low flat rate helps you control your budget so you can focus on growing your business.

How Remote Works

Remote now offers self-enrollment. You can sign up directly on Remote.com. 

Once you submit your answers to the form, you will be prompted to sign an MSA. Someone from the Remote sales team will reach out to learn more about where you’re hiring and ensure that you get access to the proper SLAs for the countries you are hiring in. 

From there, you will be given a login for the Remote platform.

You can then onboard your employees onto the platform as you hire them. This enables Remote to handle all of your employee’s HR, payroll, and so on, wherever they are based in the world.

Remote Services

Remote can handle employing remote workers globally. Remote currently owns and operates legal entities in 36 countries and is on track to be in 80 countries by the end of 2021.

The most common services are:

  • Handling payroll and benefits
  • Legal compliance
  • Payments to third parties
  • Customized administration and management benefits
  • Visas and immigration (on a consultant basis)

If you need help with any aspect of hiring remote employees that you don’t see on their site, I recommend reaching out to Remote. There are a number of hurdles that can come up depending on the country you’re hiring from and your individual circumstances.

Remote Plans and Pricing

Remote currently has four pricing plans as follows:

  1. Global Employment – $299/employee/month (for UK, Ireland and Canada billed annually), $599/employee/month (for all other countries billed annually) $349/mo per employee – For this fee, Remote will handle the entire employment process from start to finish.
  2. Contractor management – Free – You can hire and pay global contractors using their platform for free.*
  3. Payroll and Benefits – Quote only – If you want Remote to manage your employee’s payroll and benefits you’ll have to contact them for a quote.
  4. Global PEO will be launching later this year (2021)

 

*You will have to pay for processing fees.

Discount option 1:14% OFF Annual Plans

Discount option 2: 25% OFF Remote for Startups

Discount option 3: 25% OFF Remote for Good

Discount option 4: Remote for Refugees – Up to 10 Employees Free

Remote is currently offering some incentives for startups. If you’re operating a startup you can get 50% off, plus 2 months free. Startups get 50% off of EOR costs on their first employee and 2 months free for all other employees for 12 months

Remote Alternatives

If finding and hiring remote staff is what you need help with, check out Virtual Staff Finder. This company specializes in finding workers in the Philippines with the skill sets you’re after.

For alternative companies that handle all of the administrative and ongoing employee tasks, I recommend checking out Safeguard Global. They are also based in the U.S. and offer a similar range of services.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Remote? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Get Friday

Posted by Mica Harvey / India Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Get Friday is an outsourcing company that is based in Bangalore, India. They are best-known as the virtual assistant division of Your Man in India (YMII), the famous personal concierge company. Get Friday caters to the needs of individuals who have hectic schedules, by offering virtual assistants who can deliver high quality work on administrative tasks.

About Get Friday

get friday reviewIf you’re curious, the name “Get Friday” is inspired by Daniel Dafoe’s classic Robinson Crusoe. In the novel, the title character has an assistant he calls Friday, who becomes his right-hand man and is critical to his survival.

Get Friday has been around since 2005, and now employs 200 energetic and professional virtual assistants who help clients around the world conquer the challenges of business and everyday life.

As one of the longest running VA companies, they’ve served more than 11,000 clients in over 40 countries.

Services

Some examples of the kind of tasks Get Friday does best would be setting appointments, making travel arrangements, and moderating websites.

Beyond that, their virtual assistants have even helped find a customer’s lost dog and plan a wedding! Where else are you going to find a wedding planner for this cheap?

Get Friday Intro Video

Plans and Pricing

Get Friday offers an array of virtual assistant service plans that start from Pay-As-You-Go at a rate of $15 an hour, all the way up to Full Time (160 hours a month) at a rate of $1120 a month or just $7 an hour.

All the plans over 40 hours a month include “rollover” time, so unused hours can be applied to next month’s service. There are no long-term contracts; you can cancel, upgrade, or downgrade your plan at any time with 30 days notice. Get Friday also will quote prices for one-time projects if you send them a description of what needs to be done.

Hiring a virtual assistant is a big decision, and Get Friday offers a 7 day free trial period to ease some of that anxiety. If you’re not happy with the service, just cancel without any obligation.

One thing I noticed when opening my Get Friday account is the sign-up process is kind of a pain. They make you do a phone verification, which is automated but something normally reserved for banks. Then you have to print, sign, and fax (or email) back a copy of the contract. I haven’t seen those kinds of sign-up requirements from any other VA company.

Your Get Friday virtual assistant is available 5 days a week, during the hours you choose. This is valuable because of the time zone difference between the US and India. Weekend and overtime hours are charged out at 1.5 times your normal hourly rate.

Get Friday Ace

In the summer of 2014, Get Friday introduced Get Friday Ace, a VA service specifically aimed at the small business market.

I think it’s a smart move since they already have the staff and infrastructure in place, and businesses are used to spending money on support services. Get Friday Ace lists web design and development, bookkeeping, marketing and SEO, and other business process tasks among their new menu of services.

Get Friday Alternatives

Check out some of the other top-rated virtual assistant companies in India, including My Tasker, the one I’ve been using for the last several months.

If you’ve had any experience with Get Friday – positive or negative – please share it below.

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The Virtual Savvy

Posted by Mica Harvey / Education, Resources/Tools, Virtual Assistant Resources

The Virtual Savvy provides a wide range of resources that helps virtual assistants launch, grow, and scale their Virtual Assistant businesses from scratch.

In addition to free training and resources, The Virtual Savvy offers Virtual Assistants access to a huge community and has a paid course called The SavvySystem.

About The Virtual Savvy

The company is headed up by founder and CEO Abbey Ashley. Before starting The Virtual Savvy, Abbey started out working as a Virtual Assistant herself. She took this path as a way to help balance being at home for her young child and paying the bills.

Abbey ended up with so much work she started paying friends to help her out. As this became more frequent, she realized she needed to take on staff to help her manage her growing business.

This led to her developing processes for growing and managing a VA business. It’s those same processes that she shares today in her course The SavvySystem. Helping others build their own VA business and streamline their processes.

Abbey has also built up a huge community with a Facebook group with more than 67,000 members.Job opportunities are posted daily within her group, helping VAs and business owners looking to outsource tasks connect.

Whether you’re thinking about becoming a VA, want to start an agency, or just want to grow your network and improve your current businesses. You’ll find everything you need within The Virtual Savvy ecosystem.

How The Virtual Savvy Works

The Virtual Savvy has a ‘soft’ sell in terms of its training course. To get started, you can download a free checklist and starter kit. Or join their Facebook community via an opt-in form on their site.

Either option will add you to their email list. You’ll then start receiving information about how you can become a VA, find more clients, and enroll in The SavvySystem.

The best part about The Virtual Savvy is that it’s clear that Abbey has put a lot of time into growing her community. She also gives away a lot of resources and information for free.

So, whether you want to join a paid course or not, if you’re interested in becoming a VA there is plenty for you to learn by joining The Virtual Savvy community.

The Virtual Savvy Services

The Virtual Savvy provides a range of tools, services, and resources to help VAs. When you join the community you can get access to:

  • The SavvySystem – This is a step-by-step virtual assistant training program that takes you from starting up as a VA to running a full-time business
  • The VA Toolbox – All the contracts and templates you need to legally cover and run your business.
  • The Savvy Vault – 50+ free trainings made by experienced VAs.
  • Community – You can join 65k+ other VAs and business owners and network within a community where everyone shares similar goals.

The Virtual Savvy Plans and Pricing

The Virtual Savvy’s signature VA training course is called The SavvySystem. This course is currently priced at $1,497.

The Virtual Savvy Alternatives

An alternative VA training resource to check out is Outsource School. Outsource School is a platform that gives you access to loads of VA-related training courses and resources created by 8-figure entrepreneurs.

Outsource School doesn’t have the personal touch that The Virtual Savvy is able to offer. But does offer a much wider range of training materials so I recommend taking a look.

Horkey Handbooks is a great option to compare to The Virtual Savvy with their #FullyBookedVA courses.

Your Turn

Have you joined The Virtual Savvy community or taken their VA training course? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Horkey Handbook

Posted by Mica Harvey / Education, Resources/Tools, Virtual Assistant Resources

Horkey HandBook is a platform that provides a range of resources to help aspiring virtual assistants start and grow their virtual assistant businesses.

Their flagship program and system is called #FullyBookedVA. Inside this course, you get access to a membership community, weekly group coaching, loads of resources, and connections with business owners looking for VA services.

About Horkey Handbook

Horkey HandBook was created by Gina Horkey. Gina runs the day-to-day operations of the business along with her Operations Manager Stephanie Hayes, and her team of Virtual Assistants.

Gina started Horkey Handbooks in 2014 as a way to showcase her own writing samples as she was growing her own online business.

Since then, it’s grown into a resource for aspiring virtual assistants. As well as for business owners looking to outsource and grow their own businesses.

Horkey Handbooks provides loads of helpful articles and resources, a free service to help connect you with virtual assistants, a membership community, their flagship course #FullyBookedVA System, and much more.

Essentially, Horkey Handbooks is a one-stop destination for VAs looking to grow their own businesses, train in all areas of becoming a VA, connect with like-minded individuals, and find clients to work with.

How Horkey Handbook Works

You can get access to loads of free resources to start growing your VA business by simply choosing a product and entering your email on the Horkey Handbooks website.

There are general guides, ebooks covering the services you can offer as a VA, mini-courses to help you figure out if being a VA is right for you, and loads more.

Their overall program is the #FullyBookedVA System which includes VA Foundations, the skills courses, membership community, group coaching, client leads, and more. This is Horkey Handbook’s paid membership course where you get live group coaching, all of their high-end materials, and the chance to apply for leads that their students can apply to.

Once you sign up for the #FullyBookedVA System you’ll be given a login where you have access to the VA Foundations course, the membership community and weekly group coaching. After you pass the final exam for VA Foundations you unlock access to the rest of the program – client leads, bi-weekly guest expert training, 6 skills courses (we used to sell a la carte) and specialization tracks with coaches to help VAs scale their businesses. You also continue to have access to the membership community and forum.

If you’re on the fence about signing up for the #FullyBookedVA System, there are loads of customer success stories and testimonials from VAs who have taken the course.

Reading through these there are some detailed insights into what the course is like, and most importantly how it’s helped aspiring VAs grow their own businesses and take control of their own schedules.

Horkey Handbook Services

Horkey Handbooks main services are being a resource for VAs, their #FullyBookedVA System, and connecting VAs with business owners.

Some of the resources included in the system are:

  • Lifetime access to the VA foundations course
  • A virtual assistant certification
  • Live weekly group coaching
  • Loads of free templates, scripts, and other resources for your business
  • Access to a community of other members
  • Bi-weekly trainings with guest experts

Horkey Handbook Plans and Pricing

Horkey Handbooks’ #FullyBookedVA course has two pricing plans:

  • $497, or three payments of $199 (charged once per month for 90 days)
  • $1,194 for a years membership

The best value is clearly paying for a year’s membership upfront as you save almost 50%. Although, the 3-month rolling contract is better if you’re not sure about committing for an entire year.

#FullyBookedVA comes with a unique guarantee. If you complete all of the work in the course and do not land your first paying client within 90 days of joining, you can receive a full refund.

Horkey Handbook Alternatives

If you’re an aspiring VA then an alternative platform to check out is The Virtual Savvy.

The Virtual Savvy operates on a similar model to Horkey Handbooks. It’s headed up by Abbey Ashley and also has a membership site, community, and has a paid course.

For business owners looking to connect with VAs and put better outsourcing procedures in place, I recommend checking out Outsource School.

Outsource School is a platform that gives you access to VA-related training courses and resources. Most of which were created and used by some of the world’s most successful 8-figure entrepreneurs.

Your Turn

Have you used Horkey Handbooks’ resources or are a member of #FullyBookedVA? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Monday.com

Posted by Mica Harvey / Resources/Tools

Monday.com is an award-winning cloud-based work operating system (Work OS) that enables teams to collaborate and build custom workflows.

The company is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, and has offices in the US, UK, and Australia.

About Monday.com

The company started operations in 2012 and was founded by co-founders Roy Mann and Eran Zinman.

Like most of the best software solutions, Monday.com was created out of a pain point the founders Roy and Eran were experiencing.

Roy and Eran were business owners, and they faced the same challenges a lot of business owners do when growing their teams – streamlining employee collaboration and communications.

So, they decided to create a solution and Monday.com was born. Monday.com is marketed as a Work OS, which essentially means it’s an all-in-one project management and workflow tool.

It has a long list of features and applications, but the core use of Monday.com is to help large teams work together cohesively.

The software does this by getting everyone onto the same workflow and using the same tools. As a manager, you can track exactly what every team member is working on. Team members can also communicate freely with one another through the platform.

The end result is increased transparency and everyone working on the same page. There are also a number of alerts and key bits of information that get injected right into a person’s workflow.

How Monday.com Works

After you sign up for a free trial and create an account, you can log into the web app. Here, you’ll see a blank calendar and your dashboard.

The calendar and central dashboard are where you can see all of your business’ tasks and employees. It’s here where you can assign tasks to people, track what they’re working on, manage projects, and communicate with team members.

There is a long list of apps and third-party integrations, too. You can integrate popular tools like Salesforce, Hubspot, and Google’s suite of tools into Monday.com’s workflow.

There is powerful analytics on the backend. You can track employee productivity, keep an eye on budgets, set your own KPIs, and lots more.

Monday.com Features

Monday.com is a Work OS platform. Broadly speaking, it provides the following features:

  • Collaboration tools – You can onboard your whole organization and manage all of your team’s workflows seamlessly via a single source of truth.
  • Drag and drop – It’s designed to be simple to use with no coding experience required. You can drag and drop most of the elements.
  • Integrate tools and apps – You can connect all of the other third-party tools and external sources of data you currently use.
  • Data visualization and analytics – With all of your data flowing through one dashboard, you can gather meaningful insights into performance and key business metrics.
  • Security – You can set permissions and governance features to ensure the right people are seeing the right information. Making it easy to keep sensitive data private.

Monday.com Plans and Pricing

Monday.com currently has three monthly pricing plans. Their pricing is based on a price per ‘seat’(team members) and the features you want.

There is a minimum of 3 seats per plan, so pricing starts at $24/mo for 3 team members on their basic plan.

A complete list of their plans at the time of publishing is:

  • Basic – $8/seat per month starting at $24/mo
  • Standard – $10/seat per month starting at $10/mo
  • Pro – $16/seat per month starting at $48/mo
  • Enterprise – Custom pricing on request.

Each plan unlocks more of Monday.com’s features, such as the number of automation and integration actions you can perform per month. The main feature most teams will be interested in, however, is the number of boards you can integrate into the central dashboard.

This is where the Basic plan is limited, as you can only create a dashboard based on 1 board. The number of boards increases to 5 with the Standard plan, 20 with the Pro plan, and 50 with the Enterprise plan.

Monday.com offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card needed), so I recommend testing out the platform if you’re interested.

Monday.com Alternatives

Monday.com is one of the most comprehensive project management tools on the market.

If it’s just tracking employee productivity that is important to you, check out employee productivity tools like DeskTime and MyTimeIn.

Your Turn

Have you used Monday.com? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Copywriter Today

Posted by Mica Harvey / Content Writing Services, Resources/Tools, Task-Based Virtual Assistants

Copywriter Today is a content creation service based in Cleveland, Ohio. The company was founded in 2014 by Gabe Arnold and aims to provide small businesses and bloggers with top-quality written content on an ongoing basis.

VAA Tested_smallerThe team has grown to over 60 people and continues to grow rapidly year over year. They provide native English writers based in the US. 

Their “claim to fame” is their “unlimited” writing service. 

Business owners who want to beat their competitors and rank higher in search engines use Copywriter Today to take the pain out of content creation. They write content that aligns with your brand’s voice and style with our streamlined, customizable process.

Copywriter Today Services

CopywriterToday.net offers unlimited content writing services, editing and proofreading on a monthly subscription basis.

Along those lines, the actual deliverables are often blog posts ranging from 400 to 3,000 words, lead magnets, sales letters, emails, copy for brochures, or content for press releases.

I’ve found that Google seems to value recency quite a bit in their algorithm, meaning that with all else equal, the more recently published article will be ranked higher. Where Copywriter Today comes in is by supplying you with a steady stream of content to keep your site up-to-date.

I know the publish date is something I definitely pay attention to when I arrive on a new site, and when nothing has been updated in a couple years, it throws up a red flag — like, “Is this company even still in business?”

Copywriter Today VAA Exclusive Offer!

VAA Exclusive: Use the partner code VAA50 to receive over $100 discount on your Copywriter Today BME Content Blueprint!

(and receive a free sample 800 word article as part of the content blueprint!)

Copywriter Today – How it Works

With a Copywriter Today you begin the process by creating a 3-12 month Copywriter Today BME Content Blueprint. This blueprint maps out your entire content marketing strategy.

Once the strategy is completed, the Copywriter Today team will help you select how many words per month you need to reach your goals. They offer packages between 2,000 and 10,000 words per month (and they also have custom packages available for those that need between 10,000 & 250,000 words per month).

After completing the Copywriter Today BME Content Blueprint process, and selecting your word count package, the monthly content process is as follows:

  1. Your Copywriter Today project manager will place your orders for the content you need for the month. 
  2. Then their team of writers create the content. 
  3. Each piece of content is fully edited by a professional US-based editor. 
  4. The content is then delivered to you inside your account dashboard and also via email and is attached as a Microsoft Word document. 
  5. You can also optionally upgrade your account and have the Copywriter Today team post the content to your blog with a custom designed image. If they do this for you, they’ll ensure all on page SEO best practices are followed as well.
  6. Your Copywriter Today project manager will ensure that you meet your word count goals and content goals for each month. 

There are no limitations on the use of the work, in terms of the number of websites or destinations you can publish it on, and you own the rights to the content at the end of the day.

If for some reason you don’t need monthly content, Copywriter Today can also provide project based content.

Related: My Outsourced Content Writing Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Copywriter Today – Getting Started is Simple

You’ll receive a full content strategy AND your first 800 word sample piece for free when you claim your Copywriter Today BME Content Blueprint!

Once you sign up for the content blueprint one of the Copywriter Today experts will meet with you to define your goals and will help you create your strategy.

VAA Exclusive: Use the partner code VAA50 to receive over $100 discount on your Copywriter Today BME Content Blueprint!

(and receive a free sample 800 word article as part of the content blueprint!)

Copywriter Today can cover your content marketing needs:

 

Copywriter Today Alternatives

I haven’t yet seen any other “unlimited” outsourced content writing services, though the alternative would be to write the content yourself or find writers on an article-by-article basis.

Copywriter Today Fiverr HireWriters Textbroker
Customer Rating not yet rated
Established 2014 2010 2012 2005
Minimum Cost (500 words) $265 per month $5 $5 $7.50
Type of Service Subscription A la carte articles Pre-screened writers; varying quality Pre-screened writers; varying quality
Best for Agencies, ongoing content needs One off, quick work Inexpensive filler content Connecting with reliable writers
Notes First article free Check Fiverr Pro for better quality 25% bonus on first deposit Pricing is per-word
Learn more Learn More Learn More Learn More Learn More

Another all-American writing service that comes to mind is Scripted, though they’re noticeably pricier per-article.

Your Turn

Have you tried Copywriter Today? If so, please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Fiverr Learn

Posted by Mica Harvey / Education, Resources/Tools

Fiverr Learn is an e-learning platform from the team behind Fiverr, one of the world’s largest freelance marketplaces.

Not anyone can post a course on Fiverr Learn, however. The platform consists only of a select group of experts in their respective industries.

About Fiverr Learn

Fiver Learn started operations in 2018. Unlike the freelance marketplace, Fiverr, their Learn platform is restricted to a group of curated experts in their fields.

This means you are guaranteed to get only the highest quality of training.

Fiverr is pushing these courses pretty hard. If you browse for courses over on Fiverr, you’ll find yourself being redirected to Fiverr Learn.

When you complete a training course on Fiverr Learn, you get a badge added to your Fiverr profile. If you’re a seller, this demonstrates to customers that you’ve taken a course.

The idea is that this will help you stand out from the other sellers. Which, on such a competitive platform as Fiverr is a great idea.

How Fiverr Learn Works

The user interface for Fiverr Learn is very similar to Fiverr. You can browse courses by category, then you’ll see all the courses under that category.

Most of the courses are in the 1-2 hours range. They’re broken down into smaller videos, typically just a few minutes each. You can view a small sample and read the course syllabus before making a decision.

When you’ve found a course you want to buy, click the ‘Buy Course’ button to unlock the content. You can then work through the course material at your own pace.

Fiverr Learn Services

Fiverr Learn is an e-learning platform providing online training. Where Fiverr Learn differs from other learning platforms is that the instructors have been handpicked to create content for the platform.

At the time of publishing, the platform had around 47 tutors listed. Some of the more notable instructors include:

Jon Youshaei – Writer for Time Magazine and listed by Forbes as one of the world’s top marketers.

Kelly Murphy – SEO, author, and digital marketer with 10+ years of experience working with Big Four holding and Fortune 500 companies.

Ian Cleary – Listed as Onalytica as one of the top 50 content marketers globally.

Michael Hunt – Freelance graphic designer who has worked with Oakley, Nike, Fender, and other leading brands.

Maya Yizhaky – A mindfulness coach running a 7-figure media empire.

The courses offered cover the following categories:

As you can see, the instructors invited to work with Fiverr Learn are highly successful industry experts. This means you’re getting high-quality training from experts with a good deal of industry experience.

Fiverr Learn Plans and Pricing

Individual courses range from $23-$94.

Fiverr Learn also offers what they call ‘programs’, which is essentially a bundle of courses at a discounted price.

At the time of publishing, Fiverr Learn was offering discounted prices, their programs ranged from $60-$150 for up to 10 courses bundled up.

Fiverr Learn Alternatives

Fiverr Learn has positioned itself differently in the market by using a smaller pool of specialist instructors.

This does mean they cannot cover as many topics as other platforms though. If you cannot find the course topic you’re looking for on Fiverr Learn, or if you just want to browse an alternative platform, check out Outsource School or Lead Academy.

Your Turn

Have you taken any courses with Fiverr Learn? If so, please share a quick review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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