Bottleneck Distant Assistants (formerly Bottleneck Virtual Assistants)

Bottleneck Distant Assistants sources executive and administrative assistants who work remotely in the Philippines.

About Bottleneck Distant Assistants

Bottleneck’s target customers are entrepreneurs that are experiencing growth in their existing company and are finding it more and more difficult to manage their tasks on a daily basis.

The majority of customers are based in the US, the UK, and Canada, while assistants work from their home offices in the Philippines.

“We are noticing a large amount of call center workers leaving that line of work for virtual assistant work,” Jaime explained. “While these people don’t have the same type of experience, they are eager to learn and they work hard.”

What Bottleneck Distant VA Offers

Bottleneck Distant Assistants provides a dedicated support team, offering six core roles that can handle your business’s administrative needs:

  1. Executive Assistants: Managing emails, schedules, travel, and general office support.
  2. Success Managers: Overseeing customer success, ensuring client satisfaction, and managing key client relationships.
  3. Bookkeepers: Handling day-to-day financial operations, including invoicing, payroll, and account reconciliation.
  4. Customer Service Representatives: Managing inbound calls, emails, and client support inquiries.
  5. Project Coordinators: Keeping your projects organized and on track, from timelines to task management.
  6. Social Media Coordinators: Planning and scheduling posts, engaging with followers, and supporting social media campaigns.

What They Do NOT Do

While they provide comprehensive administrative support, it’s important to clarify what Bottleneck Distant Assistants does not do. They do not offer services in strategy, marketing, sales, or copywriting. Instead, they support those roles by managing the administrative tasks that allow your team to focus on higher-level decisions. Their assistants are experts in handling all things administrivia, allowing your team to focus on what they do best.

Their Rigorous Vetting Process

They take care of the heavy lifting when it comes to sourcing and vetting your distant assistant. Every candidate goes through a comprehensive personality assessment, technology check, and English comprehension evaluation. They ensure they have the skills, mindset, and cultural fit to support your business goals.

  • English Comprehension: All our assistants are fluent in English, ensuring seamless communication with your team.
  • Technology Check: Each assistant is required to document their technology setup, including backup systems to prevent downtime.
  • Personality Assessment: We use advanced personality assessments to gauge work styles, communication preferences, and ensure a strong fit within your company culture.

How it Works

Getting started with Bottleneck Distant Assistants is simple. You’ll begin by completing a brief form and scheduling a 30-minute consultation. During this time, their team will walk you through their process and gather the necessary information to match you with the best candidate.

From there, their recruitment team identifies potential candidates, and they’ll set up an introduction meeting with the assistant they believe is the best fit. If the match isn’t perfect, they’ll present alternative candidates until they find the right one.

The Integrated Services Program™ (ISP)

Bottleneck Distant Assistants is a full-service program. Naturally, one person can’t do everything, so Bottleneck Distant created the Integrated Services Program™ (ISP). 

They understand that no single assistant can be an expert in everything. That’s why they created the Integrated Services Program™ (ISP), giving you access to additional skills through your dedicated assistant. This program allows you to tap into expertise in:

  • Website management (WordPress)
  • Social media management
  • Graphic design
  • Audio/video editing

Part-time clients (up to 20 hours per week) have access to 3 hours per week of ISP services, while full-time clients (up to 40 hours per week) receive 6 hours per week. Additional hours can be purchased as needed to meet deadlines.

Bottleneck Distant Assistant Plans and Pricing

They offer several pricing options based on your needs and all their pricing are 100% subscription-based with no contracts or minimums:

Remote Service Plan:

  • Full-time (40 hours/week): $1,947/month
  • Part-time (20 hours/week): $1,312/month

Remote Service with ISP:

  • Full-time: $2,370/month with 6 hours/week of ISP services
  • Part-time: $1,737/month with 3 hours/week of ISP services

They also offer office-based assistants through our Remote Office Service for added security, with assistants working from secure, dedicated offices in the Philippines. 

Bottleneck Distant Assistants Alternatives

When I asked Jaime what sets Bottleneck Distant Assistant apart from the competition, he mentioned their vetting process is designed to minimize risks for both clients and VAs.

“There are stories of VAs not getting paid and stories of clients not getting the work done that was promised and their assistant seemed to just disappear. While we can’t guarantee that will ever happen on either end, we do have a great system in place,” Jaime explained.

Another resource to look into is OnlineJobs.ph, especially if you’re comfortable doing the job posting and candidate screening yourself. The service costs $69 a month but you should have no problem finding the right person for the job within a month or two.

Once hired you’ll just pay your VA directly each pay period. You’ll find full-time candidates at a fraction of the cost of Bottleneck Distant Assistant, but have to forego the other benefits like team access.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Bottleneck Distant Assistants? If so, please be sure to leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Virtual Assistant Jobs

Virtual Assistant Job

Have a killer resume but not sure where to look to land your deam job or find your next client? Here are some great virtual assistant jobs to help you out!

See: Becoming a Virtual Assistant – Take our free-3 day course!

Just Remote

Just Remote is an online remote job board platform. Just Remote populate their listings by collating remote job listings from all over the internet and taking job listings directly through their site.

The company is headquartered in London, England. As an employer, it costs $189 to list a job for 30 days.

As a job seeker, you can browse most of their listings for free. Just Remote do offer a ‘Power Search’, however, which costs $5/mo.

Check out their review page.

GoLance

GoLance is an online workforce platform that connects employers with freelancers based all over the globe.

They provide the platform for freelancers and employers to connect and handle the payments and contracts between the two parties.

They have developed their own tool called goMeter Time Tracking to enable clients to monitor activity, a work diary summarizing monthly gigs and communications, and a smartphone app so you can stay connected on the move.

Check out their review page here.

VA Networking

VAnetworking is one of the largest global networking platforms for virtual assistants to connect with each other and utilize resources to help them improve their businesses and find more opportunities.

On the client side, VAnetworking accepts job postings from businesses and allows their paid members to respond.

Check it out here!

Dynamite Jobs

Dynamite Jobs is an online platform aggregating and sharing the best remote jobs from more than 300 different sources every week, as well as taking job listings directly through their site.

If you’re looking for a position where you can work remotely, or you’re a business looking to hire a remote worker, you can either browse the listings on their site or speak with a member of their team for help finding a position/candidate that meets your requirements.

It’s free to post a job or freelance gig on Dynamite Jobs. They’ll keep your posting on the homepage for 30 days and you can direct candidates directly to your application process.

However, if you’re looking to move faster and get greater exposure for your gig, you’ll probably want to opt for the $197 “Boosted Listing” option.

 

HireMyMom

HireMyMom.com is an online employment outsourcing service that specializes in working-from-home moms.

The company was founded in 2007 by entrepreneur Lesley Spencer Pyle, a mother who had formerly worked in public relations and as a desktop publisher.

HireMyMom has 3 membership options for moms looking for work:

  1. $9.99 for a one week trial
  2. $29.99 for 3-month service
  3. $99 for 6 month Platinum membership including being a Featured Candidate on the home page.For employers, Hire My Mom charges a nominal fee ($24.99-$39) to post a job to their audience.

Become a Virtual Assistant or further your education

Check out our free, 3-day program and other programs that can help you here.

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Ruby Receptionists

Ruby Receptionists, sometimes referred to as Call Ruby, is a Portland, Oregon based virtual answering service for small businesses. The company was founded in 2003 by Jill Nelson, who remains on as CEO.

All the virtual receptionists work out of the company’s Portland call center, and can get you 16 hours of phone coverage a day (12 on the weekends).

The advantage for business owners is to not have to worry about staffing a phone line in-house, or getting disrupted by calls during your work day.

VAA Exclusive: Click here for a special discount on your first full month of service!

Ruby Receptionists Services

ruby receptionists reviewThe Ruby Receptionist service can also give small companies the “illusion” of being much bigger, when customers are promptly greeted by a cheerful, professional receptionist on the phone.

The big idea? Creating real, meaningful connections with callers—building trust and helping you win business.

You can customize the “scripts” and provide other guidelines to Ruby that they’ll follow on your behalf.

The company can even make certain outbound calls on your behalf, to confirm appointments or to relay information, but wouldn’t be considered a lead generation or telemarketing service.

How Ruby Works

You can forward any number to your live Ruby Receptionists, or even get assigned a toll-free number.

They’ll answer with your custom greeting, take messages, forward calls to the appropriate department, and answer FAQs on your behalf.

You’ll get email alerts when you have a new call logged, and can track your usage and real-time call reports in the Call Ruby online dashboard. It’s modern technology coupled with old-fashioned professional, friendly receptionists—so you never miss a beat.

Bilingual Support

Ruby offers service in Spanish at no additional charge.

Ruby Receptionists Intro Video

VAA Exclusive: Click here for a special discount on your first full month of service!

Ruby Receptionists Plans and Pricing

Call Ruby has 3 pricing tiers, which are based on the number of inbound minutes you expect your new receptionist to receive.

ruby receptionists pricing

VAA Exclusive: Click here for a special discount on your first full month of service!

The popular “Impress” plan includes 100 receptionist minutes for $299 a month.

At $2.99 a minute, it’s not a cheap hourly rate virtual assistant, but the true value is having someone “on call” during your business hours for a very low monthly charge.

Unless you’ve been answering the phones yourself for some time, you might not have any idea of the call volume you’ll receive. In that case, it probably makes sense to start at the lower tier and scale up as needed.

The “Engage” plan is the next level up and includes 200 receptionist minutes for $599 per month.

Finally, the 3rd tier allows for up to 500 receptionist minutes for $1269 per month — over 8 hours of inbound talk-time.

If you go over your allotted minutes in any of the plans, additional minutes are simply charged a pro-rated rate on your service level.

All plans come with a 21-day money back guarantee. There are no long-term contracts, but requires a 30-day cancellation notice to terminate the service.

Ruby Receptionists Alternatives

Ruby is one of the most prominent companies in this space, though services like Gabbyville might also be considered.

Ruby Receptionists Gabbyville DaVinci 1-888-GoAnswer
Customer Rating not rated not rated
Established 2003 2013 2006 2003
Minimum Monthly Cost $299 for 100 minutes $229 for 150 minutes $99 for 50 minutes $110 for 100 minutes
Price per Minute $2.99 $1.53 $2.00 $1.10
Set-Up Fee $99 $95 $75
Trial 14-Day Free Trial 14-Day Free Trial 30-Day Risk-Free
Learn more Learn More Learn More Learn More Learn More

On the more “virtual assistant” side of things, I’ve seen some people turning to Uassist.me for on-call receptionists — but no guarantee the call gets picked up every time like with Ruby. (Uassist’s US-branch, Uassist.US is testing a similar call-answering service.)

For outgoing calls, Outbounders.com might be worth a look.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Ruby Receptionists? If so, please leave a brief review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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6 Reasons to Hire English/Spanish Bilingual Virtual Assistants

The Benefits of Hiring Bilingual Virtual Assistants

In recent years, more and more professionals have opted to hire virtual assistants. Here you can read 6 reasons why hiring a bilingual assistant benefits you!

Having a trained virtual assistant from one of the top virtual assistant companies increases productivity. It allows you to focus on parts of your job that benefit from your talent and expertise. If you’ve been considering hiring a virtual assistant, it’s important to consider a bilingual Spanish virtual assistant during your hiring process. 

With 13.5% of United States households speaking Spanish, failing to cater to Spanish-speakers automatically keeps your business from reaching its full potential. For example, if you own a bookstore and don’t speak Spanish, you’re missing out on all of the business of the Spanish-speaking population in your area. If your bookstore exists online, you are missing out on the business of the Spanish-speaking population all over the country. 

While learning a second language might not be in the cards for you, there’s an easier way to make your business more friendly to Spanish-speakers: Hire a Spanish-speaking virtual assistant. Here are the top reasons to add a bilingual virtual assistant to your team. 

1. You can tap into the growing Spanish-speaking customer base in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.

Having bilingual members working for your organization can open up more opportunities for your business. With the help of a Spanish-speaking virtual assistant, you can make your products and services more accessible to the Spanish-speaking customer base in the U.S. and Canada. The demand for bilingual or Spanish-speaking business is growing rapidly, and this can give your company an advantage.

2. Cost-saving. 

Hiring a bilingual Spanish virtual assistant prevents you from having to hire two people to do the same job. Rather than employing a customer service representative to deal with your English-speaking clientele and a Spanish-speaking person to deal with your Spanish clientele, why not just hire one person who can do both? With a bilingual Spanish virtual assistant, you can provide customer service in both languages without the hassle and expense of hiring two employees, or multiple contractors.

3. Improved communication.

Being fluent in two languages is no small feat. Individuals who master two languages demonstrate the skills and patience to communicate clearly and effectively. Often, those who are bilingual have to translate for friends and family, so communicating information accurately is second nature. This clear communication helps you avoid mistakes and misunderstandings at work and ensures peace of mind when your bilingual Spanish virtual assistant communicates with your clients.

4. Better SEO, for better Google Rankings. 

Having a bilingual Spanish virtual assistant can help you boost your SEO tactics in other languages. Just because your website comes up reliably in English-speaking markets doesn’t mean it’s effective for people searching in Spanish. Having bilingual input gives you the insight and opportunity to boost website traffic and hits. 

5. A wider audience for email and marketing efforts. 

Your Spanish-speaking virtual assistant will be able to translate emails, ads, and customer service statements to apply to your Spanish clients. Translation engines tend to make translations sound unnatural, and conversational Spanish from a fluent speaker often catches customers’ interest. If you have a Spanish-speaking client base or are looking to draw a Spanish-speaking client base, do not rely on Google Translate sites for your content. A Spanish-speaking virtual assistant will be much more effective at translation. Additionally, your bilingual virtual assistant can provide priceless inside information about what your Spanish-speaking clients want and need. This kind of access to the Spanish-speaking world cannot be found in a focus group or survey.

6. Better communication and a wider reach with interpretation and translation services. 

Bilingual virtual assistants can add significant value to your business. A bilingual virtual assistant who can communicate in both English and Spanish can significantly improve communication between you and your clients.  It can also open up doors to expanding your client base. This is especially useful in growing industries such as healthcare, or the legal industry. 

  • Physicians: Healthcare workers need to communicate with patients and their families in English or Spanish. 
  • Immigration Attorneys: As immigration grows, lawyers and other staff members may need to speak or interpret in both English and Spanish, or have documents translated so that their customers understand what they say. 
  • General Attorneys: As the Spanish language continues to grow in popularity, attorneys, regardless of their practice areas, may need translation or interpretation services to communicate information regarding a case. 

Having a bilingual virtual assistant who can clearly translate, communicate, and interpret in both English and Spanish can be a huge asset to these industries. 

Hire an Asset for Your Business with a Bilingual Virtual Assistant 

Bilingual Spanish virtual assistants are an asset to almost every company. No matter your business platform or area, being able to cater to the Spanish-speaking world is a good thing. Hiring a Spanish virtual assistant from Virtual Latinos ensures that you can cater to your customers no matter their background and gives you endless opportunities to grow your markets. As one of the top virtual assistant companies, they are ready to pair you with an assistant who meets your exact needs. With assistants based everywhere from Peru to Chile to Guatemala, you’re sure to find a Spanish virtual assistant who’s right for you and who is in your time zone. Don’t wait a day longer; hire your virtual assistant today. 

An Alternative to Virtual Latinos

Check out the reviews of Uassit.ME for an alternative Latin American Virtual Assistant company or see our locations page!

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UnicornGO

UnicornGO is a subscription-based design service offering unlimited and unrestricted graphic design requests for a flat monthly fee.

They are one of the newer graphic design service companies to enter the space, and their head offices are based in Sydney, NSW Australia. Their designers work remotely all over the globe.

About UnicornGO

The first thing that jumps out about UnicornGO which separates them from a lot of the established graphic design companies is their business model. When you sign up with UnicornGO you pay a flat fee for unlimited monthly designs and unlimited revisions.

Their objective is to make their service “Like having a dedicated design team without the price tag.” As a client, you are assigned a team of designers to work with and as you see some of the designs from the team you can choose to work with individuals that best understand your vision if you wish.

The company is headed up by co-founder Francis Lee. With over 16 years of experience in the sales and marketing industry, hiring and working with designers on a regular basis, Francis saw a gap in the market for a subscription model design company and started UnicornGO.

UnicornGO’s target customers are mainly startups and small businesses looking for regular, professional, and dynamic designs, but can’t afford or do not see the need for their own in-house graphic designer.

VAA Exclusive: Use UnicornGO coupon code VIRTADIR17 for $10 off your first month of service!

UnicornGO Services

UnicornGO’s graphic designers are able to handle any form of the graphic design task. This includes:

  • Infographics
  • Website design
  • Logos
  • Mobile UI
  • Book covers
  • Banners
  • Blog post headers
  • Flyers, and more.

There is a simple 3-step process in place from ordering your designs to receiving the completed work:

  1. You send them your design request with all the details of the task. Your designer will give you an estimate of the time it will take.
  2. Your design is delivered within the time specified in the format you requested, and you have some time to review the work.
  3. You can submit as many revisions as feel necessary to get the design exactly how you want it.

Plans and Pricing

UnicornGO has a straightforward menu of pricing options, ranging from $399 to $999 a month.

I’ll do my best to outline the main differences between the plans here.

The $399 Unlimited plan affords you “unlimited” design requests for unlimited brands. The only real throttle or limitation on this is that you can only submit one design request at a time, and they promise to turn it around in 1-2 business days.

The $399 Unlimited plan affords you “unlimited” design requests for unlimited brands and the key difference is that you can submit two design requests at a time with the same turnaround times.

At the top of the line, the $999 Big Unicorn plan removes that submission throttle, letting you submit up to 3 design requests at a time, and promises an express 24-hour turnaround.

VAA Exclusive: Use UnicornGO coupon code VIRTADIR17 for $10 off your first month of service!

There are no contracts, you can cancel at any time, and there is a 14-day money-back guarantee to ensure you’re satisfied with the service when you first sign up.

UnicornGO Alternatives

Flocksy and Design Pickle are two US-based graphic design companies that also operate on the monthly subscription model and have very similar pricing plans. Penji is another great US-based alternative, they hire from the Philippines, which make their pricing plans attractive.

If you don’t anticipate having enough ongoing work to get value from a monthly plan I recommend checking out Fiverr for one-off tasks.

Your Turn

Have you had some graphics designs from UnicornGO? If so, please leave a short review below to help others with their decision.

 

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DesignEvo

DesignEvo is an online logo design platform developed by PearMountain Technology. Their AI-powered logo design technology makes designing and downloading unique logos quick with no design skills necessary.

About DesignEvo

The company is run by CEO David Lin. Their target customers are startups, small business owners, entrepreneurs, bloggers, or anyone looking for an affordable way to produce logos and branding images for their business.

AI-powered logo design platforms have increased in popularity over the last few years. The main benefit of using them is that you can produce logos for free in just a few minutes.

This cuts out the time spent finding a graphic designer and going back and forth on a design until it meets your requirements. And of course, it saves you money too.

The drawback is that AI-powered designs are more limited in the amount of control you have over the design.

DesignEvo’s Services

Designing a logo using the DesignEvo interface couldn’t be easier. There are really just three steps to follow:

  1. Either choose a logo template from their database of more than 10,000 logos or start one from scratch.
  2. Change the colors, fonts, etc, to personalize it to your preferences.
  3. Choose your plan and download your logo.

DesignEvo has thousands of images to choose from. After that, you can select your fonts and colors to have complete control over how your logo looks.

The modifications are easy to make using their online graphic design editor.

It’s nice they have the option to make your own custom logos, but unless you’re experienced with designing graphics, this process will probably take a lot longer than tweaking one of their professional-looking templates.

Where DesignEvo differs from some of the other AI-powered logo design services is that they don’t generate lots of different logos to choose from based on your preferences.

You’re building a custom logo based on the choices you make and downloading that logo.

DesignEvo’s Plans and Pricing

DesignEvo has three different pricing options as follows:

  • Free – As the name suggests, you can create and download logos for free. Free logos are limited to 500 pixels though, and you’re required to give DesignEvo credit. You don’t own the copyright for the logo.
  • Basic – $24.99. Logos can be produced with up to 5,000 pixels, and you can make unlimited edits and receive lifetime support.
  • Plus – $49.99. With a Plus purchase you get everything in the Basic package, plus extra file type downloads, copies of the fonts used, and complete ownership of the images.

 

The Free option gives you the opportunity to test their platform and create some logos without committing to a plan which is great.

Then if you want to produce a higher res image you can pay a one-off fee. You can also download samples of their higher-quality logos before paying.

Compared with competitors like Tailor Brands, the big advantage of DesignEvo is the pricing is a one-time fee instead of a monthly or annual license.

DesignEvo Alternatives

Two other companies operating on a similar business model producing AI-powered logos are Looka and Brandmark.

Both of these companies also allow you to produce logos for free on their basic plans, so give them all a try and see which logo designs you like best before committing to paying for a high-res download.

There are some obvious limitations to building your own AI-powered logos. If you can’t find a logo you’re happy with I recommend looking for a graphic designer on Fiverr for an inexpensive solution, or 48 Hours Logo for a crowdsourced solution.

Your Turn

Have you created and downloaded any logos from DesignEvo? If so, please take a moment to leave a quick review to help others with their decision.

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How To Let Go And Let Your VA Do The Work

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TRUST ME – I understand how difficult it is being a small business owner who has a tough time offloading their work.

It’s your own creation – your baby.

But as your enterprise grows, the activities and tasks can become too many – that’s where a Virtual Assistant can step in.

Long hours and waking up in the night to check emails sound familiar?

With time, I’m getting better at letting go and so can you! My Virtual Assistant is winning my trust day by day and I am learning to depend on him & her much more than I earlier did.

Thanks to the emergence of the Virtual Assistant Services, offloading work to reliable committed people is now more easy and convenient. A Virtual Assistant can save you valuable money but also the most important asset – time.

Well, let me tell you about it from my own experience.

If you’re of the opinion that Virtual Assistant’s can only help you with admin assistance, it’s time to change your view. Indeed, this particular service may be the most commonly opted for but it is by no means the only one available. Virtual Assistant’s specialize in different fields such as:

They may not work in your country or time zone, but none of these come in the way of delivering their committed assistance. This free’s up your time for focusing on mainstream operations, doing what you are good at, and spending with the family. Now, who doesn’t want that?

I’ve been brave enough to be an entrepreneur – Why not be brave and hire a Virtual Assistant to see what the rewards are?

So, I got in touch with ClearDesk and Time ETC. As most of my outsourced work was related to writing, I sought a Virtual Assistant who was a trained and experienced writer and other tasks and two of the highest rated VA companies on our site.

We communicated via emails and over time, our understanding grew deeper and better. I found that Virtual Assistant’s love helping out their clients and often go above and beyond to ensure the same. They follow instructions diligently, provide timely output, and follow up regularly. Other than the fact that you cannot see them in person, there’s nothing to complain of really.

There are several Virtual Assistant companies around the world that offer their services to businesses of various sizes – it’s a big, wide world out there with plenty of choices. Virtual Assistant’s are no genies or mind-readers, which is why you need to maintain a consistent form of communication to specify your guidelines and follow up with modifications, if necessary.

The task list of Virtual Assistants can help businesses grow in many ways –  You only need to decide on what it is that you find you are spending time which could be spent elsewhere.

Ways To Let Go

Here are some tips on how to share your responsibilities and let your Virtual Assistant do the work:

  • Business Communication Platforms – Constant communication is key. Thankfully, the advancement in technology has brought forth several business communication platforms for smooth and safe communication. Slack replaces the idea of communicating via emails and the time wasted along with it. The platform facilitates direct conversation to ensure no detail is missed out. Asana and Trello are similar communication platforms that have high utility as well. Communication and tracking the progress of tasks becomes much easier with these, given the complete transparency between the two parties.
  • Time and Activity Tracking – Time tracking tools are very helpful for business owners who love the control over their own work and overseeing them to the fullest. These tools help in effectively tracking the time for the tasks performed by the Virtual Assistant. It helps in determining the efficiency of a virtual assistant. Time and activity tracking software show business owners the number of hours a Virtual Assistant spends on a task and how they utilize their time. MyTimeIn, WorkPuls and DeskTime are the most advanced softwares for monitoring the time and productivity of the Virtual Assistant’s. Hubstaff is an amazing tool for scheduling, reporting, payrolls, and invoicing purposes.
  • Document Sharing and File Management – Collaborating on documents and experiencing your Virtual Assistant’s work in real-time is now a breeze. Dropbox is a file storage platform that was initially introduced as Cloud storage. It can be used for storing all your content in a central location, to find and track content effortlessly, and to optimize workflow. Google Drive is yet another outstanding tool for managing work in real-time in coordination with the Virtual Assistant’s.
  • Sleep Apps – It is not uncommon for anxiety related to work and life to come in the way of your sleep and prevent you from relaxing. There are several sleep apps that help in evaluating your sleeping patterns, display analyses of sleep phases, and come with different soothing melodies to make the mind calmer. These sleep apps are handy in ensuring that you get enough rest while your Virtual Assistant takes care of your work. Getting the recommended hours of sleep can also help you to focus better on coordinating and collaborating with your Virtual Assistant. Some great sleep apps are White Noise, Relax Melodies and Sleep Time.

It’s okay to want to be in control when it comes to your work. But letting go a little or some more, depending on how bogged down you are, doesn’t hurt. I should know. In fact, hiring a Virtual Assistant and letting him & her assist me has been one of the best decisions I ever made.

I hope it helps you to arrive at better decision-making.

For all you know, your Virtual Assistant could be your best work buddy.

Best,

Mica

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Can you outsource your dating life? Yes – here is how!

How to Outsource Your Dating Life

Are you too busy?

Do you find searching through profiles and people and selecting a prospective match to be a task? 

Surprise! You can outsource your dating life!

There is a job profile out there for managing other people’s dating profiles on apps and sites. The advancement in technology has brought many dating options online, giving you a wide variety of options to choose from, filter, and connect with compatible matches effortlessly. The outsourcing of online dating helps people to brush up their profiles and make better matches.

It is not always possible for entrepreneurs to give time to the dating pool. This is where a Virtual Assistant managing their dating profile could take care of sorting through hundreds of profiles, connecting, and determining some of the ideal matches. 

The Convenience of Online Dating 

Online dating has become quite popular with an increasing number of people taking recourse to it. The biggest advantage of dating online is there’s no pressure involved. Here are some of the most common advantages of online dating: 

  • Getting to meet a vast range of people outside of the known social network, which would otherwise be impossible
  • Meeting different people more frequently, based on your preference 
  • Connecting with people with similar core values, interests, and priorities 
  • The most convenient way to easily meet a new person with the same mindset  
  • Easier to reach out and connect as it does not involve face-to-face / in-person interaction that can be a bit daunting  
  • Exchanging messages and pictures helps in knowing whether the sender and recipient are on the same wavelength 

Check out our reviews of Virtual Assistant Companies to see how they can help you filter through dating profiles and find your next match!

Worldwide Reputed Online Dating Sites 

  • eHarmonyThis site is committed to helping people find love and improving their romantic lives. eHarmony takes matchmaking very seriously and has spent 35 years compiling a relationship questionnaire. eHarmony takes pride in matching users who are actually compatible with each other. This app delivers compatible dates directly to users’ inboxes for an outstanding experience.
  • match.com –  match.com is the most widely used online dating platform in the world with 9.8 billion users. It follows the most traditional form of social networking. Users need to create a profile, find matches, strike meaningful conversations with matches, and ask them out on conventional dates to meet in person. match.com app has multiple filters and is known to provide online dating advice as well. I personally know many success stories from match.com!
  • Tinder Tinder is an online geo social dating app that enables users to swipe anonymously left and right on the options provided based on users’ preferences. People can exchange messages only when two users match.
  • BumbleBumble is a location-based social platform that enables interaction between two interested users. Only female users can send the first messages to persons of their choice on this dating app.

Statistics On Success Rate 

The success rate of online dating sites can be determined by the following facts and statistics that have been collected over the years: 

  • Studies show that on an average, up to 52.4% men use online dating sites and apps compared to 47.6% women.  
  • About 40% of Americans are known to use online dating apps. Recent studies show record increases of 27% users among young adults and 6% users in the age group of 55–64 years within a span of 2 years. 
  • There are approximately 20 billion registered users on dating sites worldwide. 50% of UK users use dating apps multiple times a week while 56% of US users do the same thing. 
  • Around 21% of LGB adults in the US have successfully married or got into relationships with people they met through online dating. 
  • 39% of dating app users admit to have gone on dates with someone they met on such apps.  
  • 1 out of 6 marriages is the result of online dating. 
  • 71% of online daters admit to finding easy and attractive matches. 

Paid Membership vs Free Membership 

It goes without saying in multiple industries that you get what you pay for – outsourcing your dating isn’t any different.  Free apps are readily available and have proven successes but, paid membership eliminates a lot of risk. There are a lot of fake profiles on free membership dating sites as compared to paid platforms. Also, using a free online dating profile can make you an easy target for obscene messages, inappropriate file-sharing, and other inconveniences. In contrast, paid membership apps are highly stringent with their policies and user profiles. The lack of serious goals on free dating apps and absence of proper audience policing can have a negative impact on online daters. 

Paid platforms do not negate the possibility of scamming altogether but narrow the chances. Since the users are spending precious bucks on connecting with and dating like-minded people, it generally involves earnest individuals and not “catfish’s”.   match.com, and eHarmony are paid platforms that can charge users USD$10-40 a month, based on the services they choose. 

Some of the apps like Tinder, Bumble, and OKCupid advertise a cost-free experience but require service charges or subscription fees for exercising more accessibility. 

Ready to find your next date?

Regardless of whether you use a free dating app or a paid one, outsourcing your dating life can help save your time and effort in finding that perfect match. Experts who have the time and skill can help you to successfully outsource your online dating life for good – putting in all effort while you reap the best results. 

Your Virtual Assistant can even order the flowers, cards, make the reservation and shop online for a new outfit – making you look like gold!

What are your plans this Valentine’s Day?

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Ask Data Entry (AskDataEntry™)

AskDataEntry is an India-based company offering a wide range of data entry services.

The company’s headquarters is located in Kolkata, India. They have two offices in this location, and all of their staff are based in their offices.

About AskDataEntry

askdataentry reviewThe company started operations in 2011 and is headed up by current director Joydeep Singha. (The parent company Vooraf Technology Pvt. Ltd has been around since 2003.)

Ask Data Entry has a team of virtual assistants, but what separates them from general VA companies is that they specialize in data entry tasks.

Anyone who has done any amount of data entry themselves will know it’s one of the most repetitive and challenging tasks. Which is why it’s often one of the first to be outsourced.

Most virtual assistant companies offer data entry as part of their services, but few truly specialize in it though.

With speed and attention to detail being two key skills needed for efficient data entry, if you have data entry tasks to outsource, I would try AskDataEntry.

How AskDataEntry Works

When I asked Ask Data Entry about their onboarding process and how they handle a workflow between themselves and their clients, they explained they’re flexible.

If you want to work with them, they’re willing to work out an arrangement that will work best for you and your individual needs.

This may mean arranging a dedicated assistant for long-term projects, or assigning a number of assistants to complete your tasks quicker.

All you need to do is explain to a member of their team what tasks you want to be done, and how you want them done.

They’ll then handle everything on their end, from assigning assistants to sending back the completed work.

Services

AskDataEntry has long lists of the types of data entry they take on. Basically, any tasks that involve the inputting, manipulating, cleaning, or processing of data, they’re willing to do.

To give you a better idea, some of the tasks they highlight on their site include:

  • Data Entry & Processing
  • Data Enrichment
  • Data Conversation
  • Data Cleansing & Validation
  • eCom Product Management & Enrichment
  • eCommerce Order Processing
  • Data Extraction/Migration
  • Online Research & Market Intelligence
  • Personalized Task Processing
  • Admin Support

The company also offers more traditional dedicated virtual assistant services.

Plans and Pricing

Ask Data Entry has packages ranging from $5-8 an hour:

  • 10 hours per month – $80 ($8/hr)
  • 50 hours per month – $350 ($7/hr)
  • 100 hours per month – $600 ($6/hr)
  • 200 hours per month – $999 ($5/hr)

askdataentry pricing

If you need more time, additional hours can be purchased at $7 an hour.

Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Mention code VAA25 for 25% off your first month!

They offer a free trial too, so you can test their service before committing to a plan.

AskDataEntry Alternatives

If you’re looking for alternative companies with similar pricing, I recommend checking out some of the other highly rated virtual assistant companies based in India.

Tasks Expert Wing Assistant TaskVirtual eLuminous
Customer Rating
Established 2017 2018 2016 2002
Hourly Rate $4.50-$9.50 $6.878.75 $6.24-15 $7.00
Minimum Package $95 for 10 hours $699 for 80 hours Pay as you go for $15 $140 for 20 hours
Dedicated Assistant
Best For Business Owners
Entrepreneurs
Professionals
Small & Medium Business Owners, IT Services, Marketing Agencies, SaaS Data Entry, Digital Marketing, Website design & development, Administrative Work, Customer Service Development
Real Estate
E-Commerce
Marketing
Team Access
Free Trial *For limited range of services
Special Offer 10 hours free w/ code VAA10 N/A Free Trial $10 for 10 hours. Valid for 1 month. 20% off first month (mention VAA)
Learn More Learn More Learn More Learn More

*Well, it’s a $1.

My Tasker and VA Talks are two companies that offer VAs and include data entry in their list of services. Their rates are slightly higher, but they do have a good deal of positive feedback.

Your Turn

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

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Adminja

Adminja is a client management platform for Virtual assistants. This platform enables VAs to create their own dedicated workspace where they can keep all of their client information and workflow organized.

The company and Adminja’s support staff are based in Chicago, U.S.

About Adminja

The company started operations in 2016 and was founded by Bryan Lewis. Brian developed the software behind Adminja and is also a managing partner in web development firm Openmotive Inc.

Most virtual assistants face a number of challenges involved with managing the admin behind working with multiple clients, workflows, and different systems.

Brian recognized this, so he created the Adminja platform to provide a “one-stop shop” solution. A software where VAs can manage all of their day-to-day workflows in one place.

As a VA using Adminja, you can easily organize all of your tasks, client details, time, billing, and more, in one place.

The Dashboard is clean and easy to use, it populates charts and analytics, you can pull real-time reports, all do a number of things that will save you a lot of time.

Time-saving aside, streamlining all of your workflows will greatly reduce the chance of errors, which can be priceless. You can also easily add additional team members if you start to work with team members.

How Adminja Works

To get started, you need to sign up for a 30-day free trial for either a Solo or a Team plan.

After going through the setting up steps, you’ll be given a login to the Adminja platform. From here, you can start to customize and manage all of your workflows.

If you get stuck or want some help learning the ropes, Adminja has a help center and learning library. Here you’ll find FAQ sections, various articles, instructional, videos, and you can even book a 1-on-1 call with a member of their support team.

Adminja Services

Adminja has a number of features to help you manage all of your workflows, the core areas of this software are:

  • Custom dashboard – Creating a central hub where you can manage multiple clients is a huge time saver. No more switching between spreadsheets and folders, you can add all of your clients to your dashboard.
  • Time tracking – Most VAs bill time to multiple clients. Adminja makes it easy to track, manage, and see exactly how long you’ve spent working for each client.
  • Reporting – You can produce reports with your own logo for internal or external use.
  • Billing – Once you’re tracking time and the tasks you’ve completed in Adminja, you can easily bill your clients with a few clicks.
  • Team management – When you’re ready to grow your business, you can set up profiles for your team members. You can one-click assign tasks to them, communicate, check their workflow, and more.

Adminja integrates with some popular tools you might already be using, such as Zapier.

There is also a Chrome extension, which helps you capture notes and tasks without leaving your workflow which is a nice touch.

Adminja Plans and Pricing

Adminja currently has two pricing plans as follows:

  1. Solo – $29.99 per month, with this plan you get unlimited workspaces, client tracking, weekly reports, custom forms, and more.
  2. Team – $10 per month, per member, this plan includes everything in the Solo plan, along with a team manager, payroll reports, and priority support.

The Solo plan is aimed at VAs working for themselves. With this plan, you get access to all the tools you need to organize and manage all your clients through one dashboard.

If you’re running an agency or managing a team, you’ll need to sign up for a Team plan. This plan includes payroll, so you can manage paying your VAs, as well as a dedicated team manager.

There is a 5-member minimum for their Team plan, so that plan starts at $50/mo. Both plans come with a 30-day free trial and you can cancel at any time.

Adminja Alternatives

There are not a lot of other platforms designed exclusively for virtual assistants checking as many boxes as Adminja does.

If you’re currently managing your workflow with multiple systems, spreadsheets, and individual client systems, we recommend checking Adminja.

Your Turn

Have you used the Adminja platform? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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