Remote.com

Posted by Mica Harvey / Freelance Virtual Assistants

UPDATE: Remote.com has changed their business structure and no longer offers the below services. Please take a look here for alternative virtual assistant companies. Thank you.

Remote.com (formerly Outsource.com, a platform that generated less-than-positive feedback from freelancers) is a virtual assistant company based in Burlingame, CA. They have been in operation since January 2017 and match business owners with virtual assistants from all over the globe.

They use an AI-powered matching system to match up clients with the best suited virtual assistant from their database, helping to establish that first point of contact and continued support with the working relationship.

About Remote.com

Remote is headed up by CEO Nick Macario. The interesting thing about Remote that separates them from other VA companies is the way they find virtual assistants for their clients.

They leave the matching process up to their own AI algorithm. Saying, “Our AI-powered matching technology ensures that job seekers are able to access the best-matched opportunities based on their preferences and qualifications.”

As a client looking for an assistant, you fill in all the details about yourself, your company, and what skills you’re looking for in an assistant. You are then offered assistants based on your requirements.

What’s not yet clear is whether this is just a buzz-wordy way to accomplish what other VA companies do by filtering their database based on skills and resume keywords.

Once you get your match, you can start working together, communicate through the Remote.com platform, and send payments through their secure escrow system.

Remote’s target customers are anyone finding themselves too busy working in their businesses with routine tasks that could and should be outsourced.

Services

Remote say you’ll be able to find an assistant for any tasks that can be completed remotely. They also facilitate partly-remote and full-time assistants, so it’s possible to find someone willing to relocate.

Some of the tasks their assistants commonly handle include:

  • Administrative tasks
  • Accounting and bookkeeping
  • Online research and data entry
  • Customer service
  • Marketing
  • Content management
  • Development
  • and more

A nice feature on their website is that you can search their database by skills as a direct route way to find a candidate capable of handling your tasks.

Plans and Pricing

When hiring a full-time assistant, you can post a job for free as a basic listing, or upgrade for a premium listing and some additional perks.

The available plans are as follows:

  • Free Job Post – A basic 30-day listing, company profile, and basic AI-powered outreach.
  • Premium Job Post – $295 – You get a featured listing for 30 days, 10x the exposure, and advanced AI-powered outreach and recruiting tools.
  • Elite Placement – Custom Pricing – You can work with a dedicated “talent specialist” at Remote to find the perfect assistant, you’ll need to contact them directly for a quote.

Once you make your hire, there is a 10% charge of the project cost when you start working with an assistant.

Remote.com Alternatives

While Remote is unique in the way they match up clients with assistants automatically, there is no shortage of virtual assistant companies waiting to match you up with an assistant to meet your requirements.

For a much wider candidate pool, you might consider Upwork, one of the largest freelance marketplaces online. If you need tech-specific help for a larger project, TopTal or Gun.io might be worth a look.

For US-based companies that will find assistants for you, Boldly and Time Etc are two highly rated firms.

Your Turn

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

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vWorker

Posted by Mica Harvey / Freelance Virtual Assistants

UPDATE: vWorker has been acquired by Freelancer.com. See our full review of Freelancer.com here.

vWorker.com is a company designed to bring employers and virtual workers together so that everyone can find the work and workers they need. Based in Tampa, Florida, vWorker has been in business since 2003.

The company was formerly known as RentACoder.com, however they have expanded their services beyond freelance software coding and web development projects.

vworker reviewUnder the new vWorker name, they now offer a way for businesses to contract freelancers for a huge variety of jobs, including virtual assistance, copywriting, data entry, search engine optimization, transcription, and much more.

The company boasts that they have over 350,000 workers on the site ready to bid on whatever job you post. This makes vWorker a notably smaller community than Elance with 550,000 workers or oDesk with 1.4 million workers.

vWorker aims to separate themselves from the competition with a number of innovations. First, they offer a free money-back guarantee on every project. Hiring a virtual worker can be intimidating so that’s a nice protection to have. Second, they offer crowsourcing and “trialsourcing” services – something the other freelance sites haven’t touched yet. This means if you have a short project, several workers attack the job for you and you simply pick the winner.

For hourly jobs (like most virtual assistant gigs), vWorker utilizes an AccuBilling system where people are able to log the time that they worked on a particular project, similar to punching a time clock. The system also includes screen captures of your VA’s computer so you can verify they’re really working when they say they are.

If you’re struggling with where to post your virtual assistant job, vWorker has put together a very detailed comparison chart highlighting the differences between their company and their competitors.

vWorker.com claims their virtual workers are more affordable, accountable and capable than traditional workers. It’s free to sign-up and post a job, so you might as well check it out and see for yourself.

Each contractor will have their own feedback history as well, so I would pay close attention to that.

Have you worked with anyone from vWorker? If so, we’d love to hear about your experience below.

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Web Virtual Assistants

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

UPDATE: It appears Web Virtual Assistants is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives or see below. If you own this listing or this information is incorrect, contact me here.

Web Virtual Assistants is a virtual assistant company based in Mumbai, India. The company was founded in 2016 and they provide remote workers to clients across the globe at competitive prices.

Their target customers are small businesses and entrepreneurs, and their assistants are ready to handle just about any task that can be completed remotely.

About Web Virtual Assistants

web virtual assistants reviewWeb Virtual Assistants say they started the business, “With the idea of providing remote workers to clients in the US, UK, Europe, and around the world for just a fraction of what an in-office employee would cost!”

Based in Mumbai, India, and having their virtual assistants working out of their offices they are able to offer very competitive rates starting at $4.99 per hour.

The company was founded by entrepreneurs and brothers Javed and Samir Pathan, with the goal of helping small business owners and entrepreneurs streamline their processes and take work off their hands by providing virtual assistants.

When you sign up with Web Virtual Assistants you’re assigned an operations manager who will contact you to introduce themselves and discuss your requirements.

They will then send you details of a number of their assistants that are best suited to carry out your tasks. You can talk to the assistants and pick the one that you feel is best suited.

From there you can start sending tasks and communicating with your assistant via email, phone, Skype, or any other preferred method.

Services

As with most virtual assistant providers, Web Virtual Assistants say their VA’s are ready to take on any tasks that can be completed remotely.

They list their areas of specialization as follows:

Plans and Pricing

At press time, Web Virtual Assistants have only two different hourly rates, and they’re both very affordable: $6.99 an hour or $4.99 an hour.

The $6.99 an hour option is only for their lowest tier plan, which offers 10 hours of work for $70, and all other tiers are priced at the almost too-low-to-be-true $4.99 hourly rate:

  • $70 for 10 hours, Pay-as-you-go.
  • $199 for 40 hours of VA time.
  • $399 for 80 hours of VA time.
  • $798 for 160 hours of VA time.
  • $1197 for 240 hours of VA time.

All of their plans include a dedicated virtual assistant, and you get the chance to speak with their assistants before committing.

One thing that’s not clear though is whether you’re buying a bucket of 160 hours of support one-time, or signing up for a monthly subscription.

But you can change your plan at any time and Web Virtual Assistants offer a 100% satisfaction and money back guarantee.

Web Virtual Assistants Pricing

Each plan includes a 5-hour free trial.

Web Virtual Assistants Alternatives

When I asked Web Virtual Assistants what separates them from the other VA companies in their space they said their competitive pricing is hard to beat — and they’re right, they have one of the lowest hourly rates.

If you’re looking for a more established virtual assistant company based in India however, MyTasker and VA Talks are two with a decent amount of positive feedback.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Web Virtual Assistants? If so, please take a moment to leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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Hubberly

Posted by Mica Harvey / India Virtual Assistants, UK/Europe Virtual Assistants

UPDATE: It appears Hubberly is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives or see below. If you own this listing or this information is incorrect, contact me here.

Hubberly is a virtual assistant company based in the UK with their focus being mainly on the UK market. They have virtual assistants based in Europe, the US, and India.

The company has been in business since 2012. Their target customers are busy individuals, entrepreneurs, and small to medium-sized businesses looking to outsource some of their workload.

About Hubberly

The company is run by Alexis Mathai and Dave Ng. Hubberly’s headquarters in the UK and they focus mainly on UK clientele.

However, having most of their virtual assistants in India allows them to offer much more competitive rates than the UK companies with UK-based assistants.

When you sign up with Hubberly you will have a consultation with a member of their management team. The goal of that chat is to establish your requirements, estimate how many assistant hours you need per month, and match you with the most suitable member of their team.

They then have a Client Success Team in place to help facilitate a smooth relationship with new clients or anyone working with a virtual assistant for the first-time.

You are then introduced to your assistant and can start communicating what tasks you need done. A member of their management team is also available as a point of contact if you have any issues.

Services

Hubberly’s virtual assistants can perform any tasks that can be completed remotely.

You can either pay for a set number of hours per month and work with your assistant 1-on-1 on a variety of tasks, or pay an hourly rate for a specific skill such as logo design or e-commerce support.

Here are some of the common types of tasks Hubberly offers support for:

  • Data Entry
  • Virtual Assistance
  • Writing and Editing
  • Social Media Management
  • Logo and Graphic Design
  • Mobile App Development
  • Website Development and Maintenance

Plans and Pricing

Hubberly currently has 4 different plans for their virtual assistants. These range from £8.00 per hour for their smallest plan of 20 hours a month, to £5.50 per hour for their full-time assistant plan.

hubberly pricing

They also have an extensive list of hourly rates and set prices covering all their other services, enabling you to pay a for the exact service you use if you don’t need to hire an assistant.

An overview of their prices are as follows:

Virtual Assistant Services:

  • 20 hours a month, £160 per month (about £8.00 per hour).
  • 40 hours a month, £280 per month (about £7.00 per hour).
  • 80 hours a month, £520 per month (about £6.50 per hour).
  • 160 hours a month, £880 per month (about £5.50 per hour).

E-Commerce Services:

  • Prices start at £4.99 per hour for product uploading.

Data Entry Services:

  • £5.99 per hour for data entry, data mining, and back office services.

Programming Services:

  • Hourly rates range from £12.99-29.99 per hour.

Graphic Design Services:

All of their plans come with a dedicated virtual assistant, a choice between a North American or Europe-based assistant, 1-hour complimentary launch meeting to get started, and there is always a backup assistant in place.

Hubberly Alternatives

Although Hubberly is a UK-based company and they focus on the UK market a lot of their assistants are based in India, which allows them to offer more competitive prices than other UK-based virtual assistant companies.

Therefore, I’d check out Indian-based virtual assistant companies like My Tasker and VA Talks for comparable services and prices. You’ll find they have experience working with businesses in the UK and will likely accommodate your time zone if you speak with them.

Your Turn

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

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Remplo

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

Remplo enables small business owners and entrepreneurs to outsource tasks to their team of virtual assistants. The company has a large team of hand-picked virtual assistants (primarily based in Sri Lanka) with a range of skills to meet their clients’ needs.

About Remplo

Remplo has been providing virtual assistant services since 2013. Being in the virtual assistant space for that long and still going strong is a testament to a solid reputation and a lot of satisfied clients. The company is headed by Roshana Mallawaarachchi and primarily targets solopreneurs, startups, SMEs, and enterprises.

With over 1,000 clients served, Remplo saves businesses time and resources by offering skilled virtual assistants who handle tasks at cost-effective and competitive rates. Roshana emphasized their approach to “minimizing issues associated with working with staff in autonomous and distant locations by keeping contractors accountable and productive, no matter where they are working from in the world.”

Their hiring process, utilizing a 10-step methodology designed by Richard Branson’s former executive assistant, ensures top-quality service. Remplo assistants are based in Sri Lanka, supported by sales offices in Australia and the UK.

With Remplo, clients gain access to highly skilled, AI-powered virtual assistants designed to elevate productivity and maximize results. The company’s BPO services in Sri Lanka leverage advanced technology to deliver customized solutions, seamlessly integrating with business processes to drive efficiency and foster growth.

Remplo Services

Remplo offers a comprehensive range of services tailored to meet the diverse needs of businesses, from solopreneurs to SMEs and large enterprises:

Core Virtual Assistant Services

  • Sales Support
  • Task Management
  • CRM Management
  • Data Entry & Research
  • Social Media Management
  • Expense Management
  • Project Management
  • Relationship Management
  • Travel Management

Advanced BPO and Back-Office Solutions

  • Customer Service
  • Technical Support
  • Trust & Safety
  • Back Office Support
  • Sales & Marketing
  • Accounting Services
  • Tech & AI Solutions

Specialist Services

With this wide array of services, Remplo ensures you get expert assistance that fits seamlessly into your business processes, saving you time and driving growth.

Plans and Pricing

Remplo is among the most affordable VA companies I’ve seen, with rates set at under $8 per hour across their range of plans.

You can start with a dedicated Remplo assistant as an individual for just $160 per month for 20 hours of work.

For larger workloads, such as those required by enterprises, you can opt for a 240+ hour per month custom plan. Pricing details are available upon request to tailor the plan to your specific needs.

The popular “Small Business” plan offers dedicated virtual assistants for approximately 80 hours per month at a cost of $560.

Remplo Alternatives

Among Remplo’ top competitors are companies like My Tasker and Task Expert, but you’ll pay a slightly higher hourly rate at either of those.

Remplo has been in business for a long time and they do have a lot of experience in the virtual assistant space which goes a long way. I always recommend doing some due diligence and making contact with companies to see how they fit with your needs.

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

Your Turn

If you have worked with Remplo, please leave a review below and share your experience to help others with their hiring decision.

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Taskbugs

Posted by Mica Harvey / Virtual Assistant Companies

UPDATE: It appears Taskbugs is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives or see below. If you own this listing or this information is incorrect, contact me here.

Taskbugs is a virtual assistant company with offices in the US and Sri Lanka. The business was founded in 2013 with the mission of connecting entrepreneurs, professionals, and small teams with virtual assistants.

For a hot minute, the company was called TaskGators.

Their virtual assistants are based in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, allowing them to offer some very competitive hourly rates.

About Taskbugs

The company is owned by founder Roshana Mallawaarachchi (same guy behind Remplo, TaskEngage, and Outvas), and they say their mission is to, “Support entire teams and busy professionals with flawless execution.”

Their target customers are professionals and entrepreneurs. They have teams of virtual assistants in both Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and when asked what their areas of specialization are Taskbugs said, “Admin support including data entry and medical transcription.”

So, while their assistants handle a wide variety of remote tasks, you will find some added value if you have a large volume of data entry or transcription tasks.

When you sign up with Taskbugs you are assigned an assistant based on your requirements, a dedicated project manager as a point of contact, and they ensure there is an assistant available as a backup should the assistant you’re working with fall sick or take a vacation.

Services

Taskbugs assistants can handle a wide variety of tasks you would expect from a virtual assistant.

To give you an idea, they list some of their services as:

  • Admin tasks
  • Data entry
  • Online research
  • Social media marketing
  • Bookkeeping
  • Customer service
  • Content Writing
  • Medical transcription
  • Graphic and web design

When you sign up with Taskbugs and have been matched up with an assistant you are given the opportunity to ask them any questions you have. This is an opportunity to check they have the necessary experience and skills before agreeing to go ahead.

So, if you have any specific tasks you need completed that aren’t listed above you can talk these through with the assistant one-on-one which is a mutually beneficial to your working relationship.

Plans and Pricing

Taskbugs offer four different monthly pricing plans ranging from $70 for 10 hours of assistant time over the month, to $640 for 160 hours of time.

A complete list of their plans are as follows:

  • 10 hours per month, $70 ($7 per hour)
  • 40 hours per month, $240 ($6 per hour)
  • 80 hours per month, $400 ($5 per hour)
  • 160 hours per month, $640 ($4 per hour)

As you can see, the hourly rate drops the larger the plan you sign up for. $4 per/hr for the 160-hour plan is a very competitive hourly rate.

Taskbugs Alternatives

There are plenty of virtual assistant companies to choose from with assistants based in the Philippines. I recommend checking out OnlineJobs.ph as they offer similar rates and are one of the larger companies in the space.

Okay Relax and Task Bullet are two more companies with a good deal of positive feedback. Their rates just a little higher than Taskbugs but it’s worth getting a quote before making a decision.

Your Turn

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

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Remote Books Online

Posted by Mica Harvey / Bookkeeping Services

RemoteBooksOnline is an online bookkeeping service. They have a team of certified QuickBooks Pro Advisors and Xero-Certified Advisors and provide a range of bookkeeping services for small to medium-sized businesses.

The company has been in business since 2012. Their headquarters is based in Tennessee, and all of their bookkeepers work remotely from their homes.

About Remote Books Online

RemoteBooksOnline ReviewThe company is headed up by CEO Tim McDonald, and their target customers are start-ups and small to medium-sized businesses.

RemoteBooksOnline provides a complete range of bookkeeping services any small business would need. When you sign up for one of their plans, you’re assigned a dedicated bookkeeper, so you can develop a working relationship as they get to know your business better.

The benefit of outsourcing your bookkeeping isn’t just to take the workload off your hands. It’s a lot more cost-effective than hiring someone in-house. Working with one of RemoteBooksOnline bookkeepers means you’re working with a ready-certified bookkeeping professional, and you will use their accounting software.

If security is one of the things that has held you back from outsourcing your financials, they got you covered. RemoteBooksOnline protects all client data with 256-bit SSL/TLS encryption. That’s the same level of encryption online banks use, so you can sleep well at night knowing your sensitive business data is locked away.

How RemoteBooksOnline Works

When you sign up for one of their plans, you’ll be introduced to the bookkeeper who will be handling your books. You will also be given the contact details for a lead accountant overseeing your account if you have any issues to discuss.

After asking a few questions to get to know you and your business, your bookkeeper will get started on your books.

They will:

  • import your bank statements into QuickBooks or Xero
  • categorize all your transactions
  • prepare financial statements for you to review

They even offer a back-bookkeeping service. So, if you’re behind on your books, don’t be embarrassed. RemoteBooksOnline guarantees a 1-week turnaround for up to 12 months of retroactive bookkeeping.

Services

RemoteBooksOnline offer bookkeeping and accounting services. They use both Xero and QuickBooks, two of the most popular online bookkeeping software tools.

If you already use one of these they can pick up and go. If not, they will advise you which software is best for your business, get you set up, and integrate your systems.

The frequency in which your bookkeeper updates your financials depends on your business and the arrangement you come to.

Plans and Pricing

RemoteBooksOnline currently has three different pricing plans as follows:

  • Beginners – $95 per month for one checking account.
  • Intermediate – $130 per month for 2-9 bank accounts.
  • Professional – $650 per month for a custom solution with a part-time dedicated bookkeeper.

They say they are flexible with their plans. So, if you don’t see a plan that suits your needs, you can discuss a custom plan.

They also offer a free trial and can set up an appointment to take a look at your accounts and advise you of the best plan of action.

RemoteBooksOnline Alternatives

Bean Ninjas and Bench are two alternative online bookkeeping companies worth checking out. Bench also offers a free trial if you like to try a service before committing.

Your Turn

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

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TayStone BPO

Posted by Mica Harvey / Dedicated Virtual Assistants, Philippines Virtual Assistants, UK/Europe Virtual Assistants, US Virtual Assistants

UPDATE: It appears TayStone BPO is offline and no longer operating. Please see below for some Time Etc, OnlineJobs.ph,  or Task Bullet as alternatives.

TayStone BPO is a business-class virtual assistant company, providing virtual assistants for entrepreneurs and small businesses all over the globe.

The company has been in operation since 2012. They are a family-owned business operating primarily out of Liverpool, England, while their virtual assistants are based throughout the UK, the Philippines, and in the US.

About TayStone

taystone reviewThe company is managed by CEO Keith Taylor, with Sarah Taylor providing training and educational direction. Their headquarters are in Liverpool, England, with satellite offices in Northern Ireland, New York and the Philippines.

The company is completely remote, however they do arrange meetings in any of these locations for staff training and events when required.

TayStone specializes in working with all sizes and types of organizations from startups to established companies, entrepreneurs to small and large businesses. Although most of their virtual assistants are based in the Philippines, they also have staff in the UK and the US. This is to offer a “local feel” to their customers where required.

Keith explained they are extremely selective in their hiring process, eventually bringing on less than 1% of all applicants.

Services

The company provides two different services:

Dedicated Offshore Virtual Assistance – With this service, you are assigned a virtual assistant based in the Philippines. You will communicate with the VA directly and build up a relationship over time.

On Demand US or UK Virtual Assistance – With this service, you submit tasks to UK or US based virtual assistant teams to complete.

Both services come with a wide range of benefits as detailed in the plans and pricing below.

The two different services give you the option of either using virtual assistance from staff based in your home country and working normal business hours similar to yours, or staff in the Philippines, which is naturally much less expensive.

TayStone points out that they put a lot of emphasis on ensuring there are backup plans in place should the worst case happen. They are aware that Internet connectivity or power issues can be a problem when working with VAs overseas and have set emergency backup plans in place to ensure work flow is not interrupted for long.

Their larger plans also include a backup VA in case your assistant falls ill.

TayStone Founder Interview


Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Mention referral code VAA for $50 off your first month!

Plans and Pricing

TayStone offers four dedicated offshore virtual assistant plans.

These start with a Lite plan, which includes 20 hours per month at a rate of $8.75 per/hr.

The Part-Time plan includes 80 hours per month at $8.50 per/hr, the Busy plan with 120 hours per month at $8.25 per/hr, and a Full-Time plan with 160 hours per month at $8.00 per/hr.

taystone bpo pricing

These plans are sold as a monthly subscription service with a dedicated virtual assistant.

All plans come with a local US phone number, unlimited in/out calls, secure PC and high speed internet with backup and local US management. The larger plans have additional services bolted on, such as a backup employee in place, SMS alerts, call transfers, and more.

Their on demand US virtual assistant plans start at 10 hours per month at $27/hr, ranging up to 80 hours per month at $22/hr.

Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Mention referral code VAA for $50 off your first month!

taystone bpo on demand pricing

With these on-demand plans, your hours are converted into buckets of tasks, each with a 20-minute allocation. For example, with the 10 Hour Bundle, you’ll get 30 20-minute tasks for your $270 subscription. If you have tasks you anticipate taking longer than 20 minutes, just let your VA know it’s OK to use more task credits.

(This seems like an unnecessarily complex conversion process, and would perhaps be simpler to just think of buying the promised number of VA hours.)

In contrast to the offshore plans above, these plans come with a dedicated account manager but tasks may be assigned across TayStone’s entire team of VAs, rather than a dedicated VA you work with each time.

Because there are a lot of services offered in their plans, I recommend contacting TayStone and detailing your exact requirements to be matched with the best plan. (This BPO division is part of a larger call-answering and admin assistance company, so they are well-equipped to handle a variety of business needs.)

TayStone BPO Alternatives

While the on-demand service is somewhat unique for US-based assistants, Time Etc is a well-rated alternative that offers a similar array of monthly packages in both the US and the UK.

For the dedicated offshore staff, your best bets are OnlineJobs.ph for direct hires or Task Bullet if you prefer working through a third-party company. With OnlineJobs you won’t have the infrastructure or backups, but you will have much lower ongoing costs. Task Bullet is a smaller operation than TayStone but has a unique pricing system where you just buy a bucket of hours that don’t renew monthly or expire until you use them up.

Your Turn

Have you worked with TayStone, either with their US or UK team, or their virtual assistants in the Philippines? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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TaskDesk

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

UPDATE: It appears TaskDesk is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives or see below. If you own this listing or this information is incorrect, contact me here.

TaskDesk is a virtual assistant company with their headquarters based in Houston, TX, and all of their assistants working out of the Philippines.

The company started operations in February 2019. They have an interesting monthly subscription model, meaning you pay a flat monthly fee and can submit “unlimited” requests to their team of assistants.

About TaskDesk

taskdesk reviewTaskDesk are one of the newer companies to join the competitive virtual assistant service space, but their monthly subscription-based model separates them from a lot of the other virtual assistant providers.

Instead of paying an hourly rate for an assistant, you pay a low monthly fee to have a virtual assistant available to handle as many tasks as you can send them.

This model should appeal to people who can keep an assistant busy with constant work!

We’ve come across the term “unlimited” before with virtual assistant providers. What this really means is that you can queue up tasks and the assistant will complete them one after the other.

Although their headquarters is based in the US, TaskDesk uses VAs based in the Philippines. This allows them to offer a very competitive rate of $350 per month while sourcing skilled workers fluent in English.

How TaskDesk Works

  1. Sign up for an account with your name and email.
  2. Select the role of the assistant you want to work with. So, general VA, graphic designer, and so on as explained in more detail in the services section below.
  3. Enter your payment details and you’ll receive an email detailing what to do next.

Services

TaskDesk’s virtual assistants are ready and willing to handle a wide range of tasks as you’d expect from any VA.

To give you a better idea of what they do best, they group their assistants into the following roles:

  • General Assistants – You can hand over any of those day-to-day tasks that can easily be communicated by email and completed remotely.
  • Graphic Designers – Flyers, logos, blog headers and images, social media graphics, and more.
  • Blog Writers – Being as their VAs are based in the Philippines, I asked TaskDesk the obvious questions about the quality of their content. I was told “Most of the time you can’t tell they are from another country.” Still, it’s probably best to request a sample during the 14-day risk free trial.
  • Video Editors – They only accept video editing tasks within 3-5 minutes’ worth of film, so this service is ideal for short YouTube, blog, and promotional content.
  • Social Media Assistants – You supply the images and their social media assistants schedule, post, write captions, and promote your stuff across all social media platforms.
  • Research and Data Entry Assistants – Hand over those time-consuming data crunching and research tasks.

It’s worth noting that they don’t take on any marketing or legal tasks, which makes sense as you’d want a specialist in these areas.

Their assistants aren’t available by phone 24/7 either, so they don’t handle any customer service or receptionist roles.

Plans and Pricing

There is a flat monthly fee of $350 for unlimited task requests.

TaskDesk Pricing

For this, you can send tasks to any of their dedicated VAs as many times as you like. The caveat here is that most tasks are going to take 24 hours or less to turn around.

They do offer what they call a 14-day risk free trial. Which means that after you sign up and start using their service if you’re not happy for any reason within the first 14 days you can request a full refund.

TaskDesk Alternatives

There is no shortage of virtual assistant companies utilizing staff in the Philippines to provide cost-effective outsourcing solutions.

If you want a little more control over the hiring process, OnlineJobs.ph might be worth a look. It’s the largest virtual job board in the country.

If you like the monthly subscription model but don’t feel like you’ll keep your assistant busy all month, check out OkayRelax. They operate on a pay-per-task model, starting at $29.95 a month.

Your Turn

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

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Fin

Posted by Mica Harvey / Artificial Intelligence Assistants, SMS Virtual Assistants

UPDATE: It appears Fin is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives or see below. If you own this listing or this information is incorrect, contact me here.

Fin is a 24/7 personal assistance service available when you need it on the other end of your phone. “You use it like Siri, Echo, or Google Now… except it actually works,” their developers said.

Fin uses a combination of machine and human intelligence to find answers, send messages, handle bookings, and take care of anything you’d expect from a personal assistant.

The company has been in business since 2015 and their staff are based in San Francisco, California.

About Fin

The company was founded by Andrew Kortina and Sam Lessin, and to-date they operate with less than 50 employees.

Their target customers are professional or regular people who can benefit from an assistant to help them manage some of their workload.

The benefit of using Fin over hiring a personal assistant is that you have assistance on-hand 24/7. All you need is an Internet connection and a smartphone, two things most people are never without.

How Fin Assistant Works

Fin uses a combination of humans and AI, and as a result they say their app is, “more accurate, powerful, and better able to handle real nuance and complexity,” than the other AI assistants such as Google Now, Siri, and Echo.

They also say their smart technology improves as it gets to know you better over time. Giving you a personal experience, customized experience, not a general AI experience.

You can delegate to your Fin assistant via email, SMS, iOS, or the web.

Services

Fin specializes in providing 24/7 assistance through their smartphone app. All you need is an Internet connection and you have a combination of artificial and human support on hand.

The services are only really limited by your imagination and needs. You can ask Fin to call, email, text, schedule, book, and make purchases for you.

You can use Fin to transcribe documents, perform online research, or just find answers for those questions you need answering there and then.

Some examples of common requests Fin is used to handling are:

  • Fin, can you take care of this hospital bill for me? Use my Amex.
  • Please remember Cotogna as a place I can get dinner after 10pm.
  • I am going to New York next week. Can you lookup the people I said I wanted to spend more time with?
  • Can you unsubscribe me from these mailings (see pic attached)?

As you can see from the above, Fin is best used for tasks that save you time or make sure you don’t forget important appointments, just like a PA would.

Fin can also handle recurring requests with their Recurring Request Dashboard and sends users a consolidated daily executive summary of all work completed and requests in progress.

The Human Touch

Fin has added inbound call answering by having customers forward their work number to have a Fin assistant pick up (instead of voicemail) and using this as a reception desk for their businesses.

They also offer weekly live phone calls to let you braindump and delegate everything you need help with for the week. Your assistant will also proactively look at your calendar and suggest things they can take off your plate.

And if you spend most of your day in Slack, you can send requests to Fin via Slack as well.

Plans and Pricing

Fin currently has two pricing plans. You can get started and try the service for just $20 per month, or for $270 per month you can have access to all their services. (Though when I signed up, the $20 disappeared and let me register for free.)

Since the service is on-demand, presumably the only advantage of signing up for the higher level plans is the bonus credit that’s included.

It’s unclear whether or not your unused credit rolls over to the next month.

Each plan includes:

  • 24/7 human-backed assistance
  • Chat with Fin via iOS
  • Friends can email your Fin assistant too
  • Voice and image transcription
  • Integration with Google calendar
  • Handle booking, meal, and travel plans
  • Carry out research
  • Make purchases
  • Draft emails and documents

Different requests will burn through different amounts of credit, though the company gives the guideline that most requests are in the $8-30 range.

They list some specific examples of what certain requests might cost, based on the complexity and human time involvement required:

Your first request (up to $30) is free, and you can cancel anytime by simply telling Fin you wish to cancel.

Fin Alternatives

It feels like this kind of personal assistant service is starting to gain some momentum and I expect more companies to enter the space.

As for right now, Magic is their main competitor and worth taking a look at. You can do a lot of the same tasks with Magic, though Magic also only interacts via text message. Please.Do might be worth a look as well.

Another alternative to consider are task-based services like Fancy Hands (team-based) or OkayRelax (dedicated).

Your Turn

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

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