VA Staffer is a Digital Marketing and Virtual Assistant Company with the majority of it’s team in their Makati City (Metro Manila) office, Philippines. The marketing, project success and consulting is operated in the USA, and VA Staffer has also expanded recently into South America, India and the Caribbean for specific skillsets.
They have a very diverse team that offers a wide range of services to entrepreneurs, small businesses and CEOs. That talent pool is backed up with built-in Project Management Tools to deliver results.
They opened their doors to the general public in November 2013 immediately after Typhoon Haiyan devastated much of the country, and local job opportunities were scarce, even for qualified candidates. At that time, founder Jeff “J” Hunter and his team decided that bringing on more clients would help empower college grads with amazing technology skills in the Philippines.
In return for a reliable, rewarding career opportunity, the new virtual assistants promised to provide superior services to their clients.
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Table of Contents
About VA Staffer
VA Staffer has virtual assistants who work from home offices as well as their office in Makati and report directly to their clients.
The team uses ActiveCollab software for communication and project management, and aims to build a long-term win-win relationship with clients. This set-up provides for work tracking (screenshot monitoring) and accountability.
With VA Staffer, you’re assigned a dedicated VA based on your job requirements, but have access to rest of the team for specialized skills as the need arises. This set-up is somewhat rare among VA companies in the Philippines, where most just aim for a dedicated relationship and ask you to hire out other skills and jobs separately.
VA Staffer Review
VA Staffer Services
The company provides 100% manual and personalized SEO, Marketing, Website Design, Social Media Management and a variety of other virtual assistant services for start-ups, entrepreneurs, authors, and real estate agents.
Your virtual staff can also help with data entry, lead generation, online research, link-building, book promotion, reputation management, ecommerce solutions, and more.
Data Entry / Lead Generation
- Online research
- Lead generation
- Managing your customer or contact database
- SEO tasks
Administrative Assistant
- Social media management
- Transcription
- Managing your calendar and travel arrangement
- Email triage and follow-up
Web and Graphic Design and Web Development
This in-house team specializes in:
- Website redesigns
- Book covers and infographics
- Social media graphics
- WordPress and web development
Marketing Automation / Sales Funnel Assistant
At the high end of VA Staffer’s service offerings are their marketing automation and sales funnel pros. This is a rare skill to find in an assistant, and that’s why it commands a premium rate.
These highly trained assistants can:
- Set up your email or marketing automation software (like Infusionsoft, ActiveCampaign, Hubspot, and others)
- Do advanced website and CRM automation
- Create lead magnets and sales funnels
The real pride of the company comes from the founding principal that entrepreneurship is the best method to solve global poverty.
VA Staffer Intro Video
VA Staffer Plans and Pricing
With some recent changes, VA Staffer has gone decidedly upmarket with their pricing and range of services. How it works is you have a $497 onboarding fee, and minimum $298 a month retainer.
The $298 retainer is applied to any work you need done over the course of the month, and you have access to an array of specialists based on what you need done.
The off-the-shelf plans are:
- 20, 50 or 100 hours starts at $298 per month
- 20 – 40 hours per week (80-160 per month) starts at $800 per month
It’s a very flexible and scalable system that can adapt with your business and growth.
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Why VA Staffer?
One thing that sets VA Staffer apart is their on-site recruiting and hiring process. When I spoke with Jeff, he explained that he personally flies to Manila 3-4x per year to screen the brightest talent in the Philippines and conduct face-to-face interviews.
Out of an applicant pool of 30 people, he might hire 1 or 2. The candidates must have a college education, and great communication skills.
Jeff explains, “The key to our success is the longevity of our staff. We offer great benefits to our employees and wages much higher than the average outsourcing company. That builds pride and creates a great connection between the staff and our clients.”
Interview with the VA Staffer Founder
VA Staffer Alternatives
Before you make your decision, you might want to check out the rest of the field of Filipino VA companies.
| OnlineJobs.ph | ClearDesk | FreeUp | Virtual Coworker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Rating | ||||
| Established | 2009 | 2017 | 2015 | 2011 |
| Hourly Rate | $3-8 | $16-18 | $5-20 | $6-11 |
| Minimum Package | $69 to post a job | $500 for 30 hours | Free to post a job | Free Signup PT = 20 hours per Week |
| Dedicated Assistant | * | |||
| Best For | Full-time hires | Full-time hires | Small Businesses | Quick pre-vetted hires in e-commerce and marketing | Full-time & Part-time hires |
| Team Access | ||||
| Rollover Hours | ||||
| Free Trial | ||||
| Learn More | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |
*Dedicated option available.
Online VA Team is a top virtual assistant company that can help leverage your organization by outsourcing your workforce and taking care of managing your teammates and HR needs. Based out of the US, their VAs work remotely from the Philippines but will work across any time zone. They only hire college-educated assistants and put all their candidates through 3 rounds of interviews – so you’re sure to find a good fit. Online VA Team specializes in building teams for small to medium size companies needing administrative and customer service positions filled at a substantial cost savings. Online VA Team Entry Level Plan – $250 per month for up to 5 hours a week Monday to Friday. Small Business Plan – $1,195 per agent per month for dedicated staffing Monday to Friday.
Task Bullet and Carve operate similar models, though perhaps without the full project management tracking capabilities and access a team.
Your Turn
Have you worked with VA Staffer? If so, please leave a quick review of your experience below.
amazing
I literally wouldn’t have a functioning business or a brand without them.
Jeff took me in at such an early stage of my journey and he and his team have been my ultimate support, biggest cheerleaders and an extent on of my family for over 1 1/2 years now.
Thank you VA Staffer and Jeff for all you do!
Thank you so much, and I definitely love being your cheerleader 🙂
Jeff is an incredible individual!
I have worked with a number of people over the years, but Jeff stands out from many of them.
If I had to give you my top 3 reasons why Jeff stands out it would be as follows:
1. His integrity.
2. His attention to detail.
3. His authentic care for people.
If I cannot trust you, am not satisfied with the work, and feel like you don’t care about me then I will not work with you.
Jeff not only fulfills my specific needs he goes above and beyond every expectation.
He is someone who I trust. He is someone who not only does things right he is devoted to doing the right thing.
He is someone who focuses on getting the job done right. He doesn’t want anyone to be left wanting. He goes above and beyond every single expectation.
He is some who makes me feel as if I am cared for. He gives me the time and attention I need to feel like my job matters.
Plus, as a bonus, he treats his staff like gold. I have never seen an individual treat their team as well as Jeff treats his team. Seeing how he cares for them gives me the security that he will care for me as well!
If you are on the fence about his organization then let me encourage you to make the jump. You will be so glad that you did!!
Jim,
I had no idea I had such an impact on you. I’m just so honored to read this back.
You are right about one thing, I do care!
Jeff Hunter has always been personally and professionally encouraging, helpful, and generous with his knowledge. When interacting with Jeff you know that his genuine concern is your success. It is a rare and wonderful gift. Jeff i appreciate your transparency willingness to help, and your vested interest in your clients and even not yet clients, success.
Wow. Thank you Kathy, that really means a lot. Appreciate your kind words.
Jeff and his team are moving along this wonderful path and really helping all the clever entrepreneurs out there who outsource. He has been building his team for a long time now and is getting a wonderful balance of skill sets available. Jeff himself is a very active and helpful chap who genuinely cares that you are getting a great service. It is a pleasure working with him as we are on our journeys 🙂
Casey, it’s been a fun ride, I think you’ve been working with me for say 3-4 years now?
Thank you for your trust, and growing with us!
I work with Jeff and his team on a regular basis and have for several years. They are a great addition to my business and take a lot of stress off of me so I can be my best!
Thank you VA Staffer!
Ellen, it’s been so amazing working with you over the years on launching books for you and your clients.
I’m so fortunate to have you as a client!
VA Staffer has been so helpful in getting work done. Swift in response times, and very professional.
This is not a review although we did like THIS Web page and the fact that it linked to similar services.
The OkayRelax model would more closely meet our needs but it would be more desirable if we didn’t have to opt in and out of a monthly plan for one-off tasks as they arose. (By the way, we like this Web site better than the OkayRelax Web site.) In other words, the ability to purchase a fixed number of tasks, with No recurrence (until the services were needed again). We’re pretty sure you’ll find the average business would prefer this offering too.
We’d benefit, for example, from just another pair of eyes, another external, unbiased 2nd opinion of a Web site, for example. Answer a simple question: “What was your honest impression of how a particular product was presented?”, etc. Pretty simple stuff but a useful service nonetheless. “What was wrong with this [Web page, product presentation, etc.]”
If we could go to OkayRelax or VA-Staffer, for one-off services, much in the same mode as businesses go to Kinkos FedEx for copies or shipping, that would be very helpful. (When we go to Kinko’s, we don’t want to buy a $100K color copier: we just want color copies, one time. When we ask FedEx, to ship something, we just want one thing shipped: we don’t want to buy an airplane.) Businesses like this one-off model, as opposed to some subscription service, and they will inherently return for more services resulting in a “intermittent recurring income” business model, just without the subscription (constant recurring income business model)..
We hope none of this was offensive. It’s just that J Hunter repetitively asks “[We] would love to learn more how we could help you.”
As a matter of fact, you could offer “white label” services, meaning an option for us to offer your services under our brand name (if you’re really interested in how you could help)….. We’re just saying…
I have to say that your review is a bit confusing when VA Staffer actually offers a free trial. If you only need a one-off service, this should easily be able to be taken care of with that free trial. If you have recurrent one-off jobs, then wouldn’t that subscription model work for that? It is my understanding from the site that there are hourly plans so I’m sure they can work something out for you. My experience with Jeff so far has been absolutely amazing. He is open, honest, and up front about what he and his assistants offer, and they seem very willing to work with businesses to meet their needs. Did you actually consult with them and get your free trial? I give Jeff and VA Staffers 5 Stars!!
Thanks for the feedback Cookie – Honestly, I have to admit, I didn’t quite get it either.
We are actually a TEAM of virtual assistants.
Our clients only pay a monthly retainer to use the full pool of talent we’ve acquired over the years.
From graphic designers, funnel builders, social media, executive assistants, etc
Yes, we’re not good for “one-off” projects, because we’re looking for long-term relationships with businesses that want to help grow and scale along the way!
Jeff J Hunter
VA Staffer Founder
I have had the pleasure of working with VA Staffer for around a year and they have done a GREAT Job. I have used there web development team, there data entry team, and web research team and can say without a doubt that the communication and work quality I’ve gotten back from them has been Excellent! Highly recommended.
I run two businesses and I would be totally lost with out the help of J and VA Staffer!
I found VA Staffer through this website in Oct. 2015 and have been working with them full steam ahead ever since. J promptly responded to my request for help. He had Joseph help me create some facebook graphics as an initial task to show me how the interface worked. I was pleased with the work product and immediately started creating more tasks.
Now, VA Staffer creates all my social media images, schedules all my social media postings, transcribes my videos, updates my website (including creating landing pages from scratch), helps with my copy, and works on my email marketing automation. Additionally, I am in the process of working with J directly on SEO services.
I have been more than happy with the service I receive on every task I give VA Staffer. What I love the most about VA Staffer, and what sets them apart from other providers, is that I don’t just have access to one VA with one skill. I have a highly professional, highly trained TEAM of VAs to meet all my business needs. This frees up so much of my time to focus on the things that only I can do in my business. I also really love that I have a dedicate team manager (Anna) who works during US hours and is up to date on what is going on with all my tasks.
I highly recommend working with J and VA staffer.
Hi Kerriann,
We love you too! I didn’t even notice you posted this review! Thank you so much, and thanks for being such an awesome client.
Kerriann is a Law School Professor and also helps students pass the bar exam. We help her transcribe her videos into social media posts, blogs and more.
I appreciate all the kind words 🙂
Talk soon!
J Hunter – Founder of VA Staffer
Why is there no phone number listed for VA Staffer on their website? How are you going to talk to some in sales?
Hi Andy,
We don’t have a “sales” department. We are 100% Membership based, which means we service a select number of clientele. Currently we’ve grown our staff to over 30 now an even have a new Office in Makati, Metro Manila with an amazing view.
Feel free to contact using our form or you can tweet me if you want a quick question answered in a less intrusive style – @jhunter101
Nice reviews here for this business and nice looking website, worth a call I thought.
I emailed and received no response, they must have missed the email. So I emailed again a few days later. Maybe there was an email issue?
So I went to the website and used the contact page…no response… again. Waited a week then I tried the website contact page, again no response. I gave up.
If a VA company cannot reply to emails, they probably cannot communicate effectively on an ongoing basis.
Hello Andrew,
I don’t see any inquiries from anyone named Andrew except for one of our clients, I did check our spam filter with no luck. Would love to learn more how we could help you.
Was doing my rounds and saw your comment here and was pretty concerned about the review of our service without a fair shot.
Would love the opportunity to show you what we can do, even if we aren’t a good fit.
We are an exclusive membership service, and our primary goal is supporting our clients. We are a unique team that is built and tailored for helping tech startups, coaches, and serial entrepreneurs build / maintain their businesses.
Feel free to reach out to me personally via twitter @JHunter101 or my email jeffh@vastaffer.com and I’d be more than happy to give you those two free hours I provided to Nick’s community.
Thank you for voicing your opinion, and it really matters to us.
Hoping to hear from you successfully this time,
J Hunter
VA Staffer Founder
After reading glowing reviews and checking out their website, I tried contacting VA Staffer for 3 days in a row – without much success.
I did get an introductory email from J Hunter saying he looks forward to learning more about how they can help – but no further response, after I suggested we get onto a Skype call.
Really keen to try these guys out – but hard to do so when I can’t even reach them for a sales call!
They obviously have too much sales;-)
Regards
Jay
As we were implementing our SEO Strategy on Jay’s site in the Fintech Industry over a Skype call today – we had a good laugh discussing how he had contacted numerous Virtual Assistant companies, and by the time he reached out to VA Staffer (on a Friday) and had grown frustrated I didn’t answer over the weekend, thus posting this review. He asked if he could delete it, and I figured to leave it – since it’s a success story after all.
I try to make myself available as possible, as our job is – after all, to help you!
Thanks for being awesome Jay!
I recently finished my 2 hour trial with VAStaffer.com and I am impressed with the quality of their graphic design. My trial task request was to create a company logo, and their graphic design staff delivered! The logo was nearly production–ready on the first draft. Delivering that level of quality on the first attempt is something I’ve rarely experienced on the numerous logo design projects I’ve outsourced on elance. To top it off, I’ve been blown away by the top-notch customer service that VAStaffer has shown. I was looking for an outsourcing firm that I could partner with for a long time to come, and based on what I’ve seen so far, I think I’ve found it!
Thank you so much for the feedback Nora, it is our pleasure to partner with you. To our continued success and teamwork!
Ainee H
VA Staffer
Director of Team Operations
Proudly Based in Makati, Philippines
I believe I am one of the first people to use VA Staffer….and lets just say…I need them! Its that serious!
They are fast, efficient, affordable, and help me move my business forward.
Ainee is on it like Spiderman in the night! ha!
I took advantage of the free 2 hour trial offered here and I was impressed. I was contacted by the founder, J Hunter, after submitting the contact form on their site, and he was very eager to help me. We discussed my needs and the types of tasks I currently delegate to VA services, and he actually made some suggestions for things they could do to help me that I hadn’t thought of before.
It does seem more business-focused than other services I’ve used though. It felt like it was uncommon for them to handle mostly personal tasks for a client. I don’t currently feel that this will be a problem, but I think it was worth pointing out.
Regarding quality of work, it seems good, but it’s important to note that this was only with a 2 hour trial. I currently plan to subscribe to their services, and I’d like to give an updated review after that.
I submitted a research task which I feel was done very well. I had them find me the best printer in my price range, that would work for my needs. They sent back a PDF with several options listed, ranked them based on which they believed to be the best, included review quotes, product specs, etc. I was very happy with this task.
The founder suggested I use my remaining trial time on their social media services, which I did. Their changes seem to be improving engagement, but I feel that the service needs some work. I passed my concerns along to J Hunter (founder) and he said they’ll work to resolve the issues I had, and I believe him. Feedback seems to be important to him.
The only real “con” I can think of at this time is that the assistants won’t be working in the middle of the night in their time zone, which means they aren’t available during normal US business hours. While they are flexible for things like making phone calls on your behalf, they won’t be available 9am – 5pm EST every day. This isn’t an issue for me at this time, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Hello all, I didn’t think it would be ethical or appropriate to rate our own service so I’ll leave the stars empty.
I just wanted to thank Nick for the interview / review and for getting the word out about us. We’re a passionate group that want to make an impact on the world around us in a positive and sustainable way through empowering businesses and employees with long-lasting partnerships. I have had the pleasure of building lasting relationships with hundreds of business owners and our team over over a dozen fantastic VA’s in the Philippines and USA. We believe in our clients, and we believe in our staff – we want them to both succeed!
Looking forward to forming a partnership to grow your business – and solve global poverty one virtual assistant at a time.
VA Staffer has been among the best that I’ve experienced in the outsourcing space, yet. Thanks to Jeff and his staff, I’m getting more done in my business with less communication and management than ever before.
I’ve been working with Ainee and J from VA Staffer for almost two years. If you’re looking for a talented team that is innovative and always up to trying new things for your business this is the choice for you. I’ve had the same Virtual Assistant since I’ve started with them, and they manage all of my social media campaigns along with lead generation.
John M
Great write up!
I’ve been working with VA Staffer and would like to share that working with them is a breath of fresh air.
I’ve been using various outsourcing solutions for several years now. What VA Staffer offers is a uniquely personalized care and attention to the person behind the business (their customer) as well as the person behind the work (their employees).
It’s great to be involved with and supporting a company that demonstrates the real meaning of over-delivering, provides top quality results and truly cares about their employees.
I highly recommend VA Staffer.
Patty Rose