Before we dwell into how it all started, what does Virtual Assistant mean. In simple terms, someone who does your work virtually over the phone, email, IM, that does not need him to be physically present. Different people define them differently. Some of those names are listed below:
- Independent contractors,
- General personal assistants,
- Virtual personal assistants,
- Personal assistants,
- Personal secretary
- And all sorts of different names. But they all mean the same thing.
Just like any other job in the world, where designation of a person is based on his skill set and job description, we believe the same norms apply to virtual assistants too.
We will cover this in detail in our next post of virtual assistant’s job description and responsibilities.
Brief history of virtual assistant
No one knows when or how did it start. Just like digitalization this concept evolved slowly from offshore labor work to highly skilled outsourcing that we see these days. Big companies started with call center outfits based out of India or Philippines for customer support. this slowly and eventually led to a concept of why not small business owners and individuals also take benefit of low costs and get their tasks done. When small business owners realized this there was no turning back.
Virtual Assistant for $6.98/hr, why do they cost so less?
2 Reasons:
- They cost less because they are based out of India. Where the cost of living, eating is far cheaper than US. Most people live in big family units, house is mostly paid, as they have been living in it for generations, almost all families have some cousins which are still into agriculture, their grains and rice which form staple diets are mostly free sourced from there family cousins and not to forget the government schemes where every family gets a monthly rice and grain supply for as low as 2rupees per pound. That’s as low as 0.03 dollar per pound.
- Currency Exchange rates. US dollar stands at a might conversion of 1USD=67 rupee exchange rate. This plays very favorable.
So before you make a run for the moral police, or imagine that your assistant is some poorly starved slave, you will be surprised to know that your assistants live far better than you think. Most of them will have nannies or cooks or maids who help them with household chores while they sit and work for your all night on their computers.
When CBC Canada, wanted to cover story on virtual assistant service in India, they covered all of it. By that I mean, where do they live, how they travel, their lifestyle and their day-to-day living, their thoughts about their job and other things. Why don’t you watch it for yourself, click here..
It’s not all about cheap labor
Hiring an assistant at $6.98/ hr is definitely one of the reasons why you are interested in hiring a virtual assistant. But that’s not all. Virtual assistant gives you leverage of Time. Most often underpriced, undervalued and overtly over planned activity or commodity that we need to take control and make the most of.
The advantages of hiring a virtual assistant are huge, apart from the business help you get are as listed below:
- Immediate positive change in your life: you have more time to do what you love to do
- No overheads, benefits, insurance, payroll taxes that need to be taken care of or paid
- No long term contracts
- No need of additional space or equipment
- Scalability
- Flexibility of hiring or firing someone is all just a click away.
- Talent pool access
Virtual assistants, help you look at the bigger picture, with more time and money available at your disposal, you can think of new ways to expand your business and look into possibilities which you never knew existed earlier or didn’t have the time to focus on earlier.
If you are looking to hire a virtual assistant to help you with business or personal tasks, get in touch with Tasks Everyday. The most easy breezy way to hire the perfect virtual assistant!
