[[Admin]] ## What kind of tasks to outsource? ### **Organizing And personal** - Help with my to-do list - Manage my schedule - Arrange and confirm a meeting - Find and book some accommodation - Find and book some travel or a flight - Plan a trip - Arrange a conference call - Make a purchase on my behalf - Call or email me with a reminder - Keep my contacts up-to-date - Type up meeting minutes - Make a call - Write a letter - Take care of some paperwork - Transcribe some audio or video - Type up some notes - Create a document in any common format - Create or update a presentation - Arrange and confirm a personal appointment (medical, haircut etc) - Find and book a restaurant - Find and book a plumber, decorator etc - Source and purchase a product or service - Research and find a gift - Process orders from my website - Sort my expenses, receipts or car allowances - Manage my vehicle insurance, tax or servicing - Check and respond to phone messages - Check and respond to emails - Arrange interviews with applicants ### **Admin** - Edit or format a document - Do some data entry - Transcribe some audio - Update my CRM or database - Sort my spreadsheet - Enter data into my spreadsheet, CRM or other - Manage website orders or shipping - Contact a customer to collect a payment - Do my bookkeeping - Add my receipts and invoices to my accounts software - Keep my financial records up to date - Keep my CRM or customer database up to date - Process orders and payments ### **Writing** - Write a blog post - Write a press release - Write some tweets - Write content for my website - Write a marketing email - Write an article - Write updates for Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and Google+ - Write engaging copy for online or offline use - Write articles, help guides, white papers and manuals - Help me write a book - Write my company newsletter - Proofread my website ### **Marketing** - Create email marketing campaigns - Set up an email list - Send an email to my existing list - Create pages on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and Google+ - Help increase my social media followers - Research my competitors - Write an advert - Review my website - Do proofreading - Help optomize my site for SEO - Plan and organize marketing campaigns - Set up a new blog - Determine new marketing channels - Create marketing and sales material ### **Selling** - Research leads and prospects - Source prospect data - Manage my sales inbox - Schedule follow up calls and meetings - Update lead and prospect records - Prepare contracts and proposals - Input orders and raise invoices - Produce sales reports - Type up meeting notes - Deal with sales administration ### **Researching** - Research my competitors - Research a product or service - Research a company - Research a specific topic - Find people I can contact - Research potential customers - Research and suggest new initiatives and markets ### **Everything else** - Prepare various financial and business reports - Respond to customer emails - Respond to customer tickets - Resolve complaints and queries - Deal with pre-sales questions - Answer telephone calls from customers - Handle returns and refunds - Write and compile information in my knowledge base - Create pre-written customer responses - Manage my recruitment mailbox - Read, screen and filter applicants - Follow up with references - Arrange interviews with successful candidates - Reject unsuccessful candidates - Write and submit recruitment advertising - Input timesheet information - Input payroll information - Deal with leave requests - Record absences - Keep employee records up to date - Assist with payroll - Schedule employee reviews - Answer employee queries - Prepare employment contracts - Prepare offer and termination letters Source: Time ## Sourcing As of 2022, I first tried interviewing with most companies in these benchmarks ([benchmark1](https://www.investopedia.com/best-virtual-assistant-services-5115986#toc-compare-providers), [benchmark2](https://biz30.timedoctor.com/what-does-a-virtual-assistant-do/)). TLDR is that it didn't work. Long story is that companies were both blatantly lying about things like "assistants average 12 years experience" and about giving them "training", which candidates confirmed wasn't the case. I had significantly better applicants for significantly cheaper when going direct on remote job boards. See [[Good job descriptions]] ## Selection I learned 10x more from paying people to complete small tasks than for interviews. It's surprising how summarizing basic info and putting them in a table doesn't come naturally to many, which allows for quite filtering. Below are some of the sample tasks I used to test people. If I had to do it again I would do a communication role-play, whether by email or on the phone. - Improve teeth in Poland - Pb: my teeth are yellow, and some are crooked - Idea: I’ll be in Warsaw from June 2nd to July 6th and want to take this chance to get good care for much cheaper than US/France. - Solution: - whitening: google the best dentists offering whitening, compare prices, recommend one and book an appointement - crooked: book a consultation with a higher end dentist/beauty company that can advise me - Variables I care about - Price - English speaking - Proximity to my place - I live by the presidential palace in the center. - Dates: week of the 6th of June. - Other info - Email: xxx - Phone: xxx - Driving license - I’m in Poland in June and London July-August. Could you help me find a way to get an international driving license? - Find me a yoga certification - It seems hard to get better unless you become a teacher → Can I become 200h yoga certified - online - without ever having to put more than 3h/week in (so it’d take 70 weeks / 1.5 years) - [https://yogagoaindia.com/online-yoga-teacher-training/](https://yogagoaindia.com/online-yoga-teacher-training/) this one seems really good but it’s a tad expensive and there’s a time limit - Nice to have - Focused on classic hatha yoga - Mixes yoga with spirituality and meditation - Provides deep understanding of anatomy