When hiring a Virtual Assistant is it better to hire someone local or someone remote? How do you decide what is best for you?
Well, there are really only two questions to ask yourself:
What do you want them to do?
If you want someone who can do things like collect your mail, or if you want to be able to drop jobs off to them, then obviously, a local will be better.
If you have data you want entered during your down time (ie: night) then you would do best with someone in a time zone that will be working during your night.
Most of the time location shouldn’t be a factor.
What services does the Virtual Assistant offer?
If you currently work with a Virtual Assistant, then it’s best to talk to them about other services. If they can’t do it they can probably either recommend or find someone who does.
If however you are just looking for your first Virtual Assistant, you could look at some of the places I discussed in my earlier post: “Where to find a Virtual Assistant”. Make sure you specifically request the skills you need and be open about what you need done.
If you’re unsure exactly what you want a Virtual Assistant to do, but you just know you need help – make that the first project.
My first client was a consultant who’d heard of Virtual Assistants, new she needed help – but didn’t know how we could help her. My first project involved discussing exactly what she does and providing a detailed brief on how I could help.
Remember too, you may want to have more than one Virtual Assistant, with each doing the tasks that are appropriate to their services offered, location and/or time zone.
Of course, most of the time it really won’t matter where your Virtual Assistant is. A Virtual Assistant will be able to provide you with an excellent level of service regardless of where they are geographically.
