Part
01
of one
Part
01
Who are the top 4 candidates for virtual assistant that I should interview, given the following criterion?
The top four candidates for virtual assistant services that require a monthly retainer of no more than $50, a rate of no higher than $35 per hour, provide at least semi-dedicated assistants, can make secure purchases, and can perform a variety of administrative and personal tasks are Get Friday, Surplus Hands, TimeEtc, and OkayRelax. I have created a spreadsheet that details each service's website link, pricing, sample services, and other requested information, along with the sources I used to find that data.
Methodology
To identify the top four virtual assistant services, I began by searching for pre-compiled lists from industry experts. This led me to a variety of lists of top virtual assistant services based in the United States, including "Evaluating the Top Virtual Assistant Companies of 2017," "Best Virtual Assistant Services: Reviews and Recommendations," "The Best Virtual Assistant Services," and "Top Virtual Assistant Services 2017 Reviews." Using Google Sheets, I compiled a preliminary list of all virtual assistant companies that appeared on these pre-compiled lists and appeared to offer the services you specified. This gave me a starting list of 25 companies. I then searched each company's website to find pricing information, since I would be ruling out any company that was more expensive than your parameters. Please note that I used the least expensive pricing plan for each company, since most of the mid- and upper-tier pricing plans were out of the specified price range. You will find all 25 companies on the "Preliminary List" tab of the attached spreadsheet.
From the preliminary list of 25 virtual assistant services, I identified eight companies that have pricing plans that fit your requirements of a monthly retainer of no higher than $50 and an hourly rate of no higher than $35 per hour. The eight companies that fit your budget are listed on the "Top 8" tab of the spreadsheet and are, in the order of least expensive to most expensive:
At this point, I searched each of these eight companies' websites to determine whether they offer dedicated or semi-dedicated assistants, could make secure purchases on your behalf, and could perform the services you specified. From this list of eight, I identified four companies that meet all your requirements. These companies and their details, can be found on the "Top 4" tab of the spreadsheet and are:
Please be aware that OkayRelax only offers a dedicated assistant if you purchase their mid-tier plan, which does take the service out of your price range. However, I elected to include it on the list because at $99/month for 25 tasks of 30 minutes each bring the hourly cost down to a very reasonable $7.92 for a dedicated virtual assistant (25 x 0.5 = 12.5 and $99 / 12.5 = $7.92)
Results
Based on my research, I have determined that Get Friday is the top virtual assistant for your needs. The monthly retainer is just $5.00 and the hourly fee is $15.00, which makes it the least expensive plan that meets all of your requirements. Neither Surplus Hands nor TimeEtc have a monthly retainer fee for their pay-as-you-go plans; however, their hourly rates are higher than Get Friday's at $23.00 per hour for Surplus Hands and $29.00 per hour for TimeEtc. That being said, TimeEtc offers the most services of any of the eight finalists. Therefore, it may be worth the extra $14.00 per hour to ensure all future tasks can be handled.
OkayRelax operates a bit differently from the other top three VA services. Instead of billing per hour, this company bills per task and each task is a maximum of 30 minutes. This means that the five tasks that come with the company's basic plan only encompasses two and a half hours. It works out to a cost of $11.98/hour (5 x .05 = 2.5 and $29.95 / 2.5 = $11.98), which is again, very reasonable for a virtual assistant, but at that cost, you will not get a dedicated assistant. Its mid-tier plan, as discussed above, averages out to $7.92 per hour, but requires a monthly retainer of $99.00 for the equivalent of 12.5 hours of work. The nice aspect of OkayRelax is that you can pay for assistance in 30-minute increments rather than hourly, but it really depends on how long your tasks typically take as to whether this is a good deal or not.
Conclusion
The top four virtual assistant services that meet your requirements are Get Friday, Surplus Hands, TimeEtc, and OkayRelax. Of these, the least expensive plan is Get Friday, with a $5.00 per month retainer fee and a rate of $15 per hour. Since there are no monthly minimums or maximums with this plan, you can use your assistant as much or as little as you need each month and only play for the hours you actually use.