Ask HN: what do you know about virtual assistants?

I am interested in getting a VA to do fairly basic market research for me. It would be along the lines of, "use Google and Twitter to find people who have complained about Home Owner Association (aka HOA) fees in the past 2 weeks. Please include the source URL and the person's email or Twitter handle".

Have you had success with VAs or VA agencies? Are they good for work like this?

I am particularly curious about the bang-for-buck you get from India- and Philippines-based agencies, and what techniques you use to manage VAs.

Thanks HN!

I've had great results for projects like these using my team in the Philippines. I recently had a project where I needed information for all websites in a certain niche (~500 sites). I gave them the specs and created a Google Spreadsheet with all of the columns I needed. Within an hour or so I could see the data being populated, and the next morning the project was done.

Much more success in philippines than india for me. Used craigslist in both. In long term work relationship with two people in PI, both amazing. (Happy to offer more advice if needed.)

Can I ask why you're opting out of nearshore VA options?

I've spent a good deal of time over the last year hunting for good VAs. Here's what I've learned.

1. Hire three of four to start. Give each of them a chunk of the same job (if it's research) and see who does best. Then use that person to either finish the project, or give them a couple of new tasks and see how they do on those.

2. Don't go for the cheapest out there. Earlier today I was hiring someone for a research position and I literally had multiple people bidding $0.50/hr. You don't want them.

I usually try to stick with people in the $4.00-$8.00 range. I can't really afford more than that, and anyone I have ever hired for less than $4.00 has not worked out at all.

3. ODesk has a lot of people to choose from. There are quite a few outsourcing services out there, and I have used a few to find people with different skill sets. IMO for simple VA tasks odesk is a great place to find people.

4. Individuals are better than firms. Obviously there are benefits to both, but I have tried two Indian firms in the last year and both were a complete waste of time. Basically there were so many people in the chain between me and the people doing the actual tasks that what I asked for and what I got were quite different things. I have had three different filpinos work for me, and have been really pleased by the results I've gotten.