But as a business owner, communication is KEY!!! And if you’re trying to get a point across to someone who doesn’t understand English fluently or has a very strong accent, then how can communication be effective and work completed efficiently? There have been numerous times I’ve called support services for one thing or another and find myself extremely frustrated because I can not understand what the person is saying, nor do they understand me. I ask myself, “Is this a VA from another country getting paid $3.00 an hour?”

Another example is article submissions. It’s often obvious when you read an article from an author that does not write using proper English. Are you going to pay a non-native $3.00 an hour to write an article for you that doesn’t even make sense?

Forgive me if I come across offensive because I do not mean my thoughts hurtfully or racist. I’m sure people on the other end feel the same way when there is a language barrier.

What it all comes down to is, if you’re in an English speaking country and you want effective communication resulting in proficient project completion, you’re best bet is not to take the cheap route because you get what you pay for!

But as a business owner, communication is KEY!!! And if you’re trying to get a point across to someone who doesn’t understand English fluently or has a very strong accent, then how can communication be effective and work completed efficiently? There have been numerous times I’ve called support services for one thing or another and find myself extremely frustrated because I can not understand what the person is saying, nor do they understand me. I ask myself, “Is this a VA from another country getting paid $3.00 an hour?”

Another example is article submissions. It’s often obvious when you read an article from an author that does not write using proper English. Are you going to pay a non-native $3.00 an hour to write an article for you that doesn’t even make sense?

Forgive me if I come across offensive because I do not mean my thoughts hurtfully or racist. I’m sure people on the other end feel the same way when there is a language barrier.

What it all comes down to is, if you’re in an English speaking country and you want effective communication resulting in proficient project completion, you’re best bet is not to take the cheap route because you get what you pay for!

I think Colin nailed it with the mention of a personal sales pitch. I did a fair share of competitive analysis when starting out my VA biz and every VA website I went to mentioned “financial savings” as the top reason to hire a VA. Yes, the savings can be substantial (or not, depending on volume requirements, etc). But there are other benefits of hiring a VA, such as the ones you mentioned in your post. But with the constant emphasis on costs, who can blame clients for trying to save even more.

Yelena´s last blog post..Great Marketing Idea

I think Colin nailed it with the mention of a personal sales pitch. I did a fair share of competitive analysis when starting out my VA biz and every VA website I went to mentioned “financial savings” as the top reason to hire a VA. Yes, the savings can be substantial (or not, depending on volume requirements, etc). But there are other benefits of hiring a VA, such as the ones you mentioned in your post. But with the constant emphasis on costs, who can blame clients for trying to save even more.

Yelena´s last blog post..Great Marketing Idea

Something I’ve noticed when hiring content writers is the social context of the host country. For example, an Indian or American writer is unlikely to fully understand the foibles of UK society. Sometimes, you need a local freelancer in order to get the right context for the work you need doing.

Dan´s last blog post..What does the Credit Crunch mean to Businesses?

Something I’ve noticed when hiring content writers is the social context of the host country. For example, an Indian or American writer is unlikely to fully understand the foibles of UK society. Sometimes, you need a local freelancer in order to get the right context for the work you need doing.

Dan´s last blog post..What does the Credit Crunch mean to Businesses?

I personally see this as a race to the bottom, not just in price, but also in quality. There are dozens of work sites (like Guru.com and elance.com) that I know simply aren’t worth my time because the rates that potential clients are willing to pay are incredibly distorted. Only willing to pay $50-200 for your business’ branding? You’ve got to be kidding me.

That being said, we do live in a very flat world, economically, where Virtual Designers (and Assistants) from India or China are able to hawk their wares in the American market at a significantly lower price and still manage to make a living wage or more in their country.

Taking a look at the issue practically, I don’t really see that there’s much that can be done about it other than to specialize and offer something that the bargain basement VD’s and VA’s can’t offer. Over time, I myself have become a specialist in sustainable design, in addition to being a multidisciplinary designer (working in print, web, motion, photography, etc). This has enabled me to seek out specific clients that are looking for something with a higher quality than what the elance.com and Guru.com’s of the world can offer. They don’t want something generic, they want something that stands out and has some sweat and a unique perspective in it.

So I would say the best thing that VA’s could probably do is to figure out what their personal sales pitch is and refine it. Find something that they really do well and work even harder at it. Make it a specialty. Be the go-to person for that kind of VA work.

It reduces the size of potential customers, but I think you’ll find that the customers that are no longer interested are not ones that you would want anyway.

Colin Wright´s last blog post..LIST: Replacing Everything with an iPhone (part 2)