When it comes to our work and our personal lives, we could all use a little help now and again (or — let’s be honest — on a daily basis).
I’m personally a huge fan of outsourcing. And over the years, I’ve worked with some really fantastic people, many of whom I still do business with.
I know letting go of control can be hard. Many people get stuck in the mentality of wanting to do everything themselves to make sure everything’s done “right.”
This can be a tough mental hurdle to get over. But the reality is there are a ton of really high-quality outsourcers ready and available to perform a variety of tasks. And often times, these outsources can perform an even better job because they have a lot of experience and it’s hard for you, or any business owner, to be an expert at everything.
So if you want to give outsourcing a try, I’ve compiled a list of really good places to find virtual assistants. The list also includes sites that are especially good for finding graphic designers. If you’re involved with the Low Hanging System, these sites could really be useful and huge time-savors.
The list kicks off with the Low Hanging System Designs Club, a new membership program I recently launched to help people meet their graphic design needs…
Resources To Meet Your Graphic Design Needs
Low Hanging System Design Club
We just started offering this membership program to help meet people’s graphic design needs for the Low Hanging System model.
With the LHS Design Club membership you get 50 designs each month.
They’re LHS-style – black text, based off of sell-able phrases, and can be used on mugs or any other products you’d like.
We don’t even have an official sales letter yet because we’ve been popping on referrals only, but that’s what the deal is. Lots of people have been getting results with this.
You can either ask for random designs or specific niche ideas (you can use rachelrofe.com/masterlist or rachelrofe.com/spotniches to get ideas).
For as long as you keep up with your automatic monthly payments you’ll continue receiving designs.
You’re also encouraged to contact us each month about whether you want to receive random designs or designs pertaining to specific niches (you can use rachelrofe.com/masterlist to get ideas).
You’ll usually receive your designs within 14-30 days, but just be aware that it may sometimes take a little longer.
Upwork
Upwork is another resource that offers a variety of VA services, one of which is graphic design.
I’ve hired some incredible graphic designers that I’ve used on an ongoing basis for years now.
I’ve also used Upwork for the following tasks: compiling pictures into CorelDraw, customer support, bookkeeping, and data-entry work.
With Upwork, you can pay freelancers by the hour or you can settle on a fixed price for your entire project.
OnlineJobs.PH
Some LHS users have used this site to find excellent designers. The Pro version of the site costs $69 a month but you can dig around for free (with limited functions) first.
After posting a job you’ll be able to interview candidates so you can find the perfect fit. You can then negotiate salary and time worked and discuss expectations.
You can manage time worked with TimeProof and pay workers with PayPal.
I haven’t used this site extensively but have heard some great things.
The following 2 are ones I can’t personally endorse as I haven’t used them but they come highly rated:
Premier VEBA *
I haven’t used this company myself, but VEBA provides a number of services in addition to graphic design, including virtual office support, writing, sales and marketing, and finance.
When it comes to graphic design, Premier VEBA can help you create logos, packaging, illustrations for a book, or new designs for your business.
According to the website, pricing is assessed independently and figured out on a per-project basis. You can consult with graphic designers for free, though, to see if working together would be a good fit both in terms of your ideas and in terms of the price.
Premier VEBA is open to projects of all sizes and in collaborating for both long- and short-term projects.
Call Arup *
I haven’t used this company myself, but Call Arup is a really affordable place to find graphic designers as well as other types of virtual assistants. Call Arup’s graphic design services include…
- logo creation
- flyer, banner, and brochure designs
- letter head designs
- business card designs
- book cover/catalogue designs
- and whiteboard videos.
You pay freelancers just $6 an hour. And tasks are generally completed within a few hours (the site stipulates that there’s a same-day turnaround time). You have a private dashboard so you can track the amount of time that’s spent. Plus, you can find help for a variety of other tasks in addition to graphic design, including…
- administrative assistant services
- marketing support
- product research and analysis
- social media management
- bookkeeping
- and ecommerce support.
* I haven’t used this company myself, but it comes highly rated.
Resources To Find Virtual Assistants
My Fancy Hands
I use My Fancy Hands all the time and have posted about them before here. I love them. Whether you need help researching complex tax laws or booking a flight to see an old friend, My Fancy Hands has a VA ready to offer assistance within the hour. They can help with pretty much any task.
Some additional benefits include the ability to…
- Submit requests by phone, web, text, and email.
- Have My Fancy Hands not only research products but purchase them for you too.
- Set up recurring tasks.
- See how much time and effort My Fancy Hands has saved you by using their outsourcing services.
My Fancy Hands operates on a credit basis and each 20-minute task you request uses up 1 credit. Pricing starts at $29.99 for 5 requests a month.
Upwork
I’m listing Upwork under this section too because Upwork is a really great tool to find virtual assistants for lots of types of tasks. And like I said above, I’ve used Upwork to get help with a number of my business’ day-to-day operations in addition to graphic design.
You’ll need to post a job and then review the list of candidates who submit applications. Upwork also offers a service to help handpick pre-vetted freelancers who meed your specified needs for you to work with.
Zirtual
I haven’t used Zirtual myself, but it looks somewhat similar to My Fancy Hands in that it can help you with just about anything, including both personal and business-related tasks. Here are a few of the things Zirtual can assist you with:
- Social media and marketing
- Travel planning
- Invoices
- Price and product comparisons
- Scheduling and planning
- Research
Pricing is a quite a bit more expensive than My Fancy Hands, though, starting at $398 a month for 1 user and 12 hours of task work.
Zirtual user, John Saunders, says, “Zirtual has been a pleasure and has paid for itself in saved time and money. Assistant has been very professional and responsive throughout.”
Amazon Mechanical Turk
With Mechanical Turk, as a “requester,” you create a task and then gain access to the “global, on-demand 24/7 workforce” with over 500,000 workers from 190 countries.
(You can also sign up as a “worker” if you want and get paid to complete simple tasks.)
You can create tasks about writing, collecting data, tagging images, transcribing documents, etc. And you can have multiple workers working on each task so there is a very fast turnaround time with projects. Mechanical Turk is best used for small-scale, repetitive tasks.
Virtual Assistant USA
As the name implies, all Virtual Assistant USA’s VAs reside in the United States. Working with VAs in other parts of the world can be challenging due to extreme time differences so it’s nice working with VAs who are more local so your working hours are more or less the same.
Virtual Assistant USA’s VAs provide the following types of assistance:
- administrative
- technology
- creative/marketing
- strategy
With Virtual Assistant USA, you don’t have a minimum number of hours that you have to use each week or month and you pay for only the amount of time you use, “down to the minute,” the site says.
Virtual Assistant USA user, Sirena Pellarollo, says, “I am impressed with the team at Virtual Assist USA. They are reliable, trustworthy, and the work is amazing. I finally feel that I have someone who knows what they’re doing. I feel relieved to have a team that I can trust to have my back.”
Time Etc
Time Etc operates only with US-based VAs who have at least 5 years of work experience. The company uses a 10-step selection process so you can feel more confident that you’re going to be working with someone who’s reliable and trustworthy.
Time Etc also lets you start with a free trial, during which they match you with a VA and you get your first task completed for free. Here are a few of the types of things a Time Etc VA can help you with:
- manage your schedule
- find the best value flight to a particular destination
- write a blog post
- do some research
- post some tweets.
Time Etc user, Martha Veon, says, “I am a entrepreneur building a business from the ground up. I had been working solo until I discovered TimeEtc. I had gotten so bogged down I was not moving forward. I wish I had found Time Etc. much sooner. It has proven to be the wisest investment I have made for my business yet.”
People Per Hour
There are three ways you can work with VAs on People Per Hour:
- Browse “hourlies” – You can search the fixed-price offers that people post and put a downpayment on any offer that meets your needs.
- Post a job – You can specify what you need done and relevant people will be notified about submitting a proposal. You then select the best person and put a downpayment to start the job and release the final payment once the job is complete.
- Search profiles and contact people directly – You can also search for people by skill, location, or portfolio and contact them about a specific proposal. And if they agree, you put a downpayment and complete the payment once the job is done.
According to Top Freelancer Websites, People Per Hour received a rating of 89 out of 100 and their review says:
“People Per Hour is intuitive, trendy and packed with professional freelancers for businesses to choose from. You can access a wide range of freelancers around the world, or even pick local talent for your business needs.
All of your business activity can be managed from one account as both a buyer or seller.
Everything is done through escrow, so you know that you only make payment once you’re satisfied with the work that is done customer service is attentive to your needs and works hard to resolve queries.”
The most significant cons noted by the site are that the user interface sometimes can feel a bit clunky and the fees and commissions could be costly for people on tighter budgets.
U Assist Me
U Assist Me VAs provide services like clerical duties, bookkeeping, social media management, and scheduling. They also offer specialty services, including writing, programming, and graphic design.
And what sets about U Assist Me VAs from other virtual assistants is they all work in the same office so you have more assurance in terms of quality, timeliness, and overall satisfaction.
U Assist Me user, Giselle Langley, says, “Uassistme = GREAT! I can’t thank enough these guys for all the help they’ve given me and my company during the time we had hired their services. My VA is pretty much part of my family now because they take care a lot of the little things that I don’t have the time to do so.”
My Tasker
My Tasker tries to make everything as convenient as possible, offering a range of plans and pricing as well as an exclusive trial. Services include…
- administrative
- accounting
- writing and editing
- web design and development
- digital marketing
- IT support
My Tasker user, Jonathan January, says, “I have been working with MyTasker for a number of years and I never run out of areas where they can help me. The quality and timeliness of their services is in my opinion the best in the industry. I highly recommend them.”
OnlineJobs.PH
I know some people who use this site to find people in the Philippines to help with their business-related tasks. The Pro version of the site costs $69 a month.
After posting a job, you’ll be able to interview candidates so you can find the perfect fit. You can then negotiate salary and time worked and discuss expectations. You can manage time worked with TimeProof and pay workers with PayPal.
I really hope you find this list of places to find VAs and graphic designers helpful. If you end up using one of these resources, get in touch and let me know how it goes!
