10 Essential Tips in Hiring a VA

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CC Image courtesy by Ctep on Flickr

When you’ve finally decided to cut the chatter and start hiring Filipino virtual assistants, there are a lot of things to take note of. Remember, you’re dealing with a lot of things here besides distance and possible communication barriers.

Don’t fret though. In this article, I’ll give you some tips in hiring a virtual assistant. I’ll also add in a little bit of action points for you to nurture your relationship with your VA – something  that’s important for your Internet business at the end of the day.

Check it out:

1. Search for the right person

Now, I’m not saying that you scour onlinejobs.com or Odesk for Mr. Right. Chances are, he’s already hired by a top Internet businessman or you can’t afford his rates. Here’s the thing: Take as many candidates as you can, set a trial of two to three months and do what you must for your business to move forward.

It’s not really about finding the absolute best virtual assistant, it’s really about training your people to be really good. You can’t expect them to be out right and do everything!

2. Get a team, not a person

Speaking of which, you can’t expect just one virtual assistant to handle everything. From WordPress installation to SEO link building, everyone knows a little bit of each in the world of digital marketing outsourcing – it’s really all just a matter of assigning each person a segment of special tasks that they’re better with than others.

After, say, a few months when you’ve done all the trial work and you’re certain you’ve got a team that complements your needs as an Internet businessman – get someone who rose above the noise and turn him into a project manager. So you don’t have to fuss about everyone’s reports.

3. Make them feel involved

There’s nothing better than that feeling of belonging – maybe accountability and ownership, but in the outsourcing world, they’re pretty much connected. Make your Filipino virtual assistant feel like he’s part of your success. This should push him to better his skills and at the same time, serves as a virtual tap on his shoulder for a job well done.

4. Give them recurring tasks

Recurring tasks serve one main purpose: to keep your virtual assistant busy and involved. At some point, virtual assistants that specialize in a niche task (like web development or digital design), will have a hard time keeping themselves busy, especially after a launch. So keep them busy.

For web designer virtual assistants, give them some infographics and Facebook visuals to work on while they wait for that next big launch. For web developers, have them study app development and iFrame design for, say, your Facebook pages.

There’s loads of stuff to do, and giving these to your virtual assistants means that you get to keep them on your pay roll – which leads to them feeling pretty lucky.

5. Get to know the culture

Culture encompasses a lot of things from religious beliefs to national and special holidays. For the Filipino virtual assistant, getting to know their culture is a pleasure! The best you could do, when everything’s going as well as you’d hope for them to be, is pay them a visit in their archipelago home.

Getting to know their culture also means getting to know (and pay respect) to their holidays. While some may be down-right arbitrary, others are religion-based. The Philippines, being a very religious state, would have a few religious feasts and celebrations every month, so be ready to at least give them a day off.

6. Train them well

Training your virtual assistants helps the both of you in many ways. For you, you gain the assurance that the type of work or task at hand won’t get messed up. For the virtual assistant, he gets to increase his knowledgebase.

Training your virtual assistants well can range from giving them training material they can consume, to having daily calls and meetings about a certain Internet marketing concept. This also sends the message that you care for their professional growth which breeds trust – a vital factor in the growth of your Internet business.

7. Set reasonable expectations

This works in any setting – when you’re setting expectations, always make sure that these are achievable and measurable. This is so you can gauge your virtual assistant’s progress and, in the long run, the growth of your business.

Here’s a good example:

You give your virtual assistant some link building tasks and expect him to create, say, 30 links back to your website for, say at least 2 weeks. That’s pretty easy. You may want to push him a little, it depends, really. So long as you set clear expectations.

8. Treat them right

Don’t intentionally miss replying to their questions. Don’t call them anything demeaning or racist. Don’t make them feel inferior. The whole point of this is making them feel that they’re people too – which they are. At the end of the day, you not only create a relationship of camaraderie with your team, you get to save yourself from entering the outsourcing black list of doom too.

Besides, hate and anger are double-edged swords – you’re bound to get hurt (if not your business) too.

      9. Communicate with them daily

This could be best done at the start of the day, at least, for the Philippine virtual assitants’ side of the world. Let them know that you’re there by asking for updates from their tasks and work and give them updates from your side. This allows you both to be informed about the what’s ups and FYIs.

This also sends the impression that they are vital to the growth of the business – making them feel that you depend on them to get your business working allows

9. Use the right tools

In every team, there’s an arsenal of tools that complement their efficiency. For instance, communicating with your team requires a handy VoIP system like Skype or GotoMeeting. In terms of file transfers or sharing, Egnyte and 4Shared work pretty well.

At the end of the day, when you give your team the tools they need – a hammer for nails – this should lessen their burdens and you can expect your Internet business to grow at a much quicker pace.

That about wraps it up for the 10 essential tips you need to know when hiring a virtual assistant. Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Key Competencies of Filipino VAs

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The Philippines’ new tourism slogan says it all: “It’s More Fun in the Philippines.”

That can never be truer, especially when it comes to hiring a Filipino VA.

Perhaps the biggest advantage to hiring a virtual assistant is the savings to cost. Time is money, that we know for sure. But when you have an efficient virtual assistant to take care of some of your tasks for you, you get a tremendous load of your back and you save on time and money. That leaves you with more cash and time to be used for expanding your business.

Yes, there are costs involved. But the benefits of hiring a Filipino VA far outweigh the costs. With a Filipino virtual assistant, you will even more have an opportunity to run a business that is worry-free.

So why is it more fun to get a Filipino VA? Filipino VAs have key competencies that are at par with their international counterparts.

Filipino VAs are dynamic

Filipino VAs are young, able to easily adapt and dynamic. They are extremely abreast with the changing economic and technological trends. And because there is virtually free to access information in the Philippines thanks mostly to the low cost of getting an Internet connection, most young Filipinos stay in the know.

Filipino workers can easily adapt to the changing business landscape, and the competencies that they possess are world-class. This can be attributed to low cost and world-class quality of IT education.

Filipino VAs possess excellent English skills

Because Filipinos are exposed to a wide range of English media, an average Filipino can speak the language with great fluency. Most foreigners actually find it amazing to hear some Filipinos speak the English language in a neutral accent.

Most Filipino kids are actually taught to read and write in English before they are taught to read and write in Filipino. At school, the medium of instruction is English and tests are mostly administered using the English language.

Indeed, many Filipino professionals are great English speakers and writers. As an Internet marketer looking to outsource, you will never run out of excellent Filipino VA from the vast pool of Filipino professionals.

Most Filipino professionals are well-informed

Young Filipinos these days are hugely exposed to a wide range of information. Information, as previously mentioned, is virtually free in the Philippines. Any Filipino VA would find research work as just a walk in the park. Filipino VAs know exactly where to find the right information. Because of that, Filipino VAs are known for quick turnarounds of accurate information.

Filipino VAs are multi-skilled

Need to have something written? No problem. Need to have something consolidated? No worries. Need to have something found and turned in before you wake up in the morning? No sweat. You see, as the world continues to get smaller with technology, Filipino professionals have learned to adapt and stay competitive in the ever evolving new economy. Because of passion to excel, Filipino VAs have learned to learn what it takes to get the job done.

Smartphone without compromise

By: Princess Daisy C. Ominga
Philippine Daily Inquirer

2:26 am | Monday, April 16th, 2012

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SINGAPORE—Introducing to the world a new series of smartphones, HTC unveils the HTC One Series with what could possibly be the most exciting phones in the market today.

Lennard Hoornik, HTC South Asia Pacific president, led the presentation of the HTC ONE Series, starting with HTC One X, a lightweight but durable smartphone with polycarbonate unibody, making it resistant to stains and scratches. HTC One X also features a full 4.7-inch contoured Corning Gorilla Glass display and optical lamination, for wider viewing angles and reduced reflections to improve visibility during day time.

HTC One X is powered by a 1.5 GHz quadcore NVIDIA Tegra 3 mobile processor for clear graphics and faster applications, with an integrated fifth battery saver core, which handles low-powered tasks like music, videos, and active standby.

During the interview, Hoornik repeatedly slammed the phone on a table without making as much as a tiny scratch, attesting to the One X being “lightweight, but very, very strong material, with polished sides, giving it a gorgeous finish.”

“In Manila, it’s very hot, and when people use their phone, sweat tends to transfer to their phones and water comes in to the tiny grills. So we make the micro-holes—they are smaller than water drop—so that water won’t come in [inside the phone],” Hoornik explains.

Fastest camera

“If you look carefully on how people use their phone, you’ll see that number one is to make phone calls, and number two is to take pictures. There are lots of texting in the Philippines, but don’t forget Facebook in the Philippines is huge, one of the biggest in the world. Filipinos love taking pictures and uploading them like crazy. So we’ve made sure to create the fastest camera in the world,” says Hoornik.

Activating in 0.7 seconds, and an auto-focus that takes just 0.2 seconds to get ready, One X enables the user to take up to 99 continuous shots at 4 frames per second by holding the shutter button. The 8-megapixel camera is automatically synchronized with Dropbox, to store and share up to 11,000 pictures.

Powered by HTC ImageSense, photos can be taken even in conditions such as low lighting, dark or bright backlighting. Another impressive function is the Video Pic, which allows the user to shoot videos and snap photos at the same time. The user could capture images that catch his attention even while taking videos simply by tapping the shutter button.

Car Mode

HTC One Series comes with custom-tuned Beats Audio, giving quality sound system whether the phone is used for music player, Youtube, videos, games or Internet radio apps.

A simple accessory called the HTC Car Stereo Clip also connects the user to music through online radio stations or play music from the phone through the car speakers. Taking into consideration the safety of the users when using their phones while driving, HTC One X comes with a unique feature called the Car Mode.

“In the car, it’s dangerous [using a phone] if not properly done, so we came up with something clever called Car Mode, which has everything; it can help you in navigation, you can play songs, but it’s very big (the display) so it’s safe to use. You can make phone calls, and it automatically goes to Car Mode,” says Hoornik.

Media Link

Probably the most impressive feature of the HTC One X is the Media Link, which connects the phone to a TV with a three-finger swipe action. Just plug the Media Link HD accessory into the HDMI port of any TV and the phone automatically configures to the accessory via WiFi. The Media Link enables the TV screen to function like a desktop, a mirror site of your HTC One X, or play movies, videos, games, or business presentations, and the user can choose to either control what is displayed onscreen or use the phone for other tasks.

HTC One V

Also presented in the launch was the HTC One V, which is the entry level in the One Series. Powered with 5.0-megapixel camera, HTC One V, like the One X, also activates in 0.7 seconds and auto-focus in 0.2 seconds, and can also capture up to 99 continuous shots. The phone features a simple, aluminum unibody design, and is also integrated with Beats Audio technology.

Later this quarter, HTC will launch the One S, another inclusion to its One Series to strengthen its lineup in the smartphone market.

Hoornik sums up the power of multi-function in the HTC One Series: “This is not just your phone. This is your camera, this is your music device, your game device, your setup box—this is your everything. You can do your whole life in this device, and all this power in one device that is in your pocket.”

The HTC One X and One V are already available in the Philippines. The Media Link HDMI and Stereo Clip are sold separately.

Boost Your WiFi Signal Using Only a Beer Can

By Jerry James Stone 
Wed Sep 7, 2011 06:21 PM ET 
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Images Courtesy of The Chive

I love a good hack, especially one that requires me to throw back a cold one before hand (or during). Thissimple wifi boost has actually been shown to increase signal strength by at least 2 to 4 bars. And, well, I will drink to that.

These instructions came to us via The Chive and we think they are most definitely worth checking out. But here is the most important question: what kind of beer will you use?

For this project you are going to need scissors, a utility knife, some adhesive putty and an empty beer can. More than one empty beer can is acceptable but don’t kid yourself, the router only needs the one.

The first step is to wash out your empty beer can, unless of course said beer is a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. If it is PBR, promptly go drink a better beer. You really should be ashamed of yourself.

Once the can has dried, you will want to remove it’s pull tab.

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Only perform this next step if you have not been drinking. Using the utility knife, saw off the bottom of the can. Chances are your can will not have a red dotted line. If you see one, put down the knife…you’ve had too much beer.

You’ll notice in the above step that the can’s pull tab has returned. Clearly, there are only two possible reasons for this. One, you are really drunk and you never removed the tab in the first place. Or–the more likely answer–beer cans can regenerate themselves.

It’s the home stretch! You just need to attach your modded beer can to the wifi router. Hopefully no other parts of the can have actually grown back. You now have beer-fi!

So, what kind of beer did you use?