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8 Comments

Looking for a service for outsourcing small tasks...

I'm looking for some kind of service where I can add tasks into a list, and each task has a description of what needs to get done, and then there's a network of virtual assistants who can pick up the tasks as jobs if they can do it.

For example

  • desk research (this is the main one I'm looking for. For example "research XYZ and compile all the findings into a Google Presentations")
  • email outreach ("email all the people who I add to this list and send them this email template, if they respond then let me know")
  • basic sales calls
  • preparing slides
  • basic copywriting editing
  • transcribing audio to text

I know about sites such as Fiverr and UpWork, and those platforms are get for outsourcing small jobs to people. However, the setup process is a massive overhead. On UpWork you have to "interview" people, and make sure you have the right "candidate". I get the sense people on those sites are looking for employment, rather than a gig-economy style jobs.

Where as what I'm imagining is more like a to-do list of tasks with small fixed-fee costs, which people pick up and deliver within 24-48 hours. Kind of like the Uber of small tasks for virtual assistants.

Maybe something like this doesn't exist, but if anyone knows of a service which sounds similar, or even a way of using UpWork and Fiverr to achieve this, then please let me know!

on May 9, 2020
  1. 2

    I don't use it myself and I'm not sure it's exactly what you need but I heard about Amazon Mechanical Turk https://www.mturk.com/

    1. 1

      Looks very interesting, I’ll check it out, thanks for the recommendation!

  2. 1

    Why not hire one assistant who you can work with over the long run, then just invite them to a Google Doc, or a Notion Doc, or your task list wherever it is?

    I'd expect this to work out better for you, because you can train the person to understand what you want, and they can get better over time.

    1. 1

      I've been considering doing this myself. Do you have any recommendations on where to find an assistant to hire? I'm not sure where to begin or what to look for.

      1. 1

        Just check Upwork, try people out, fire anyone who's not great until you find someone who is. That worked for me.

      2. 1

        Yeah so that’s roughly my plan.

        I’m going to hire one experienced virtual assistant, and then empower her to hire other VAs to do specific tasks that aren’t within her skill set.

        For example she can hire anyone else to help her on tasks, within $X/hour without needing my approval. Same for tools and resources, she can buy any service or tool she needs to do a task as long as its within $Y, if its more then check with me first.

        I think overall this person needs to be a generalist, and very organized, more of a Project Manager type skill set. Then the other VAs would have more specific skill sets depending on the task.

        I’ll put time and energy into interviewing the right candidate for the main VA through UpWork, and then they can handle the others as she sees fit, as long as the tasks get delivered.

        1. 1

          Hey Adam,

          I hired tons of people from Upwork before and got quite good at it, if you'd like someone to look at your hiring process feel free to message me anytime. :)