Can you Use A personal Assistant?

How to best use a virtual assistant service effectively?

• We are trying out a virtual assistant service which uses remote human personal assistants based in the US that are communicated with through email and an app. The model is that you buy a month's package of requests that you can make (e.g. 15 task requests, with each task not meant to take more than 20 minutes). It can be a bit difficult to think up tasks for the assistants to do, especially if you only want to make requests for tasks that will save you a big amount of time (rather than tasks - make a restaurant booking etc.- which you could do yourself in just a little more time than it takes to make a request). What are your tips for using this kind of service most effectively? What kinds of task requests are most "bang for your buck" , bearing in mind the limit of a standard month's package of 15 tasks? Thanks!

• Answer:

  For this kind of service, you're trading time for money. So biggest returns are found by maximizing the ratio of your time spent telling them to do it to them doing it. You can try to wring every minute out of those 20, the max here is basically 20:1. So I'd focus on your time, with one little twist: instead of accounting for every task as a oneoff, split your time into two components: initial setup time, and time spent repeating the task later. Once you've done that, it becomes clear that repetition will help you beat 20:1. Some example tasks, bearing in mind I've never used these services, and I have no idea how much one trusts them: * getting direct and comparable quotes from several insurance companies/agents twice a year (those quote engine tools are basically in cahoots, sadly) * renew your car tags (if online is available) * Mothers day / birthday / anniversary gift recommendations / purchase. If you keep birthdays on your calendar, this could fill in quite a bit! * rebalance your investment portfolio monthly * proof read some text * schedule a meeting between multiple participants with varying pre-existing calendars * social media posts I also understand that some services allow you to direct calls their way. If you run an office, having them "on call" while the receptionist is at lunch but only paying for actual calls could be nice. That has to be the best kind of return, if nobody calls.