Day: April 24, 2023

Do you need an eBay virtual assistant?

If you’re overwhelmed with work and feel like there isn’t enough time in the day, then you’re in the right place. Or, if you’re just looking to make your eBay store more manageable, an eBay virtual assistant can be a perfect fit. An eBay virtual assistant can make it feel like your store is on autopilot. This can turn it into more of a passive income stream, which leaves you free to enjoy free time and pursue other income streams as well.

18 Tasks an Ebay VA Can Help Your Store With

Here’s 18 tasks that you can quickly pass off to an eBay VA:

1. Create and manage listings for products you want to sell on eBay.
2. Optimize product titles, descriptions, and images to improve search results and sales.
3. Monitor and adjust pricing to remain competitive and maximize profits.
4. Respond to customer inquiries and provide customer support.
5. Manage and track inventory levels, ensuring you always have enough stock on hand.
6. Process orders and manage shipping logistics, including coordinating with shipping carriers and ensuring packages are sent on time.
7. Handle returns and refunds in a timely and professional manner.
8. Research and recommend products to sell on eBay, based on market trends and consumer demand.
9. Monitor and analyze eBay sales data to identify opportunities for growth.
10. Create and manage promotions and sales to boost sales and attract new customers.
11. Monitor and manage eBay feedback and reviews, responding to negative feedback and ensuring your reputation remains positive.
12. Research and recommend eBay tools and software to improve your business operations.
13. Manage your eBay account, including resolving account issues and ensuring compliance with eBay policies.
14. Create and manage eBay store pages, including customizing the layout and design.
15. Conduct market research to stay informed of industry trends and competition.
16. Work with suppliers and distributors to source new products and negotiate pricing.
17. Manage multiple eBay accounts or listings across different regions or languages.
18. Provide regular reports on sales performance, market trends, and other key metrics to help you make informed business decisions.

Where Can You Find Ebay Virtual Assistants Online?

A multitude of hiring websites are easily searchable online. On almost every one of them, you can find some kind of eBay virtual assistant. We do not recommend, however, that you just go and hire from the first website you see. Not all hiring platforms are created equal, and you can find yourself in a huge mess if you’re not careful about where you transact.

Our recommendations for where to hire an eBay virtual assistant include:

1. Upwork
2. Fiverr
3. Zirtual
4. Freelancer
5. Fancy Hands
6. TaskRabbit
7. Time Etc
8. Red Butler
9. MyTasker
10. 24/7 Virtual Assistant
11. PeoplePerHour 

How Much Will an Ebay VA Cost You?

The demand that businesses have for an eBay virtual assistant has increased over the past years. Because of the demand for quality service, the rates that they charge have gone up, too. A VA within the US will cost you about $30 per hour. You can outsource the work, however, and pay about $10 per hour. Of course, these are only the average rates, and what you pay will depend on your requirements. For example, if you need someone with high English proficiency, paid advertising skills, or a tone of experience, you will need to pay higher rates.

Although they are niche, eBay virtual assistant skills have different specializations and can offer a range of services. For example, some will do overall administrative tasks or inventory management for stores, whole others focus on customer service or listing optimization.

What Should You Include In Your Ebay VA Job Post?

Do not disregard the importance of having a good job post. You need to include the important details about the eBay virtual assistant that you need to find the right fit. When you take the time to add the right details, you are able to match with the right person.

Here is a list of what you should include in your job post for an eBay virtual assistant:

• Job duties and responsibilities 
• What the role entails
• Performance expectations 
• Your expected rate range
• Your preferred hiring location

Once you have the job details nicely laid out, insert some keywords into the copy. Keywords will help the right applicants find your post as they search hiring platforms for work that matches their skills and experience.

What Skills & Experience Should You Look for?

The skills and experience that you should look for depend on the specific job that you are hiring for. Here are two examples to illustrate:

First, say you are hiring an eBay virtual assistant to take care of your existing suppliers, develop relationships with new suppliers, place and track orders, and the like, then you would need the person you hire to be a good communicator, be keen with keeping schedules, and know how to calculate inventory levels and lead times to place orders with suppliers on time. This does not take a super high level of experience, but will require training if you hire a newbie. 

Second, if you are hiring for customer service, you will need some of the same skills, and some different ones, like knowledge of the platform rules governing areas like returns and refunds. You probably want someone with at least a few years of experience handling customers since it’s not something you can learn just from a script.

Tips to Onboard & Manage Your Virtual Assistant

Once you have hired the eBay virtual assistant that you see is the best fit for your needs, you must properly onboard and manage them. Here at Outsource School, we can help you with implementing a process that fits your business, plus everything else about working with a VA. We have material to help you with all the areas from writing down what you need help with as you search for the right assistant to outsource to all the way to specific management tips to make your journey of learning to outsource and work together with remote teams smoother and more rewarding.

On the surface, onboarding deals with everything that a hire needs to know about working with you and serving your business. First, you should review everything that you have put in the job post, just to make sure that the hire understands. Next, go over specifics like who they need to report to and how you expect them to communicate with you or a supervisor throughout the day and week. Have a list that you go through so you don’t miss anything. It’s important to have everything on record and that they agree with the terms of working with you.

Throughout the entire time that you work with the VA, you need to basically provide them with active support. Don’t ever just set a hire loose once they are on the payroll. Check in with them regularly to make sure that they’re doing well. Ask them to share their wins. This builds rapport and confidence. It also shows them that you care. Then, ask if they are facing any challenges so you can step in and give them some advice on how to handle those situations. A great way to deal with this without spending too much time is to have SOPs – standard operating procedures – available for hires to go through as needed. Providing team-building activities also helps a lot.

What Is Outsource School?

Outsource School helps you to unlock the potential of virtual assistants and accelerate your business growth.

This is the exact system Outsource School’s founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, used to go from zero to 8 figures and 40+ virtual assistants with an exit in 2019.

Since being founded in 2020, Outsource School has helped 1,000+ business owners hire 2,000+ virtual assistants for their companies.

Schedule a free sales call to learn more

Free resources you might like: 

• Outsource School Case Study: How We Scaled to 45+ VAs and 8 Figures in Revenue
• Free VA Calculator | See How Many VAs You Can Afford
• Free Training on 5 Keys to Working With VAs
• Learn Outsourcing 101 | Guides, Downloads, and Checklists

Conclusion

If you need help to manage your eBay business, consider hiring a virtual assistant who has the specific skills and experience to meet your needs. You might have a range of requirements that make a one-size-fits-all approach unsuitable for you. When you embark on this hiring journey, remember to start by creating a thoughtful list of what you need help with, the type of person you like to work with, the intricacies of the job llike work times and pay, etc. This will inform your choice of VA in many different ways and help you find the one who will be that best fit who will alleviate stress and not create headaches for you or the rest of the team.

Looking to hire a Canva virtual assistant? 

Look no further. In this article, we’ll break down everything you need to know about VAs that know Canva.

Canva is a graphic design and publishing tool with a mission to empower the world to design. Their success as a platform is evident, being used by over 110 million people all over the world. You can create professional-looking graphics and presentations with access to hundreds of templates. 

In this post we are going to cover: 

• 20 Tasks a Canva Virtual Assistant Can Do For You
• How Much Will a Canva VA Cost?
• What Skills Should I Look for in a Canva VA?
• What Freelance Websites Are Best to Find Canva VAs?
• How Do I Interview & Choose the Right Canva Virtual Assistant?
• What Software Should I Use to Manage My Canva Projects?

20 Tasks a Canva Virtual Assistant Can Do For You

Use this list as inspiration for hiring a VA that knows Canva:

1. Create custom graphics for social media posts, blog articles, and email marketing campaigns.
2. Design and layout marketing materials such as flyers, brochures, and posters.
3. Design and format presentations for webinars, workshops, or conferences.
4. Create branded templates for social media graphics, newsletters, and other marketing materials.
5. Source and select high-quality stock images that align with your brand and message.
6. Edit and enhance photos, including resizing, cropping, and color correction.
7. Create infographics and visual content to communicate complex information or data.
8. Design eBooks, PDF guides, and other lead magnets to attract and convert website visitors.
9. Design eye-catching logos and branding elements that convey your brand identity.
10. Create custom illustrations for use in marketing materials or on your website.
11. Design eye-catching packaging for your products or services.
12. Design and create eye-catching product labels and packaging.
13. Create video and animated graphics for use in social media or marketing campaigns.
14. Create visual aids such as flowcharts and diagrams for use in presentations or reports.
15. Design custom t-shirt graphics, product labels, and other merchandise.
16. Optimize graphics and images for web use, ensuring fast loading times and improved SEO.
17. Provide guidance and training to other team members on how to use Canva effectively.
18. Manage and organize your Canva account, including uploading brand assets and templates.
19. Research and recommend new design trends, techniques, and tools to improve your Canva designs.
20. Collaborate with other team members and stakeholders to ensure that designs meet their expectations and goals.

How Much Will a Canva VA Cost?

We have discussed in the past how several factors influence the cost of hiring a virtual assistant. 

These are:

• What tasks they perform
• Scope of work
• Level of experience
• Level of expertise
• Project length
• What country they live in

There are three levels of tasks that VAs perform: basic-level tasks, specialized tasks, and expert-level tasks. For this article, we will only discuss the first two. 

Basic-level tasks involve the typical administrative work you would associate with virtual assistants like scheduling appointments, data entry, answering emails, and such. These can run from $5-$10.

Specialized tasks refer to tasks that require specialized knowledge in an industry, area of expertise, or in the use of software or tool. Specialists typically hone very particular niche skills. These can run from $10-$30+ depending on how niche the position you’re hiring for is and how much skill and experience a person need to be considered an expert in that area. 

A Canva virtual assistant can fall into both of these categories. Off the bat, you need to determine if you want to hire a virtual assistant who knows how to use Canva or if you want to hire a Canva virtual assistant. The difference lies in the scope of the work and the level of expertise and familiarity with the software. 

While an exact estimate is tricky to determine, we can look at the cost of hiring a graphic designer, which ranges from $8-$15 an hour. 

Another cost you may have to consider is whether they need to use a paid version of the software. 

Canva Account Tiers

Canva has three different tiers of service, namely:

• Free – Access to basic tools and templates
• Pro – Paid access to premium content and tools 
• Teams – Paid solution for teams of creatives to collaborate within the Canva Worksuite 

Will they need to own the software or will your business provide that? You need to consider first what tier of Canva suits your business needs. Then you can decide whether it’s worth subscribing to a higher tier or just hiring someone who offers both access to the tool and their expertise with it. 

Note: Canva Pro costs $12.99 a month and Canva Teams costs $14.99 a month. Their yearly plans have a discount, so you need to determine project length and which subscriptions and payment plans are worth it for you. 

What Skills Should I Look for in a Canva VA?

As mentioned previously, a Canva virtual assistant is essentially a graphic designer with a niche specialty in using the Canva tool. 

While you don’t necessarily need to be a graphic designer to excel at using Canva, it does help to know some design fundamentals, such as:

• Color theory
• Typography (the use of font styles)
• Layouts

You can verify the abilities of a Canva virtual assistant by looking at their portfolios (more on that later). 

What Freelance Websites Are Best to Find Canva VAs?

In our article about the best sites for finding virtual assistants, we mention sites such as Upwork, Zirtual, Fancy Hands, Fiverr, and PeoplePerHour. 

Because some of these freelance marketplaces house thousands of VAs from all over the world, you could very well find a Canva virtual assistant that both knows what they’re doing and is a good fit for your team. 

How Do I Interview & Choose the Right Virtual Assistant?

Aside from the four questions for job candidates, we suggest this interview process:

It’s important to note that before you even begin the interview process with potential candidates, you ask for their portfolio. Anyone who works in the design or artistic space must have a portfolio. A portfolio is a visual representation of the designer’s abilities and can include work they’ve accomplished for previous clients. Choose your candidates based on portfolios that appeal to your brand aesthetic.

Build Rapport

This is a valuable step in building a healthy working relationship and dispelling any awkwardness or nerves common to first-time interactions. You can ask them questions about themselves and show that you are interested in them as a person and not just in what they can do for you. 

Check Experience

Ask about their experience working with other businesses. Knowing their client and work history can give you a gauge of what they are capable of. Additionally, the way they speak about their previous clients can give you an idea of their personality and attitude. 

Check Values

Ask them about their work values. This tells you what they find important and if their values match your own as a company. Additionally, knowing what they value can also help you to cater to the needs of this person if they are to become a member of your team. 

Check Strengths

Ask them about their strengths and what they have worked on the most. Canva has design tools for photos, cards, one-page websites, video editing, t-shirt design, logos, and more. Canva Teams has collaborative solutions for marketing, sales, creatives, and more. While a good Canva virtual assistant will have experience with all of these, it’s helpful to ask which ones they would consider their strong suit. This can be done while you provide a rundown of the tasks and scope of the work you need doing. 

Negotiate Rate and Schedule

Once you’re certain their skills match your criteria and their personality fits your team, next is rate and schedule. This doesn’t always have to be a daunting step. Just make sure you explain the tasks completely and ask them what they believe is fair compensation. Remote workers can sometimes live in different time zones, so make sure this won’t be an issue that will affect the productivity of deadlines. 

After you’ve interviewed and hired your Canva virtual assistant, be sure to take them through a complete onboarding process to ensure a successful hire. 

What Software Should I Use to Manage my Canva Projects?

One of the advantages of Canva is you can manage certain aspects of projects within their own Canva Worksuite. Canva Teams allows you to both collaborate and organize your work in one place. 

You can brainstorm together on whiteboards, share ideas, provide feedback, design collaboratively, and access your most used assets in organized folders. 

However, if you’re looking for more in-depth solutions, project management software like Asana can do the trick. 

What Is Outsource School?

Outsource School helps you to unlock the potential of virtual assistants and accelerate your business growth.

This is the exact system Outsource School’s founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, used to go from zero to 8 figures and 40+ virtual assistants with an exit in 2019.

Since being founded in 2020, Outsource School has helped 1,000+ business owners hire 2,000+ virtual assistants for their companies.

Schedule a free sales call to learn more

Free resources you might like: 

• Outsource School Case Study: How We Scaled to 45+ VAs and 8 Figures in Revenue
• Free VA Calculator | See How Many VAs You Can Afford
• Free Training on 5 Keys to Working With VAs
• Learn Outsourcing 101 | Guides, Downloads, and Checklists

Conclusion

Whether content, marketing, or branding, it’s obvious that the Canva tool can provide great value to a business. However, not everyone has the time to create postings or learn the entirety of the software. A Canva virtual assistant can help you tap into the full benefits this popular tool can provide your business. 

 

Looking for the best tasks for virtual assistants to help your online business? 

We know where you’re at because we were there once, too.

There’s never enough time in the day, and when you reach that point, it’s time to hire a virtual assistant.

In this post we are going to cover: 

• 25 Best Tasks for Virtual Assistants
• How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost?
• Can You Hire a VA Part Time?
• What Are the Best Virtual Assistant Websites to Hire From?
• How Do I Track & Pay My Virtual Assistant?
• Tips to Onboard & Manage Your Virtual Assistant

25 Best Tasks for Virtual Assistants

Here’s a starter list of 25 tasks you can hire a VA for:

1. Manage email communication with customers, clients, and partners.
2. Schedule appointments and manage your calendar.
3. Conduct research and collect data for business decisions.
4. Manage social media accounts, including posting and engaging with followers.
5. Create and manage content for your blog, website, or newsletter.
6. Monitor analytics and provide reports on website traffic and social media engagement.
7. Edit and proofread written content, such as blog posts, emails, or reports.
8. Respond to customer inquiries and provide customer support.
9. Manage your CRM system and maintain customer records.
10. Conduct market research to stay informed of industry trends and competition.
11. Manage your e-commerce website and process orders.
12. Manage your inventory and ensure stock levels are adequate.
13. Create and manage email marketing campaigns.
14. Manage your financial records and bookkeeping.
15. Manage your online advertising campaigns.
16. Conduct A/B testing for website design or marketing campaigns.
17. Generate and analyze website traffic reports using Google Analytics or other tools.
18. Manage online reviews and feedback from customers.
19. Create and manage affiliate partnerships and programs.
20. Manage your online reputation and respond to negative reviews or feedback.
21. Manage your online community, such as a forum or social media group.
22. Create and manage online events, such as webinars or product launches.
23. Manage your online listings and directories.
24. Manage your blog comments and respond to readers.
25. Research and recommend software tools or services to improve your online business operations.

How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost?

Now that you know about all a virtual assistant can do for you, you’re probably wondering how much it’s gonna cost you. Well, figuring out the rates of virtual assistants is dependent on several factors. 

Type and Scope of Task

As you may have already been able to tell from our list of best tasks for virtual assistants, their expertise, and the scope of what they do can vary. If you’re hiring a VA that can only do basic-level tasks like scheduling, managing appointments, and other administrative work, you will probably find a decent one between $5-$10. However, most businesses hire VAs who also have specialized knowledge. Some are software experts that can help you manage teams through productivity management software like Asana. Others can be content writers, marketing VAs, bookkeepers, graphic designers… the list goes on. 

Level of Expertise

The next thing to think about is their skill level. Do you want a VA who can do dropshipping-related tasks or do you want a dropshipping VA? There is a difference in expectation and specialization. A VA who can write content for your website will cost less than a VA who can write content AND is familiar with how content ranks on search engines. 

Level of Experience 

This includes their educational attainment, training, work portfolio, and how many years they have been in the space. The rates of an entry-level VA and one who has 3 years under their belt will still vary even if they’re doing the same task and have gone to the same school. Experience leads to improved efficiency and professionalism, and that costs something. 

Project Length

VAs can charge on an hourly, monthly, or per-project basis. Naturally, the longer the project, the more you will have to pay. 

Where They Live

One of the advantages of outsourcing is that you have access to a wider talent pool in countries with lower costs of living. VAs living in these countries are more likely to have lower rates.

Can You Hire a VA Part Time?

Absolutely! Another advantage to outsourcing is the flexibility it provides businesses that either cannot afford to hire full-time workers, need minimal help, or have seasonal growth (ex. E-commerce businesses during holidays). 

We have first-hand experience hiring a part-time VA and have shared how that boosted our productivity and allowed our business to grow. 

What Are the Best Virtual Assistant Websites to Hire From?

Knowing the best tasks for virtual assistants is one thing, knowing where to find somebody that can perform those tasks well is another. 

What are some qualities of a good freelance marketplace? 

• Reputable
• Good vetting processes
• Social proof systems (reviews and ratings)
• Client support (easily contactable, assists even after you’ve hired from them)
• Access to freelancer profiles

Some of the ones we recommend include Upwork, Fiverr, TaskRabbit, 24/7 Virtual Assistants, and Freelancer. 

If you want to know more about virtual assistant sites and access the full list of our recommendations with summaries, please consider checking out our 11 Best Virtual Assistant Sites for Entrepreneurs in 2023.

How Do I Track & Pay My Virtual Assistant?

When working with virtual assistants, there are two types of tracking that need to be done: time tracking and work tracking.

Tracking hours can be tricky for a remote VA especially. Thankfully, there are several online time-tracking tools that can make your life a whole lot easier. Keep in mind that this is more often applied to VAs who charge a per-hour rate. 

When it comes to tracking work progress, communication and management are essential. Communication with and among members of a remote team is one of the biggest challenges. You need to make sure you are using tools that your new hire is familiar with so they can attend and effectively participate in team meetings. Additionally, when managing a VA, you need to be able to have an agreed channel of communication back and forth for updates, meetings, feedback, etc. 

How you pay your VA can depend on the marketplace you’re hiring from, the basis of payment (per hour or per project), and payment options discussed during the onboarding process. 

Tips to Onboard & Manage Your Virtual Assistant

Here at Outsource School, we cannot stress enough how beneficial a remote onboarding process is. It can save you a lot of headaches and heartaches associated with bad hires. Good onboarding makes managing a virtual assistant so much easier. 

Here are some useful guidelines you can follow for an effective onboarding process:

1. Be hospitable, create rapport, and make them feel at ease. 
2. Introduce them to your company’s “what” and “why” that is what your company does, its mission, vision, objectives, values, and even company culture.
3. Go through the tasks associated with the job you’re hiring for. Even if it’s all listed in the job description, it’s still important to provide a rundown and set expectations.
4. Negotiate rates, discuss payment options, and finalize the work schedule.
5. Orient them on any tools or software they need to perform their tasks. These are any preferred admin tools, management tools, communication channels, apps, etc. 
6. If they will be working closely with other members, they should get to know the team before they start getting down to business. This is an important step to break the ice and welcome them into your community. 
7. Set your deadlines, meeting schedules (if any), and milestones they can work towards.
8. Orient them on any company SOPs 
9. Be open to any questions, clarifications, or concerns they might have. 

Note: The order in which these things occur is up to your discretion. Also, onboarding is a process that can happen over several days. What’s important is that you make sure your hire is fully oriented and equipped to begin their duties. 

What Is Outsource School?

Outsource School helps you to unlock the potential of virtual assistants and accelerate your business growth.

This is the exact system Outsource School’s founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, used to go from zero to 8 figures and 40+ virtual assistants with an exit in 2019.

Since being founded in 2020, Outsource School has helped 1,000+ business owners hire 2,000+ virtual assistants for their companies.

Schedule a free sales call to learn more

Free resources you might like: 

• Outsource School Case Study: How We Scaled to 45+ VAs and 8 Figures in Revenue
• Free VA Calculator | See How Many VAs You Can Afford
• Free Training on 5 Keys to Working With VAs
• Learn Outsourcing 101 | Guides, Downloads, and Checklists

Conclusion

A lot of the best tasks for virtual assistants involve management, research, marketing, and customer support/engagement. All of these tasks are crucial in operating a thriving business, however, they are very time intensive. Business owners bogged down by busy work or “work about work” can’t focus on their core processes like product and service development, branding, partnerships, etc. Customer service can be especially time-consuming. And while we aren’t saying business owners should be personally involved in building customer relationships, they can’t always be on standby when a customer needs help navigating their website. 

This is why virtual assistants are so valuable. It’s no surprise that they have grown in popularity, especially over the last few years. 

We hope this article has helped inform you about the versatile virtual assistant world. If you weren’t sure before, well, now you have a better understanding of what they do, how to navigate their rates, where to hire them, and how you can effectively integrate them into your team.