|
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 09:24am (Mla time) 06/26/2008
NEW YORK - It's not necessarily only celebrities, high-ranking professionals and the wealthy
who can enjoy having personal assistants at their beck and call.
A growing number of Web sites are making it easier to outsource virtual errands overseas,
making it cheaper to indulge in the luxury of never having to write another thank-you card
or sit on hold with with a credit card company.
Those who use the sites, for everything from ordering takeout to managing online dating, say
the cost is affordable and a small price to free up their time — even in the face of a
sputtering economy.
Andrea Forker, a 28-year old auction planner for a New York-based nonprofit performing arts
organization called the Kaufman Center, travels often for her job and uses a site called
AskSunday.com to deal with lost luggage, security issues with credit cards and reservation
problems — all behind the scenes as she concentrates on work.
"These are the little nagging things that really suck up your time," said Forker, who is
living temporarily in Argentina. "For what I consider my time is worth per hour, what they
save adds up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars in the long run. I can give my
undivided attention to my job."
Most people are hesitant to consider having a personal assistant because they don't think
they can afford it, Forker said. But she and others argue that tedious tasks and
inconveniences can be eliminated for the same cost as cable TV.
They may be right. The prices and packages vary from site to site: On AskSunday.com, users
can pay $29 a month for 15 "requests," while the site GetFriday.com offers pay-as-you-go and
monthly plans, in increments of 10 or 15 minutes. The monthly plans start at $120 a month
for 10 hours.
Tim Ferriss, author of "The Four-Hour Workweek," uses what he calls a "small army" of
virtual assistants for everything from checking his e-mail to screening his phone calls and
sending gifts to family and friends. He has even had a team find and schedule dates for him
online.
Ferriss, 30, who lives in San Francisco, estimates that the services are affordable to
anyone who makes more than $30,000 a year. A day of that person's time would be valued at
more than $100 — making outsourcing well worth the investment, according to Ferriss.
"It's like having a three-day weekend every week, for the rest of your life," said Ferriss.
But people may be wary of giving strangers their online banking and credit card passwords.
Ferriss said that in the five years he's outsourced he has never had problems with security
issues — but acknowledged that like shopping and banking online or over the phone, there is
a chance of identity theft. He suggests using trusted sites like PayPal.com when possible,
and using credit cards instead of debit cards to minimize any potential damage.
Some sites, like AskSunday.com, keep logins and passwords in a secured database so that its
employees can use certain accounts but cannot see login or password information. All of the
sites say the information they receive is protected.
Demand for virtual assistants — for individuals and small businesses — is climbing,
according to research firm Evalueserve, which estimated revenue from such sites last year at
$250 million and anticipated it would grow to $2 billion by 2015. The popularity of online
outsourcing has sprouted successful sites including YourManInIndia.com, Elance.com, and
Guru.com.
Small business outsourcing became popular in 2002. But person-to-person offshoring for
personal errands has boomed in just the past two years, according to Alok Aggarwal,
Evalueserve's chairman, adding that even the bleak economy won't slow the sector's growth.
"If you look at the people who use these sites for personal reasons, they aren't likely to
stop doing what they're doing because of inflation," Aggarwal said.
Elance.com, based in Mountain View, California, matches its users with American freelancers
who register through the site. Rates are based on what the individuals charge.
Antonio Thornton, a 34-year-old marketing consultant, uses Elance.com to find graphic
designers for his Web site. But he has also used the services to find vegetarian-friendly
restaurants, organize his Netflix account and to plan a baby shower. Recently, he had a
virtual assistant bid for swimming gear on eBay.
Ferriss has seen at least one long-term benefit from using virtual assistants — they found
him a girlfriend. And they have allowed him time to pursue his hobbies of scuba diving and
tango dancing.
"Ultimately, time is the most valuable, nonrenewable resource that we have," he said. - AP
|
