
Unlimited Virtual Assistant Tasks for $59 a Month - TimeSvr.com, a Review, Versus My Single Assistant - sidsavara
http://sidsavara.com/personal-productivity/can-virtual-assistants-make-you-more-productive-an-experiment
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alizaki
Just a short note: We had to take down new signups due to overwhelming demand.
Leave a contact and we'll get to you within a few days.

Hopefully people here and elsewhere can appreciate that as opposed to doing a
shoddy job. :)

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bb_mn
It may be helpful to add an inline status alert (similar to those used by
Twitter, Netflix, Basecamp, etc) in the actual dashboard when you're
experiencing high demand.

I signed up yesterday afternoon and submitted a couple of requests and wasn't
sure what to expect for turnaround time. If you are not currently completing
requests as quickly as you normally would, it would be reassuring to trial
members (and existing members) to receive a notice that things may take
slightly longer than normal but you are indeed working hard to catch up with
demand.

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alizaki
Great idea. We're working around the clock, even though a quarter of our staff
was on Eid break when the site launched. They're all back, but yes, everything
should be back to normal in terms of turnaround in the next 24 hours. We've
also added more people.

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bb_mn
That's good to hear. I hope this uptick in activity will be good for your
overall business and the growth will be sustainable.

The two responses I received this morning were top-notch, by the way. The
information was very concise and saved me a bit of time already.

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alizaki
thanks! we try our best.

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Erwin
Could someone who successfully uses an assistant like that outline concrete
tasks they delegate to them? Both private and job related (software
engineering here). 9 out of 10 restaurants here do online booking and I don't
need to book at the "Fat Duck", with its annoying phone reservation, that
often.

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eru
I will try it out and report later.

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eru
Perhaps my assistants can up my article. ;)

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shawndrost
I actually signed up for timesvr earlier tonight after reading this. They
claim $59 a month buys you unlimited tasks, which I cannot believe is
profitable, but if they can make money off of my business, I wish them health
and happiness.

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sidsavara
I'm pretty surprised by it as well. The 1 week free trial is awesome too -
worst case, you have a team of assistants to do free work for you and you
leave after 7 days. Although at their prices, that's really only a $15 free
trial so it's not really going to hurt them any

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shedd
It is surprising that this can be profitable, but if you value your time at
anything above $20/hr and this saves you a few hours a week, this is certainly
worth it to you if the work done is at a high enough quality level.

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eru
I should outsource surfing news.yc.

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DanielBMarkham
I think I would still prefer a live, personal, one-on-one assistant. Sure
there are a lot of downsides, but if you get a good person and you learn each
other's personalities? I think the upside is a lot bigger than the downside.

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alizaki
Completely agree. However, most people can not justify or afford a full time,
or even part time, assistant. They're just looking for 30 - 45 minutes of help
a day. That's where we step in :)

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alizaki
Thanks for the article Sid. Appreciate your balanced review :)

Zaki Mahomed CEO, TimeSvr.

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mrtron
Your FAQ is messed up, some links that go nowhere and some old info?

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mrtron
Downvoted because...?

What does it cost? links to <http://www.timesvr.com/signup.html>

" Will unused tasks get carried on to the next month?

No, the basic tasks expire at the end of the month. This is to help us price
our service affordably by optimizing the Aide's time. You are however welcome
to use all your tasks each month, and purchase more at a reasonable rate."

This does not seem relevant to an unlimited service.

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sidsavara
Upvoted. I didn't see the FAQ page, I just used the service. I agree with you,
it's not relevant so they should correct that - (or clarify why it's relevant.
My hunch is you were downvoted because people have a knee jerk reaction to
downvoting tangent negative comments =)

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mmr8098
Very interesting review, Sid. I'd be interested to know where things stand in
4-6 weeks time and if you've made a choice to support either of the services
exclusively.

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attack
...moments ago from my girlfriend:

> you never checked on [important thing] did you? You are so irresponsible.

Yeah, I need this badly.

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quellhorst
I entered a few tasks in this system in the morning and they were already done
by the time I was back from lunch.. Great service so far!

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0x44
What kind of tasks?

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quellhorst
Basic research so far... Like personal finance software for the mac and
options for keeping a google calendar and an iphone in sync.

Tomorrow I'll see how well they do finding a place to rent.

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EGF
Thanks this is actually very helpful to see the actual responses these folks
give back to generic requests like the ones you asked.

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colinplamondon
Been interested in the whole VA/personal outsourcing thing since reading 4HWW
- I know, how original - but was put off by the pricing.

Definitely going to be giving this a shot in the near future.

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jasonlbaptiste
Just called them. GREAT customer service. I dont know if the business numbers
can make it profitable when scaling out. If it is everything it seems, they
will do well.

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brandnewlow
Just signed up. I gave them a research task I already completed myself last
weekend. I want to see how the results compare. Will probably post the results
somewhere.

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ALee
If this is really all it's made up to be, I will be using this on a regular
basis

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speek
This is a brilliant concept! I wish I had thought of this.

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ypahu33
Very interesting comparison. Thanks for sharing!

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rezur
flow charts for the win!

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sidsavara
Thanks. I worked really hard on those. It was a long, 2500 word block of text
before I put them in.

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steveplace
Should've outsourced it.

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sidsavara
LOL

Ok, I deserved that. Upvoted. [sigh] ;)

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Mishi
Very professional work, awesome minds. Congratulations TimeSvr Team!

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murtiii
cool!

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PetLvr
interesting.

