
Show HN: Professional personal assistants for $2.99/hr - curiousscallion
http://www.tryaccelerate.com
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curiousscallion
Hi HN fam!

I recently partnered with other colleagues in finance / consulting / start ups
to launch Accelerate - a service that allows you to find vetted assistants
starting at $2.99 / hr.

Our thesis is that personal assistants should be available to everyone and
that pricing should not be a barrier. Additionally, we are helping the
community by fighting against the the job crisis in Philippines (read about it
in our FAQ page!).

Let us know what you think!

The Accelerate Team

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ClassyJacket
How much do the assistants get paid? And how does that compare to average
wages and the cost of living in the Philippines?

How many people does each assistant assist in one day?

~~~
curiousscallion
Hi Classy Jacket! Thanks for the thoughtful questions.

Our assistants get paid based on how long they've been with the service -
after training period, they'd get paid anywhere from $2.50/hr - $5.00/hr (high
end for some that work for our platform). Minimum wage in Philippines is
~$1.16 / hr which is typical for a lower paying job such as a personal
assistant.

The average wage in Philippines is ~$2.50/hr. Keep in mind, this is including
higher paying jobs such as engineers, doctors as well as higher wage areas
(Manila) etc so we are paying VERY well, especially to the assistants in lower
wage areas. We've heard that some government workers in the Philippines get
paid less than $2 / hr, causing them to spend more than half of their wages on
transportation.

Cost of living in Philippines ranges from ~$490 - $1060/month if you have to
travel to work (main pain point we've heard from our assistants as many
commutes are >4 hours a day) as transport costs ~$150/month due to inflation /
gas prices. However, if they are able to work with us at home, their costs
drastically are reduced (transport costs and decreased food costs) to ~$300 -
$500.

We like to have dedicated assistants who are able to cater to our clients'
preferences. Ideally, the assistant would assist one client for 40 hours /
week. However, we offer 5 hours / week chunks for some professionals who do
not require as many hour. On average, our assistants assist ~2 clients each.

Thanks and let us know if helpful :)

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kimbrly
I’m personally in the market for an assistant, so when I came across
Accelerate’s website I thought I would take a stab at finding an assistant
using your services. So far I’ve interviewed one assistant. It was a pretty
quick and painless process, but I’m still looking to interview more. What
happens if the assistant I want isn’t available for as many hours as I need
them to be? How quickly do the assistants on your website get hired?

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florencetusk
What tasks do people usually use for them? What's hiring turnaround time /
process?

~~~
curiousscallion
Hi Florencetusk! Great question - have some of the answers on the FAQ but to
quickly reiterate.

Tasks: Depends mainly if you're a working professional, have a side gig, or a
full on entrepreneur. It could be anything from managing schedules, answering
calls, booking travel, to social media management, working through taxes
(almost April!)

Hiring is fast - you can hire someone in less than 3 minutes if you choose
from one of our fully vetted assistants on the page. You can also schedule a
quick skype video interview beforehand as well through our booking service :)

