Virtual assistant agency vs freelancer compared

Virtual assistant agency vs freelancer: an agency finds, screens and replaces your assistant for you, while a freelancer hired on a marketplace leaves all of that with you. The freelancer's rate can look lower. The agency usually costs less of your time.

There are 4 real ways to get help with the work that keeps you at your desk after dinner: an agency, a freelance marketplace, hiring a Filipino assistant directly, or a local employee. Each one can work. They differ in who does the search, who starts again if it does not work out, and how many of your evenings the hiring itself takes.

Here is each route, with its published prices, and what to check before you choose.

What is the difference between a virtual assistant agency and a freelancer?

An agency recruits, screens and manages the placement, and replaces the person if it does not work out. A freelancer is someone you find, vet, contract and manage yourself, usually through a marketplace.

The work itself can be identical. The difference is everything around it:

• Who finds the person. With an agency, the agency does. With a freelancer, you post the job, read the applications and run the interviews.
• Who sets them up. An agency should handle the handover. With a freelancer, the training is yours.
• Who carries the risk. If an agency placement leaves, the agency finds the next person. If a freelancer leaves, you start the search again.
• How you pay. An agency charges its own rate. A marketplace like Upwork adds its fees to what you pay the freelancer. A job board like OnlineJobs.ph charges a monthly plan.

Neither is better in every case. A freelancer is a good fit for a defined project with a clear end, like a logo or a one time data cleanup. An agency suits a role you need filled every week, by the same person, for the long run.

What are the 4 ways to hire a virtual assistant?

An agency, a freelance marketplace, a Filipino assistant hired directly through a job board, or a local employee. Here is how they compare on the things that decide the real cost.

How does hiring on a freelance marketplace like Upwork work?

You post a job, freelancers send proposals, and you choose, contract and pay through the platform. Upwork charges clients a marketplace fee on payments, set by your plan, and a one time contract initiation fee of $0.99 to $14.99 for each new contract.

Both fees are on Upwork's own client pricing page and its help article on the contract initiation fee. Check them on the day you hire, since platform fees change.

What a marketplace does well:

• Choice. A large pool of freelancers, with reviews from past clients.
• Speed for small jobs. A short project can start as soon as you pick someone.
• No commitment. You can end a contract when the project ends.

What it leaves with you:

1. The search. Reading proposals, checking work samples and running the interviews.
2. The judgment. Reviews tell you someone did good work for someone else, on that client's process. They do not tell you how the person will fit yours.
3. The handover. Writing down how the job is done and training the person to do it your way.
4. Starting again. If the freelancer takes a better offer, every step repeats.

The choice between Upwork and a virtual assistant agency comes down to your hours. If you have time to recruit and train, a marketplace gives you the pool. If time is the problem, an agency hands you a working assistant.

How do you hire a Filipino virtual assistant directly?

Through a Philippines job board such as OnlineJobs.ph. You post the role, contact the applicants, interview them and agree a rate with the person you choose. The board charges you a subscription instead of a cut of the assistant's pay.

Its published plans, from the OnlineJobs.ph pricing page:

The page says there are no salary markups, so the board charges for the plan, not a cut of the rate you agree.

To hire a virtual assistant in the Philippines this way, the steps are:

1. Write the role. What the person will do each day and each week, and the result you expect.
2. Post it and screen. Read the applications, test the strongest with a small paid task.
3. Interview. Live, on video, at the hours they will actually work for you.
4. Agree the terms. Rate, hours, time off and how you will pay them each week.
5. Hand over. Accounts, passwords, tools and the way you want the work done.
6. Manage. Daily check ins until the work comes back right without you.

This route can give you a great assistant at a low rate. It also asks for the most of your own time, and if the person leaves after 8 months, steps 1 to 6 start over.

Virtual assistant vs employee: what does each cost?

A local employee costs far more per hour once benefits and payroll tax are counted. For an executive assistant at 20 hours a week, a local hire comes to about $3,793 a month. Through Skale Bak, the same 20 hours is about $1,127.

The local figure uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics average wage of $28.93 an hour, with benefits and payroll tax added. Every line, and its source, is on how we work out the savings.

A local employee is still the right call when the job has to happen in person: showing a property, meeting clients at the office, handling physical paperwork. For work done on a laptop, the gap is hard to argue with. Our full breakdown of how much a virtual assistant costs covers the monthly numbers in detail.

Why did Even Baklid start Skale Bak?

Because the agency he used left the search to him. Even Baklid paid for help finding his first assistant and still did the sourcing himself. Even built a real estate team from 3 agents to 32, and his first virtual assistant came through that agency.

That assistant was Van, who became Even's operations and admin assistant and worked with him for many years. Van was the right person. Finding him was mostly Even's own work. Even remembers it like this:

"They charged me a lot of money and simply gave me too many resumes from their database. They said: look through these, tell us who you want to meet, and select your virtual assistant. That was it."

So he built his own way of finding people:

"I knew I could find better people. So I worked out how to find the best talent myself. We probably go a little overboard in our process, and I am very happy we do, because that is how we find the best talent."

That process became Skale Bak. In Even's words:

"I created this company because this is what I did for myself, and it is what I still do for myself."

If you choose an agency, ask who does the search before you sign.

What should you look for in a virtual assistant agency?

The best virtual assistant agency for your business is the one that does the search, the handover and the replacing for you, at a price you can see in advance. Judge it on what happens between your first call and the assistant's first productive week, and ask these 6 questions before you sign:

1. Is the price published? You should know the hourly rate, and whether it changes by role, before the first call. Skale Bak is $13 an hour for every role, on the pricing page.
2. What is inside the rate? Recruiting, training, equipment, software and replacement should be included, not billed separately.
3. Who does the screening? Ask how many people are considered, how they are tested and who interviews them.
4. Do you meet finalists and choose? You should pick the person. At Skale Bak, 4 finalists reach you and you choose.
5. Who runs the handover? Someone should set up access and tools, and write down how your work is done, with you in the room.
6. What if it does not work? Look for a guarantee you can use in the first week, a free replacement, and a short notice period with no minimum term.

The same checklist shaped how Skale Bak works: a 30 minute consultation, a search where hundreds of skilled candidates are sourced and screened against your role and the strongest are interviewed one to one, a handover run with you and your assistant together, and then the daily shift.

Virtual assistant agency vs freelancer: which is right for you?

Pick by how much of your own time the hiring can take, and how long you need the role filled.

• A one off project with a clear end: a freelance marketplace.
• You enjoy recruiting and have the hours to screen and train: hire directly through a Philippines job board.
• The work must happen in person: a local employee.
• You need a weekly role filled by the same person, and your time is the scarce part: an agency that does the search, the handover and the replacing.

Whichever route you choose, hire for the person more than the resume. Even learned that with his first assistant:

"My mistake was thinking I needed someone who had done everything before. What I needed was someone ambitious, someone smart, someone who listened well and performed well, and someone I really enjoyed working with."

Experience helps. The way your business runs is still unique to you, so the right assistant learns your process with you rather than bringing someone else's.

If you are not sure yet what the first job would be, start with what to delegate to a virtual assistant first, or get the free Handover Playbook. When you are ready to talk it through, book 30 minutes to go through your week and leave knowing which jobs come off your desk first.