Entrepreneurs and small business owners talk a lot about outsourcing and hiring virtual assistants. If you have no idea why you should outsource certain parts of your business, read my blog post on reasons to outsource now.
This week, after my long break from blogging due to exams, I have another great interview lined up for you. Bryce Maddock and Jaspar Weir, co-founders of TaskUs was kind enough to do an email interview with me.
This interview revolves around tips on outsourcing and hiring a virtual assistant for your small business, how TaskUs can help you out and some entrepreneurial experience of Bryce and Jaspar themselves. Getting all excited? Well, start reading because I’m sure that you will enjoy the interview.
Interview with TaskUs Co-Founders, Bryce and Jaspar
Wayne: Today I am glad to have Bryce Maddock and Jaspar Weir, co-founders of TaskUs on Wayne Liew Dot Com Entrepreneur Interviews. Bryce and Jaspar, welcome to the interview and thanks for taking the time to do this with me.
Wayne: Bryce and Jaspar, before we actually look at the questions, can each of you talk a little bit about your background as entrepreneurs, how you got started and some of the past ventures that you guys have committed yourselves into?
Bryce: We’ve been business partners since we were 17. Our first venture was hosting all age night clubs in Los Angeles. All of our businesses start with a question. For the first business, we asked ourselves, "Why can’t teenagers go to nightclubs?"
Bryce: With a little research we found that some nightclubs were licensed as restaurants which meant they could let in people of any age. The reason they focused on 21 and over clientele was alcohol sales but there were so few alcohol sales on Monday and Tuesday nights that the clubs stayed closed. So we decided to rent vacant nightclubs Monday nights during the summer and open them to our friends.
Jaspar: It was crazy! The clubs (which were called Access) brought out 800 to 1,000 kids each week. Kids would save up all week to afford the $15 cover charge, some would even spring for a $25 VIP entrance. It was the best summer job you could ever ask for. We were having fun and making as much in one night as our friends would make working all summer.
Wayne: That’s an interesting story. A few entrepreneurs or small business owners that utilized the service of TaskUs will probably know what it is but for those who don’t, what is TaskUs and what are the services it provides?
Jaspar: TaskUs.com is the one-stop shop for getting things done. We provide business services, from data entry to online marketing, sales calls to proofreading, by the hour. Instead of hiring expensive, full time employees, our clients outsource with a single click. Our prices start at $9.95 per hour, you only pay for the time you use, and the quality of all of our work is guaranteed. Simply put, TaskUs offers the simplest and most secure way to outsource on the web today.
Wayne: How does the idea of setting up such a business came about?
Bryce: Originally we were going to move to Buenos Aires and open a frozen yogurt store. 
I’m totally serious. We went down there and had investors lined up and everything. Then two American guys who had started a business in Argentina asked us, "Why don’t you figure out how to earn dollars and pay people in Pesos?"
Bryce: That question sparked our creativity and before we were back in the States we decided we were going to develop a simple outsourcing solution that would allow busy professionals and small business owners to delegate work seamlessly. That was exactly a year ago.
Wayne: Let’s say I have a few tasks that I need TaskUs to complete for me. How does the process work? I mean, what are the flow of things that will happen throughout the process until the particular tasks are being completed?
Jaspar: New customers sign up at TaskUs.com (Here: https://www.taskus.com/index.php?pg=signup), then simply click New Task. The process is simple; you write a description of the task, upload any necessary attachments and assign the maximum amount of time you want spent on the task.
Jaspar: If it is your first time using the service you will get a phone call from your American Administrator, your single point of contact based out of our Santa Monica offices. We implemented this position to completely eliminate the cultural and lingual barriers found with other services. Your American Administrator is responsible for overseeing the completion of your task by someone out of our offices in the Philippines and checking the entire task for quality before returning it to you.
Wayne: Entrepreneurs and small business owners talk about outsourcing and hiring a virtual assistant a lot. Can either one of you tell me some of the reasons why entrepreneurs should hire a virtual assistant or outsource some of their tasks?
Bryce: There are so many! To name a few, eliminating fixed costs like wages, health insurance, payroll taxes, the rental of extra office space and additional IT expenses. Hiring a VA is a great option for people who do not need someone full time.
Bryce: With a service like TaskUs there are no monthly commitments; this means you can assign a 100 hour task one day and then wait weeks before assigning another task. We are the on demand workforce that cash strapped entrepreneurs depend on in today’s economic climate.
Wayne: I know a few connections of mine like Michael Dunlop of Income Diary and Shonika Proctor of Teen Entrepreneur Blog are customers of TaskUs. Just to give an idea for a newbie on what to outsource, what are the top tasks that TaskUs receive?
Jaspar: Our three most popular tasks are social media marketing (which includes writing blog posts, posting tweets and commenting in discussion forums), sales calls and data entry. Social media marketing is definitely the most exciting, but we like a big data entry project every now and then.
Wayne: When people talk about outsourcing their tasks online, they often link it to sites like Elance, which is the 900 pounds gorilla for online outsourcing. What makes TaskUs stands out from a big outsourcing site like that?
Bryce: Elance, and other outsourcing search engines like Guru and Odesk, can be great for big projects. The problem with these services is that customers have to invest a lot of time to get started. Even the smallest data entry task requires filling out a lengthy form, and then sifting through dozens of applications from service providers from around the globe. The process is as extensive as hiring a new employee, when it should be more like calling a temp agency.
Bryce: The other major issue is quality. We tested all of these services when we were doing research and while some jobs got done perfectly, most projects get messed up by cultural misunderstandings, poor performance and disappearing service providers. None of these sites take responsibility for the work the service providers deliver, at TaskUs we personally take responsibility for every assignment.
Wayne: What is the common mistake that people do when they try to hire someone to do certain tasks for them?
Jaspar: With a VA, people expect immediate results and perfect performance from hour one. Yet when hiring a full time, in person employee, most people allow at least a few weeks for that employee to get up to speed, learn the culture of the office and work process. I think it has something to do with not developing the empathy that comes with a face to face connection, but it can certainly be a challenge.
Wayne: If someone, say, an entrepreneur, is looking for the services of a virtual assistant. What are the characteristics of the assistant that they should look for?
Bryce: Communication is the most important aspect of any working relationship. Look for someone with whom you have an easy time communicating both via email and on the phone.
Bryce: After that it totally depends on the nature of the work. In most situations conducting one phone and one email interview should answer all of your questions.
Bryce: My final piece of advice that we have learned the hard way is price should never be your top priority. If you go with the lowest hourly rate you almost guaranty yourself perpetual headache.
Wayne: Jaspar, for someone who is going to outsource or hire a virtual assistant for the first time after reading this interview, what will be the Top 3 advice that you will give?
Jaspar: Number 1: Be patient. Virtual assistants are people too and they need a little time to learn your process.
Jaspar: Number 2: Go with the best the first time around. I can’t tell you how many people have told me stories of working with a VA for a couple of weeks and then having to start the search process all over again. In most of these cases it’s because the person went with the cheapest VA available, instead of selecting the most qualified possibility. This wastes time and money, the two things outsourcing is supposed to save.
Jaspar: Number 3: Variety. Do not go to the same place for every assignment. Seek out experts in whatever you are trying to get done, whether it be data entry of iPhone application development.
Wayne: OK, I’m not sure whether I will get an answer for this but I’ll try anyway. Are there any big and exciting events coming down the chute for TaskUs? Also, where do you guys see TaskUs moving in the coming few years?
Bryce: (Laughing and looking at Jaspar). There are, there are. We have a completely redesigned user interface for TaskUs that we will be launching shortly.
Bryce: Also, in striving to focus on specific verticals we have recently rolled out two exciting new sites. Trusted Transcription delivers podcast, legal and business transcription at the click of a button, and Smarter Social Media is a full service social media marketing firm; from gathering feedback from customers on Twitter to driving traffic to a new blog, we do it all.
Wayne: Bryce and Jaspar, I’m sure my blog readers will benefit a lot from your answers. Before we round this interview up, how can they get in touch with you guys to learn more about TaskUs, outsourcing or hiring a virtual assistant?
Bryce: You can email us at info@taskus.com, or reach out to me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/BryceMaddock
Jaspar: I’m also availible at http://twitter.com/JasparWeir. And be sure to follow http://twitter.com/TaskUs for promotions, updates and tons of productivity tips.
Wayne: Bryce Maddock and Jasper Weir, co-founders of TaskUs, thanks again for doing this interview with me.
Afterthoughts on Interview with Co-Founders of TaskUs
Bryce and Jaspar shared a lot in terms of tips and what to look out for when you, as an entrepreneur or a small business owner, are looking for virtual assistant or VA services and avenues to outsource parts of your business.
TaskUs is one service that I will check out soon because fellow entrepreneurs that I am networked with already gave me great reviews about them for quite some time now.
I’m not sure about you but their nightclub idea is pretty appealing as well. 
Do you have any experience about outsourcing and hiring a virtual assistant that you would like to share? Have questions in your mind on outsourcing and working with a virtual assistant?
Post your thoughts and questions in the comments section below. Hearing from you is priceless.
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