Hiring a virtual assistant is one of the best things you can do as a business owner to optimize your business, operate more efficiently, and speed up your growth. As you work to level up your business, you need to start shifting how you allocate your time. Instead of spending time on admin and lower-level tasks, you should be focusing on overall strategy and brand development. But hiring a virtual assistant is a task in itself. Luckily there are services like Fancy Hands and Wing Assistant that can link you up with a high-quality virtual assistant, so you don’t need to do any work yourself.
But choosing a virtual assistant service can also be challenging as there are quite a few options available. Each company works differently, offers its own range of services, and can handle a different task load. In this article, we will be comparing two popular options, Fancy Hands and Wing Assistant, to help you determine which is the best virtual assistant service for you.
About Fancy Hands
Fancy Hands is a US-based virtual assistant service that launched over a decade ago. Their tagline is “Assistants for Everyone,” and they provide knowledgeable and skilled virtual assistants to help business owners with various tasks, from data entry to scheduling.
How does the service work?
Fancy Hands works by linking you up with a US-based virtual assistant to help manage your repetitive and menial admin tasks. They operate differently from many other virtual assistant service providers. Instead of billing customers by the hour or providing a flat fee, they use a request-based system. They have four pricing plans available, which include:
3 requests per month at $17.99
5 requests per month at $29.99
15 requests per month at $74.99
30 requests per month at $149.99
So, what does a request look like? Each standard request is for tasks that are up to 20 minutes of work. They are typically answered within 24 hours or less. If you have a task that will take longer than 20 minutes, they will use extra requests to tack on extra time. There are many different ways you can send in requests, including through their app, email, text, and phone call.
They also have a live request option which will give you 10 minutes of real-time chat with an assistant where they can answer something for you right away, such as price comparisons or making phone calls.
With their request system, you aren’t always guaranteed to get the same virtual assistant, but they do have the option of working with a dedicated virtual assistant. If you opt to go for this model, then you will pay by the hour and will need to pay in advance for how many hours you want your VA to work for you each month. This can range from $28 per hour to $32, depending on how many hours you book.
Fancy Hands can be inexpensive, but only if you work on their request-based system. And since each request is only less than 20 minutes of work, this might not be the best for many of your business tasks (especially if you’re getting a different person each time).
What other features does the service have?
Beyond just linking you with virtual assistants to handle your tasks, Fancy Hands also allows you to set up recurring requests. So, if you have tasks that need to be done each week or each month, you won’t have to keep sending new requests in; they will be completed automatically. This could be good for things like booking regular appointments or doing research for meetings that you have each month.
Fancy Hands also allows you to roll over any unused requests. So if you don’t use up all your requests in the month, you can still use them the next month, provided you renew your monthly plan. They also have relationships with tons of services around the US, so always go through them first as they can likely get you the best deals.
Why would an entrepreneur choose Fancy Hands?
When a business owner decides to use a virtual assistant service, why would they choose Fancy Hands? One of the factors that makes Fancy Hands such an attractive option to entrepreneurs is that they are one of the only virtual assistants’ services that hires solely US-based assistants. All their assistants live in the United States and work in English. This can be very beneficial for business owners based in the United States themselves since you don’t need to worry about a time difference or language barrier. Their website even features a live map where you can see exactly which assistants are logged on at any given time.
Drawbacks of hiring Fancy Hands
Although Fancy Hands is an excellent option for some entrepreneurs, there are a few drawbacks to keep in mind.
When it comes to their pricing plans, they aren’t very well optimized. Since their plans are request-based, you have to assign tasks that take less than 20 minutes. But unless you just want an assistant to make dinner reservations for you or do some quick research task, then there isn’t much that can be completed in that time. That’s not to mention the time you spend having to explain the task to the VA, which may often take longer than just completing it yourself.
Additionally, you’re never guaranteed to get the same assistant, which means that each time you’ll have to re-explain how you’d like a task done, which isn’t ideal.
The alternative to this is to hire a dedicated assistant, but one of the main reasons people choose Fancy Hands is because it’s inexpensive. The reality is that it will only be inexpensive if you use the request-based system. If you work with a dedicated assistant, you’re better off going with another virtual assistant provider that offers more cost-effective packages.
Lastly, virtual assistants at Fancy Hands seem to cover very basic assistant tasks like planning vacations, buying items, and scheduling meetings. These tasks are not really going to help you to grow your business. You’re not going to necessarily get experts in fields like marketing, design, sales, project management, etc., like you would with other services.
All about Wing Assistant
Wing Assistant is another popular virtual assistant service among small business owners ready to scale and increase their revenue. Wing provides dedicated virtual assistants who are specialized and trained in their fields, whether that’s content writing or e-commerce support. Their virtual assistants are based around the world, giving Wing access to world-class talent to provide quality services at reasonable prices.
What tasks do Wing Assistants handle?
The better question would be, what tasks do Wing Assistants NOT handle? Wing focuses on business use cases and caters to business owners who want to hire professionals on a contract basis instead of paying for full-time employees. Wing has assistants for a wide range of industries including:
E-commerce
IT services
Real estate
Talent agencies
Medical services
Staffing companies
Investment firms
And more!
Wing will pair you with an assistant who is already familiar with your industry so they can jump in and seamlessly integrate into your team/business. Some of the tasks that you can outsource to Wing Assistant are:
Sales calling
Social media management
Graphic design
Personal assistance
Reception services
Content marketing
Real estate support
Sales development
And more.
Find out all the tasks that a Wing Assistant can help you with here.
How many tasks can Wing complete per month?
Technically, a Wing assistant can complete unlimited tasks per month, as long as they can be completed within the 4- or 8-hour daily window given to them by the business owner. When you work with Wing, you will have the option to choose the timeframe that you want your VA to be available during. This allows you to ensure they are always available during the hours you choose so you can communicate with them about tasks.
As long as they have the capacity to complete the assigned tasks during the hours in your package, then you can assign them as much work as you want. By default, Wing assistants work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, but they do offer different coverage options if you need more support. You can visit their FAQ for more details.
Why would business leaders hire Wing?
Many business leaders choose to work with Wing over other virtual assistant services due to their tailored and specialized support. Where others offer more generalized task support, Wing is one of the only services you’ll find that employs experienced and skilled virtual assistants in various niches. Instead of hiring a full-time social media manager, you can work with a Wing assistant who can manage your social media and also perform additional tasks.
You also get to work with a virtual assistant that is dedicated to you, meaning they will get to know your business inside and out rather than you getting someone new each time. This is extremely beneficial since you won’t have to keep onboarding and retraining your assistants.
Since Wing has assistants located around the world, you’ll be able to sustain effective communication with assistants regardless of where you’re located in the world. This is great for business owners who travel frequently or want the option to move abroad and still keep their VA.
Fancy Hands vs. Wing Assistant: comparing their services
Fancy Hands and Wing Assistant may both be virtual assistant service providers, but their offerings are extremely different and geared towards different clients.
Fancy Hands is tailored for short, easy personal assistance tasks. If you need life admin support such as buying wedding gifts, booking private transportation, or tracking packages, then Fancy Hands can cover you. They break down their offerings into categories like travel, kids, restaurants, weddings, and general research, which gives you an idea of what tasks they can take care of for you.
When it comes to business, Fancy Hands can offer basic support such as updating addresses, booking meetings, and looking up phone numbers.
On the other hand, Wing Assistant is geared towards entrepreneurs and small business owners. While the assistants can definitely handle personal assistant tasks, they are also experienced and skilled in more high-level business tasks.
Wing assistants can handle everything from social media management to sales calls and everything in between. Wing pairs you with an assistant based on your requirements, so if you want to start a blog, complete with bespoke graphics and social media posts, you can outsource it all to a dedicated assistant who stays with you long-term.
Fancy Hands vs. Wing Assistant: comparing their pricing
The pricing structures of Fancy Hands and Wing Assistant are entirely different. Fancy Hands positions itself as one of the most inexpensive virtual assistant services available in the United States, but that can be slightly misleading. They are technically inexpensive if you only need basic personal assistant tasks handled, but most business owners need more. If you need more comprehensive virtual assistant support, Wing Assistant is much more cost-effective with its monthly packages.
Here are the pricing structures for both:
Fancy Hands
Small plan is 3 requests/month at $17.99
Medium plan is 5 requests/month at $29.99
Large plan is 15 requests/month at $74.99
XL plan is 30 requests/month at $149.99
Each request can be for a maximum of 20 minutes of work or 10 minutes of work if done on live chat.
Wing Assistant
Limited plan for $499 per month, with a dedicated assistant 4 hours per day (Mon-Fri), totaling 80 hours per month.
Basic plan for $899 per month, with a dedicated assistant 8 hours per day (Mon-Fri), totaling 160 hours per month.
Pro plan for $1699 per month with two dedicated assistants both working 8 hours per day (Mon-Fri), totaling 320 hours per month
Fancy Hands vs. Wing Assistant – which one to choose
Deciding whether to use Fancy Hands or Wing Assistant will depend on your specific needs as a business owner. If you’re solely looking for basic personal assistance, then Fancy Hands may be all you need. Consider what tasks you want to outsource and whether they can be completed in less than 20 minutes without any specific expertise. If not, then Wing Assistant is probably more appropriate for you. Wing Assistant is tailored explicitly toward business leaders looking for specialized assistants to handle more involved tasks that require a higher level of expertise. If that sounds like you, get started with a Wing Assistant today.
Kandice is a content writer & strategist with over 5 years of experience in digital marketing. She specializes in SEO-optimized content for the SaaS and tech industry. She’s a digital nomad, currently based in Mexico, and is passionate about helping other business owners and freelancers increase their productivity when working remotely. When she’s not behind her computer you’ll find her at the beach snorkeling, playing volleyball, doing yoga, or cooking up a delicious vegan meal.
Wing is a fully managed, dedicated virtual assistant experience designed to help startups and SMB teams offload time consuming, yet critical tasks and focus on things that matter.
