Eight Things We Want Our Assistants To Know — Your Questions Answered!

Welcome to our brand new resource center! At Time etc, you’ll know it’s our mission to help entrepreneurs find the best virtual assistants for themselves and their businesses — and you’re a vital part of this talented and experienced ecosystem we’ve created.

Whether you’re new to the world of virtual assistance or a seasoned veteran, we want you to have the best experience and enjoy the meaningful, helpful work you do. So, we encourage you to take full advantage of these resources, as well as your unlimited access to our friendly team, so you can maximise your success with us here at Time etc.

To kick things off, here are some answers to common questions that should set you off to a good start.

1. What Can I Log Time For?

Almost anything, to be honest! The more work you do for clients, the more you’ll earn. For example, there should be plenty of communication between yourself and your client to ensure you are clear on what they expect and have enough information to complete their tasks properly, so you can certainly log time for communicating with your clients.

Although there’s a lot you can log time for, the main thing you can't log time for is handmatching calls. This would be the equivalent of a company paying you to attend an initial job interview before you were hired. It would certainly be nice if that were the case, but unfortunately it's just not feasible.

2. How Can I Keep Track of Time Spent on Tasks?

Our primary recommendation is for you to use the timer in the portal, but this isn’t to say it’s the only way you can log time. You can use the trusty old pen and paper to note the times you start and finish if you prefer, or even a timer on your phone or computer (perfect if you work using the Pomodoro technique!). Even though you can record your time through other means, you must always log your time in the dashboard to be paid for the work you do.

Also, there’s a chance that some clients won’t send tasks via the dashboard. But don’t worry, you are able to create your own task. This brings us to...

3. How Do I Create a Task?

This one is pretty straightforward. If there’s ever a time where a client has sent you a task outside of the dashboard, you can simply log in and click the ‘view tasks and log time’ button you’ll find in the top-right corner of any page. You can create a brand new task for yourself there.

4. Can I Communicate With My Client Outside of the Time etc Dashboard?

Yes, you can. If you and your client would prefer to keep in touch through other means (like email, Slack, Whatsapp, etc), we are happy for you to do so if it’s what works best for both of you.

But wherever you decide to communicate, remember to log your time in the dashboard!

5. If a Client Asks Me to Book or Purchase Something, How Do I Pay for It?

Common tasks our clients regularly want help with include making travel arrangements, booking accommodation or placing orders. At Time etc, the only payments we deal with are paying you for your time, so we can’t sort expenses on your or your client’s behalf. It’s a good idea to discuss this with your client during your initial onboarding to avoid any inconvenience for either of you down the line.

Your client may be happy to provide bank details for you to use, or an alternative option is to use a prepaid card as this means a client wouldn’t need to give you their personal bank details and you wouldn’t have to use your own money to pay for things.

6. What Is SecureShare?

SecureShare uses ultra-secure, bank-standard encryption for sensitive information your clients want to share with you, such as log-ins for company websites or social media accounts. Don’t worry; you won’t need to get muddled up with the setup for this as it defeats the purpose — this will be down to your client to set up for you.

If there’s one valuable piece of advice to take from us: don’t lose your passphrase! You’ll need this to access the information, and due to the advanced level of security, it can be very difficult to “reset” your passphrase.

7. How Will I Be Paid for My Services?

Our assistants are paid on a monthly basis. You’ll need to raise an invoice for the total number of hours you’ve worked (which is why we emphasize the importance of logging your time correctly in the dashboard!).

When submitting your invoice, we recommend you do it on the first of each month. You’ll be paid for all of the time logged in the previous month. For example, on 1st December, your invoice should be for all the hours you worked in November.

When you join Time etc, we automatically set you up to be paid via PayPal. However, you can opt to be paid through Wise (previously known as TransferWise) — just let us know your preference. As we are based in the UK, any payments to accounts in the US are subject to processing fees, which are unfortunately unavoidable. If you’re from the US, we’d recommend choosing Wise as their processing fees are lower than PayPal’s.

Once you’ve submitted your invoice, we’ll make sure you are paid within 10 business days.

8. My Account Is Under Review — What Does This Mean?

An assistant’s account will be paused ‘under review’ if they have received three or more pieces of negative client feedback within their first 30 days together. When this happens, our team will be in touch to discuss this.

It also means an assistant won’t be able to see new work opportunities during this period, as we want this time to be spent developing their relationship with their existing clients and working on any issues that have come up. The ability to work consistently with clients is what will help assistants achieve the most success.

The review period lasts around four weeks, and as long as no more feedback has been received in that time, new clients and opportunities will become available again.

Remember, our team is always on hand to help you and make your journey as smooth as possible, so drop us an email if you have any further questions or queries!