If you’re a CEO or owner of a growing business, you need a team around you capable of performing administrative and creative tasks, leaving you free to focus on strategy and building the company. Hiring full-time employees can be tedious: selecting and onboarding a new hire is time-consuming, and the added costs (benefits, bonuses, and paid leave) can be expensive.
In this case, hiring a virtual assistant (VA) can be a great asset. Simply put, they help the business grow while keeping costs down. VAs are experienced professionals who work remotely and are skilled in email management, graphic design, content writing, social media management, newsletters, data entry, and many more tasks. If you need a new email template, SEO-friendly blog post, social media graphic, customer service representative, Excel expert, or executive assistant, a VA can do it for you!
When hiring a VA, it’s important to select someone who is vetted by a reliable company. Choosing a VA from an online marketplace for freelance services might seem faster and cheaper, but it carries risks: matching platforms cannot manage your experience with the VA, and the quality of work can vary greatly. Hence, we recommend turning to companies specializing in VA staffing. Such companies have a deep talent pool of skilled VAs available per your needs. They first consult with you to understand what tasks you need help with and have a robust VA-matching process to ensure the selected assistant is a good fit. Some staffing companies offer a free trial and replacement VA if you have any issues. They usually charge a fixed monthly fee and provide a VA for a predetermined number of hours.
Here, we will review Sphere Rocket, a VA staffing company. This blog will deep dive into the company — what it does, its unique features, pricing, and the pros and cons of its services.
Sphere Rocket, based in Nashville, Tennessee, provides VA staffing solutions for small companies and early-stage entrepreneurs. Founded in 2016, the company has 2,300 VAs who serve 1,400 clients in the U.S. (as of 2022).
Sphere Rocket VAs can perform over 300 tasks over three main categories: social media, general admin, and creative/video design. These include developing marketing plans, writing blog posts, SEO, Google ads, analyzing Google Analytics, market research, data entry, database management, developing video content, managing inboxes, developing editorial calendars, front-end and back-end development, spreadsheet management, transcription, bookkeeping, customer service, and much more.
Sphere Rocket offers two models to its clients: one is a typical VA staffing method wherein the company subcontracts a VA to a client for a fixed amount. Option two is a unique staffing method where Sphere Rocket acts as a consultant and helps clients build their virtual teams. It provides access to coaching tools like a mentor, resource library, and weekly coaching calls.
Pricing isn’t available on the company’s website. Based on online client reviews, Rocket Sphere charges a one-time VA placement fee of approximately $5,000 and you pay the VA an hourly fee of $3-6 per hour.
Based on anecdotal evidence, Sphere Rocket VAs are from the Philippines.
Sphere Rocket is highly credible. While it does not publicly mention its pricing, the company is ranked #337 on Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. and has been featured on news outlets like NBC, ABC, and Fox.
Onboarding a VA with Sphere Rocket begins by setting up a phone consultation. During the call, Sphere Rocket will help you narrow down the main tasks your business needs help with and discuss what skill set and experience you want in a VA. Next, Sphere Rocket will take 7-10 days to compile a list of matching candidates and schedule an interview day to get to know each one better. Before each interview, Sphere Rocket will provide you with the VA’s resume and expected pay rate. After you choose a VA and sign a contract, Sphere Rocket will give you training resources to help you onboard your VA and integrate them into the company.
Founded in 2016, Sphere Rocket is well-established; it has a talent pool of over 2,300 VAs and more than 1,400 clients. It is well-reviewed and is among the U.S.’s fastest-growing private companies.
The average per-hour wage for Sphere Rocket VAs is between $3 and $6. This is cheaper than online marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork (starting at $5 and going up to $100); in the U.S., entry-level VAs charge $25/hour.
Spread across social media, general admin, and graphic design, Sphere Rocket can connect you with VAs who perform most tasks needed to build and grow a successful company.
Sphere Rocket offers you a typical VA staffing option where they subcontract a professional for a fixed amount or you can hire Sphere Rocket as consultants who help you staff a virtual team. Both options have advantages and you can choose which works better for you.
Sphere Rocket organizes interviews with shortlisted candidates which you get to conduct and then make a final decision.
Sphere Rocket does not publish how much it charges clients; instead, we have relied on previous client reviews for this information, which could be dated.
We like Sphere Rocket for its credibility and innovative VA staffing process that puts you in charge of building an effective remote team. Its VAs per hour fees are competitive and will help your business save money in the long run. On the other hand, we are wary of the lack of transparency in pricing, given that most other VA staffing firms publish prices on their websites.
Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Leverage Assistants is a white-glove service that helps you find 1% assistants and then teaches you how to build leverage with them. If you're interested in a strategy session to learn how to use an assistant, click here.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
Fill out this form, and we’ll be in contact to schedule a 1-1 delegation strategy session.
We’ll get in touch as soon as we are ready to onboard a new company.
