The answer is simple. A Virtual Assistant (VA), is an administrative professional who provides immediate professional support, services, and skills to busy entrepreneurs and business managers usually from their home office. A VA is a skilled, independent professional who remotely provides administrative, technical and/or creative business support services. Due to low overheads and high flexibility, VAs are a cost-effective staffing solution for companies of all sizes.
What tends to happen is as a company grows, daily administrative tasks necessary in keeping the business running become overwhelming. With a lot of companies in this position, hiring a full time member of staff is not always an option and this is where VAs are the perfect solution. VAs can work from anywhere and can perform a huge variety of tasks.
What can a Virtual Assistant do for me?
Administrative Support This includes scheduling meetings, booking travel, organising calendars, and even answering phones via a connecting line. Arranging reservations and managing a business owner’s daily schedule is often and understandably overlooked, considering how many meetings, events, and catching up are lined up in day-to-day activities. A VA can easily manage and organise schedules to ensure that the business won’t miss any important meetings and events.
Email Management VAs are well-versed in managing email platforms. They can organise messages, filter important emails, and remove any unnecessary clutters in the business inbox. They can send a reply when necessary and serve as an extension of your customer support services.
Bookkeeping A VA can take over all your bookkeeping, bills and accounts payable. Let them worry about payroll so you can worry about the important tasks of running your business.
Personal assistant VAs can help organise tasks outside of work, in addition to their standard duties. Booking holidays, organising a calendar, and purchasing gifts for friends and family are some of the more common personal duties.
Data entry Not all tasks fall under the umbrella of admin work; there is a wide variety of responsibilities that VAs can take on, including data entry. In this role, a virtual assistant can easily compile data, check for accuracy, and delete unnecessary records. This is especially beneficial for patient recording, billing, postal work, and school administration.
Social media While many companies understand the importance of online engagement with potential customers or clients, the demands of social media management can sometimes seem endless. VAs are helpful for responding to comments and communicating with followers, but they can also maintain a posting schedule and even analyse account data.
Event planning A VA can plan your next company event or outing providing for an enjoyable and memorable time for all. Think how much more enjoyable it can be when the burden of planning is removed.
Make you shine A VA can make your next presentation shine by giving it that polished professional presentation which is sure to capture your audience and promote all your products and services.
As well as the above, a VA can also help with:
Upload blogs or email newsletters
Transcribe voice memos, conference calls and more
Research
Any time-consuming or repetitive tasks
Help you hire other employees by doing preliminary research on candidates
Write and distribute standard business communications
Prepare presentations
Place orders for new supplies
Content Creation (blog posts)
Webinar Setup and Assistance
Proofreading
Editing
Billing and/or Processes
Responding to Blog Comments
Social Media Graphics
E-book Content and Design
Affiliate Management
Branding Services
PR / Press Releases The list is endless!
The Benefits
No office space required A VA can save you space because s/he works from his/her office as an independent contractor.
Save you time Hiring a VA can save you time because you will not have to spend time hiring an employee or temporary help, as well as training the new staff.
Affordable! Because VAs work on an “as needed basis” and only when you have work, hiring a VA can save you money. Clients only pay for the work done, and don’t have to pay for benefits, equipment, or supplies. What a cost savings that can be. How to hire a virtual assistant
List the Tasks you want to be done Your first and foremost duty will be to list all the tasks you want to be done and how. Point out the responsibilities and your expectations alongside necessary guidelines. This will help you to sort your tasks according to priority and you’ll be able to set a clear pathway for your VA to follow.
Create a budget If you’re looking for a flexible arrangement with an assistant that can scale up and down as needed, make sure you have a firm understanding of the budget beforehand so that costs don’t accidentally get out of hand.
Communication and create a rapport Make sure you keep in daily contact and create a rapport with your VA in order that you can work together as a team and ensure things flow smoothly.
Working with a VA means you gain access to a pool of impressive talents. They can execute tasks with utmost precision and expertise. They can do things that some of your in-house employees can’t. More importantly, they provide efficient support without requiring you to break the bank.
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