Did you know the average small business owner spends over 16 hours a week on administration? Time they could otherwise be spending on growing their business. A virtual assistant (otherwise known as a VA or Virtual PA) can help business owners that are feeling overwhelmed by admin, have a to-do list that is dropping on the floor and want to reduce their workload. They help business owners feel less stressed, more in control and confident that they can get on with what they’re best at.
What can a virtual assistant do for me?
A virtual assistant, or virtual PA, provides both ad-hoc tasks and ongoing business support to small businesses and consultants so they can get on with their core business. It involves outsourcing necessary but time-consuming tasks so they are freed up to focus on other things – like making money. If a business charges more per hour than the virtual assistant then they make money simply by passing either routine or niche tasks on to the VA instead.
Virtual assistants normally work for themselves, from home, and generally take on the tasks you would expect a personal assistant to do, however, nowadays many VAs have a niche and may specialise in a particular area, with services being tailored to individual client needs. Being clear about what you want a virtual assistant to help with is a good place to start, but often small businesses don’t know what they can outsource. The best things are time consuming or repetitive tasks such as diary management, project management, invoicing, file management, CRM management, management of social media accounts, updating websites, writing correspondence and numerous other admin tasks. The list is endless!
How can I work with a virtual assistant?
Working with a virtual assistant means you don’t have to be in the same building or city in order to get the support you need. With tried and tested systems in place, they will show you a simple way of working together which will be as effective as sharing an office and the beauty of working remotely is that a virtual assistant can provide as much or as little support as required. You get a personalised service at a fraction of the cost of taking on a full-time employee. As well as phone, text and email, virtual assistants use a number of cloud-based solutions for document collaboration, screen sharing and time recording.
Is technology important?
Apart from skillset, pricing and availability, technology is key to a successful VA business. Before you work with a VA and as part of your decision making process, make sure they have the right systems in place to support you. It may sound obvious, but do they have a good internet connection? How do they back up data? How do they share client data and passwords? What online tools do they use with their other clients? A good VA invests in their technology to stay organised and efficient.
Using a virtual assistant can give depth to your business and you will also gain an ambassador for your organisation. If you spend too much time on admin and need more time to grow your business, a virtual assistant could be the answer.
I help entrepreneurs, directors and business consultants achieve more by doing less. For more information get in touch today.
07701 015582
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