A Virtual Assistant or VA provides administrative services to clients; both companies and individuals, from the remote office. The Virtual Assistants were primarily used for secretarial/admin duties and personal assistant services. The growth of digital technology, the increasing popularity of the Internet and the social media and online job market platforms have likewise revolutionized the definition of the Virtual Assistant.
Today’s virtual assistants are no longer limited to administrative/secretarial duties and personal assistant services. There are Virtual Assistants available for every type of task, responsibility and job description required by businesses. We have Virtual Assistants who specialize in accounting, social media marketing, market research, lead generation, customer service, data entry and content creation just to name a few. The advances in digital technology have allowed Virtual Assistants to function efficiently and effectively despite the absence of a brick and mortar location. Virtual work centers like Asana, cloud-based file sharing programs such as Drop Box and virtual conference rooms provided by WebEx have made virtual work management easier, more convenient, highly productive and cost efficient.
When do you need to hire a Virtual Assistant? There could me many factors, but generally the symptoms are as follows:
1. You feel overwhelmed at work
2. You feel overworked, stressed out and still there is lot of tasks need to be executed
3. There is a backlog in the number of unopened e-mails
4. Series of repetitive tasks on the daily basis
5. You know you need assistance but are financially incapable currently to hire another person
If you can relate to at least one of the above listed symptoms, hiring a Virtual Assistant is a viable option. In fact, it is your only viable option!
Virtual Assistants are most efficient, knowledgeable and experienced in specific fields of expertise.They are generally well-organized and detail oriented. You’d have to be with all the technology at your disposal, having to manage other clients and a multitude of projects to accomplish. Lastly, hiring a Virtual Assistant will cost you much less than hiring a full-time employee. The management fee of a Virtual Assistants around $10-$12 per hour. A regular office employee will cost $20 per hour plus benefits and it will be a fixed cost for your business and you need to pay their salary other expenses irrespective of their workload. In case of working with a virtual assistant, it will be a variable cost and you will have to pay only for the hours that are spent on your task.
Now, lets discuss the main topic on how a virtual assistant can boost your income in different ways:
1. Better time management – In spite of the advantages of technology and its influence on the speed we do things, it doesn’t have power to change time. We will still have 24 hours a day. In business, time plays a crucial role in being able to capitalize on opportunities.With a VA, you can divest yourself of the non-essential tasks such as e-mail filtering, calendar management, appointment setting and back office responsibilities and free up more time for essential tasks or those that require your expertise. You can focus more on items on the daily agenda that directly contribute to productivity while the VA can ensure your business is well-organized and runs efficiently
2. Greater flexibility– By working with virtual assistant, it is possible to have your business run for 12, 16 or 24 hours without incurring significant costs. You can hire a VA from your own time zone to run the business with you during regular office hours. If you cater to an international clientele, you can have your business accessible by taking advantage of time zone differentials when selecting your second or third VA
3. Capitalize on their expertise –Virtual Assistants are highly skilled and qualified that they can be used for various functions of your business. They can be your data entry operator, social media strategist, researcher, lead generator, customer service representative to name a few
