Smart Business Maneuvering Spells Online Virtual Assistant

Yes, there’s a way to scale your small business faster. Outsource non-core tasks to an online virtual assistant and start thinking strategically!

There’s a reason why the virtual assistant industry is booming worldwide.

Online virtual assistant services offer substantial cost-savings in operational and overhead costs that are associated with hiring a full-time office worker.

But that does not even scratch the surface of what a VA can do for your precious business. We’re talking about flexibility, greater innovation, reduced risks and so much more that we have to make an entire blog post about it.

So, if you’re still skeptical about bringing a remote worker into your team, don’t be.

Clearly, hiring a professional worker has more perks than made-up challenges in your mind, which is why your next-door neighbor-slash-competitor is working around a global virtual team and not desk-bound employees.

That’s telling.

What Is an Online Virtual Assistant?

An online virtual assistant is a contractual worker who supports business owners and entrepreneurs with their daily administrative tasksfrom a remote location.

VAs typically operate outside a central office but can still access files and reports and work cohesively with the team using collaboration and management tools.

These professional remote helpers have diverse experience in different industries and are skilled in specialized work such as blog post writing, social media management and internet marketing.

  • How an Online Virtual Assistant Works
  • Remote workers are different from your regular white-collar employees. They are independent contractors. This means that your company is not liable to pay the same taxes or provide compensation benefits available for a full-time employee.

    Instead of paying for rent and office equipment, your VAs take the responsibility of paying for their own tools and equipment to deliver their service.

When Are Online Virtual Assistants Most Useful

No question; online workers are beneficial for your business.

But when do you hire a virtual assistant?

  • When You Don’t Need a Full-time Worker for the Job
  • It’s not pragmatic to hire a full-time employee to work on a short-time project. If you’re only recruiting someone to plan a one-time corporate event, you’re better off with a flexible virtual assistant.

  • When There Are Routine Tasks
  • If you’re wasting so much of your time doing repetitive tasks like answering never-ending phone calls, the right virtual assistant for phone answering can handle this tedious activity so you can focus on more essential functions.

  • When You Lack Expertise on Specific Tasks
  • Your company is being propelled by so many activities that move behind-the-scenes. As a business owner, it’s best to delegate some of these tasks that require specific skill sets, like bookkeeping or digital marketing. Hiring the right VA for the job ensures that work is done right in less time.

  • When You’re Turning Down Clients
  • If there’s one thing that virtual assistants are great at, that’s freeing your time to focus on core projects. One of these core missions is attracting profitable partnerships.

    Opportunities are not luck; you conjure them with winning clients and a sprinkle of virtual assistant magic. Create a bandwidth to handle strong business relationships and push your company to success.

What Exactly Does a Virtual Assistant Do?

The responsibilities of an online virtual assistant correspond to the needs of the business.

While most VAs handle administrative and clerical work, some of them write articles and design graphics for websites.

If you don’t know what to outsource, you can start from this list:

  • Customer support
  • Social media marketing
  • Data entry and management
  • Accounting and bookkeeping
  • Digital marketing
  • Project management
  • Event planning
  • Order processing
  • Video editing
  • Recruitment

What Makes an Excellent Online Virtual Assistant

Employees are not made equal. That’s why you need a virtual assistant with certain skills and qualities to ensure your remote worker has what it takes to be successful in their given role.

  • Tech-savvy (high level of proficiency in different tools and software programs)
  • Communication skills (both written and verbal)
  • Creativity
  • Time management skills
  • Organizational skills
  • Effective decision-making
  • Research skills
  • Adaptability
  • Skills

Why Hiring an Online Virtual Assistant Gives You a Competitive Advantage

We’ve already established that working with a virtual assistant comes with a mountain of benefits.

Working with virtual professionals is enjoying flexible contracts. Depending on your agreement, you can choose to pay your remote employee by the tasks or by the hour.

For startups and small business owners, a remote work setting creates more time to focus on the business and generate more revenue. But those are just half of it; here are the benefits of a skilled virtual assistant:

  • Low Operating Costs
  • The reason behind the 78% operational cost savings emanates from the location of most of these remote professionals. They’re from countries with low costs of living, meaning you’ll be paying less for hiring a remote executive assistant than recruiting someone for the same job in America.

    Also, when you hire remote professionals, you don’t have to invest time and money in training them. You’re recruiting to manage tasks that they’re already great at, meaning they can start right away without the hassles of strenuous onboarding.

  • Better Efficiency
  • Every day you’re dealing with seemingly endless non-core activities like scheduling meetings and sending emails. While these tasks are essential, they don’t require the personal attention of your in-house team and yourself.

    By outsourcing to a remote helper, you can spend more time on impactful tasks and achieve more work, without getting disrupted by the repetitive activities in-house.

  • More Time for Strategic Thinking
  • Rather than wasting your most valuable resource—time—you can delegate to a VA and set strategic goals for your company.

    Since virtual assistants excel at handling non-core tasks, you will have plenty of time to lead your company and aim for long-term growth.

  • Access to the Best Talent
  • When you’re seeking out virtual assistants, you’re casting a wider net for talented people from anywhere in the world. This increases your access to specialized skills and your chances of working with the best talents who fit your requirements.

  • Round-the-Clock Service
  • You probably have customers across the globe. If your team only resides in one area, catering to your global clientele around different time zones will be very challenging and effortful.

    Luckily, with virtual assistants hailing from all parts of the world, you can cope with your global demands. This way, you and your onsite staff don’t have to lose sleep just to provide customer support 24/7.

  • Fast Scalability for Your Business Operations
  • Yes, your team of remote virtual assistants can help your business operation scale faster. How?

    For starters, remote workers allow you to hire quickly on a project-by-project basis.. This means you can scale your operation along with your escalating work demands without rushing your hiring process.

    You can recruit VAs for a part-time job to accommodate peak times and once everything has settled, you can gradually hire full-time workers.

  • Reduced Micromanagement
  • You don’t have to babysit your virtual assistants to make sure they perform optimally. VAs have specialized skill sets that allow them to handle multiple clients and ensure timely deliveries.

    Instead of checking up on your remote staff, you can use the time to work on your core business activities.

How to Hire Your First Online Virtual Assistant

While there’s a stack of freelance workers in different marketplaces, they can be inconsistent and unreliable.

So, instead of creating a job posting, posting it online, screening candidates, training and onboarding them all by yourself just to have them quit after a week, , partner with a trusted virtual assistant agency like VAV Remote.

  • Reach Out!
  • Book a consultation with us!

  • Define Your Needs.
  • Before you make the choice, we will help you understand your specific business needs.

  • Choose a Virtual Assistant.
  • What type of virtual assistant do you need? What are the qualities you’re looking for? Where do your business priorities lie? Prepare to answer these questions and then choose.

  • Onboard
  • Let’s get your online virtual assistant acquainted with the team and the company. This way they can train, build confidence and become effective contributors to your organization.

Extra Things to Remember When Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant

Before you get too excited about working with an online assistant, you should first create a manual detailing step-by-step instructions on the task they need to perform. This written document will serve as a guide and prevent inconsistencies and misunderstandings that are born from a remote working relationship.

Find out the difference between a virtual assistant and a virtual associate.

Wrapping Up

Why should you hire an online virtual assistant?

VAs don’t just streamline your operations, increase your productivity or reduce cost; they’re also easily scalable in a changing business environment.

Simply put, in a modern-day business dominated by remote working; online virtual assistants are the new oil.