A virtual assistant is an independent contractor who supports clients by providing administrative services offshore.
As a small business owner, don’t you want to see your company fly? You do; that’s why you carry the entire weight of day-to-day operations to cut costs and save resources.
In reality, though, you are realising the opposite results. Instead, you are reducing productivity and losing opportunities. The truth is that you are much closer to your company’s business goals if you focus on more important tasks and get help.
Finding a virtual assistant who can handle daily processes while you strategize and forge meaningful connections makes all the difference.
These remote workers are today’s most flexible staffing solution. But that’s just the icing on the cake; virtual professionals have more to pull out in their bag of tricks to ensure you get your money’s worth.
What are virtual assistants? We’ll answer all your raving questions about VAs before you start collaborating with one.
What Exactly Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
Although remote workers are not physically present, they are as effective as your traditional hires, even more so. They have the range to execute a variety of tasks—from administrative to basic bookkeeping.
- Administrative Support
- Customer Service
- Bookkeeping
- Project Management
- Digital Marketing
What are virtual assistants typically hired for are administrative duties. They are known to be experts in handling mundane tasks like setting reminders for important events and planning travel itineraries.
Your virtual assistant can be your company’s direct connection to your clients. They can help manage customer concerns promptly and effectively, enhancing customer satisfaction all together.
Financial data management needs attention and a certain knack for numbers. For the tasks you least love, a virtual assistant with specialised skills can take over. They can look after your books, prepare financial reports and ensure government compliance.
Balancing cost, time and quality is the province of an experienced virtual assistant—which is why they make great project management assistants or managers.
From start to finish, your VA goes over your project’s details, confirming everything is in place.
As a small business in a competitive market, the best way to build brand awareness is digital marketing. Your virtual assistant can assist you in reaching a larger audience by writing engaging posts, managing your website and interacting with your followers.
What are Virtual Assistant Qualities and Skills You Should Look For?
Virtual assistants are not created equal.If you want a collaboration that drives productivity and yields astounding results, look for the following skills and qualities:
- Communication Skills
- Problem Solving Skills
- Proactivity
- Tech-Savvy
This is perhaps the most important one, especially in a remote setting: communication skills (written and verbal).
When you can communicate effectively with your VA, it’s easy to create a productive working relationship with them. There’s little risk of misunderstandings and getting more work done.
You need a virtual assistant who can think outside the box when facing a complex situation. This allows them to create innovative and workable solutions to save you time and money.
Work with a remote professional who shows great initiative. With such quality, you have the confidence that they can keep up with the workload, even when you’re not micromanaging.
The remote working approach goes hand-in-hand with technology. That said, you hire VAs who know their way around a computer. When they’re well-informed about modern technology, they can quickly adapt to new tools and software and accomplish their responsibilities in less time.
Why Use a Virtual Assistant?
Aside from the myriads of tasks they can accomplish, they can provide big benefits, specifically designed to support a small business entrepreneur like yourself.
- Huge Savings
- Better Productivity
- Easy Access to Specialised Skills
In terms of the scope of work, there’s little to no difference between working with a virtual assistant and an onsite admin assistant. Both can carry your administrative burdens. The only obvious difference is that one goes to a central office while the other works online.
Think about the money you can save not setting up a physical workplace with equipment and utilities installed. Or the fact that virtual assistants are not employees but independent contractors who don’t receive compensation benefits.
But the biggest cost-saving factor for a VA is that they come from low-cost living countries. This means you pay for the same job for a much lower salary than you would if you hired in the U.S. or U.K.
You probably have your virtual assistant productivity concerns. But let’s get the facts straight, remote professionals are actually way more productive than Joe, who’s sitting on his office desk.
According to a recent survey, 77% of online workers are more productive than their traditional counterparts. What is failing in the traditional setting?
Remote working offers more flexibility. This means employees can control their schedule and can work at a time when their productivity level is at its highest.
Basically, VAs have the freedom to create a working environment that caters to their preferences, keeping them charged and motivated.
It’s hard to find the right person for the right job when the local talent pool is starved. But what are virtual assistants but accessible talents the best the world can offer?
Whether you’re looking for content specialists or project managers, opting for remote work increases your chances of hiring the support you’re seeking.
Who Needs a Virtual Assistant?
Frankly speaking, anyone who wants to maximise efficiency and productivity needs a virtual assistant.
But here is a list of people who need virtual assistant services more in their lives.
- Anyone Who Wants Work-Life Balance
- Top Management (Executives and Managers)
- Entrepreneurs and Business Owners
- Professionals
If you’ve been hustling and still consequently failing to balance work and life, you need a virtual assistant. By automating and arranging your repetitive tasks, VAs can help you be successful in your career without missing out on your personal affairs.
The business environment continues to move fast. Now more than ever, executives and managers deal with challenges that can destroy their effectiveness.
A virtual assistant proves to be a game-changer in streamlining work so top management can function more efficiently. They take care of the necessary but non-revenue-generating activities that high business officers need not concern themselves with.
Running a business is no joke, especially for a fledgling business enterprise often buried with multiple responsibilities. There’s a lot to do with so very little time.
A VA rescues you from the nightmare of unending work by handling your most time-consuming tasks like email management or payroll processing.
Doctors, lawyers and coaches—they all rally behind virtual assistant services. Why? VAs have been very useful in managing their schedules, setting appointments and handling all the basic admin chores that have been crushing their time and focus.
With a remote staff, these professionals can focus on clients and provide excellent care.
What Are the Disadvantages of a Virtual Assistant?
Part of making an informed business decision is looking at both the good and bad side of things. That said, here are a few downsides to consider when working with a VA:
With different geographical locations, communication can be challenging. However, this can be remedied using the same collaboration tools, planning ahead and setting regular check-ins.
Though VAs are highly dependable, added supervision may be required to ensure smooth workflow. To fix this, you should set expectations earlier on and provide written guidelines on how to perform tasks.
If you hire a remote professional without due diligence, you might risk abandonment. That’s why we recommend partnering with an agency like VAV to ensure you have trustworthy virtual assistants who can deliver their promises.
H2 What are Virtual Assistant Collaboration Tips for Success?
Working with a virtual sidekick for the first time? Here’s what you must do:
- Set Expectations from the Get-Go
Make sure your assistant understands their role and what is expected of them.
- Offer Regular Feedback
Feedback provides room for professional growth and encourages the type of work you want to see from your VA.
- Be Available
Your remote worker will have questions; be there for them and leave no room for uncertainties.
- Use Management Tools
Build structure in your working system; start by utilising software tools to manage progress and deadlines.
Start Your Success Journey with a Virtual Assistant!
Growing your business will be a lot faster and easier if you choose to work with a virtual assistant.
Growing your business will be a lot faster and easier if you choose to work with a virtual assistant.
Take that first big step; reach out and hire your very first virtual assistant with us.