Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The most important benefit for hiring a virtual assistant
Most people think that the most important benefit for hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) is lower employment cost. But there are many other benefits of hiring a virtual assistant for and when one thinks about it, these are actually the more essential ones. The cost-savings one gets from hiring a VA is just an added bonus.
One of the most common benefit is the opportunity to expand their talent pool to a bigger community where one can find a more effective and compatible worker or collaborator. A client may find that a VA from another continent may be better equipped than those who have applied to him personally, especially if the talent and/or skill being sought is a specialization not common in the local area. He can even coordinate an online team made up of different persons with different specializations from different areas.
Advantages of hiring a virtual assistant is favored by time differences. If the VA is on the other side of the world, the differences in time zones means that if the client sends his task to his VA during the day, as he sleeps, the VA may actually be working on his task. If the task is simple enough, when he wakes up, his VA may already have finished and sent back to him the output of the task. This affords the client a 24-hour workday even though he does not miss any sleep at all. For people whose work needs quick and efficient results, this reality is a major breakthrough.
Thirdly, the client can concentrate on the more important tasks. The administrative functions which usually is more tedious and time-consuming although essential for smooth operations, may be farmed out to the VA thereby giving the client more time and energy to focus on tasks that demand for his personal attention. Research, database management, following-up on clientele, editing, proofreading are just some of these tasks that may be better dealt with by the VA. The client then can concentrate on attending a meeting, or expanding the business and accomplishing set goals and even spending quality time with his family.
Some VAs even offer help in managing the personal lives of their clients such as organizing trips or social gatherings, canvassing for an item that needs to be bought, etc. Imagine if one needs to organize a clan reunion and there is a need to update contact details, get in touch with people, follow-up on attendance, book a caterer and venue, arrange for entertainment and program, etc. All the client needs to know is that while he's out doing his work, the other tasks are also being done. The VA will just regularly update him through an online progress report where he gives feedback and additional instructions and after a few more minutes of consultation through email, voila! He can go back to what he was doing. No constant phone calls, no person-to-person meetings in some Starbucks or restaurant, no innumerable paperwork that eventually gets misplaced.
Fourthly, VAs are only paid for work that was done. For example, in data-mining tasks, each data culled is given an equivalent rate. If the target output is completed, the client pays the complete rate. If it is incomplete, despite the attention of the highly-skilled VA, then the client only pays for what was done. There is no need to retain workers who may be goofing off when the boss is not around or doing other less important tasks that interfere with the deadline. In the client-VA relationship, satisfaction in the desired output is an important factor, one which the VA strives to cultivate in an effort to ensure repeat business.
Lastly, of course, there is the added savings one gets with not having to maintain an office with equipment where your employee reports to, no vacation leaves or sick leaves to worry about, no pensions, insurance and the likes, no payroll taxes to pay, etc. The client can literally work from wherever he wants to be and be assured that the work he farmed out to his VA is also being given the necessary attention it needs.
When all is said and done, the rise of virtual assistance clearly benefits both sides of the working relationship. The highly-skilled remote employee is allowed to work in his own time without the need to relocate, he is well-compensated and his assistance allows his clients to manage his time, energy and resources well. He knows he is doing a valuable service to his client.
The client is not micro-managing his employees' performance, not burdened with mundane tasks, not spending for non-performing assets. He can better manage his time, his energy and his resources. He may even be managing his relationships better because he is less stressed with less important tasks. Both sides are satisfied and if not, they are always free to engage in other working relationships without contracts tying them down to each other. However, as the working relationship progresses between the VA and his client, one realizes that the collaboration has become a valuable and dynamic partnership.
One of the most common benefit is the opportunity to expand their talent pool to a bigger community where one can find a more effective and compatible worker or collaborator. A client may find that a VA from another continent may be better equipped than those who have applied to him personally, especially if the talent and/or skill being sought is a specialization not common in the local area. He can even coordinate an online team made up of different persons with different specializations from different areas.
Advantages of hiring a virtual assistant is favored by time differences. If the VA is on the other side of the world, the differences in time zones means that if the client sends his task to his VA during the day, as he sleeps, the VA may actually be working on his task. If the task is simple enough, when he wakes up, his VA may already have finished and sent back to him the output of the task. This affords the client a 24-hour workday even though he does not miss any sleep at all. For people whose work needs quick and efficient results, this reality is a major breakthrough.
Thirdly, the client can concentrate on the more important tasks. The administrative functions which usually is more tedious and time-consuming although essential for smooth operations, may be farmed out to the VA thereby giving the client more time and energy to focus on tasks that demand for his personal attention. Research, database management, following-up on clientele, editing, proofreading are just some of these tasks that may be better dealt with by the VA. The client then can concentrate on attending a meeting, or expanding the business and accomplishing set goals and even spending quality time with his family.
Some VAs even offer help in managing the personal lives of their clients such as organizing trips or social gatherings, canvassing for an item that needs to be bought, etc. Imagine if one needs to organize a clan reunion and there is a need to update contact details, get in touch with people, follow-up on attendance, book a caterer and venue, arrange for entertainment and program, etc. All the client needs to know is that while he's out doing his work, the other tasks are also being done. The VA will just regularly update him through an online progress report where he gives feedback and additional instructions and after a few more minutes of consultation through email, voila! He can go back to what he was doing. No constant phone calls, no person-to-person meetings in some Starbucks or restaurant, no innumerable paperwork that eventually gets misplaced.
Fourthly, VAs are only paid for work that was done. For example, in data-mining tasks, each data culled is given an equivalent rate. If the target output is completed, the client pays the complete rate. If it is incomplete, despite the attention of the highly-skilled VA, then the client only pays for what was done. There is no need to retain workers who may be goofing off when the boss is not around or doing other less important tasks that interfere with the deadline. In the client-VA relationship, satisfaction in the desired output is an important factor, one which the VA strives to cultivate in an effort to ensure repeat business.
Lastly, of course, there is the added savings one gets with not having to maintain an office with equipment where your employee reports to, no vacation leaves or sick leaves to worry about, no pensions, insurance and the likes, no payroll taxes to pay, etc. The client can literally work from wherever he wants to be and be assured that the work he farmed out to his VA is also being given the necessary attention it needs.
When all is said and done, the rise of virtual assistance clearly benefits both sides of the working relationship. The highly-skilled remote employee is allowed to work in his own time without the need to relocate, he is well-compensated and his assistance allows his clients to manage his time, energy and resources well. He knows he is doing a valuable service to his client.
The client is not micro-managing his employees' performance, not burdened with mundane tasks, not spending for non-performing assets. He can better manage his time, his energy and his resources. He may even be managing his relationships better because he is less stressed with less important tasks. Both sides are satisfied and if not, they are always free to engage in other working relationships without contracts tying them down to each other. However, as the working relationship progresses between the VA and his client, one realizes that the collaboration has become a valuable and dynamic partnership.
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