Economic Viability of a Virtual Assistant

As a business man you don't want to get embroiled in the administrative tasks rather than concentrating on your core competencies of running your business. Building up on your business potential is your major thrust rather than concentrating and focusing on minor tasks that can be outsourced. This is when a business man will think of outsourcing the work to a Virtual Helper.

Hence, a virtual assistant need not be present in your premises but be available to do your work via the internet and telephone. Although they are not physically there they do your work in the virtual world for you. Virtual helper are good at work such as administrative, secretarial and support functions. The V A work via the internet and on collaborative workstations hence this makes them opt for local or global clientele.

Therefore, what the role of a virtual helper is just like that of a temporary worker. However, here the virtual assistant is like an entrepreneur running his/her own business by helping others deal with the minor hassles of running theirs. A virtual assistant bill the client either on an hourly basis or per piece/work basis. The virtual helper is self-employed and looks for opportunities by way of referrals from previous clients. Therefore, if your business is growing, and you don't want to be worried about the nitty-gritty then get yourself a virtual assistant pronto.

Businesses prefer a virtual assistant when in comparison to a full time employee as they have lots of benefits attached to them. A virtual helper gets with them the benefits of outsourcing in the form of no employee tax, and other benefits that a full time employee is liable for. Therefore, in the long run they work out to be more cost effective for the business. Without the headache of paying more and having union trouble you still get your work done to the best of one's ability along with a lot of loyalty and dependability thrown in. A virtual helper will not want to jeopardize their careers by not having a satisfied client on hand.

Hire an all around virtual assistant

An all-around Virtual Assistant (VA) can be the next best thing to having a staff of personnel at your beck and call. First there's the problem of hiring the right persons with the right skills, ensuring that they can work well without constant supervision. Of course, they should also be motivated to see your business succeed.

If your business isn't even that big to afford you a staff of more than one person, having a VA may be the solution to your administrative needs.

An all-around VA is a highly-skilled professional who can take on administrative tasks from the professional and personal level. They are experts in providing administrative, technical and/or creative solutions to your professional needs. But that is not all that they can assist you in. The need for a VA to do personal administrative tasks should also be discussed here albeit very briefly.

Let it be noted that if a businessman's personal life is running smoothly, thanks to the help of his VA, then chances are, he has more time and energy to focus on running his own business. For example, an entrepreneur who's too busy mounting a campaign for his product may not have time to go around and canvass for an anniversary gift for his wife. His wife is important to him; his business is, too. Yet we all know that in reality, many end up sacrificing their loved ones in order to establish a successful business forgetting that their reason for why they put up their business in the first place is so that they can provide for and enjoy the rewards with their loved ones. A successful person shouldn't be successful only in the professional level but also in the personal level.

Now that, that has been said, we now focus on the more direct benefits to one's business when one hires an all-around VA.

These are 5 Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant For Your Business Prospect

• Wider accessibility to highly-skilled professionals. Not all businesses can afford to hire the services of highly-skilled professionals on a long-term basis especially if the need for their service is not a regular one. A VA would be in a better capacity to help out. Virtual Assistance came into being in order to serve the small businesses but nowadays, even larger firms are utilizing this industry. As a client, you are not limited to hiring the services of only those who have passed their resumes to you and who can report to your office. A VA may live anywhere and if that doesn't bother you and both of you can arrive at an arrangement, then everything's a go.
• You gain a partner in your business. An all-around VA is well-versed in collaboration and can even manage an online team for you. VAs have good communication skills that allow them to translate your needs to others so that they can work together to address your need. If your VA has been with you quite some time, his knowledge and continued exposure to the intricacies of your business will aid him in being of better service to you. He can begin to anticipate your needs and be intuitive in proposing solutions to your needs. He is interested in your success because it translates to a continued partnership.
• No employee overhead. - Because a VA is a business partner and not an employee, you need not worry about workspace, office rentals, equipment, regular salary, taxes, insurance, etc. You are freed from dealing with employee issues and counselling, sick / emergency leaves, career-pathing etc. Your VA is a self-driven, highly motivated and focused partner who enjoys what he's doing and specifically chose this career because he loves the benefits which may not necessarily be dependent on you. They are confident persons who are in control of their lives. A happy worker is a productive worker.
• You can focus on the more important task of expanding the business and leave the smaller administrative tasks essential to running a smooth business with the VAs. Sometimes the smaller tasks are more numerous and time-consuming and can tend to distract you from what is really more important. Micro-managing everything can be stressful and may lead to sour relationships, dissatisfied costumers and even health problems. You can't do it all so get an assistant.
• VAs are more on-task. They work thoroughly and quickly so that they can get paid and move on to the next task. If they work in a different time zone, your work is getting done though your VA even when you are sleeping. And 'though they may be task-oriented, they too, are really your work partners who are interested in finding solutions to challenges and better ways to open up opportunities.

In essence, all-around VAs are professionals who got out of the office lifestyle because they know the importance of living a balanced and flexible life. They are the best persons to help you run your business and at the same time allow you to have a balanced life so that you can enjoy the rewards of what you have been working hard for.

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.

What to look for before Hiring a Virtual Assistant

As a business owner, you must understand hat you cannot perform everything yourself. Your time is valuable and any good business owner understands that he or she must focus on events which are priority while generating revenue for their business. Outsourcing a virtual assistant makes it easier for your business to gain the needed support minus having to hire business employees.

Virtual assistants are experts with the administrative needs of your business. I wanted to offer some tips on how your business can find the right virtual assistant for the needs of your business.-:

View websites -:

You will want to search for virtual asst. websites. Any competent virtual helper will have one with portfolios of their work as well as proving their competencies. You must look at the overall portrayal of the website. If the website contains misspelled words or horrible writing, you can rest assured that is the type of service you will receive from that particular virtual helper.

You want to look for relevant content on their website. You want to view their organizational skills as well as their command of spelling and punctuation. If you are not impressed with the website then you should begin your new search for your virtual helper.

Set up a consultation -:

You want to set up consultations with your possible new virtual assistant. As a business owner, you want a virtual assistant who you can work well with. You will want to gain insight if this person can offer the skills and services you need for your business. Schedule a consultation with the virtual assistant and then wait for the response and this will be the mitigating factor of hiring them or not.

Did the virtual ads respond in a timely fashion? How did they answer the phone? Were they prepared on the phone while discussing the needs of your business? These are important questions any business owner should ask themselves when setting up a consultation with a virtual helper.

How does the virtual assistant handle the consultation? -:

You will want to view how the virtual assistant handles the consultation. You want a virtual assistant who displays great business sense as well as someone who you feel you can work with professionally. You will want to ask about a clear overview of show the virtual helper works with clients. What services does he or she offer? What is his or her value's as well as expectations of both of you working together?

Ask about experience -:

You will want a virtual assistant who has experience. You want someone who will display great administrative skills as well as become a part of your team in running your business. You must ask how long the virtual ads has been in business. What is the skill level of the virtual assistant? You will more than likely want to hire someone who has performed upper level positions. You want the virtual helper to discuss their skill levels as well as qualifications. This will aid you in determining if they are the best person for the job in aiding you with the needs of your business.

Why Approach a Virtual Assistant

Some people will ask what a virtual assistant is. A virtual assistant (VA) is a person who owns a business while providing wide ranges of services, "virtually" from their office. This type of industry is growing fast and each VA brings their experiences as well as skills. There are many professionals who exist and as a business owner, you have heard the term virtual assistant but you are probably wondering how this type of assistant can aid you with your business.

If you feel you are far too busy to even think about hiring such an assistant then you definitely need to hire a virtual assistant. You need to consider giving someone else part of the workload. Delegating some of your work to an assistant is a great way to begin your time management techniques which are important for any business owner to consider.

Do you have lists of things to do which never get finished? If so, then you might want to consider a new marketing technique such as social media. A virtual assistant can implement new marketing strategies for your business. VA's do come with experience which can only aid your business with new and creative marketing techniques.

Let's face facts here, we all have things to perform on a daily basis which we literally hate performing. A VA can perform those tasks which you absolutely hate performing. You can give those particular tasks to the assistant while concentrating your time and efforts on things which you enjoy performing. This proves for a more fun-filled work day for you as a business owner.

As a business owner, do you simply want more time for your family or your life in general? Who doesn't want to let loose and have some fun here and there? If you hire a virtual assistant, you can maintain your social life while still expanding your business. The assistant can handle many different arenas of your business while aiding your business in streamlining many different processes for you as a true professional.

If you can relate to any of the scenarios aforementioned in this blog, you should seriously look into hiring a VA. Analyze your business while looking for parts of your business which can be completed by yourself and which parts of your business you feel should be delegated to a virtual assistant. You can even speak with a VA while asking him or her how to best delegate tasks within your business. These types of assistants are very worthwhile and can only aid you with not only the success you are craving but the life in which you want to live on a daily basis.