What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is an independent contractor who provides administrative services to clients while operating outside of the client's office. A virtual assistant typically operates from a home office but can access the necessary planning documents, such as shared calendars, remotely.
Duties of Virtual Assistant
The specific duties of a virtual assistant vary according to the needs of the client and the terms of the contract. Some virtual assistants handle clerical and bookkeeping tasks, while others may post regular updates to social media , like Facebook, twitter, instagram etc. or write articles for a blog. A well-rounded virtual assistant may also handle travel arrangements, appointment scheduling, data entry, and online file storage.
Reasons to hire a Virtual Assistant
Do you feel stressed and overworked in running your business? A lot of business owners experienced that, there is now a solution for that . This is why Virtual assistants are always at your service. A virtual assistant can handle many of the tedious tasks that take up your valuable time, freeing you up to focus on matters that require an owner’s touch. From setting appointments to managing social media accounts, a small business VA can be an incredibly valuable addition to your team.
1. Enjoy more free time
It is so important for business owners and their employees to find a balance between their professional and personal lives, and hiring a virtual assistant for small business makes it possible to spend more time with your loved ones and pursue other passion projects.
If you hire a virtual assistant, there are endless possibilities that virtual assistants can do for your business. Virtual assistants can usually do the little details that take up so much of your time. They can also create contents for your social media pages and handle posting duties too. They can answer phone calls and blast emails to your leads. In short, if it can be done remotely, you can find a virtual assistant to do it for you.
2. Reduced Business Expenses
Hiring and training your new employees is expensive. But when you hire a virtual assistant, you don’t need to buy a computer or laptop for them, pay for their internet, and even other business facilities. You can pay them negotiable and pay only for the completion of their work. You can expand your business even if your team is small without burdening employees with extra work.
3. Increased Productivity
Everyday is an opportunity to move your business forward, and a virtual assistant makes it possible to increase productivity drastically. Scaling up a small business takes money, effort and time , and a virtual assistant can help you reach your goals faster while freeing up your resources for other projects.
4.Maintain Entrepreneurial Sanity
If you find your tasks or to-do-list piling up and you’re getting overwhelmed with the things you need to do with your business, then here is an insight: The best virtual assistant can help you with all of that! Delegating tasks to someone reliable and able to manage several duties and responsibilities is one way to avoid becoming overwhelmed. You can divide or handover the tasks on your to-do-list to a virtual assistant. This is why most successful business owners hire a virtual assistant.
5. Escape the Admin Jungle
Having a virtual assistant on your team can ensure these tasks are done on time, leaving you to focus on other ,high level tasks. Here are some of the most common administrative tasks that virtual assistant can do:
* Administrative and office support activities for multiple supervisors
* Receptionist tasks such as fielding telephone calls and managing appointment bookings
* Responding to emails and helping to filter them for easier management
* Word processing, creating spreadsheets and presentations
* Organising your Dropbox and Google drive folders.
* Internet Research
Having someone take on the recurring admin tasks in your projects will help the growth of your business.
6. Improve your products and services
Virtual Assistants can help the product and services you offer in the market by being your eyes and ears in the market and throughout your customer base. Business owners need to know the needs of their customers or prospective clients. This is done by monitoring the markets, listening for conversations on social media about their brand or industry, watching what competitors are doing and saying, collating feedback and updated in the current news. Having a virtual assistant can help you to gather this data on a continuous basis to help you improve your business.
7. Increase the asset value of your business
Once you ensure tasks can be delegated to anyone who steps in, it means your business is systematized. This creates a far more valuable asset if you ever decided to sell the business.
Where to hire a Virtual Assistant?
Here are the top 10 best places to find your Virtual Assistant:
1.Upwork
3.Facebook
4.Freeup
5.LinkedIn
6.Hubstaff
7.Freelancer
8.Craiglist
9.Fiverr
10.Remotasks