In the present business world, the significance of hiring a virtual assistant is becoming more evident. Why? Consider this; you can get them to accomplish a lot of tasks without costing too much. In fact, virtual assistants are considered to be one of the most efficient workers out there.
Outsource Your administrative assistant needs to an online virtual assistant will allow your company to save a lot of time and money. Most transactions are done with the aid of the internet technology. This means that there would be less operating costs such as electricity and transportation expenses. Even if you are separated y miles or even countries away, works can be done and sent in a click of a mouse. This faster and innovative working method allows your company to get a more efficient service than usual.
The significance of hiring a virtual assistant can also be gauged with the amount of work that can be accomplished at a short period of time. When you hire a virtual assistant, you are only getting him to do a specific task. And you will only have to pay him depending on the task that he is given. Unlike having full time employees when there are inevitable times of idleness, this per-project basis allows your company to utilize a more efficient workforce.
Perhaps the greatest economic importance of virtual assistant is the avoidance of expenditures used for employee benefits. This is because an online assistant does not require additional benefits such as insurances, paid vacations and other privileges a conventional employee receives. This explains why companies are still able to save a lot despite assistants receiving higher payment. Some companies implement additional bonuses to further motivate the assistants.
This new trend in business process outsourcing really is a big step in today's corporate world by creating a multitude of possibilities even to the smallest of companies.
The definition of a Virtual Assistant provided on Wiki (typically abbreviated to VA, also called a virtual office assistant) is an entrepreneur who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office.With a full range of options to choose from, you can customize your remote receptionist service to meet your exact needs. Your calls can be screened, announced and seamlessly connected to you or your employees anywhere. They usually work for other small businesses, brokers and consultancy groups. It is estimated that there are as few as 5,000-8,000 or as many as 35,000 Virtual Assistants worldwide; the profession is growing in centralized economies with "fly-in, fly-out" (FIFO) staffing practices.
Then, what's the benefit of a hiring a virtual assistant?
Yes, we can hire a secretary to handle all the daily trivial things, which is very common and convenient. However it is not wise to expect all the skills that you need on merely one person. You may need a professional PPT designer when you have a presentation to prepare, you may need a note dictator who writes fast when you have a meeting to hold, you may need a clerk to write your report when you don't have the time to do it yourself... but how can one possesses all this skills, and if we take a step back, assuming you finally find one, how much would you like to pay for such a virtual secretary?
So, sometimes it is necessary to hire a virtual assistant, and outsourcing your administrative tasks to a virtual assistant, a team of reliable professionals. Leave the specific work to specialists; hire a team at the cost of hiring one ordinary secretary.
Better still, you can avoid all the unnecessary cost by hiring a virtual assistant. You don't need to worry about the insurance, the farewells, this may not mean that you can save money on that, but it means you don't have to keep an eye on that. You save the energy. You usually have to pay your assistant when they deal their personal problems during working hours, as often the case when you hire a human assistant. While you can avoid this cost by hiring a virtual assistant for you, because you only pay them for the time they spend on your task, not anything else.
You even save the time and money on supervising them. If you enter the phrase "virtual assistant" in Google, you can get nearly 5 million results within a second; this indicated the emerging of this industry, and the intense competition among the number of enterprises who provide this service. In this way every enterprise has to keep an eye on the quality of the service they provide to their customers, so as to keep their quota in the market. In this way you leave your burden of supervising your staff to the market which is most just and efficient.
The World Wide Web plays an important role in our business environment, one of the results of this has been the rise of virtual assistant services. Commonly known as home secretaries, virtual assistants offer a unique and useful service to small businesses and similar, that need a secretary but can’t afford a full-time person at their place of work. This is where the virtual assistant steps in.
With access to a computer and a good Internet connection, as well as strong organizational skills, a virtual assistant can run a complete office from his or her home, for a fraction of the cost a physical office manager would be. Reports can be completed, emails from clients can be answered, and meetings can be arranged and cancelled. They can even be used for telemarketing and customer service purposes. So where did the virtual assistant come from, and is it a job anyone can do?
The first virtual assistant can be traced back to the early 1970’s, although this was by virtue of having a typewriter and a telephone. It wasn’t until the introduction of word processors and the Internet that the term virtual assistant really took shape, which took until the 1980’s and the introduction of computer networks.
Two organizations really brought the role of the virtual assistant to the fore – one was run by an Australian lady by the name of Robyn Green, and the other was based in Los Angeles by Linda Anderson, who runs the Homesecretary.com website today. These two services offered work at home solutions for businesses who needed the professional services of a secretary, yet either couldn’t afford or didn’t wish to have an onsite person.
From these small beginnings, the industry grew steadily in the 1990’s, especially with the surge in the property market that many countries saw. With homes being bought almost as soon as they were being built, real estate agents became the biggest buyer of virtual assistant services, and the home worker industry took a giant leap forward in popularity.
The Numbers Game
Today, the virtual assistant enjoys a strong presence in the workforce, in industries perhaps not usually associated with secretarial work. The earnings that someone can make as a virtual assistant are also a lot higher, with the average wage hovering around the $20 per hour mark. This can easily double if the work needed is of a technical nature.
Although traditionally the domain of work at home mothers and women, the virtual assistant role is increasingly being looked at by many male workers. Some other statistics include:
- The US accounts for 81% of all virtual assistants worldwide
- Many have been in business since 2003, when home working really became a valid and profitable option
- Over 86% of virtual assistants have their own website, advertising their services
- Even part-time virtual assistants can earn over $15,000 per year for just 20 hours per week
With the constant demands that today’s workplace is placing on family and home life, it’s easy to see why so many people are looking at working from home. If you have the skills, becoming a virtual assistant can offer you an excellent income in an interesting job, and the chance to enjoy a far superior personal life. Have a look for yourself today.
In business whether you're starting or you’re already in business, it can be a roller coaster ride. The more business that you do, the more administrative tasks that you have. You have less time to generate new revenue by spending your own time on administrative tasks or other business operations that are not the core focus of your business.
Multiplying your manpower is a good business solution. One way to multiply your business manpower is to outsource. If you choose to outsource you can outsource portions of your business operations or you can outsource all of your business operations.
When outsourcing you may want to mainly outsource the business operations that take your time away from focusing on building and running your business, things that take away from your core business focus. Once you find the Virtual Assistant that you want to work with it is best to discuss these issues with them so you can get a better idea of what you should or shouldn't outsource.
Outsource administrative tasks that won’t let you breathe for a minute, things that you don’t have time to do, things that you may be inexperienced with but you need them done, if you need additional help with current employees, emergency tasks or tasks that keep you from generating more revenue and things that must get done in order to keep your business in business.
You can add to your business growth and efficiency by working with a Virtual Assistant. It may be obvious that you may need an assistant, in which case you have a thousand reasons not to hire one. Virtual Assistants provide practical solutions for business. This creative labor force has been around for quite some time, they are new to some people but very well known to others.
A Virtual Assistant is known to many as someone who provides beneficial business support services, bills you only for the work or tasks completed. They can be a great solution for a busy person, professional, executive, entreprenuer, individual or business.
There are many advantages to working with a Virtual Assistant. They are already trained in many aspects of business operations and business services. When you hire a Virtual Assistant you get the benefits of outsourcing, loyalty of a company employee, no employee tax, no benefit issues or employee government regulations to follow. A Virtual Assistant is fully tax deductable.
Hiring a temp is a transient solutions which can be expensive. If you only need someone a few hours a day or a week, a temp can be more costly in terms of the training and you have to pay the temp agency. Many temps are looking for full time employment, so the minute that you find someone that you like, they will leave you for better opportunities. These may be some reasons why you may have found that traditional staffing solutions have not worked for you. By working with a Virtual Assistant this would not be a problem.
In some cases, in-house employees (including temps) will leave you for a better paying job, some of them surf the internet on your company time looking for a job that pays more money, better benefits or a better location. Sometimes they didn't want to work for your company in the first place, they just work for you to tide them over till the next best thing comes along.
Some employees or temps will leave you if you don't give them a big enough raise. A Virtual Assistant will not leave you if you don't give them a big enough raise, you are not responsible for giving them a raise. A Virtual Assistant will be with you for the long haul as long as you need their services. They can help you to improve on your business or help you in your career search. It's all just depending on your needs.
You can call on a Virtual Assistant only when you need them or form a longterm business relationship with them.
Sometimes employees can come with some issues: you must supply them with equipment, furniture, you must comply with federal / state employee regulations and / or paid training & personal issues. The estimated cost of an employee is sometimes double or triple their salary in terms of benefits, liabilities etc.. If you have a home office or small office you may have to share your private space. Some businesses or professionals don’t want to share their private space or they may have to, if they want an assistant.
In this regard, with a Vitual Assistant you don’t have to worry about those issues. A Virtual Assistant does not become your employee but beneficial help to your business or projects. You can eliminate the high cost of employees or temps by working with a Virtual Assistant. They have their own offices and they are very diverse in many areas of business.
Their services can be used for many business reasons such as web design, business consultant, project consultant / project management, wordprocessing, secretarial services, outsourcing / overflow work, office management / assistant, typing, creative services (digital image editing, art, design etc...), business management, bill paying, appointment setting, personal life management, schedule or calendar maintenance, financial services, networking services, travel/ meeting planning, procurement / purchasing services, and much more.
As long as you are in business or as your business grows, Virtual Assistants become more of the obvious solution to staffing problems or for business support services. For half the cost of temps or employees, you can obtain professional assistance with a variety of skills from a Virtual Assistant.
Virtual assistants are becoming a popular alternative to traditional on-site office support for many entrepreneurs and small businesses. Now that there are more qualified VA’s available, there are also more choices to be made. When a small business owner decides it’s time to delegate some of their workload so they can focus on growing the business, it can be difficult to know where to start.
When it comes to virtual assistants, there are a wide variety of skill levels and services to choose from. Most VA’s fall within one or more of the following categories:
- Traditional administrative support such as typing correspondence, transcription, data entry, basic bookkeeping, reporting, customer service support, calendar and phone management, travel arrangements, proofreading, etc.
- Executive administrative support such as meeting and event planning, complex PowerPoint presentations, proposal and contract review, coordinating projects, vendor management, budget management, financial reporting, managing administrative staff, etc.
- Web 2.0 and Marketing Support includes social networking management (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.), blog design and management, article writing and submissions, SEO, press releases, website copy and updates, teleseminars, ezine and newsletter design and management, shopping cart set-up and maintenance, autoresponders, e-books, promotional materials, brochures, etc.
Additionally, there are a number of specialized niche markets that a VA may focus on including real estate, insurance, law, finance, entrepreneurs, non-profit, and small business.
STEP 1 – Determine Your Needs
Decide what you need help with. Are you falling behind on billing clients? Do you need standardized internal processes and documentation? Do you need to expand and target your marketing efforts? Are you going to be launching new products or services? It’s important to think this through – you need to know where you are before you can move confidently toward where you want to be.
Decide how much help you need. How many hours per week/month are required to complete these tasks and reach your business goals? This should not be an arbitrary guess. Make a detailed list of ongoing tasks and special or seasonal projects, along with time estimates, to get a more accurate picture of the amount of work you want to outsource.
Determine whether you need short-term or ongoing support. Depending on where you are in growing your business, your support needs may be different. A new start-up may need a lot of help in the short-term to get up and running, whereas a more established business may need regular ongoing assistance with regularly scheduled tasks as well as new projects and initiatives to support growth over time.
Estimate your support needs for the coming year. Based on your business plans and goals, how fast do you expect your business to grow over the next 6-12 months? How will this affect your workload?
Determine the skill levels needed for completing your tasks. Are they mostly traditional administrative tasks (e.g., calendar management, documents, presentations, bookkeeping) or specific to a niche market (e.g., real estate)? Do they require specialized knowledge or experience such as website design, article writing, or online shopping cart maintenance?
STEP 2 – Determine Your Budget
What is your budget for retaining support services? Obviously, this is a critical consideration in deciding on the level of administrative support you need. Individual VA’s tend to have a lower rate than VA teams. The reason for this is that VA teams offer a range of skills, from basic to highly specialized, and are able to cover a wide variety of needs. This frequently results in a blended rate for most tasks with flat fees quoted for special projects (e.g., website design).
STEP 3 – Compare the Benefits
At this point, you should know what your needs are and how much you can afford to spend on support services. The following is a list of benefits to consider when choosing between an individual VA and a VA team.
Benefits of Working with an Individual VA
• Single point of contact
• Opportunity to build strong one-on-one business relationship
• Easier to manage one person
• May have very specialized niche skills/experience applicable to your business
• More likely to accept small assignments and lower number of guaranteed hours
• Lower hourly rate
Benefits of Working with a VA Team
• Team of people can handle larger workload
• Multiple tasks can be accomplished in a shorter amount of time
• Opportunity to build a multi-faceted support team
• Offer a wide variety of business skills/experience
• Able to take on large projects and accommodate fast growth
• Many offer discounted retainer packages
All businesses have unique needs, which change and evolve over time. Invest the time to carefully examine your needs, consider your options, and choose the type of virtual assistant services that best fit your business.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant for your business needs is more complicated than searching on the web and just getting along with signing the first VA that pop up in your web search. A professionally sound VA can help you grow your business where as on the other hand a wrong VA could do irreparable harm. So how do you know which VA is right for you? The post tries to detail on some of the cross check points you should look forward before hiring a virtual assistant.
- What skills are you looking for in a VA? Do you need someone to help with appointment scheduling, calendar management, travel management, spreadsheet and crm management, blog management? Knowing what you want will help you to determine the best fit for your needs.
- How much do you plan to spend each month? Thinking over the tasks you want done, try to estimate or have the VA’s you are considering estimate how much time it will take them to complete the tasks each month. Be wary of VA’s that charge significantly less than the market standard. Most likely they are from a country where English is a second language and they most times will need more instruction on each project than native speaking VA’s. You will also find that their grammar is not up to the standards that most people find acceptable for businesses.
- How do you plan to communicate with a VA? Communication for most VA practices is done via email. If you hope to have phone conferences with your VA, keep in mind that these will have to be schedule ahead of time and you will be paying for that time. If you hope to meet in person with your VA, you will need to find someone local.
- How long has the VA been in business? There are new VA’s on the market today than ever before. Newer VA’s come in with more varied skills and experience, but it might take them a little to adjust to the virtual work environment.
- Is there any information on the VA available on the web? If you do a quick web search and find nothing about a VA, you should know right away they are not someone you want to deal with. There are only two reasons why a VA would not be on the web.
>> They aren’t Virtual.
A VA without a web presence of some kind is like a soda company without a can of pop on store shelves. VA’s network on the web. 80% of VA’s today have their own website. 98% have their own blog. If a VA isn’t coming up, it should send up a big red warning flag.
The more you know about the VA you are planning to hire, the better. Talk to them on the phone and ensure your personalities and goals mesh. Are they confident in what they do? Like fingerprints, no two Virtual Assistants are alike. There is no universal training to become a VA like there is for other professions. Virtual Assistant’s, more often than not, have studied at the school of hard knocks. The clients they have, the tasks they take on, and their own drive to know and understand the business world are all the training most Virtual Assistants will have or need. This training helps to build a variable set of skills, making each VA unique not only in how they work but the type of work they take on.
There comes a time when small businesses and entrepreneurs reach a point of saturation... their business is successful, referrals are coming in, profits are going up, and the workload suddenly seems to be increasing exponentially. You find yourself working a ridiculous number of hours trying to stay on top of everything and start feeling overwhelmed. If this sounds familiar and you're ready to reclaim your personal life and reduce your stress level, it's time to find a virtual assistant (VA).
What is a virtual assistant? Virtual assistants are independent contractors who provide administrative, technical, and creative services for clients using telecommuting technologies, so they don't have to be local. They enable small businesses the luxury of having the expertise of an administrative assistant without the costs of a full time employee. You only pay for the time spent working on your projects and you don't have to worry about benefits, payroll taxes, additional office equipment, etc.
Often, small business owners and entrepreneurs feel that they can't afford to hire an assistant even though they could really use some help. A virtual assistant is the perfect solution to this dilemma because you have the option of hiring them for just a few hours per week if that's all you need. If you have an ongoing need for support, most VA’s will offer you a retainer package that gives incremental discounts depending on the number of hours you commit to each month. Delegating five hours of work per week to a VA could have a big impact on your life - what would you do with an extra 20 hours of free time each month?
To increase your effectiveness and successfully build your business, you should be focusing on the things you do best. It's a good idea to make a list of all the tasks you are currently doing to see which ones directly contribute to growing your business and what could be delegated to someone else. If you're spending extra hours doing administrative tasks instead of networking, marketing, or selling your products or services, you are wasting valuable time.
Another way to work smarter instead of harder is to outsource projects that require skills you don’t have time to learn. For example, if you’ve been putting off starting a blog or online newsletter because you can’t find the time to learn the software (or don’t have the patience!), it makes sense to find someone who can do it for you. To help minimize costs, you can write the articles yourself and let a VA proof and post them. There are lots of little things you can do to save time while also building your business.
Virtual assistants can help with anything from proofreading to desktop publishing to blog management. Give some thought to how you're spending your time and how you can become more effective in growing your business. Look at the amount of time and energy you’re putting into non-revenue producing activities and decide which tasks can be delegated. Just because you're a small business or a solo entrepreneur doesn't mean you have to do it all yourself!
source: http://biznik.com/members/kimberly-christensen
- Advantages of hiring a virtual assistant
- The search for a virtual assistant
- Five cost saving benefits of hiring a virtual assistant
- Employ personal virtual assistant (VA) services for more efficient result
- What qualities to look for while hiring a virtual assistant
- Significance of hiring a virtual assistant
- Is it necessary to hire a virtual assistant?
- The evolution of virtual assistant
- Outsource your administrative tasks to a virtual assistant
- Deciding on hiring a virtual assistant or VA team
- What to think when hiring a virtual assistant
- Hire a virtual assistant to grow your business
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