Save Valuable Time – Delegate Tasks to a Virtual Assistant

In a world where companies are constantly on the lookout for ways to reduce overhead, working from home is becoming increasingly popular. According to the United States Census, over half of all business are operated primarily from someone’s home. That is a staggering number of people working and running businesses from home. For many of those, it’s necessary – and smart – to assign many day-to-day tasks to others, whether they decide to hire employees or subcontractors. Should they decide to hire employees, they generally will need a place and/or office for their employees, as well as maintaining equipment for them and paying payroll taxes. Should they decide to hire subcontractors, Virtual Assistants provide all of the benefits of an office administrative professional, without the overhead of bringing someone to physically work at the location.

What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
Virtual Assistants help companies with a myriad of tasks – anything from everyday administrative duties such as managing email, answering phone calls, scheduling / confirming appointments, entering data, managing your “office” – to managing social media accounts, designing and maintaining websites, working as a customer service representative and providing marketing assistance. You can virtually find help with anything you need and can decide to work with one VA or several, each having their own specialty. The best solution if you need more than one task taken care of would be to work with a multi-VA company who has experts in each area you need assistance.

Can You Benefit from a Virtual Assistant?
You may be thinking that you already handle everything necessary to run your business, so why should you hire a virtual assistant? To determine if you need one, take one week and write down all of the tasks you complete for your business. Then take a closer look and determine which of those tasks have to be completed by you, and no one else. You will likely be surprised to see how many tasks still remain that someone else could – and should – be doing for you, so you can concentrate on growing your business.

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant
There are many benefits of hiring a virtual assistant, but one of the most important ones is limiting the amount of stress you face in managing the daily tasks surrounding every business. When you have someone else who can tackle the day-to-day tasks such as bookkeeping, answering email and screening phone calls, you can focus on growing and developing your business, focusing on the areas that are your strengths, while your assistant(s) can focus on the areas that you really shouldn’t be doing as a business owner. Does the CEO of a large company do everything in the business, or does he/she delegate most tasks?
You can also have your VA work on areas such as a marketing plan, marketing research, keeping your website up-to-date, keeping in touch with your clients or customers, planning events – there really isn’t much they can’t do for your business.

There are other benefits, too. You can streamline your budget by working with a Virtual Assistant because you only pay for the time actually spent on your behalf, whether it’s the daily tasks or projects. Rather than hiring someone for a 9-to-5 work position, you are hiring a contractor who has other clients and knows how to work around them all and usually don’t have set hours (think early in the day or later in the day if that’s what you need occasionally). They can work within your budget, and although their hourly rate may be higher than if you had an employee, they are only billing you for their time while working with you – not for sitting in your office waiting for work to do, checking their personal emails and posting on social media.
You also save by limiting the amount of work space you are paying for. Your contracted virtual assistant works off-site, so you don’t need a computer, desk or space for the help you are hiring. Your VA has the equipment and is responsible for maintaining it. In addition, this contractor is not a full-time employee, so you don’t have to fork out money for benefits.

Tips for Working with a Virtual Assistant
To make the most out of your partnership with a virtual assistant, you need to learn how to work with them. Consider these tips:

• Be clear in your expectations. Your virtual assistant cannot read your mind, so clearly state your expectations.
• Find a virtual assistant skilled in the tasks you need completed. Each VA has a different and unique skill set that may or may not fit your business’s needs. That’s why working with a multi-VA company is a good choice because they will have VAs that can handle all your needs and should have a backup in place so you have coverage at all times.
• Have a contract that outlines how and when you will pay, what you expect and how you will communicate.

Remember, your virtual assistant is going to be a crucial part of helping you grow your business. Take the time to find a good one or team, learn how to work with them well, and enjoy the freedom that comes from having less on your plate.

Nickey Hollenbach
Personal Touch Concierge Service(R)
info@ptconciergeservice.com