Is That Virtual Assistant Or Vital Assistant?
YES! A Virtual Assistant is vital to the success of many businesses.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant (VA) is a highly-trained entrepreneur and an independent contractor – a talented professional with strong administrative and organizational skills who partners with other business owners and individuals to provide a myriad of high quality ongoing, collaborative-style business support services. Virtual Assistants operate remotely from their own places of business and work closely with their clients by utilizing today’s state of the art technology such as internet, email, voice mail, fax, and online collaboration tools to deliver a full range of business support service and to communicate with their clients and meet the growing needs of businesses worldwide.
Virtual Assistants are first and foremost administrative experts.
A VA could be many things to your business: a personal or executive assistant, a secretary, a marketing executive, an administration coordinator, a copywriter, an editor, a proofreader, a bookkeeper, a project manager, a public relations assistant. Your Virtual Assistant is likely a combination of a few of these professions, all rolled into one efficient, loyal and dedicated professional.
Virtual Assistants are in the business of offering right hand administrative expertise in helping you to succeed in your business. The irony is you may never meet your VA as odds are they are nowhere near you! In an age where technology has made the world a much smaller place and where more professionals are working from their homes or in satellite offices, the former “Assistant” has become “Virtual” and we are as close as your fingertips.
A Virtual Assistant is NOT an employee. When you work with a VA you should look at it like hiring any other type of contractor: an accountant, a website designer, or a consultant.
The biggest benefit to the client/VA coupling is the relationship that’s formed. A Virtual Assistant not only works for you but becomes an integral part of your company and will take pride in becoming a part of it and seeing it succeed. Virtual Assistants are business owners so they understand what’s important when it comes to supporting your own business needs. A VA will become a business partner – a key player in the success of your company. A VA will learn all about your business and after working together on a regular basis will begin to anticipate your needs. A Virtual Assistant offers administrative expertise in the context of a continuous, rather than intermittent, relationship with clients.
Because a VA is self-employed, they have a vested interest in the success of your business. The better you do with their help, the more that adds to their success. There’s a real incentive there to help you achieve your business goals.
Traditionally, when any business addresses its office support needs, it considers employing full-time, part-time, job-share or temporary staff to fill anticipated requirements. Regardless of the level of service, with all these scenarios there are substantial set-up costs such as office space, office equipment, training and so on. What if there was a more cost-effective and time saving way for you to get the same, if not more customized, flexible and personal level of service, without having to bear the above costs at all? Virtual Assistants are freelancers who work from their own office, using their own desk, phone, computer and software. They pay their own bills, fund their own superannuation, pay to keep their skills training up to date and they organize their own taxation responsibilities. No more paying for lunch breaks, idle chit chat, quiet days, sick days, holidays, and personal phone calls.
Virtual Assistants are dedicated, driven, highly skilled administrative professionals who genuinely want to powerfully impact your life! They assist business owners by allowing them to be flexible with their employment needs while at the same time concentrating on generating revenue instead of being bogged down with administrative tasks.
A Virtual Assistant can offer a helping hand to neglected areas of your business. YOU can focus on what YOU do best, running a successful and profitable business.
Why is a Virtual Assistant, Vital?
As a business owner, you wear many hats: President, CEO, Director of Marketing, Bookkeeper, Public Relations Coordinator, and the list goes on. Doing all of those tasks every day means you have less and less time to focus on building your business, networking or even spending time with family and loved ones. You may become overwhelmed, feel out of control and wonder why you decided to go into business in the first place. But what if you could delegate some of that work to a skilled and trusted professional that you knew would get the job done, leaving you more time to do all those things you’ve been putting off? Wouldn’t you feel relieved, energized, focused and even more IN CONTROL?
As a business owner, you have goals for your business that you probably know how to reach, but just don’t have the time or knowledge necessary to take the steps that must be taken to reach them. When you work with a Virtual Assistant, you have someone in your corner with a vested interest in seeing that you reach those goals and the professional know-how it takes to get you there.
Virtual Assistants can draft a plan in accordance with your business goals. In most cases, this VA can also do what needs to be done to get you there.
A Virtual Assistant will be there for you when you reach higher levels of success, and ensure that you stay on track.
Many business owners have a difficult time delegating because they feel they are giving up control. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
Delegating doesn’t mean giving up control, it means gaining control!
A Virtual Assistant is that skilled professional you need to keep you moving forward in your business instead of wading through a “to do” list that may never get done because you don’t have the time. Here are just some of the things you can delegate to a VA:
- Organizing and maintaining your contact list
- Creating and updating a monthly newsletter
- Research
- Marketing your business on the internet
- Creating marketing materials like postcards and brochures
- Proofreading, editing, writing
- Creating powerful PowerPoint presentations
- Creating standard letters and templates
- Creating manuals and manuscripts
Having someone you trust handle these tasks and others mean:
- You are saving time by not having to do them yourself.
- You are focusing on increasing your profits and growing your business.
- You are saving money by not paying for overhead costs that come with an inside employee.
- You are able to set goals and do things that make you happy.
- You can be confident knowing that everything is organized and clear.
All this adds up to MORE CONTROL!
The point a lot of overworked business owners seem to be missing is that you need to free up your time and focus on the bigger picture. How? Don’t spend valuable hours on administrative tasks, research, marketing, correspondence, etc, as you have far more productive things you need to be doing if your business is to succeed. You need to dedicate your time to developing your business properly. Can you do that while doing all those other tasks?
Partnering with a Virtual Assistant reduces stress, protects cash flow, eliminates administrative hassles, and enables business people to find the success they originally set out to achieve.
There are so many benefits to working with a Virtual Assistant. Like a personal trainer, a Virtual Assistant is a sound investment in the long-term health of your business!
After contacting your potential virtual assistant, the two of you will talk about the requirements of your business and decide whether to work together on some solutions. Jobs can then be transferred between you and your assistant via email, mail, file transfer, or any other way you prefer.
Jobs are completed within an agreed time frame, and then transferred back to you for comments, changes or approval. The virtual assistant may provide a detailed report of time spent on the project along with the invoice. When you work with a Virtual Assistant, all you need to do is pay their invoice, and then claim it as a business expense. We can work on a retainer basis. Each month, you have a set number of hours of the VA’s time, guaranteed. Most virtual assistants will discount your hourly rate in exchange for the security of being paid in advance. Moreover, you can rest easy knowing that your VA has slotted those hours for you exclusively.
So when you need an ASSISTANT, you know there is a flexible option waiting to assist you!
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