What better way to start blogging, then to enlighten people about the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant. Why would you need one…’they just sort out admin don’t they? They don’t do anything I can’t do myself! I can’t afford one right now.’ Let me help dispel some of these myths.......
Firstly, although most business people have now heard of VA’s, the first question I get asked in any 1 to 1 is “What does a VA actually do then?”.
Virtual Assistants come from a huge range of backgrounds,
from those having worked as secretaries or personal assistants through to those with expertise in marketing or creative industries. No VA is the same, and each will have different assets that can benefit your business.
What can a VA help with?
In general terms a VA can help you with all aspects of your daily admin….there’s not much on your to do list that a VA wouldn’t be able to take care of for you! Whether you need help with basic transcription through to more complex tasks such as setting up Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software or your email newsletters. VA’s also have expertise maintaining social media, producing consistent and regular content to keep your business visible and engaged with your customers. Add to this tasks such as competitor research or project management and you start to get an idea of the breadth of services a VA can provide.
Why not do it yourself?
The main benefit of hiring a VA is they save you time, the most valuable commodity of all! Outsource your admin or social media to a VA and that frees up large chunks of your precious time to concentrate on the things you’re most passionate about in your business. Also, VA’s do these tasks on a daily basis and in most cases will be better and more efficient at them. You will also find given their background and experience VA’s can often act as a useful sounding board, particularly for small business owners.
Can you afford a VA?
Many VA’s work on a ‘pay as you go’ or monthly basis and will charge anything from £20 to £35 per hour depending on the complexity of the work, but you are only paying for work you need doing and not any downtime. As they are individual contractors you do not pay for their illness or maternity leave, pension contributions or other employee related benefits. They also work remotely saving you money on office space, resources and IT equipment. When considering all these factors hiring a VA can be more cost effective than taking on a new member of staff!
So……Do you not have enough time to keep on top of your admin and run your business? Do you take work home with you, eating into valuable time with your family? Do you realise the importance of maintaining your social media but never quite around to doing it? Are you considering hiring someone to help but aren’t sure you can afford a full time employee?
If you answered yes to any of these questions you should definitely consider utilising a’
VA…..the real question is ‘can you afford not to?
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