How Can A Virtual Assistant Help Your Small Business?

How much time do you spend working on your business? Have you ever considered outsourcing the tasks you don’t enjoy – a Virtual Assistant is just like hiring an extra person, only you don’t need to commit to hiring someone for X amount of hours per week. Virtual Assistant’s offer you flexibility to outsource as much as you want or just during school holidays – you choose when you need the help.

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is self-employed & provides professional admin, technical, or creative assistance to clients from a home office. Most (not all) are highly skilled professionals that offer services in a variety of areas. Don’t be shy about asking for credentials and/or work experience.

Services a Virtual Assistant can provide

• Admin / Data Entry
• Blogging
• Content Creation
• Diary management
• Email address monitoring
• Email marketing – newsletters
• Graphic Design
• Phone Calls – Incoming and outgoing
• Reporting
• Social Media updating / monitoring
• Travel Bookings
• Website updating

The above is not a comprehensive list, it really depends on what the virtual assistant’s skill set is.

How can a VA benefit your business?

• Reduce your workload – if you are feeling overwhelmed with your workload, why not outsource to a VA to free up your time and work on more important projects.
• Focus on what’s important – it is easy to get bogged down with the minor tasks that are required to keep the wheels turning. Consider a VA take on some of those minor tasks for you, to shift your focus toward tasks that only you can do.
• Increase productivity and reduce stress – Get more done while reducing your workload.
• Reduce your overheads – contracting a VA can be a lot cheaper than having a full-time employee. Pay nothing more than the actual hours worked.

So, lets talk $$$ – How much do VA’s charge?

No doubt you’ve all seen the ads that are offering VA or outsourced services for next to nothing per hour. This is all well and good, but thats almost always offshore and it’s very hit and miss with quality. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are some great VA’s that are offshore, but you never really know what you’re getting. .

In Australia, the cost for a virtual assistant can vary depending on their skill set. Generally, they charge between $30-$70 per hour. Of course, there will be some that charge more or less. The best way to go, is to seek out recommendations from business contacts or networking groups, or read online reviews.

To make sure that your VA can give you a more accurate quote, make sure you have the following on hand.

• Know exactly what it is that you need – It is important that you can communicate your needs with your VA. Your VA wants to do their absolute best for you and for them to do so, they will need to know exactly what it is that you and your business needs.
• Write it down – It sounds simple, but write down your needs. This will be very helpful for your VA to refer to. This will also allow you to see that you have included everything that you need.
• Give your VA a deadline – That way they can quote and schedule appropriately. It’s likely that you’re not their only client and your VA will need to schedule their working hours and deadlines accordingly.
• Do you need anything more? A good VA will always confirm that they have properly understood the brief from their client and they are meeting all your requirements.

So what are you waiting for? Write down your to do list for the next 2 weeks and look at areas you could outsource so that you can take the time to grow your business.

Need a awesome Virtual Assistant?

Look no further! Search our directory of Australian Virtual Assistants to help manage your business virtually – Admin Work, Social Media Management, Website.

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