In today’s modern age it is now possible to work with an assistant in a different county, in fact, many assistants can be in a different country and timezone.
Depending on your requirements, outsourcing can be a cost-effective way of pulling in resources to your business that you don’t have a requirement for on a permanent long term need. Employing someone on a part-time or full-time contract is no longer the only solution.
A large part of an employees time can be taken up by talking on the phone or chatting to work colleagues, making a cup of coffee or loitering by the vending machine, you are paying for ‘dead’ time and not getting value for money!
This is where Virtual Assistants come into play. They provide their time to hard-working business owners and entrepreneurs who outsource perhaps their to-do list or maybe a project or task that they don’t have the time to learn a new software package or set of skills for. The best part? They only pay for the time it takes to complete the project or task.
Whether you are a new start-up or an established business, a Virtual Assistant can be a vital asset to you and your company. They can also help you free up time to concentrate on growing and building your business.
A Virtual Assistant can be hired by sole traders, entrepreneurs and small businesses to do almost any task, from administration & bookkeeping to project and event management. The list is endless!
Here is our list for 10 things you can outsource to a Virtual Assistant (VA) today!
Online Research
This is one of the easy tasks to outsource to a VA, which can absorb a great deal of your time. Internet research is perfect for your VA to complete and report on for you. This can include:
- Product research
- Latest trends
- Competitor Analysis
- Data Analysis
- Prospecting
Blog Management
Having a blog is great, however keeping it updated can be a to do list task tnightmare with other priorities take precedence.
An up to date blog can of course help with your SEO, so its important to keep it up to date (and of course google loves websites that are continually providing value to end users, so your off to a winning start!).
Creating and publishing content takes time! and as its a task that takes time and committment, this is a perfect role to outsource to your VA.
Project Management
Many VA’s come from project management backgrounds and speicalise in this as their niche market which can prove invaluable for your business.
Liasing with both internal and external teams can be crucial for your projects success, but it can also become time consuming at critical stages. This is where your VA comes in, freeing you of the time and providing you with update reports and ensuring that your project is delivered on time and budgets adhered to.
Presentation Creation
Presentations are a necesarry role for any business owner, however, creating visual slide displays in perhaps Powerpoint may not be your forte and can be notorisoulsy time consuming. This is where the experience of the VA comes in. They can create your sales presentation or summarise your data in Word, saving you a huge amount of time.
Whether your pitching to shareholders or prospective clients, having your VA prepare your presentation for you allows you to focus on the pitch and let someone else worry about the detail.
Data Entry
Whether its updating client information in a database or updating lists of information, this is something that VA’s excel at and all VA’s should be able to do.
Whilst not everyone loves this sort of job, a VA will take on this task and complete it for you. Give them a clear brief of what you want achieved and let them get on with it. Never worry about your data entry tasks again!
Diary Management
Wether you have one diary or multiple diaries, this is all part of a VA’s day to day tasks. They can organise your diary, take bookings, arrange bookings and ensure that your diaries are up to date at all times, so you dont have to worry about missing your business appointment or your personal appointments – that dreaded yearly checkup at the dentist for instance.
Email Management
Do you have enquiry email accounts? or perhaps you want more organisation with your business email? Your VA is able to complete this for you. They are proficient at organising files and data and ensuring everything is in the right place, or even reply to your enquiry emails and making sure that they are followed up by the right people in your organisation.
They can even manage your email account when you are on holiday!
Travel Management
Another task that can be time consuming, but very easy to outsource, is researching and arranging your next business trip or even your next family holiday.
Whether its looking for the cheapest flight or looking to travel from A to B in the easiest way, your VA can handle this for you, not only saving you time but maybe money too.
Proof Reading
Never rush publishing or printing an important document or article.
Whether its glancing a quick eye over a document or adding some formatting to the document, a specialised VA can check over the information and ensure quality is maintained.
Administration
This may be the last on the list, but it is by far the least. This forms a very large part of the job of a VA.
Whether its typing up letters that you dictated, organising and creating a secure online filing structure, scanning documents, printing documents and posting them or setting up online systems, your VA can complete a multitude of tasks that fall under the administration banner. This is however what they do best! and all VA’s should be able to complete these tasks with ease.
Do you need a VA?
There are so many tasks on the list above that a VA can complete, from Social Media & Website Management to Event Management, it may not be on the list, but that does not mean there is no-one out there to assist you.
Whatever tasks you have there will be a VA who can complete them for you, freeing up your time to concentrate on the things that increase your revenue while your VA supports you in the background. They are with you wherever you are and can assist you at a moments notice.
Every VA has a set of core skills, but there are also VA’s with niche skills such as copywriting and more that you can tap into and use for the period that you need when you need it. They are a valuable resource for any business.
A growing business is hard work, you don’t have to be alone in the journey. Hiring a VA will free up your time and help you grow your business. What are you waiting for?
