Why do I need a Virtual Assistant?

Hello, 

How has your day been?Great I hope?

Today, I am addressing a question I get asked time and again by people whenever I mention that I am a Virtual Assistant which is "Why do I need a Virtual Assistant ?".

I will start off my defining who a Virtual Assistant is. According to Wikipedia, a Virtual Assistant (typically abbreviated to VA) is generally self employed and provides professional administrative, technical or creative (social)  assistance to clients remotely from a home office.

A virtual assistant usually works for other small businesses but can also provide support for busy executives. The profession is growing worldwide as there are about 25,000 (if not more) virtual assistant worldwide (source: Wikipedia).

Common modes of communication includes the internet, email and phone call/conferences, online work spaces and much more.  Virtual Assistants offer a range of services to businesses and consumers which include but not limited to Website Design,  Digital Marketing,  Administrative Support (scheduling appointment, Data Entry,  Transcription, Travel arrangements, proof reading documents, creating presentations etc), Real Estate services, Social Media and  Lifestyle Management etc.

Differences between a Virtual Assistant and a Full Time Employee

A virtual assistant is not your full time employee, not on your pay roll. A virtual assistant is an independent entrepreneur who works majorly from a home office, providing support to other Solopreneurs, Entrepreneurs and busy executives. A virtual assistant can only work from your office by special arrangement. Your employee works only from your office execept for cases where he/she may have to work from an off-site location.

While your employee is obligated to attend to only you as boss, a virtual assistant usually has more than one client.

A virtual assistant works with little or no supervision as they are usually professionals with tons of experience unlike your full time employees who you constantly monitor and supervise.

While most full time employees have limited skill sets according to their job descriptions, a virtual assistant is often seen as a jack of all trades.

While having a full time employee seems like an easier and more convenient option, not everyone can afford the cost of employing and retaining the staff.  They may not have the office space for a full time employee and only require a few hours of help a week which is why hiring a Virtual Assistant is a more reasonable and always affordable option.

It is important to note that the arrangement between a Virtual Assistant and a client is contractual either on a project to project basis or a long term business relationship.

When to hire a Virtual Assistant 

Are you always busy and you end your day knowing that you have not achieved all you set out to during the day?

Do you spend time attending to minor and repetitive tasks during the day that you hardly have time to follow up with clients and customers, attend business meetings, meet up or engage with prospective clients and other important tasks which will help grow your business?

Do you have a new business idea, you spend a lot of time researching so much that it affects your main gig or you are to exhausted to follow through with implementing the idea?

Does your business take up so much of your time that you hardly spend time with your family, get involved with social activities you used to enjoy or take up new hobbies that interest you?

Are you a professional in your field but you are clueless in handling basic business tasks and assignments?

Are you employed but have a side hustle going and you are unable to meet up with your clients request?

If you fall into any of these categories, you need a professional Virtual Assistant!

How can a Virtual Assistant help my business? 

A virtual assistant saves time and shaves hours off your work week by providing the required support to help you run your business smoothly. You have time to focus on the money spinners while you delegate the repetitive and time consuming tasks to your virtual assistant. You have to know when to delegate down so you can rise up.

A virtual assistant saves money as you do not have to provide an office space, furnishings and equipments. Also you only pay for time you engage your virtual assistant. No provisions needed for allowances and other fringe benefits.

Another way a virtual assistant helps your business is by keeping you steps ahead and proactively helping you solve expected and unexpected problems that may arise during the course of business. You do not have the time to put out all the fires but a virtual assistant is employed for this purpose.

A virtual assistant is also a business owner that understands the importance of delivering the highest standards, maintaining an impressive reputation and also ensuring that clients are treated as a priority. Brand perception is also important to the virtual assistant's business so he/she will always want to deliver topnotch services.

A virtual assistant with a diverse set of skills is your marketer, researcher, social media manager and much more all rolled into one. That's a great bargain,  Three/ Four for the price of one.

You want to update your blog, send an email to a client, source for relevant content and photos for your social media pages or even want to go on vacation, a virtual assistant will provide the required support at all times.  Even when your virtual assistant is not available, you can be sure you will not be left stranded as many virtual assistants work together and your tasks will be passed on to another professional to handle.

A virtual assistant will help you handle important tasks that you may have missed.

Click on the link My experience using a Virtual Assistant to read the experience of a top CEO's business journey working with a virtual assistant.

What to do before you hire a Virtual Assistant 

Do not hire a Virtual Assistant till you are ready! If you are sure you are,

1) Document your daily/weekly activities and identify those you need to delegate. Note the emphasis. This is because you may be tempted to hold on to some because of fear of entrusting them to a Virtual Assistant.

2) Come up with detailed instructions on how a brand new person can accomplish these tasks.

3) Decide how many work hours you will need from the Virtual Assistant.

4) Determine the skill set you will need from a Virtual Assistant that will be the best fit for your business.

5) Begin the search for a Virtual Assistant on platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, LinkedIn or even social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Your virtual assistant is just a hash tag away.

6) Narrow your selection down to 2-3 and interview them to find the best fit. During the interview, find out their rates, availability,  core values and other things that matter to you and your business.

6) Do a test run for a week. During that week you get to find out their level of professionalism, customer service and technological skills.

7) Start delegating!

Build a relationship with your virtual assistant and always check in to know how you can assist to make their work easier. Your virtual assistant is human and will definitely make mistakes so give a little time to get in rhythm for a smooth business relationships.

Business Tips for Solopreneurs and Entrepreneurs- Simple ways to cut Business Expenses

I once read somewhere that the biggest problem that most people in business have is that they are experts in their field and novices in what it really takes to effectively run a business.

One of the major challenges is the ability to reduce the cost of business operations. I will be sharing a few tips I have compiled from my study of business articles and publications.

1) Buy only what you need. As easy as this sounds,  many people find it hard to stick to their resolve when it comes to purchasing items for business and personal use.  Create a list/budget and stick to it.

2) Always ask for discount from vendors and suppliers. It never hurts to ask. If they decline, there will always be other people willing to offer you discounts.

3) Hire Freelancers. Full time employees usually have a lot of idle time which you end up paying for as salary along with their productive hours. Hiring freelancers is more cost effective. You only pay for the hours they work, they are usually experienced, accomplish more in less time and require little or no supervision. An example is a Virtual Assistant. This is your cue to pick up your phone to call me and hire me 😉😊😊(forget the smileys, I ain't kidding).

4) Hire Interns or Fresh Graduates: Not just any intern or fresh graduate but intelligent,willing to learn, smart and resourceful people.  This helps reduce the cost of employee benefits and salaries as an experienced employee will require more.

5) Buy in bulk,  sensibly though. Buy in bulk only items that have a long shelf life and at night risk of being worthless after a while.

6) Office space. Now get up,  talk a walk around your office. Is the space being properly utilized or you have a lot of junk taking up space?  Or your office isn't well organized and you are taking up more space than necessary? If this applies to you,  do an audit of what you really need and what you don't. Trash the "trashables" and carry out one of the following actions.
a) If you have more space than necessary and you don't need the space anytime soon (say between now and the next six months to a year),  begin to search for a smaller office space within your means.
b) If you are a Solopreneur or budding entrepreneur, you have to decide if you can work from home,  a virtual office (only when necessary) or an affordable co-working space.

7) Review your expenses,  identify leakages and cut down on the unnecessary expenses. Also keep track of your expenses occasionally to ensure you are in line with your new goals.

8) Eliminate charges. This is quite simple. You pay your bills on time to avoid extra charges and fines.

9) Cut out paper. Do you really need to print out all your documents? Embrace the use of Electronic File Storage. Google for different options.

10) Lease equipments if you need them for a short term. That is except you think purchasing will serve your interests in the long run. Also, you can buy second hand products from trusted and reliable sellers. Avoid too good to be true deals.

11) Proper time management. It helps you focus on more productive and money yielding aspects of the business.  Time is money,  sounds familiar right?

12) Free software. This has helped my business in so many ways as I have to pay nothing or next to nothing for software. You can google for options.

13) Always find a cheaper way to do things

I hope these points have been helpful. It's important to note that you should be careful in implementing any if the above points as it's important that your customers and ability to make profit are not affected.

Please comment below if you have any more useful tips.