The Benefits of Working with a Virtual Assistant

My first 2 blogs have been about my love of Social Media and benefits of different platforms, but for this week’s post I thought I would have a look at the benefit of working with a Virtual Assistant like me. I have had a few requests to do a blog on Google+ which I will do once I have had time to sign up & explore!

So, you are up to your eyeballs in paperwork & loosing track of what you need to do but you don’t have the funds to hire someone to help on a permanent basis. You have heard the term Virtual Assistant banded about but don’t have the time to look into it properly. You know you need help so you can focus on growing your business but the thought of working with someone remotely worries you. All sound familiar?

Well never fear, here are the top 3 reasons to work with a VA!

1.    Working with a VA gives the you the best of both worlds, getting you the help you need but without all the additional costs involved with employees such as Tax, NI, Holiday & Sick pay. A VA will only charge for the hours worked & even though the hourly rates may initially seem high, when you compare to the cost of employing someone it soon makes sense.

2.    You get to delegate the work that takes you away from building and growing your business. This means you could offload that customer spread sheet you have been meaning to do for months, that mail shot you keep meaning to do, that research on a new product, or just your general day to day admin – these are just a few things a VA could help with, really when it comes to VA’s the possibilities are endless!

3.    Working remotely does seem strange to a lot of people, as we are all so used to ‘going to the office’ to work, however with all the amazing technology we have available to us it really is easier than most people think. There are file sharing systems, instant messaging, Skype and of course good old email & telephone. I personally love good old fashion emailing, it keeps a perfect record of all conversations and you always have them as a point of reference. The one huge benefit you have of working remotely is that you are not having to supply equipment for the work to be done, (obviously there may be postal charges and other miscellaneous items but all of these would be agreed at the time of booking)

There are hundreds over other reasons to hire a VA but I think these are 3 main stumbling blocks that people may see when considering taking that leap before requesting the assistance of ‘virtual’ help.

If you think you may be at a point where you may need to look for a VA, these are a few things to consider?

1.  Where are they based – VA’s are based all over the world, but if location is important to you, make sure you include that in your search criteria

2.   Do you need a VA with experience in a certain field i.e. recruitment, data entry or something specific to your business?

3.  Is it a particular project you need assistance with or ongoing support?

4.  If it is ongoing support you need, think about how many hours a week/month you would like a VA to work on your projects. That way you can begin to budget how much it may cost you

5.  Which methods of communication are important to you – do you need regular Skype calls, or will email be sufficient?

6.  Use platforms such as Linked In to look for VA’s – it has the recommendation area, so you can see what previous clients have said about their work

7.  Lastly, ask at networking meetings or on social media platforms such as Twitter for recommendations for VA’s

There are numerous websites which can help you find your perfect VA, here are just a few;

http://www.occasionalassistants.co.uk/

http://allianceofukvirtualassistants.org.uk/

http://www.societyofvirtualassistants.co.uk/

If you think you might need some help to enable you to move your business forward, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or check out my website http://www.staceysadminsolutions.co.uk/ for more details about me and the solutions I provide.