As humans work on the power of technology and continuously explore its capacities and limits, it is worth mentioning that technology through the years made astounding innovations that undermined distance. It made the means of communicating even stronger as we can now send and receive messages instantly despite being thousand of miles away. It can even bring you to different places without having the effort of stepping outside of your homes. Another milestone that technology brought is to generate income without having to do manual labor. It is enormously powerful that it is capable to provide hundreds of opportunities for human kind.
Building a system for your business includes a team who will work with you as you operate your company. Most businesses nowadays offer remote work to people who are looking for a job that allows them to basically work anywhere as long as they have these two things – strong and stable internet connection and a fast-working computer device. This work set up has immensely escalated since the pandemic happened because of the limited physical contact involved or for some, none at all. Aside from that, this is usually done by businesses or companies that operate both offline and online. This way, the employee does not have to personally report to their company office and instead, can just attend work virtually. People who render services as Virtual Assistant are more capable of practicing work life balance. This is because of the reduced time allowance for travelling and working in an environment where you are most comfortable in.
These employees who are working remotely to perform their tasks and meet their boss are called Virtual Assistants. They are responsible in providing virtual services to businesses or entrepreneurs who are in need of a person who can do activities that can be done digitally such as secretarial tasks, marketing, social media management, html coding, client sourcing, web design, cold calls, bookkeeping and the list goes on and on. There is no specific list of what kind of services a virtual assistant can and cannot provide but there is a list of Virtual Assistants that you cannot go without. As long as they can deliver the services and skills you require and promised to you, then we are all good. Virtual Assistants are not limited to perform personal errands for you such as scheduling appointments, travel arrangements, and shopping. They are also designed to provide specialty services that can support your business and minimize your tasks in a cost efficient manner.
Virtual Assistants are favorable to businesses who want to maintain low operating expenses. You have the option to decide the duration of the services to be rendered especially if you are offering work that is project based. You also do not need to provide the employee benefits that is usually given to full time workers. Apart from that, as an employer, you do not have to furnish your staff with equipment like computers, desks, phones as the Virtual Assistant is expected to produce these themselves in order to accomplish tasks. Bottomline is, you just have to compensate them for the services that was rendered to your company.
You might be thinking why are businesses resorting to this kind of work set up. Well, as per experience that was gained for several years, I can share with you a handful of compelling reasons why you should hire a virtual assistant.
1. Cost efficient operation – this is the number 1 reason why businesses are availing this kind of service. It enables you to cut down your company expenses. If your business is seasonal, a start up, or you just need someone to assist you with a particular task that is out of your field, hiring a Virtual Assistant is something you must consider. First off, you do not have to necessarily provide all the tools that is needed such as computer, internet connection, table and other furnishings as these are expected to be provided by your Virtual Staff. Secondly, you have the choice to not offer benefits that a full time worker receives.
2. No office requirement – Since Virtual Staff report to you from a remote area, you do not have to avail a huge office space to accommodate your employees and allow them to fulfill their duties. As business owner, you have the liberty to work anywhere you prefer so does the hired Virtual Assistant. This gives you the advantage of bringing your work with you anywhere you go. However, there are troublesome matters that may arise in this work set up especially that you do not physically see your virtual staff at work. Do not fret as we have simple solutions to resolve these kinds of problems.
3. Lots of options – You do not have to limit yourself in finding the right person for your company. Neither your region nor distance can prohibit you to outsource the most suitable person for the vacant job. With the pool of qualified Virtual Assistants that we have, you have the power to choose the strongest candidate across the world even if they are nowhere near by you. Through this, you can also maximize their services as being a Virtual Assistant requires being tech savvy, organized, and flexible in carrying out tasks.
4. More time to focus – Managing a business involves a lot of easy repetitive tasks that is just time consuming. These are simple duties that can be attended by our qualified Virtual Assistants which can be done with minimal supervision. Therefore, you can allocate more of your time to focus on the core functions of your business, address issues, and resolve complex tasks. By allowing us to provide a Virtual Assistant, you can have a little more extra time to improve on your weak areas and further develop your craft. Moreover, you reward yourself to have some off time from work and enjoy your personal life knowing that you have our provided Virtual Assistant to support you and your business.
5. 24/7 service – Maximize your profitability by offering 24/7 service to your clients. Most likely than not, Virtual Assistants are working in a different time zone from yours. This gives you the leverage to perform in a 24/7 time scheme. Not only can they address your clients needs immediately but you can also utilize their assistance to operate your company in its utmost capacity. Through our Virtual Assistants, they can continue to work on your projects even if you are out of work. By the time you come back again, they have finished the job that needs to be done. It is a win-win situation for both ends because you can offer your staff to work on their preferred time and still be able to accomplish the job.
Now that you have gained strong key points why you should hire a Virtual Assistant, let me show you an overview of how you can hire one!
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is similar to an employer looking for a full time office based employee. You should hire someone who best fits for the job. We do this by looking at the professional background, strengths, weaknesses, skills, interests, priorities of the candidate. There are tools and channels that help us with these but that is another story to tell. Let us breakdown into specific steps on how you can outsource a Virtual Assistant.
1. Identification of tasks to be done – The first step for you to properly hire a Virtual Assistant is to make a list of what tasks are you planning to delegate to your Virtual Assistant. Do you need help with administrative work, marketing efforts, customer service, or daily personal errands? Which among the key areas of your business can be accomplished virtually? From there, you can already point out your expected outputs from these responsibilities. Which leads you to step number 2.
2. Make a job description – After completing the list of tasks intended for your Virtual Assistant, you have to create a job description. Include the background of your company and write down the specifics of the duties such as reaching a monthly quota, landing x number of clients a week, maintain a contact list of your clients, generate leads, and so on. You have to explain to the candidate the responsibilities of the position, qualities, experiences, and requirements that are needed to get hired.
3. Outsource from business solution agencies – There are a lot of online platforms where you can publish your ad. However, there is a high chance that your ad will be pushed down the list by the other thousands of ads. You can free yourself from this extra work through outsourcing from business solution agencies that will do the leg work for you. Through our expertise, you can expect to get quality results immediately and start boosting your company in no time.
4. Review review review – This is the crucial step in outsourcing a Virtual Assistant. You must have the eye to be able to qualify the right person for the job. Of course, we do not want to waste your time nor your money. With our experience, we have mastered techniques how to properly and thoroughly assess a candidate by using different effective tools and proven methods. This way we can provide you a shortlist of the strongest candidates for the position.
5. Probationary period – This is usually done in most companies to give time allowance in assessing your new hire. Being able to say impressive things during an interview is one thing but actually performing the tasks and responsibilities of the job is another thing. By putting your new hire under a probationary period for a month or so, you can further assess their abilities. On the other hand, this also gives you a short time frame to look for a replacement in case your pick did not work out.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is very helpful to accomplish projects and generate more leads. Now that you have understood its role, importance, and how to hire a Virtual Staff, you can now heighten the number of your quality outputs and achieve business success.