Tasks You Can Outsource to a Virtual Assistant for Increased Productivity

As a small business owner, you wear many hats. From accounting and marketing to customer service and product development, there are seemingly endless tasks to juggle daily. But what if there was someone who could help take some of the load off your plate? Enter the virtual assistant.

Virtual assistants are remote professionals who provide administrative support for businesses of all sizes. While the tasks to outsource to a virtual assistant will depend on your individual needs, there are a few common tasks that are well-suited for this type of support.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is a type of assistant that works remotely, often using cloud-based technology to provide assistance to clients. Virtual assistants can perform various tasks, from data entry and social media marketing to making client invoices and providing calendar management. The popularity of virtual assistants has grown in recent years, as businesses and individuals alike have come to appreciate the benefits of working with a remote assistant. Virtual assistants are often more flexible and affordable than traditional in-office assistants, and they can offer a higher level of customization when it comes to meeting the needs of their clients. Whether you’re looking for help with your business or personal life, a virtual assistant can be an invaluable asset.

How Can A Virtual Assistant (VA) Help Your Business?

Virtual assistants can help businesses in several ways. If you think there is nothing that a virtual assistant can do to help your business, let’s look at a few things that may change your mind.

1. A Virtual Assistant Can Keep You From Turning Down Work

We have all hit that point in our business where we must start turning down work. As hard as it is to gain projects and grow a business, turning down work is not a good option. Sometimes a virtual assistant can help you say yes to more work. Take a look at the tasks that are on your plate every day. Are these all things you need to be doing, want to be doing, and should be doing? Think about something simple like writing a blog post, collecting materials or files from clients, managing social media accounts, or conducting online research. If you take one of these tasks off your plate, would it open the doors for you to say yes to more projects? Chances are it would!

Example of Virtual Assistant Services

2. A VA Can Keep Your Customers Happy

There is only so much of you to go around. If you and your employees already have full calendars, it is hard to give each client what they need. However, if some of the essential day-to-day tasks can get taken off of your plate, you may be able to give your clients more attention. Let’s face it when clients have more attention, they will be willing to do more business. The more business a company or individual will do with you, the more money you will make. Hiring a VA does not mean that they will be the face of the company; however, they can handle the back end so that you can be present for your customers again.

Example of Virtual Assistant Services

3. Having Enough Help Can Prevent The Quality Of Your Work From Slipping

Suppose you think back to the start of your business when you landed your first client. Did that client get the best of everything you had to offer? Of course, they did; they were; first, you had time, and you had everything organized and in order. As your business has grown, has the quality of the work you give people remained the same? For most, the answer is a regretful no. Business owners are busy people, and they want to put out a perfect product or service. However, this level of perfection and the level of profitability can sometimes get a bit blended. Having the right balance between staff and the quality of your work is essential. If your quality starts slipping, you need to address the issue by hiring more staff to complete projects.

Examples of Virtual Assistant Services

3. A Skilled Virtual Assistant Can Make It Easier For Customers To Reach You

One thing that business owners quickly come to realize is that customers want to speak to the owner quite often. Keeping track of these customers, their requests, and their need for your time can be quite difficult. There are a few ways that a VA can help assist with this. First, a VA may be able to free up time so that you can speak with and help more customers daily. If you don’t have to check 100 emails each day, you may have some extra time to speak to a customer. A VA can help with this process by fielding phone calls and emails for you. The VA can take these emails and phone calls and help create a schedule that works for you. The VA will set up calls when you have available time, and customers will get the attention they need and deserve. A VA can also handle some tasks that a customer may need without even reaching out to you. Wouldn’t it be nice to have tasks taken off your plate without you knowing that they were ever on your plate?

Examples of Virtual Assistant Services 

4. An Experienced Virtual Assistant Can Help You Save Time On Paperwork And Bookkeeping

The last thing that business owners want to do at the end of a long day or week is paperwork and bookkeeping. As a business owner, the idea of growing your business and making money is great; however, the back-end part of this is frustrating. Spending time entering transactions from a week of work may not be the best use of your time. If you have a VA that you can trust to handle these things for you, you may be able to grow the business or take a break. Yes, a VA can help you get a bit of time off. Not that your paperwork and bookkeeping are unimportant, but you will undoubtedly be able to teach a person how to complete these tasks. Remember that VA’s have all different levels of qualifications and capabilities. If you are new to the world of virtual assistants, you will be highly surprised by the knowledge some of these people have.

Examples of Virtual Assistant Services 

5. Hiring A Virtual Assistant Could Allow A Small Business Owner To Take A Vacation

Burnout is something that happens to business owners quite often. With all of the tasks that fall on a business owner’s plate, it can seem impossible to take a vacation. The good news is, it is not impossible. There are absolutely ways that you can and should take a break from your work. A general virtual assistant may be able to keep things in control for you while you are out of town. As all business owners know, there are times when you will need to check in. However, checking in and putting in a full day of work are two different things. Remember that you don’t need to hand your entire business to the VA. Simply teach them the basics that need to happen so that they can manage should you want to go out of town. This is a hard step for a business owner to take in the beginning. However, over time you will want to let go a bit and step away from things.

Examples of Virtual Assistant Services

7. Quality Employees Can Help Your Business Grow

For most businesses, the overall goal of the company is to help it grow. To help a business grow, you must put the time in. Growing a business takes a lot of time and patience. In all reality, if you are stuck handling social media, blog posting, bookkeeping, emails, phone calls, tax prep, and more, how will you grow your business? It’s essential to take a look at your business’s goals, but even more important is a plan to reach those goals. Handling day-to-day tasks that don’t allow you to grow your business will not be worth it in the end. Although there is an upfront cost to a virtual assistant, that cost will be covered in ways that you can grow your business. If you want to make more money and expand your current list of customers and clients, give yourself the time to do so. In addition, you may find that one of your VA’s is actually very good at sales. You may be able to train this employee to start selling products or building relationships with new customers. Finding a way to keep on a quality virtual assistant could be a tremendous step in growth for your company.

Examples of Virtual Assistant Services

How Much Does A Virtual Assistant Cost

Now that you have a better understanding of the services that a virtual assistant can offer, it’s essential to understand the costs involved. The more skilled a VA you need, the more it will cost you to hire one. For instance, a VA that can handle all of your bookkeeping and payroll is going to be more money than one that can edit a photo. In general, you can usually find a VA that will cost between $15 and $30 per hour. Sometimes you may be able to outsource the work to a more extensive scape operation that charges between $5 and $10 per hour, but the tasks may be a bit more simple. If you are looking for services like SEO, business strategy, data analytics, and more, you could be looking to pay between $50 and $100 per hour. Even though these prices are going to be considerably higher, indeed the quality of what these people have to offer your company will be worth the extra money.

Where Do You Find A Virtual Assistant?

If you’re looking to hire a virtual assistant, there are several different places you can look. One option is to use a platform like Hubstaff Talent, which allows you to post a job listing and receive applications from interested candidates. Another option is to use a site like ZipRecruiter, which aggregates job listings from various sources. You can also search for freelancers on platforms like Upwork or Fivver. Finally, LinkedIn is also a good place to look for potential candidates, as many professionals use the site to showcase their work and skills. Ultimately, there are several different places you can look when trying to find a virtual assistant. The best approach is to try out a few different options and see what works best for your needs.

What To Look For In A Virtual Assistant

When you’re looking to hire a virtual assistant, there are a few different things you’ll want to keep in mind.

• First, it’s important to find someone who is reliable and can meet deadlines. The last thing you want is to have to constantly chase down your VA to get tasks completed.
• It’s also important to find someone who is a good fit for your company culture. Just because someone is a great VA doesn’t mean they’ll be a good fit for your business.
• Finally, you’ll want to make sure you communicate your expectations clearly. The more you can set up your VA for success, the better results you’ll see.

Create A Job Posting

If you are considering hiring a virtual assistant, the first step is to create a job posting that outlines the skills and experience you are looking for. This will help you attract the best candidates for the job. When writing your job posting, be sure to include:

• A brief description of the company and what type of work you do
• A list of the specific tasks you need help with
• The qualifications and skills you are looking for in a candidate
• How to apply for the position

Here’s a template you can use to create a job posting when hiring your next virtual assistant:

We are a small startup that is looking for a virtual assistant to help with a variety of tasks. We are mostly involved in online work, such as website development, social media, and content creation. What you’ll be doing: Your main duties will include assisting with customer service inquiries, managing our social media accounts, creating and scheduling blog posts, and providing administrative support. Requirements: The ideal candidate will have excellent written and verbal communication skills, be highly organized, and have experience with customer service and social media. Preferred Qualifications: In addition to the above requirements, we would prefer candidates who have experience with website development If you are interested in this position, please send your resume and a brief cover letter to [email address] We look forward to hearing from you!

Promoting Your Job Posting

Once you have created your job posting, promote it on job boards and social media sites. You can also reach out to virtual assistant agencies or ask for recommendations from people in your network. When you have a few candidates, conduct phone or video interviews to get to know them better and see if they would be a good fit for your team. Be sure to ask about their experience, availability, and rates. After you have found the perfect virtual assistant, it’s important to set them up for success by providing training on the specific tasks you need help with and how you would like them completed. Check in regularly to see how they are progressing and offer feedback. With the right virtual assistant, you can take your business to the next level.

Conclusion

Outsourcing these tasks to a virtual assistant can help you save time and energy to focus on what matters most – growing your business. Have you tried using a virtual assistant? What tasks do you outsource? Share your thoughts in the comments below.