Ever wondered what a Virtual Assistant Does? Well I though I would give you an overview below:
A Virtual Assistant (or VA) is a self-employed PA who provides professional secretarial and admin support to businesses and individuals. They work from their own premises, often as home-based businesses, and support their clients virtually via phone, email and fax. Many VAs also use Internet technology such as dropbox to share documents, and cloud based applications to manage diaries and emails on behalf of their clients.
The majority of Virtual Assistants come from a secretarial/admin background. They usually have approximately 10+ years experience in this field. Most Virtual Assistants work alone, but some work with other VAs as associates to provide a wider range of services than they would otherwise be able to by themselves.
A Virtual Assistant can assist with a wide range of office administration tasks. These can include secretarial services you would expect from a traditional PA such as copy typing, diary and email management, meeting arrangements and travel co-ordination. However, VAs are increasingly offering a wider range of more specialised services such as desk top publishing, web design, book-keeping, email marketing, blog and social media management, lifestyle management and event planning to name a few.
So a VA is a cost-effective solution to businesses that need secretarial support but don’t have the budget or facilities to hire someone full-time. A client can hire a VA as and when they are needed, and only pays for the hours that work is required. There are no additional staff costs such as tax, NI or sick/holiday pay and there are no overhead costs as the VA works from their own premises.
So, as you can see, hiring a Virtual Assistant can give small businesses the opportunity of having professional PA support without the cost of hiring someone permanent. Also, as VAs are business owners themselves, they understand the pressures and challenges that their clients face in their own business.
However, the main benefit for businesses is that by outsourcing their essential but non-fee earning admin tasks, they have more time and energy to focus on the work that they enjoy doing, and which will increase their income and grow their business.
If you think I can help you and your business by providing admin support please get in touch for a chat.