Most businesses are run by a group of people who usually are qualified, skilled and/or experienced in the roles that they are employed. A bookkeeper would track and manage the finances, a marketing department would handle public relations and advertising, a sales executive would explore the marketplace for new clients and a geek-tech would build and maintain the required computer technology. In theory, having staff taking care of multiple tasks inevitably increases the success of the business.
But, what if you are not a prestigious corporation able to employ many and have the cashflow to do so? What if you are a small business or even a newly developed business? While your enthusiasm, energy and excitement having your own business and that you enjoy what you do, having to wear all the business startup and management hats will inevitably become overwhelming! Doing everything yourself is a great way to learn all aspects of running a business but, it will become an impossibility once your business starts to ‘take off’! What then? Your resources are limited, your cashflow remains tightly budgeted and you are noticing that there isn’t enough hours in your day to do everything.
WHAT IS A VA?
The abbreviation “VA” stands for “Virtual Assistant”. The term originated in the late 90s. Due to technology improvements such as the internet leading to document sharing and development of the Cloud, made working remotely a promising path for many to become self-employed.
VAs are becoming more in demand by entrepreneurs, small and mid-size businesses who have increased their use of the internet in the general running of their operations.
Also, a VA is a contractor; businesses are opting to use virtual support more and more, especially for specific tasks and projects and moving away from employing staff.
The true definition of a virtual assistant is an individual who hires their skills, knowledge and experience in their field of services for a set hourly fee.
VAs provide their services remotely meaning they do not require office space or equipment and they have the ability to learn and adapt quickly.
Most VAs work from their home office but many do, in fact, take to travelling around the world as they work remotely!
One of the attractions for a business owner to contract a VA is the advantage to eliminate the additional costs involved that would occur if an employee was appointed. For new/small businesses, it is an affordable solution to get the immediate support that is needed especially if cashflow is tight.
WHAT CAN A VA DO?
The exact duties for a VA is actually a never-ending list! Some are able to support businesses with various office administration skills such as book keeping, composing documentation, data entry and other clerical tasks to project management, email management, travel arrangements and so on. However, virtual support is not limited to clerical tasks. Other VAs specialise in more complexed fields such as marketing, website development, social media management, contact management/funnelling, graphic designers, coaching, copywriters and much more. A VA may also specialise in a specific industry too, for example, performs various virtual tasks for the real estate marketplace thereby only servicing realtor clients.
Basically, a VA usually can do what any other supporting employee can do except, of course, bring you coffee – however, with the influx of food delivery services, this can be arranged too!
THE BENEFITS CONTRACTING A VA
Obtaining virtual support can be crucial for a new/small business owner who wants to grow their business but with minimal expenditure. Often too, such business owners are usually on the brink of having too much to do but not quite reached their cashflow forecasts enabling them to employ.
Appointing a VA is an ideal solution because you only pay for the hours that you need, whether that be a few hours, day, week or even longer. There is no limitation as to how long a VA is contracted, it can be as short or as long term as you want. You would not be responsible for additional costings like employment benefits, vacation and sick pay; only the hours that are contracted.
Contracting a VA will undoubtedly free up a business owner’s valuable time so that you can focus on your business/make money but, you would also contract a VA who will already know how to deal with the tasks and projects that you need help. It would be faster and less expensive (in the long run) to contract out tasks and projects that can be managed by someone who is readily skilled than for you to muddle through not knowing how to do the work and/or not have enough time in your day to do so efficiently and effectively.
Another advantage for a business owner is that some VAs are flexible with their chargeout rate by offering a fixed fee per task or project. This in itself, would be a great saving to you compared to having an employee who would have to be paid a salary for more hours than necessary.
For some businesses, the benefits contracting a VA really do out way the benefits employing staff! In a nutshell, here are some pros and cons to contracting a virtual assistant:
PROS
- * Tasks will be done faster;
- * Pay only for the hours necessary to complete the tasks/projects;
- * Not responsible for employment benefits, vacation/sick pay;
- * You can delegate tasks that you are not knowledgeable about;
- * You can delegate tasks that you don’t like to do;
- * Provides you more time to focus on activities that you do want to do;
- * Decreases stress levels from trying to wear many hats;
- * Allows you to earn more (not wasting your hourly rate dealing with mundane tasks).
CONS
- * You will need a budget to pay for VA services;
- * You may find it hard ‘letting go’ aspects/tasks of the general running of your business;
- * You may need to allocate time for the VA to become accustomed to your business;
- * It’s possible that you could have a turnover of VAs until you find the right person.
You could easily argue these pros and cons are just as well fitting if you employed staff. While that is a valid point, if you have limited financial resources or that your cashflow forecasts are tight then, why appoint someone for more money to do the same work, if you are able to appoint a VA and pay for the hours that you contract and nothing more?
HOW TO CONTRACT A VA?
First thing to do before contemplating on contracting a VA is to draw up and prioritise a list of tasks and projects you would like to outsource. If you are unsure as to what kind of tasks or projects these could be then, here is a list of a few examples:
Office Administration:
Answering phone calls (business phone diverted)
Composing general correspondence, memos, reports, documents
Creating presentation, marketing materials
Organising meetings; Calendar management
Travel arrangements
Sales; Customer care support
Bookkeeping; Invoicing; Billing: Chasing payments
Digital dictation; Transcription
Email management
Contact management
Specialised Areas:
Website design, development, maintenance
Social media marketing, support
Online shopping development
SEO; online analytics, securities
Coaching; podcasts; videos
Marketing; branding
Blogging; posting; copywriting
Data entry
Project management
Database management
Community management (facebook, instagram, etc.)
The thing to remember at this stage is that you, the business owner, do not need to contract out everything in one hit! Start with a few small tasks that you are comfortable ‘letting go’. This will give you an opportunity to get used to the idea of delegating as well as having time to get to know your VA and, of course, for your VA to have the opportunity to get to know your business.
How to find your ideal VA can be achieved by three methods:
- you can contact a VA service agency that will have a variety of VAs available to be assigned;
- you can search online for freelancing services/groups;
- you can obtain a referral from your business/community network.
Opting this route for support does require a leap of faith from both the VA and the business owner. Afterall, usually neither parties know each other and so there is always the concern of mismatch. However, in saying that, there is no guarantees appointing an employee either!
Contacting a VA service agency would be ideal as all the work searching and vetting would be dealt with by the agency and, hopefully, they will be able to match you up with the a VA meeting your needs. However, you will have to pay more as it will be the agency fee that will be billed to you, not the VA’s rate.
Approaching online freelancing services can be successful but you would have to spend a considerable amount of time searching, reading and vetting VAs to no end!
Also, most VAs on the freelancing sites are often located in far away countries with a language barrier issue. The benefit using this method to find a VA will be the chargeout rates as these are usually significantly low.
In my opinion – the best way to find a competent, trustworthy and honest VA is through referral. Networking with other business groups, asking members who they recommend is a positive method to finding exactly what you are looking for.
At the beginning you may only need help for a couple of hours a week but as you add new activities to your day this might expand to several hours per week. Determine how much time you need your VA to work. Either way, the option to increase or decrease is always available with a VA. As mentioned earlier, it is also possible to contract a VA on a fixed fee per project or task.
Knowing how much time you initially will need VA services also allows you to budget efficiently and for the VA to schedule your needs to fit in with their other client commitments. As time progresses both parties will get a better idea as to how long tasks will take therefore able to adjust the hours accordingly.
VAs charge by the hour, monthly or offer a retainer fee. A retainer fee is the better option to contract as the hourly rate will have been discounted in lieu of the client committing to a set number of hours.
Retainer fees are often paid up front to ensure the hours are scheduled for a set time with the VA. For example, a business owner wants to contract 30 hours each week from a VA.
The VA has to turn away potential work from other clients to accommodate therefore, the business owner has to commit by paying for the hours in advance.
One thing to note here is that retainers are usually non-refundable if a business owner does not use all the hours in the agreed timeframe.
Finally, it is vital for both parties to negotiate, agree and sign a contract agreement to ensure all parties are aware and, obviously, in agreement with the terms.
Start out with a probationary period that would be long enough to ‘iron out’ any kinks but short enough for either party to end the arrangement should it not work out. Also, during the probationary period, start with an hourly rate arrangement.
The clearer a business owner is with regard to what they actually want from a VA, the faster a VA will be up and running becoming an asset and not a hindrance! To ensure a smooth working relationship, a business owner needs to communicate regularly with a VA. If she has questions, be sure to answer them and not leave her to ‘figure it out!” Afterall, time is money and as a business owner, you don’t want to waste either!