Why Your Small Business Should Hire a Virtual Assistant

Due Publisher Channel Content by
Due


Key Tips for Small Businesses That Want to Hire a Virtual Assistant

There’s a common misconception that virtual assistants are some kind of “luxury” only affordable by the big companies to outsource projects that require less management but are considered an overhead. Actually, the other way around seems to be true as more and more freelancers and small companies resort to hiring virtual assistants as a solution to the limited time they have available. By the point where business is stable, small business owners realize that, even though they’re doing well, they don’t have much time to be creative and take their dream further.

Some entrepreneurs think that a physical assistant will get the job done better than a hired virtual assistant would. But, the truth is, having a physical assistant takes up a lot more time and energy than a virtual one. And why should you hire a virtual assistant?

Here are a Few Reasons Why Having a Virtual Assistant Trumps Having a Physical Assistant:

  • It takes time to find the right person. It needs to be someone who’s qualified and matches your personality, so you can have them around all day.
  • In-house employees cost you more than their salary! You have to frequently train them, pay for their insurance and when they’re having a bad day/week/month (which is totally reasonable) your business may suffer.
  • You cannot afford someone full-time anyway but you’re overwhelmed with chores, tedious paperwork and a line of projects.
  • You are not willing to spend time on interviewing, hiring and training

If you find yourself thinking those things, then you might want to seriously consider hiring a virtual assistant. The niche of virtual assistants for hire is growing rapidly over the last few years, as the internet has us all interconnected so much, that it’s almost like having an in-house employee. Talented professionals from all over the world can be your call center, your social media manager or your SEO marketing expert.

However, there are things to consider before you hire an online virtual assistant that will determine the efficacy of your choice. The point is to gain profit from this move and carry out more projects than usual, with the best results possible. There is a wide variety of professions you can outsource to a virtual assistant or a virtual assistant company; from simple administrative tasks to accounting or human resources management.

Things to Consider When You Want to Hire a Virtual Assistant

Do You Really Need to Hire a Virtual Assistant?

The first question you need to ask yourself is: “What do I need to hire a virtual assistant for?”. Get your priorities straight first by listing all those pressing issues you need to get out of your way. You need someone to answer emails, support your customers and handle everyday micro-tasks? This could be anything from handling your schedule of appointments to managing your small business’s social media. Or you need someone with whom you can work closely on a project and delegate one of its aspects?

Which Kind of Virtual Assistant Mode will Address your Company’s Needs Properly?

The two major virtual assistant options available out there are ndividual virtual assistants and virtual assistant companies. The first option is suitable for working closely with a certain individual of your choosing. The second option is the best solution when you want to outsource specific tasks that don’t need your attention, like case studies, research or bookkeeping. It’s important to go with the option that best answers your needs and helps your small business grow. Your decision must be based upon factors such as project size, importance, virtual assistant’s monthly cost and the calculated benefits that you’ll enjoy in the long term.

Hire an Individual Assistant When:

You are a new small business owner who wants to focus on kickstarting your venture the best way you can. In order to do that, you need to get rid of small, repetitive duties and let an individual virtual assistant take care of all of this for you. All those small, daunting tasks that consume your time and interfere with your creativity can be a thing of the past. By hiring a task-based individual virtual assistant you don’t have to micromanage them too.

Hiring an individual VA has one more plus: you get to train them to work for you according to your workflow, style and corporate culture! Who knows? Maybe one day you can incorporate them into your team, provided that you’ve made an asset out of them!

Moreover, a dedicated virtual assistant is the best solution if you want to delegate sensitive financial procedures, like invoicing and billing. If you happen to use an invoicing platform, like Elorus, for your invoicing needs you have to grant access to your virtual assistant in order to do their job. You don’t want your business’s data to be visible by random virtual assistants working for a company.

Finally, one more reason to hire a virtual assistant that works alone is the reasonable pricing which varies from person to person and depends on the task. However, the best virtual assistants usually have a more specific price range, that doesn’t drop below $30 per hour. All you have to do here is literally weigh your options, but never forget that a good virtual assistant is worth every penny!

Hire a Virtual Assistant Company If:

However, individual virtual assistants don’t offer their skill set to you alone. They can cater for the needs of many clients at the same time, and it’s up to them to decide their priorities. This is not true when you choose to go with a virtual assistant company. They are experienced and have a large number of employees with specific skill sets to match your needs. You will always have an immediate response to your requests from a well-trained professional, no matter what!

VA companies can help you manage routine tasks, as well as, carry out entire projects for you! Therefore, they can contribute to your business’s productivity, boost its growth and avoid common mistakes that an individual, physical or virtual assistant would make due to lack of experience.

It’s very important to mention that when you hire a virtual assistant company you must make sure you get a free trial for their services. The best virtual assistant companies out there offer it by default, so if you contact one that doesn’t, there’s something definitely “off” about them.

As you’ve probably already imagined, the top virtual assistant companies can be out of your reach financially (if your business is young), so you might want to calculate your budget well. Good thing is, they have monthly packages so you can try them out and see if it’s feasible. Remember, this is an investment that will pay you back, in the long run, so be patient.

The decision to hire a virtual administrative assistant or company has a binary meaning; your business is growing! But it could grow out of control in the blink of an eye without help. So, why not outsource the burdening tasks to someone who possesses the expertise to keep your books neat, handle your correspondence professionally or do a market research with the most reliable data available?

Hiring a virtual assistant or a virtual assistant company will leave you with more time and energy in your hands to focus on the things that matter most: developing your business, creating new products/services, enjoying your spare time with loved ones.

Businesswoman Photo via Shutterstock


More in: 14 Comments ▼

Due Due is a payments, eCash, online invoicing, time tracking, global payments and digital wallet solution for freelancers, small business owners and companies of all sizes.

14 Reactions
  1. I think using a virtual assistant makes perfect sense for the small business. A friend of mine has just started offering a service where she edits video. These kinds of tasks are so time consuming. You can basically pass work like this over so that it frees you up for the things only you can do. A great investment.

    • Working with a virtual assistant can completely change the way that you – and your business – operate. It can help you to save money, it can help you to save time – and best of all, it can help you to outsource specialized work to people who have a wealth of experience so that your business benefits.

  2. As already stated above ALL the essential necessities of a virtual assistant especially to start-up or small businesses. Your business budget and daily tasks are the best consideration whether or not you need to hire a virtual assistant or not. Hiring a virtual assistant is surely beneficial for the growth of your business.

  3. The internet connectivity has been immensely helpful for brands and companies in attaining success for their businesses and reaching out towards its target market and making their presence known, spreading awareness regarding their products or services. An individual or company can easily oversee projects via the internet and can guarantee the tasks are completed at the desired time with just a few clicks away. But even with the technology giving us ways to simplify our work unlike in the early years, some tasks cannot be easily done by the company executive alone. The need to hire a co-administrator from one of the best virtual assistant companies then become a priority to save time and prevent loads of stress.

  4. As a VA who offers a proof reading service I just wanted to draw your attention to the first line in the item titled Which Kind of Virtual Assistant Mode will Address your Company’s Needs Properly? – there is an i missing from individual 🙂

  5. Why would a VA offer his/her services for free – do other professionals offer their services for free – do you get a free trial from a lawyer, a plumber, a doctor? No, then why would a VA offer that?

    A VA may offer a free consultation – very much in the same way a GP or lawyer would but as a business professional none would just give away free hours

  6. It’s always better to hire an individual assistant to take care of the small business rather than outsourcing the business. To start off with, I hired a single assistant from Habiliss and started to outsource my business. Later after seeing its continued performance hired 2 more assistants. Now I am happy with my business. I am able to concentrate more on my potential clients.

  7. Very nice article about hiring VA and it’s benefits. I’m VA and web designer for 7 years now, and I helped a lot of businesses to save time and efforts doing some stuff they don’t have time or enough knowledge to do it.
    Advantage of hiring online va is that you can hire him anytime you want, anytime you feel you need help, even for 1h a month.

  8. Interesting article on VA. In my point of view, it is always better to hire a VA. By hiring a VA, we can delegate most of our tasks to them and stay focused on our core business. It also helps to maintain a perfect work life Balance. My VAs in Habiliss vitrual assistant services along with serving me on business needs, they do assist me ordering groceries and paying my bills, so that I don miss anything from my end…

  9. Hiring a virtual assistant is not that easy. We need to consider many things before hiring a virtual assistant. After considering the top factors, I have hired assistants from Habiliss. They have made my life easier Indeed. I am happy that I made a good choice.

  10. Have anyone hired a virtual assistant from Outvas? Any comment about their virtual assistants?

  11. Great post. I totally agree that hiring a virtual assistant in a business is such a big help specifically in terms of financial and tasks allocation process. Let me add some more benefits on hiring a VA through an agency; (a) the whole process of selecting the ideal VA for your business will be handled by the VA agency, (b) supervising to make sure the work quality is maintained and presented.

    [edited by Editor in accordance with policy]

  12. The information is really helpful.I am planning to hire a virtual personal assistant for my startup business. Hope that they can help me out in lot of my activities allowing me to concentrate more on my core business.

  13. This is so chock full of useful information. I can’t wait to dig deep and start utilizing the resources.