A virtual assistant (VA) is an office administration professional who works from their own home or office and completes their work online or virtually. It’s like having an employee but with more flexibility. They may work standard business hours or at different times of the day to suit their schedule and yours.
A virtual assistant can do many tasks, including:
- Scheduling appointments
- Taking phone calls
- Email management
- Customer support
- Data entry
- Filing
- Completing routine documentation
- Basic accounts
- General administration
The tasks you allocate to a VA to do within your business depends on your requirements.
There are many benefits to using a virtual assistant in your business.
Time Savings
A lot of the tasks that can be managed by a virtual assistant can actually be quite time consuming and sometimes stressful for a small business owner. Having a VA means you can spend time on other areas of your business that require your focus.
Reduced Operational Costs
Virtual assistants are individual contractors, so you don’t have to outlay any of the costs associated with employing a permanent member of staff, including:
- Payroll tax
- Annual leave
- Sick days
- Superannuation
- Employee training
- Equipment costs
Increased Productivity
A VA doesn’t have to battle traffic to get to work and won’t spend the first half hour of the workday making coffee and chatting around the water cooler. Most virtual assistants use time tracking software which means they clock out for toilet and meal breaks or at any time they are not working on your project.
Flexibility
Virtual assistants offer flexibility that you don’t have with permanent staff. You may have more or less tasks from day to day that need to be completed and a virtual assistant can adapt accordingly.
Work/Life Balance
Outsourcing various tasks will free up time so you can enjoy the things that matter. Rather than spending late nights and weekends catching up on business admin, you can spend time doing the things you love.
Access to Diverse Skills
Virtual Assistants have a wide range of skills and expertise across various industries so they may be able to not only assist with admin tasks but also social media or graphic design, anything your business may need.
Virtual assistants are a valuable asset to have in your business and will help you not only run your business efficiently but also enable you to focus on tasks that will help you grow your business.