When it comes to running a business, the tasks are divided into two categories, i.e. core tasks and mundane tasks.
Core tasks are the most important business activities. As an entrepreneur, one should personally look after the core tasks as it affects the business.
However, there are many other not so important mundane tasks you need to carry out. These tasks can be handled by another person as well.
Because of this reason, most entrepreneurs look for virtual assistants who can look after these tasks. It helps them to solely focus on the core business activities.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is an independent person who provides various services to other individuals from their home. Unlike ordinary assistants, they work remotely from their home.
They are responsible for taking care of administrative, creative or other technical work. Nowadays, most entrepreneurs prefer hiring a virtual assistant as the process is simple and cost-effective.
However, you need to know why, how and where to hire a virtual assistant for your business to make it more profitable.
Why Should You Hire A Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant can do wonders for your business by taking up all the admin work and giving you a lot of free time to focus on the core activities. Here are the three main reasons why you need to hire a virtual assistant.
- Saves Time:
The main reason why you need to hire a virtual assistant is that it helps you to save a lot of time. Nowadays, most entrepreneurs and influencers don’t have time to manage all the work. However, a virtual assistant can help you save a lot of time. The hiring process is quick as you don’t need an HR team to recruit an assistant. They can help you complete various tasks in a quick span of time, thereby giving you a lot of free time.
- Saves Money:
Hiring a virtual assistant can help you save a lot of money. It is a cost-effective way of getting some extra help to run your business. There is zero hiring cost, training cost and office setup cost. The salary is less compared to a full-time working employee.
- Increases Productivity:
It helps you to increase productivity as you can easily focus on the main aspects of the business. Virtual assistants are experienced and can easily complete multiple tasks at once. As you can solely focus on the main activities of the business, it will help you to increase productivity.
What Can A Virtual Assistant Do For You?
A virtual assistant can do many things for you. They have the experience to complete various tasks. Here are some of the things they can do.
- Administrative Work:
A virtual assistant can do all the admin work for you. They can answer phone calls, make travel arrangements, manage schedules, calendar and carry on data entry work.
- Social Media Management:
They can also help you to manage social media accounts, pages and platforms. They can schedule posts, edit media, post images, videos, reply to comments and messages.
- Email Management:
A virtual assistant can help you manage your email as well. They can answer important emails, organize your inbox, follow up with clients, prepare email lists and do many things.
- Content Creation:
They can help you to create content as well. You can hire them to research and write articles, posts and blogs for you.
- Customer Service:
You can hire a virtual assistant to provide customer service to your clients. They can answer phone calls and help the customers to resolve the query.
- Personal Tasks:
They can also help you to carry out personal tasks like booking tickets, hotels, answering personal calls, managing calendar, shopping for items, etc.
Cost of Hiring a Virtual Assistant:
The cost of hiring a virtual assistant might differ from one country to another. Most of them are freelancers and work on an hourly basis. If you want to hire a virtual assistant for basic tasks, it will cost you around $1 to $5 per hour.
However, if you want a virtual assistant for handling multiple challenging tasks, it will cost you around $8 to $15 per hour. If you want a good virtual assistant from developed countries, the cost will increase. It might go up to $20 to $50 per hour, depending on the type of work.
Where to Hire a Virtual Assistant?
If you are looking forward to hiring a virtual assistant for your business, you can use any of these two options to find one.
- Virtual Assistant Job Postings:
You will find virtual assistants on various job postings as well. You can simply post about your job requirements to hire virtual assistants. You can hire them on a project basis, permanent basis or part-time basis.
- Virtual Assistant Companies:
There are many companies that provide virtual assistants. You will find many such companies on the web. They have different types of virtual assistants. You can specify your requirements and hire one as per your business type.
Qualities to Look for in a Virtual Assistant:
If you want to hire the right virtual assistant for your business, make sure they have all these qualities.
- Good Oral and Written Communication:
The virtual assistant should have good oral and written communication skills. They should easily understand all the tasks and orders. There should be no communication barrier.
- Organized:
They should be well organized. They need to have proper planning skills so that they can plan their schedule and calendar.
- Computer Skills:
A virtual assistant needs to have good computer skills as most of the remote work is done online. They need to know how to manage emails, social media and create content.
- Social Media Friendly:
They need to be social media friendly so that they can manage your social media accounts. They need to be well versed with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.
- Management Skills:
They should possess management skills so that they can plan, manage and organize all the daily tasks and activities.
How to Hire a Virtual Assistant?
If you want to hire a virtual assistant, follow these simple steps.
- Step 1: Decide what tasks you want the virtual assistant to do
- Step 2: Know your budget
- Step 3: Search for virtual assistant via online platforms
- Step 4: Write a job post
- Step 5: Conduct interview and shortlist candidates
- Step 6: Design a short test
- Step 7: Create a training program
- Step 8: Set expectations and do a trial run
