What Is A Virtual Assistant?
Wikipedia: "Virtual assistance is the professional
service of remote administrative support by an independent
contractor called a virtual assistant who works with clients
in an ongoing, collaborative professional relationship."
VAnetworking.com:
"A Virtual Assistant (substitute VA or Virtual Associate)
works independently at an arm’s length, via the Internet,
utilizing the latest technologies, to provide immediate professional
support, services and skills to busy entrepreneurs and business
managers.
Partnering with a VA reduces stress, protects
cash flow, eliminates administrative hassles, and enables
business people to find the success they originally set out
to achieve."
You may have heard of virtual assistance
using another term, "outsourcing". Outsourcing is
generally considered to be the transfer of the management
and/or day-to-day execution of business functions by an external
service provider. The client organization enters a
contractual agreement with the supplier (the VA) that
defines the transferred services. Business segments
typically outsourced include information technology, human
resources, facilities and real estate management, and
accounting.
Outsourcing is utilizing experts from
outside your organization to perform specific tasks that you or
your staff once performed.
The decision to outsource is often made in
the interest of lowering firm costs or
to make more efficient use of labor, capital, technology and
resources.
10 Ways A VA Can Enhance Your Life
The ways in
which a VA can help you and your business are as unique and
diverse as the individual VAs are themselves. However, there
are standard benefits realized when partnering with a
Virtual Assistant:
-
Having a trained professional
handle the work that doesn't need your direct attention frees up
your time to:
* grow
your business
* do
just the work that you love
* spend
more time with family and friends
* take
advantage of professional opportunities
-
You don't need to provide a
physical workspace or costly equipment.
-
There are no administrative
details associated with an employee since a VA is a contracted
member of your team. No dealing with payroll, payroll taxes, insurance
or retirement benefits.
-
A VA can assist you with marketing support,
increasing your clientele and freeing up valuable time to service
your customers.
-
A VA can be instrumental
in proofing, editing, and typing all of your correspondence;
providing a more professional appearance to all your business communications.
-
Because VAs work on an “as needed
basis” and only when you have work, hiring a VA can
save you money. You only pay for the work done. What a cost
savings that can be.
-
A Virtual Assistant can schedule your
appointments, manage your calendar, organize your desk, and
make running a business that much smoother.
-
A VA is also more readily
available during after-hours or weekends for last minute
projects or tasks.
-
Once you work with a VA,
they know your business inside and out; all the better to
help you grow your business.
-
Opportunity to interact with another
successful business owner!
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