Whether you are a solopreneur or already have several employees under you, you can benefit from a virtual assistant. Remote workers are becoming more socially accepted within any business framework, especially if they help you to increase your bottom line, while defraying the costs of expanding or running a business. They can be used for secretarial work, although a large number of them can also be called in to help with high level tasks like web programming, blog writing, graphic design, and even translation work. To figure out how a virtual assistant can improve your business take a look at how others use them to enhance their business models.
Top 5 Ways Your Company Can Benefit from a Virtual Assistant
The logistics of running a business are complex, but even more so with every new hire. There are a variety of details that go with adding a new person on board that include training, equipping, and housing the employee. Hiring a new employee is expensive, but most of those issues are not even factors when you hire a virtual assistant. You can benefit by:
1. Hiring Talent without Training – Have an urgent project that demands you get started now? If you hire a virtual assistant with the needed experience, you won’t have to train them to do things they already know. You can even hire virtual assistants that specialize in specific industries from real estate to green industries. While you can’t demand they drop everything and do your project first, you can set deadlines to provide guidelines for when you expect the work to be completed.
2. Saving Money on Equipment – You won’t have to spend money on computers, workstations, key cards, or anything else necessary to do the job. If the project requires graphic design, virtual assistants that specialize in that usually have the software they prefer already at hand. These workers are technically savvy and don’t require a lot of additional support to get started working right away.
3. Expanding Services Remotely – If you want to gain a foothold in a remote market, you virtual assistant can help you do that. They can field sales inquiries, make appointments, and do the legwork in the area that you can’t do yourself. You’ll also have an expert familiar with local customs that can help you market yourself better. If you can’t find the expertise you need in your geographical area, then expand your search remotely by hiring a virtual assistant. According to popular virtual assistant company UAssit.ME, being able to call on a virtual assistant at any time of the day, anytime of the year is one of the biggest benefits according to small business owners.
4. Creating a Flexible Workforce – A virtual assistant is not an employee. They are an independent contractor. As such, you do not require the same level of tax documentation as other types of workers. They aren’t on your payroll 40 hours a week and can be called on only on an “as needed” basis.
5. Leveraging Currency Rates – Many foreign countries offer virtual assistants that are paid based on the prevailing wages in those countries. You can use a currency converter to pay them in their local currency while gaining an advantage based on currency exchange rates and the difference in minimum wages.
These are a few of the many reasons why virtual assistants are becoming more and more popular every day. Businesses trying to stay flexible and reduce costs have learned that hiring independent contractors is the easiest way to achieve this goal. At the same time, companies gain the needed expertise they seek without having to pay top dollar for it. A virtual assistant can take the routine tasks off your hand, as well as the more complex ones you don’t have time for, so that you have time to build up your business more, instead of just maintaining the status quo.
References:
Bankrate (2002) Let a cyber assistant lend a virtual hand. Retrieved from: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/biz/tcb/20020814b.asp
Tabaka, M. Inc (n.d.) Why Fly Solo? Delegate Work to a Virtual Assistant. Retrieved from: http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/2008/12/why_fly_solo_delegate_work_to.html
