The benefits of hiring a virtual assistant are numerous. They save you time, they can do tasks that you don’t have the time or skills to complete, and they can take on some of your less-desirable tasks.
Hiring a virtual assistant is one of the best decisions you could make to maximize the productivity of your business, one of the reasons why is no one has all the skills to run a business, at some point you are going to need assistance.
More: Time Management Strategies for Managers.
In this article, we will discuss the 9 benefits of hiring a VA and also some of the basics of virtual assisting.
Who is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is an individual who provides administrative or technical support to clients from a remote location.
Virtual assistants typically work with their clients on projects via the internet and email, so they do not need to be in the same physical office space.
They can provide benefits such as saving time for project managers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners.
What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
Virtual assistants can perform a wide range of tasks depending on their skills and qualifications.
Some of the general services virtual assistants offer include:
- Handling data entry, online research, or administrative work such as answering emails and filling out forms for businesses owners who don’t have the time to do it themselves.
- Updating social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. for small business owners or entrepreneurs who do not have the time to update it themselves.
- Editing, formatting, and creating written content such as newsletters, blog posts, etc.
- Performing customer service tasks by answering product questions from customers on e-commerce websites like Amazon and eBay
Generally, virtual assistants provide services for business owners and entrepreneurs who do not have the time, skills, or resources to complete these tasks themselves.
9 Ways to Maximize Your Productivity with a Virtual Assistant
1. Choose a Professional VA.
When hiring a virtual assistant choose someone who is a professional on the task you have, hiring someone with no necessary skills on the task you have will result in fewer quality results.
The best way to check their level of skills is to check their testimonials and portfolio pages, if you don’t know how to access these resources ask them for their recent related projects.
If you are hiring a virtual assistant from a freelancing platform, make sure to check their reviews and job completion rate.
2. Provide Clear Instructions.
If your instructions are unclear, there is a chance that they may get the job done incorrectly which could cause frustration for both parties.
Therefore, take enough time to give them all the details before they even start working for you, and give them a reliable means of communication in order to contact you if they need any more details along the way.
3. Give Regular Feedback.
Make sure to check in with your virtual assistant frequently to see how they are doing and what you can do to help them be more productive.
Providing feedback regularly will help them get more clarity on what you want and how you want it.
4. Schedule Clear Deadlines.
Setting deadlines clear will make it much easier for both of you because there is no guessing game involved if something needs to get done by a specific date.
This will also help you figure out if they are someone who is capable of meeting your deadlines or not.
In addition, setting deadlines will motivate them to deliver faster.
5. Be Transparent with Your Virtual Assistant.
Many times, being transparent about the benefits and opportunities that come along with working for a particular company can increase motivation to complete tasks quickly.
They may even be more proactive in finding ways to speed up their performance if they truly believe in the benefits of working for you.
And also, when they know what to expect from you, you saved yourself from unnecessary unpleasantries.
6. Get Things Done Faster with a Virtual Assistant!
Hiring a virtual assistant can be extremely helpful when it comes to the speed and quality of work that gets done around your company.
They will also help free up more time for you so that you can focus on other tasks at hand, therefore, hire a virtual assistant with the purpose of speeding up your work with better quality.
7. A Virtual Assistant Can Reduce Stress and Increase Creativity.
Working with a virtual assistant can reduce stress levels in your life as it is one less task that you have to worry about completing on top of the others.
Reducing stress is a proven way to boost your creativity and productivity because you’ll be able to dedicate more time and energy to creating new ideas and strategies for your company.
8. Leave Data Entry to Virtual Assistant.
Data entry is a boring part of running a business and time-consuming for many people. If you have a lot of data entry work to do for your business, a virtual assistant can definitely help speed up the process and get it done more efficiently than if you were doing it on your own.
This will free up time so that you can focus on other important tasks, before you know it, your productivity level increases.
9. How About Social Media?
If you’ve ever tried to manage your social media on your own, then you know how overwhelming it can be at times. Between posting new content and responding to customer’s questions and comments.
Unless you are a social media person or social media is not part of your business operations, I recommend you let a virtual assistant take charge of it.
Conclusion
The conclusion to this blog post is that a virtual assistant should be your best friend. A good VA will help you balance the demands of life with work by taking care of all those tasks that are too difficult or time-consuming for you, leaving more room in your schedule for other important things.
If you’ve been looking for someone who can take on some of your workloads so that you have more free time to focus on the bigger picture, it could be worth investing in a VA, and in that case, I might be just the guy you need 😉.
Feel free to contact me, I will be happy to answer all your questions. You can also check out How to Start Up a Business with No Money Investment and How do Virtual Assistants Work?.
