4 Ways Virtual Assistants Can Help Business Owners Save Time

If you're feeling overwhelmed by your day-to-day activities and responsibilities, then perhaps it's time for your to hire virtual assistants (VA). Enlisting the services of a VA can help improve your business productivity and efficiency without you having to spend extra time on tasks that you'd rather not be doing. It also gives you more time for yourself and your family. Here's how outsourcing certain business process to your virtual employees can help you.

No 1. Establishing a clear work schedule can have a huge impact on your business and having virtual assistants can definitely be an advantage in this regard. A VA can manage your work calendar, as well as schedule and confirm your appointments. He can even book your travel arrangements so you won't miss that business convention you've been dying to attend for years. By having someone to manage your schedule, you can be extra productive and efficient. What's more, you can avoid missing important appointments and deadlines.

No 2. One of the best things about outsourcing is that you have someone to do things that you don't want to do. You can delegate time-consuming tasks to your VAs so you can have time and energy for other important matters that require your attention. And with the help of VAs, you can grow your business even while you sleep.

No 3. Not everything that goes into your inbox is urgent or important. However, sorting out your emails takes a lot of your time, not to mention it can be a huge distraction, too. Fortunately, virtual assistants can sort your email and identify the ones that are important and should be addressed immediately. You can also train your VA to reply to emails that require immediate responses.

No 4. VAs can also fill in the gaps in your company. For example, if you don't have an SEO specialist amongst your in-house employees, you can hire a VA who can provide you with SEO consulting services. By hiring a VA, you don't have to spend time and money on training one of your staff to be an expert at SEO. Not only can you save time and resources, working with a VA allows you to get faster results, as well.

Hiring virtual assistants is indeed beneficial for entrepreneurs and business owners. But before you hire a VA, make sure you screen your applicants properly. Just like when choosing someone to be a member of your in-house staff, you should interview the candidates so you can assess their skills and capabilities.

Kristy Smith on Confidentpreneur

Virtual Elves has worked with many businesses over the last 3 years, providing solutions and resources around outsourcing. We have helped many businesses to increase their growth and profitability and most importantly to create space to have the business and life they really want.

Hiring Virtual Assistants Becoming More Popular in Australia, Report Says

It seems that more and more Australian business owners are realising the value of hiring virtual assistants or VAs. According to reports, over the last few years, Australia has become one of the leading countries wherein businesses prefer to outsource business processes instead of hiring in-house employees.

This has prompted a US-based global job outsourcing marketplace to open up a branch in Australia to cater to the growing demand of local businesses for remote online staff. Elance-oDesk said it is launching its Australia office this month. "It’s our second largest market globally and number one when measured per capita. We’re also seeing a lot of domestic trade between Australian businesses and Australian freelancers," said Kyri Theos, the group's Australian country manager.

According to observers, the arrival of the California-based company is a clear indication that many Australians are hiring virtual assistants because it is more convenient and more economical than hiring in-house employees. In fact, the state government of Victoria itself is jumping on the bandwagon of utilising the talents and skills of capable VAs. Just recently, the Victorian government announced that it will invest $6 million to outsource ICT infrastructure for the Centre for IT Excellence. It said that the move is geared towards implementing changes in the procurement of services in 2014 to 2015. Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips added that the state government will outsource ICT jobs to transform the ICT services that underpinned the state government.

With Elance-oDesk setting up an Australian branch and the Victorian government looking to outsource jobs, it seems that Australia as a nation is indeed embracing outsourcing. Well, this is fairly understandable. After all, it is no secret that Australia has relatively high wages and inflexible industrial relations conditions as compared to other countries. And with the rising costs of services and commodities these days, local business, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, couldn't help but look for cheaper yet better alternatives to getting quality help beyond the Australian border.

Based on certain studies, hiring virtual assistants is indeed more cost-effective than hiring a full-time staff. It can improve business efficiency and at the same time, reduce spending. For instance, for the fraction of the cost of obtaining the services of a local SEO company, you can get quality SEOservices from an experienced SEO practitioner from the Philippines or India.

In addition, virtual assistants can be hired on an "as needed" basis. You can get quality professional services without having to hire someone to be a permanent part of your company. Not only is this convenient, it is a huge time-saver as well, which is why more and more businesses are keen on hiring VAs.

Hiring Virtual Assistants? Here's What You Should Remember

If running your business makes you feel extremely stressed out and exhausted, then perhaps it's time for you to hire virtual assistants or VAs. Hiring VAs is one of the most effective and inexpensive solutions if you don't have enough time and energy to micro-manage everything. Because all work and no play make Jack a dull boy, you should find someone who can take care of mundane yet essential aspects of running your business.

However, keep in mind that outsourcing is not a magic pill that will solve everything. According to experts, you shouldn't expect a plug and play solution when you hire a virtual staff. As with highly skilled professionals, take note that each virtual assistant has his (or her) own expertise. Therefore, you shouldn't put absurd expectations on your VA's shoulder when you enlist his services.

For example, if you hired someone to provide you with SEO services, don't expect that person to also do accounting or administrative tasks for you. After all, it is rare for virtual assistants trained in search engine optimisation to be also adept at bookkeeping and other similar tasks. Be as realistic as possible and avoid asking your VA to do something that is beyond his skills and capabilities.

It is also important to give your virtual staff some time to get themselves familiar with their new work environment. One of the fundamental rules of outsourcing is that you should take the time to train your VAs in your systems and processes. For instance, if you've hired a copywriter, show him previous articles so he can pick up the tone and voice of your write-ups and produce content that is similar to the ones your company has published before.

Meanwhile, vague instructions can cause backlogs and make the job of virtual assistants more difficult than usual. So be a good boss and always give clear instructions, especially when delegating a new task. Also, encourage your virtual staff to contact you and ask you questions if there is something about the project they don't understand. Always remember that clear communication is essential to the success of a project.

And finally, to ensure a strong and harmonious relationship between you and your virtual assistants, treat them as you would treat a regular employee. Take the time to get to know them better and compliment them for a job well done. Also, make sure that you pay them on time. You certainly don't want them worrying about paying their bills if their wages get delayed because it can affect their focus and work quality.

More Australian Law Firms Hiring Virtual Assistants and Outsourcing Legal Services

These days, there have been an increasing number of law firms that are employing virtual assistants. Recent reports have revealed that some of the nation's law firms are considering establishing outsourcing centres to meet client demand for price cuts. It was said that the plan is similar to the one made by Herbert Smith Freehills, which uses a wholly owned centre in Belfast in the United Kingdom to reduce the cost of document management and review by taking advantage of the much cheaper cost of doing business in the neighbouring area of Northern Ireland.

 

Over the last few years, small and big businesses from different industries have either established offshore offices or hired remote staff to fill roles and accomplish tasks that were traditionally done in-house. Because of the rising costs of services and commodities in the country, many business owners find it practical to employ such strategies. For instance, you only need to spend several hundreds of dollars to get good SEOservices from experts outside Australia. But if you're going to hire a local expert or consultant, you will have to spend at least twice the amount.

Multinational firm Elevate Services, in particular, said it intends to build an outsourcing centre just outside the nation's capital to efficiently undertake legal work for a number of local law firms. According to Liam Brown, the company's founder and chairman, the company will be staffed by lawyers and other employees in a location that would enable the "anchor firms" to monitor their work.

Elevate, which has offices in the United States and India, will also make use of virtual assistants, technology, and cloud computing. The company firmly believes that such tactics will allow Australian law firms to be more flexible while maintaining, or even increasing, the quality of their work as well as reducing operating costs.

Hiring virtual assistants or remote staff is indeed beneficial for one's business, regardless of whether you're in legal services, retail, or information technology. In fact, EOH Holdings, a well-known company in South Africa, said its revenues have grown by 38.4% over the last six months after having outsourced the firm's IT requirements to remote assistants.

As such, it isn't surprising why companies like Elevate Services are seeking to take advantage of the benefits of having virtualassistants and offshore staff. By letting other people take care of mundane and non-essential tasks, law firms can better take care of their client's needs while keeping operating costs down.