Do you need more time in your day?
Do you need help with your administrative tasks and wish you had an assistant?
Today, I want to tell you about my experiences with virtual assistants and how your business could benefit by adding a virtual team member.
Getting Some Virtual Help
As I started growing the TMN site, I soon realized that I could not do all the work myself. As well, I needed to delegate some of the repetitive tasks so that I could concentrate on creative work and interacting with readers.
Once upon a time, this problem would have meant hiring local help to aid me in keeping up with my growing workload.
However, the world has changed, you don’t need to hire a regular full-time or part-time employee. You can leverage a virtual assistant (VA) for a fraction of the cost.
As well, they don’t have to be local. In fact, they can live on the other side of the country (or the planet). In many cases, it works well to have a VA that isn’t in your time zone.
You may be a perfect candidate for a virtual assistant if:
- You have paperwork that you can’t keep up with
- You need calendar and appointment assistance
- Someone else could manage your communication
- You run a small business and have too much work on your plate
What Is A Virtual Assistant and What Can They Do For Me?
A virtual assistant is someone who works remotely on your tasks. With tools and technology, they can be just as productive (if not more so) than someone in your office.
My virtual assistant and I share files (Dropbox), coordinate projects (Asana), and even meet virtually (Skype or Google+).
The biggest challenge you will have when first engaging a virtual assistant is delegating work.
Speaking from my experience, it felt weird at first having a VA doing tasks on my behalf. However, we quickly became a team and now my VA handles much of my administrative work.
But, before most people reach the point of engaging a virtual assistant, they first find themselves overwhelmed with work, email, and unfinished tasks.
That was the situation I was in last Fall…
Enter eaHELP
I had a good problem. My TMN site was growing dramatically and opportunities were starting to pop up left and right.
However, my workload was also expanding dramatically. Email and inquiries were pouring in, and action was needed to move projects forward.
At just the right time, I happened to meet Bryan Miles who is the owner of eaHELP, a virtual assistant company. (Although, they call their virtual assistants… executive assistants. Hence, the “ea.” )
I had engaged virtual assistant companies previously, but for the most part found them to be “task masters.” If you throw a task over the wall, they throw an answer back. The level of engagement just wasn’t there. I needed a team member, not just a research assistant.
eaHELP specializes in assistants who are part of your organization, not a distant outside entity. This next level of service is what eaHELP delivered for me.
Once I got them involved, my site has never been the same.
The next question people usually have is, “What work tasks can a VA do for me?”
What My Virtual Assistant Does For Me
Many people wonder what they will have their VA do once they have them onboard.
So, here are just 10 activities that my VA does for me:
10 Tasks My VA Does for Me…
- Books Appointments – While I am busy doing other work, my VA books meetings, speaking engagements, and interviews. She has full access to my calendar and adds appointments where appropriate.
- Handles All Correspondence – Yes, my VA reads my TMN mail. She is the first line of defense in correspondence. She makes sure that the important messages get to me and others do not. She also has her own @TMN email address so that she is “part of the organization.”
- Filters the Noise – Once my site reached a certain level, I started to get all kinds of inquiries. Especially from scammers, linkbackers, and non-serious people spamming me about their products. My VA filters this noise so that I can concentrate on the most important tasks.
- Newsletter Preparation – My VA preps my TMN Newsletter each week. This task probably saves me 20–30 minutes each week. This is a good example of a repetitive task that my VA was able to take off my plate.
- Reaches Out to Companies – When I partner with companies, my VA does all the initial inquiries with the companies we engage. Again, she directly represents my TMN brand.
- Screens Guest Posts – Another administrative task, she does the first review on all Guest Posts submitted to TMN. She is the standard keeper in this area.
- Invoices – I know many people who run small business who can’t keep up with their paperwork. This can be very costly when it involves payments due to you. My VA does all the work in invoicing and ensures things stay on track.
- Compiles Info – Admin work is a good area to have your VA take work off your plate. My VA recently compiled a list of blog posts for an upcoming book. This allowed me to keep writing new material while she took care of the compilation.
- Keeps Me on Deadlines – Yes, even a ninja needs reminders sometimes. My VA helps keep me on deadlines. I was on a business trip a while back when she pinged me about a deadline for a major publication that was due the next day.
- Makes Decisions – This one is important and why I use eaHELP vs. some of the task-master VA companies. I fully trust her to make decisions on the tasks she is handling. She consults with me on critical issues, but otherwise she keeps me out of the fray by making prudent decisions on the issues I do not need to be involved in.
Benefits of a Virtual Assistant
There are many benefits to having a virtual assistant.
If you are looking to grow you business and work capacity, you should investigate the options that a VA brings.
It doesn’t require a large monetary or time investment. And it might just bring you more of both.
Benefits of having a virtual assistant:
- More Bandwidth – We only have so much time… you can have more time to work on what you need to do.
- Concentrate on Creating – Takes administrative work off your list, so that you can focus on creating value.
- Be More Timely – Ensure that you meet deadlines and be more timely in your correspondence.
- Stay in Budget – Allows expanded capacity without hiring a direct employee.
If you are in need of some extra assistance, I recommend you look at what a virtual assistant can do for your business. And I highly recommend eaHELP, their organization is top-notch. (Get in touch with them here.)
Great post. But do VA’s really look that the girl in the picture? 🙂
Yes… maybe. I’ll let my VA respond to that… 🙂
Very wise. 🙂
I love fachin and poplar shopping and makeup and I want to Be a poplar Will you hlap me
Well, we aren’t all blond. 🙂
I think where most people struggle with hiring a VA is knowing what to delegate to them and then being able to let go. Too many people, myself included, underestimate the knowledge and ability of most VA’s. Once you overcome these small hurdles you start to see how productive you are when you’re not having to deal with all the small things everyday.
Craig, how many hours a week/month does your VA work? And did you start at these hours or gradually increase from a smaller amount of hours?
Shane,
Agree… many people starting out with a VA struggle to find tasks to delegate. (Another post brewing here…coming soon.)
My VA currently works 5 hours/week. You would be surprised how much admin work can be accomplished in that timeframe.
I may later increase that to 10 hours a week. However, that is the beauty of a VA relationship, you can ramp it up (or down) based on your needs.
Kelly (my VA) and I have been working together for about 7 months now.
I would love to hear your thoughts about deciding “what” to delegate as well as a more indepth ideas about “how” to delegate. What sort of workflow have you found productive? How did you implement it?
Grateful for this post Craig! Great insight! I’m glad we are serving you well at eaHELP!
Bryan Miles, CEO
http://www.eaHELP.com
Yes, a great post highlighting the usefulness of partnering with a Virtual Assistant, and the benefits of a well organized multi-VA practice. Thank you!
What a great idea! I’ve got too much on my to do list and could use help. Is it mostly just administrative, or do the VA’s skills carry over into other areas like copywriting, or web design? I’ve seen VA’s claiming to do all of kinds of tasks. Do you think it’s wise to use someone with many skills, or should I narrow my task focus?
Skills vary. I would recommend getting references or examples of their work.
Some VA’s do more technical work, web design, etc. If you are working with a company (such as eaHELP that I use) they will match you with a VA that fits your business needs.
Hope that helps.
Having a virtual assistant is one way of utilizing the power of technology – not to be confused with mobile virtual assistant; example: Siri.
If you’re planning to have one, I suggest proper planning such as which tasks to be outsourced and how will you monitor his/her progress. I got one from Remote Staff (here’s their list: http://www.remotestaff.com.au/rs/candidates/virtual_assistance/ ) and the good thing about their service is they monitor my virtual assistants and send me daily email’s to keep me abreast of their activities.
How do we control the confidential information?
Adriana at Essential2You Services is great! The company is insured, US based, and they have a confidentiality agreement within the contract we signed. She handled everything from personal obligations to helping to get my start-up get off the ground with her marketing experience. You get what you pay for using those freelance sites, this one is available outside of business hours as well, which was helpful when my flight got cancelled due to those crazy wildfires we had last year. Check her out and tell her Al and Mandi sent ya! 😉 [email protected]
Thanks so much for sharing the benefits of a virtual assistant.
Great post Craig! To anyone looking for skilled VAs, check out http://myndconsulting.com
This is a good read! Thank you for this. This is a good reference! Kudos!
Great article, some very valid points. A virtual assistant can take away the stress of running a business and handle your workload for a very low cost, compared to hiring employees. TOYO LTD are a virtual assistant based in Sussex / Kent and we offer a wide variety of services, from typing services (copy and audio typing: http://www.toyoltd.co.uk/typing-services ) to call answering, appointment booking, data entry and a lot more!
Feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in our services – http://www.toyoltd.co.uk
Very helpful information on virtual assisting. In the real world of corporations, small businesses and young professional need help growing their workforce. As most entrepreneurs and busy business owners can attest to, there is a constant need to delegate daily tasks for various deadlines, and utilizing a virtual assistant is the most efficient way to complete those tasks.This was true when I started working with RedButler.com
Good read! Giving tips based on your VAs performance, I love the way you said about getting such benefits for having a virtual assistant. Giving out your tools and ideas are good stuff as well. You may add how VA can improve his productivity since they are used in providing quality work and that majority of the time, given a span of training, their tasks will be repetitive for them. I think it somehow guarantees productivity. Whenever you think they are no longer productive, you can delegate more tasks.
Great article, Craig. I noticed that this was posted back in 2013 and I just wanted to bring up that VA’s aren’t limited to Admin tasks anymore. The VA industry had seen a lot of progress to the point that they’re capable of working on technical tasks such as Marketing, Graphic Design, Content Creation among others.
Thanks For sharing the benefits of hiring a Virtual Assistant. To grow Buiseness virtually we hire a virtual assistant. It can help the business to grow virtually and fast. There are different types of benefits of hiring virtual assistants like Reduce operating costs and increase efficiency. Instead of that, there are some other benefits too. These benefits are really important at a low cost. We also wrote an article How Hiring Virtual Assistants Can Reduce Your Cost (Here is the link https://eluminousva.com/blog/how-hiring-virtual-assistants-can-reduce-your-cost/)
Sorry to ask this off topic question but I have a sale on eBay and I wanted my VA to order it on my Amazon account. How can I have my va order the item on Amazon without having to give them full access to my buyers account?
Great article you have here! I like that you have listed the things your VA does for you. As a VA myself, its good to know that many businesses recognize the help of a VA.
Excellent article. Having a virtual assistant is quite beneficial. Entrepreneurs or business owners save a lot of time on their workload. And it’s great if the employer and VA have a really good working relationship.