Welcome to the 21st century…
A Virtual Assistant is still a fairy new term in business, and so it is forgiveable that many people are still in the dark about what it actually stands for.
A Virtual Assistant, also known as a V.A in 21st century text speak, is exactly that – someone who will work for you virtually, connecting only over the phone, on Skype and via email. You may wonder why on earth someone would want to hire a person they have no daily physical face to face contact with, but when businesses start to consider the costs of hiring the physically present equivalent of a V.A, (the P.A), they quickly realise exactly why the V.A wins out every time.
According to the National Careers Service, a full time PA’s wage starts at £18,000 a year and that is not including promotions, overtime, benefits or bonuses. As a new or even established small to medium sized enterprise, the likelihood of you having an endless cash flow to enable you to pay a full time staff member is slim to none, no matter how desperately you need someone to do the every growing multitude of work which is swiftly and demandingly filling your inbox and diary each day. So what do you do? Struggle on under the weight of an increasing workload whilst simultaneously trying to win new clients, keep established clients happy and also have any kind of life? Sounds tempting? Hardly…
Abra-abra-cadabra
Enter the V.A. Just imagine having a life line at the end of an email whenever you need it. Someone who can quite literally take away all those niggling, pressing, demanding little and large issues and to-do’s which you know need doing, in some cases quite desperately, but that for one reason or another, you simply can not get round to doing.
That is the job of a VA. Suddenly your day will open up to allow you to really communicate with your customers with a clear head, concentrate on the work that only you as head and founder of the company can do, and even switch off the computer and leave the office on time and with a guilt free conscience because guess what…all your work is done!
What you don’t need to worry about when hiring a V.A is whether or not you are giving them enough work. You can send over an hour of work a week or thirty hours of work a week. You can send over whatever jobs you need doing to ensure that your business runs smoothly, and V.A services can include any or all of the following, and everything in between:
Manage vehicle insurance, tax and servicing
Being a point of contact for tenants
Source and purchase products and services
Send an email to your list
Respond to queries on your behalf
Put simply: our job is to make your job easier, more effective and more successful.
Imagine knowing that everything you need doing but don’t have the time for, don’t have the patience for or don’t have the specific skill set for has been completed to the highest professional degree in plenty of time and is simply waiting in your inbox for you?
So, what is a V.A? Your Valiant Angel – available any time at the end of an email.
Your wish is our command.