The virtual assistant industry continues to grow and more and more small business owners are waking up to the great possibilities offered by a good virtual assistant (VA).
I believe that a good VA can be a fantastic resource for forward thinking small businesses, but it is worth putting in some thought to finding a service that will suit you.
The VA industry has few barriers to entry and consequently VAs vary greatly.
There are those that work on their own from home, others that work as loose knit teams and then there are the big players who have lots of VAs and you could find yourself dealing with different people on a regular basis.
Virtual PAs, VAs, virtual administrators, virtual office support - call it what you will but there's a VA service out there to suit most needs.
It's really down to you as the potential client to identify what you're looking for.
However, it can be baffling - type "virtual assistant" into Google and you'll be faced with no end of choice.
Here are a few areas to think about that might make choosing a VA easier.
What do you want to delegate? You may already have a very clear idea of a particular function that you want to outsource to a VA, such as responding to initial inquiries and sending out brochures, or compiling your expense reports each month.
If this is the case then you'd be well advised to seek out a VA that specialises in the particular area you are looking for help with.
Perhaps you just have a general sense of not having enough time and being overwhelmed with admin.
If this is the case then call a few different VAs and have a chat about your requirements.
An experienced VA should be able to help you think about what you could delegate by finding out about your business and requirements.
They should also be able to give you some examples of how they work with other clients that may inspire you.
Where do you want your VA to be? The very nature of virtual work means that your VA could be located anywhere with an internet connection.
So you need to think about whether location is important to you.
Does it matter if the person is in the same town/region/country? It really shouldn't unless you want someone who has specific local knowledge for some reason.
If you choose a VA close to home because you are hoping to have face to face meetings with them, then you should make this very clear from the beginning.
Many VAs are not keen on regular face to face meetings with clients and understandably so.
There are few things that cannot be done virtually and face to face meetings often involve a huge amount of wasted time.
When do you need your VA to be available? To some extent this will be driven by what you want to delegate to your virtual assistant.
If you are looking for call answering then clearly you need someone who is going to be available for the duration of the working day, five days a week.
So you maybe better off looking for someone who works as part of a team rather than a single VA.
Likewise if most of the tasks you want done tend to be urgent in nature or need a very quick turnaround, then really it is not going to work if your VA only works mornings or afternoons and you can't get hold of them when you want them.
Availability is not a concern if the work can be scheduled in by the VA and has a turnaround time of two or three days.
For most solo virtual assistants this is their ideal type of work - a regular task or a particular project to delegate that simply needs to be done by a particular date but with no restriction on what time of day the work must be done, etc.
What do you want to pay? There's a wide range of rates around in the VA world, I've seen people advertising rates as low as £10 per hour and as high as £40.
The average going rate tends to be around the £20 to £25 per hour mark.
If these hourly rates seem high to you, don't forget to take into account that using a VA means you have none of the costs of supplying office space or equipment for the work to be carried out.
There's no holiday pay, salary or NI contributions to worry about.
In addition you should be getting the skills of someone who is highly experienced in their area of work.
Find a personality fit.
Last but not least your VA should be someone that you get on with and feel comfortable dealing with.
Personality fit is important when finding a VA.
This will hopefully be someone who will be working alongside you for a long time so they might as well be someone you get along with.
A virtual assistant could make all the difference to your business.
But try to make sure you make the right decision from the beginning and choose one that is right for you.
©Pattie Mason 2008
I believe that a good VA can be a fantastic resource for forward thinking small businesses, but it is worth putting in some thought to finding a service that will suit you.
The VA industry has few barriers to entry and consequently VAs vary greatly.
There are those that work on their own from home, others that work as loose knit teams and then there are the big players who have lots of VAs and you could find yourself dealing with different people on a regular basis.
Virtual PAs, VAs, virtual administrators, virtual office support - call it what you will but there's a VA service out there to suit most needs.
It's really down to you as the potential client to identify what you're looking for.
However, it can be baffling - type "virtual assistant" into Google and you'll be faced with no end of choice.
Here are a few areas to think about that might make choosing a VA easier.
What do you want to delegate? You may already have a very clear idea of a particular function that you want to outsource to a VA, such as responding to initial inquiries and sending out brochures, or compiling your expense reports each month.
If this is the case then you'd be well advised to seek out a VA that specialises in the particular area you are looking for help with.
Perhaps you just have a general sense of not having enough time and being overwhelmed with admin.
If this is the case then call a few different VAs and have a chat about your requirements.
An experienced VA should be able to help you think about what you could delegate by finding out about your business and requirements.
They should also be able to give you some examples of how they work with other clients that may inspire you.
Where do you want your VA to be? The very nature of virtual work means that your VA could be located anywhere with an internet connection.
So you need to think about whether location is important to you.
Does it matter if the person is in the same town/region/country? It really shouldn't unless you want someone who has specific local knowledge for some reason.
If you choose a VA close to home because you are hoping to have face to face meetings with them, then you should make this very clear from the beginning.
Many VAs are not keen on regular face to face meetings with clients and understandably so.
There are few things that cannot be done virtually and face to face meetings often involve a huge amount of wasted time.
When do you need your VA to be available? To some extent this will be driven by what you want to delegate to your virtual assistant.
If you are looking for call answering then clearly you need someone who is going to be available for the duration of the working day, five days a week.
So you maybe better off looking for someone who works as part of a team rather than a single VA.
Likewise if most of the tasks you want done tend to be urgent in nature or need a very quick turnaround, then really it is not going to work if your VA only works mornings or afternoons and you can't get hold of them when you want them.
Availability is not a concern if the work can be scheduled in by the VA and has a turnaround time of two or three days.
For most solo virtual assistants this is their ideal type of work - a regular task or a particular project to delegate that simply needs to be done by a particular date but with no restriction on what time of day the work must be done, etc.
What do you want to pay? There's a wide range of rates around in the VA world, I've seen people advertising rates as low as £10 per hour and as high as £40.
The average going rate tends to be around the £20 to £25 per hour mark.
If these hourly rates seem high to you, don't forget to take into account that using a VA means you have none of the costs of supplying office space or equipment for the work to be carried out.
There's no holiday pay, salary or NI contributions to worry about.
In addition you should be getting the skills of someone who is highly experienced in their area of work.
Find a personality fit.
Last but not least your VA should be someone that you get on with and feel comfortable dealing with.
Personality fit is important when finding a VA.
This will hopefully be someone who will be working alongside you for a long time so they might as well be someone you get along with.
A virtual assistant could make all the difference to your business.
But try to make sure you make the right decision from the beginning and choose one that is right for you.
©Pattie Mason 2008
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