Why Should a Small or Start-up Business Hire a Virtual Assistant?
Elton Aclao
Founder & CEO at Elton Aclao Recruitment Group | Bridging Talent and Opportunity Globally
A virtual assistant can carry out several tasks to help you achieve your business goals. They carry out day to day task, and that's why small businesses need virtual assistants. They need to work remotely, either in their home comfort or work in a coworking space. Some agencies offer virtual assistance services for small business owners, or you can hire them through freelancers' websites. In this post, I'll be sharing reasons why small business owners need virtual assistants:
1. Spend minimum time on administrative tasks.
A virtual assistant has experience being an office manager, a personal assistant, or an admin manager. They excel at carrying out administrative tasks in your business, allowing you to focus on your business. They carry out tasks such as data entry, updating your CRM system, and non-boarding clients. They act as your assistant by managing your emails, booking travels, preparing a meeting, or organizing events. They help to update your spreadsheet or creating PowerPoint slides. They also help to raise an invoice, reconciliations transactions, and other financial reports.
2. Lower recruitment and training costs
Usually, when you hire new people for your organization, you will spend time and resources to train the individual adequately. You spend money on selection, interview, test, and training the employee. The hiring process is long and expensive, but you cut this part off when you hire a Virtual Assistant. They can help you carry out an essential administrative task without spending much money hiring a new employee. The companies that offer Virtual Assistance services have vast experience handling the task for you and selecting the best candidate.
3. You don't pay for breaks.
Employees work from Mondays to Friday, and they need to take breaks in between. But it's quite different from Virtual Assistant. They work on an hourly basis, and you don't need to pay for lunch breaks. You only pay for the time they spend working for you. Before hiring, calculate the monthly workload and set a time tracking software for payment at the end of each month.
4. You do not need a physical office.
The significant advantage of hiring virtual assistants is that they work online. Al they require is an internet connection. They do not need to be at a physical office. Most do not work in the same country as you do. It is beneficial to both parties because you save the cost of renting an office space.
5. You do not need to set up working tools.
When you hire virtual assistants, you do not need to set up working tools for them. They work from home, and you don't need to buy a laptop or phone. They already have the equipment they need to get the job done. Some companies in charge of recruiting candidates require them to send a picture of their home office to ensure they get the job done.
6. Little work for a full-time employee
If you have a little task for a full-time employee, you can hire a Virtual Assistant. It isn't easy to find a full-time employee willing to work just a few hours, but you can hire virtual assistants to get the work done. Flexibility is one of the essential components of this profession, and it allows them to work for a few hours for one company and perform other tasks for another company.
7. You require an employee who is a specialist.
If you require an individual who is an expert in a particular field, virtual assistants are the best option. They have their expertise, such as booking flights, providing customer service, and data entry.
8. They are always available
Full-time employees only work for a particular time, but that's not the case with virtual assistants. They are flexible and can work on different projects from different time zone. You can easily reach them to perform urgent tasks within a short time.
9. Confidentiality of your documents is guaranteed
You can always trust your virtual assistants with your office documents. Before hiring them, they need to sign a Non-Discourse Agreement that will guarantee your secrets are safe. Also, you should limit access to sensitive information. They should only have access to the information they need to complete.
10. Increased productivity
In a familiar working environment, full-time employees are not productive throughout the eight-hour working period. They have to take coffee breaks, or they surf the internet while working. But it's different with virtual assistants. They can focus and dedicate time to your work and complete it promptly. Their primary goal is to satisfy their clients, so they save their time to achieve that. If they slack off, they are likely to lose their clients. For this significant reason, they are motivated and more productive than full-time employees.
11. Access to The Best Talent
Most virtual assistants are specialists, and they understand the mode of operation thoroughly. They are knowledgeable about what they do, and they offer the best service. When you are hiring a virtual assistant, you can hire the best talents without any geographical restrictions. You have access to the best skills at a lower price compared to hiring a full-time employee. They are focused on making your business grow. The more you communicate your business needs, the better they understand what you want and how they can achieve it. Gradually, they become a valued member of your company without any geographical boundaries.
Virtual assistants can help with serval kinds of tasks. Regardless of what industry, they can help you increase your sales and achieve business goals. They save you tons of money spent hiring a full-time employee, and they help reduce overhead costs. They can help with several tasks such as admin, customer service, data entry, recruitments, and others. You can also hire them to organize your schedules and other personal issues, such as booking flights.