What Life with a Virtual Personal Assistant is Like
Now’s a great time to be an entrepreneur, whether you are just aspiring to launch a business, already own one, or have been in your industry for a while. There are webinars and online courses to better your craft, tools for marketing and selling, and innovative ways to reach and engage with your customers. However, running a business still requires a lot of hard work, time, and sacrifices. In fact, without a virtual personal assistant, the life of an entrepreneur can swing from exciting to stressful really fast.
What is a Virtual Personal Assistant?
If you’ve worked with a personal assistant before, you’d know how huge of a difference they make for lightening your workload. You’d also know that it takes time and effort to find a rhythm in your work relationship. In addition, there’s paperwork, a comprehensive compensation package, and long-term commitment that comes with traditional employment.
For some business owners, this may not be an ideal setup. For one thing, not every business can afford to hire a full-time in-house employee. For another, it’s very challenging to train and manage someone.
This is where hiring a remote personal assistant comes into play.
When you pay for virtual personal assistant services, you get the benefits of having a personal assistant without the commitment and responsibility that comes with traditional employment.
Because virtual workers are business owners themselves, they invest in the necessary equipment and training to boost their portfolio and marketability. As a client, you’re not responsible for your assistant’s workspace, utilities, and basic tools. You can also expect them to be knowledgeable and experienced in their niche.
What’s more, if you hire your VA from a virtual personal assistant company, chances are you don’t have to worry about payroll, training, and employee supervision. 20four7VA, for instance, takes care of all these duties for clients as part of its extensive staffing solutions.
Not only will this work setup lift a load off your shoulders; it will also significantly lower your operational costs. Here are other business expenses you can reduce by working with a virtual assistant.
5 Signs You Need to Work with a Personal Virtual Assistant
While the benefits of having a personal assistant seem obvious, not every entrepreneur is keen on hiring one. Isn’t having remote staff something for big, established companies? Wouldn’t you learn fast and save more if you spearhead every aspect of your business?
It’s normal to have reservations about outsourcing to an online personal assistant. These 5 signs will help you assess if it’s time to work with one:
- You never seem to have enough time. Does it seem like you’re always running out of time, no matter how many hours you put in every day? Constantly struggling with your schedule is a clear sign you have too much on your plate and urgently need a personal VA.
- Your executive tasks are put on the back burner. Many entrepreneurs neglect their executive work because they’re too caught up with admin tasks. There’s a difference between what’s important and what’s urgent. There are certain business matters that only you can take care of. Don’t waste your energy and headspace over trivial tasks when you can outsource it to someone.
- Your ROI is way too low. Even after all the hours, brainstorming, and hard work you’ve invested, your ROI still falls below expectation. If you’re accomplishing too little, it’s time to take a breather and pivot to a different direction. You’ll have the time and ability to recalibrate and find high-value opportunities if there’s a personal VA to ease your workload.
- Your stress level is off the charts. Are you dreading going back to work in the morning? You may be suffering from burnout if running your business is becoming more dread than passion. Stress can have physical and mental health repercussions. The good news is, you can find different sources of eCommerce support to improve your life quality, not the least of which is a competent personal VA.
- You can’t afford a local employee. Some companies only need seasonal assistance, while some only require help for short-term projects. Others can’t afford an office space for a local employee. If you can’t afford to hire a full-time local employee, you can still get an extra pair of hands through an online assistant. Virtual assistance is scalable and flexible. You only get to pay for the hours or projects that you need.
12 Things You Never Have to Worry About If You Have a Personal VA
The best virtual personal assistant will bring out your finest qualities too. When you’re not stressing over every little thing, you’ll have more time and energy to focus on your core duties. You’ll find work-life balance again and be better positioned to manage your business.
For starters, here are 12 things you never have to worry about if you have a personal virtual assistant:
- Administrative Tasks
Data entry, handling internal and external communication systems, organizing meetings — these admin tasks keep day-to-day business operations running smoothly. While essential, they can also be tedious and repetitive. When you have a personal VA, you wouldn’t have to spend time or energy on the administrative aspect of your business. This will greatly free up your time so you can focus on your core duties instead. - Appointment Setting
Meeting with different kinds of people is part of business ownership. You meet with vendors, suppliers, investors, and clients online or offline to strike up a deal or close a sale. You want to always be at your best before your meetups. So, you need all the help you can get to present your business in the best light. Having a personal virtual assistant take care of setting appointments should help you be prepared. Your personal VA can work with you and the other party to find the most suitable schedule, book the venue, or prepare the virtual tools for a smooth, productive meeting. - Calendar Management
Many business owners struggle with time management. One of the proven ways to stay on top of things and find a balance between life and work is to have an organized calendar. Most personal virtual assistants are skilled and trained when it comes to this task. They can structure your calendar in a way that helps you stay productive without being overwhelmed. They can help ensure your priorities are met and your goals achieved. - Email Management
As your inbox fills with dozens of messages a day, it’s easy to lose important messages or spend a lot of time finding and answering messages. This is something you will never have to worry about when you have a personal VA. Your assistant can segment and answer messages, or forward you the ones that need your urgent attention. - Outbound and Inbound Calls
Making and receiving calls may sound like such a simple thing to do — until you have to do it several times a day on top of your other more urgent tasks. Making and receiving calls is another responsibility to delegate to your personal assistant. You’ll be surprised how easy and smooth-flowing your workflow will get when someone takes or leaves messages in your place. - File Management
Employee information, client details, business data — these are just some important files that business handles, stores, and manages every day. The longer you are in business, the more files you have to keep and manage. It can quickly get overwhelming if you don’t have a system in place. Good thing personal VAs are skilled when it comes to filing management. What’s more, they are often well-versed when it comes to secure file storage, so you never have to worry about compromising important or sensitive data. - Liaising with Suppliers, Vendors, or Partners
You communicate with different people on different platforms. Your personal VA can ensure your liaisons with suppliers, vendors, or partners will run smoothly and securely. Your VA can screen or forward messages to you, proofread and send your response, or follow through messages that you sent out. - Customer Service
For startup owners, having a personal assistant means having a customer service rep for your business. You may not always have the time to go through every customer message or concern. You can set up policies and processes for customer concerns, and your personal VA will take care of its execution. - Reputation Management
Another advantage of having a personal VA is having eyes and ears to monitor what people are saying about your business. They can monitor your business platforms, social media accounts, group boards, and Google Business page to promptly catch flustered customers or verify complaints. They can deescalate a situation and ensure customer concerns are quickly taken care of. - Research Work
Need further details on a project you’re working on? Want to find out more about your target customer? Whatever data you need, your VA can conduct research, compile results, and organize a report so you have all the information that you need. - Preparing Presentations
Pitching to investors and clients can be unnerving. Thorough preparation will help you find confidence and self-assurance. Your VA can organize everything that you need and create presentations that you can use to pitch to clients or investors. That way, you can focus on perfecting your pitch and preparing for possible questions. - Recruitment
Hiring new people is inevitable when your business is growing. However, recruitment can be stressful if you handle everything on your own. Who better to help you than your personal assistant? They can interview applicants, conducting pre-screen tests, and verify if people will be a great fit for your team.
Running a business can either be exciting and fulfilling or stressful and overwhelming. The difference can be caused by several factors, not the least of which is having a virtual personal assistant who shares, eases, and smooths out your workload. Manage your business better with the help of a remote personal assistant from 20four7VA.
