A virtual assistant is a freelancer who does a variety of tasks normally done by personal or admin assistants.
As contractors these people work offsite, usually from home.
They provide their own equipment and workspace, and only ask to be paid for the service they render, whether it is on piece rate or hourly basis.
Work is done and submitted online; all an employer needs to provide are a contract and payment for services rendered.
It is easy to find ads for virtual assistant services online, these days, but it is best to remember that they come with many different skill sets and levels.
In most cases you get the quality you pay for.
What can a virtual assistant do for YOU?
The short answer to that question is almost anything that can be done online; and that says a lot!
While it is true that the role of virtual assistants evolved from secretarial and general administrative services, there are now literally dozens of specializations VA’s advertise service for scientific research, scheduling and logistics, legal research, data entry, bookkeeping, social media, internet marketing, web development and programming, web SEO, and much more.
Basically you can think of VA services as a way of passing off tasks that:
- You are not good at: Some doctors are very capable physicians but cannot find their way around computers, and some businessmen are just poor at scheduling and logistics. There are VA’s out there who do these things day in and day out without getting bored – it is what they do for a living!
- You don’t want to do: Whether we admit it or not, there are some activities we absolutely hate to do, even if we know somebody has to do it. For some that may be filing, answering phone calls, or even engaging in social media. There are VA’s out there who enjoy the tasks we dislike.
- You are too busy to do yourself: Even if you just consider hourly rates, at some point your rates would be far too high to spend time entering data. Then there is the fact that if you are at a stage where there is more work than you can effectively handle, the logical answer may be to hire a VA.
- Diverts you from your core activity or competence: This is true especially of businessmen. The role of a business owner is to strategize and plan ways to increase the bottom line, not to handle the books, maintain a website, or worry about SEO.
Benefits of hiring a virtual assistant
- Reduce stress. It can be quite stressful to do certain tasks which, though they need to be done, you do not really enjoy doing. It just ruins the rest of the day for you. The good news is that you don’t have to be the one to do it! Some virtual assistants enjoy doing the types of work that you dislike.
- You can expect VA’s to have the skills, training, competence, office space, and equipment to handle the tasks you ask them to do.
- Pay only for the time you use. You only need to provide them a contract and to pay for whatever service they render.
- VA’s don’t have to be provided with the usual employee benefit package which usually include social security, insurance, HMO, vacation leave, sick leave, etc.
- You also don’t need to worry about keeping a VA busy, or about employees wasting time in social media sites.
- A VA can provide almost all the services an onsite admin assistant or personal assistant does, without all the hassles.
Just don’t expect virtual assistants to make you coffee or give you back rubs online – technology has advanced a lot, but not that much!
Who can use a virtual assistant?
Another way of appreciating the definition of a virtual assistant is to list some of the people who benefit from their services, such as:
- An online business owner who neither has the time nor the skills to navigate the complexities of online marketing and SEO can sure use the help of a VA. There are VA’s who can create and maintain websites, create videos, podcasts, landing pages, auto responders, or draft and post articles to improve your SEO ranking, etc.
- Businessmen who want to get their message across to their target market in an efficient and effective manner usually hire VA’s to create newsletters, articles, advertisements, and the like for them. While some of them are perfectly capable of producing good copy, their time is much too valuable.
- The doctor who needs to get his patient records transcribed, but does not have the time, or patience, to do it himself. It is interesting that though most medical records are transcribed from voice recordings, some are still from hand-written notes; it takes expertise to be able to read most doctors’ scribbles!
- An accountant, who suddenly finds a temporary surge in work demand as tax due dates or fiscal year ends loom, can certainly use help from a VA with accounts experience. The beauty of a contractual arrangement is that once the work surge ends, it is easy to end the contract.
- A law office, which normally hires paralegals for legal research, may find that hiring a VA with legal skills a more convenient and more affordable option.
- An academic can use some help from VA’s offering research services on the field of study they are involved in. There are so many people offering VA services that you can be sure to find someone with the education and skills you want.
- Then of course there are those who need basic secretarial services like email drafting, phone answering, data entry, and filing. Secretarial services make up the bulk of VA contracts but, as we have shown, VA’s can do a lot more.
Why consider hiring a virtual assistant?
With the ease with which a VA can get things done for an employer without involving a large cash outlay, the more appropriate question is why not?
VA’s can be used to handle both periodic and unexpected work surges.
Their services are immediately available; no need to wait for medical screening, compliance with government regulations, purchase of furniture, equipment and supplies. Best of all hiring a virtual assistant allows you to dip your toes without much cost.
If you are not satisfied with the results, it is easy to end a VA’s contract. Then you have a choice of whether to look for a more suitable VA or just discontinue the service.
Virtual Assistant VS. Employee
By now the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant versus an online employee should be very clear: Employees use up space, need to be provided equipment, supplies, insurance, social security, vacation pay, HMO coverage, etc.; all you need to give a VA is a contract and payment for services rendered. There is no contest.
One other advantage of virtual assistants over physical employees is that discrimination is taken out of the picture entirely.
As contractors, VA’s are paid for results – almost the way you would define the phrase “merit based pay.”
Whether the VA is male, female, tall, short does not matter. They operate on a level playing field those corporations hiring lots of physical onsite employees can only dream about.
The term ‘workplace tensions’ does not apply or, at the very least, the VA does not contribute to it.
The next time you think of virtual assistants, think of them as angels always ready to lend a helping hand!
Very interesting post! This makes perfect sense with so many digital tools out there one could need assistance in keeping up! I see this benefiting small businesses who may not have a lot of headcount in doing the admin stuff that they need…from ordering supplies, doing travel arrangements, making reservations and appointments, etc. 🙂
Insightful post! Thanks so much for sharing the benefits to Virtual Assistants. As someone who has hired VAs, I can not praise them enough.
This is so interesting! I’ve never heard of a virtual assistant before, but it makes a lot of sense!
This is really great information. I am sure a lot of people can benefit from it. I do VA work for my sister and I love it.
Great explanations! I have actually had a couple ask what this is in the last couple of weeks, now I can point them to this post!
I will be very excited if I one day need a virtual assistant. Maybe I could be a virtual assistant.
I think you covered the basics of what a VA is. They can be VERY beneficial to bloggers, and a know a lot of them have a VA for busy tasks. I am considering hiring one at the first of the year to help me with social media.
I’m currently unemployed so I don’t need one personally, but I can see how other people (or even companies) would benefit from this!
I would LOVE to be a VA for someone (I kind of am at work!) Great post <3
I like the comment about Virtual Assistants being thought of as angels ready to lend a helping hand. My hubby used to get so frustrated trying to negotiate various websites. Finally I suggested he retain a VA to find the info he needed there. It certainly made his day (and mine) easier.
Really interesting! I’d heard the term “VA” tossed around in a few places recently, and I sort of figured out what they were from context–this post helped clear the term up completely. I’m certainly a long way from needed a VA myself as my blog is still within manageable form, but I’ll have to keep this in mind for when it gets really big (haha–fingers crossed!). 🙂
I hope one day I will be big enough to need one of these. I see others use them and they are def a must.
I always thought it would be fun to be a Virtual Assistant but I have way too much going on these days. But I have a feeling that I may need one one day.
I try to do my own but I can see if some don’t have the time. This could be handy.
I know a lot of people who use virtual assistants to help their businesses. They can be really beneficial!
If I made more money I would totally have a VA!
My blog is still new and I don’t make any money, but this is a good idea for later on…I can dream for now! 🙂
We’ve hired virtual assistants through our business. It is a great option!
What great information about virtual assistants, thanks for sharing.
VAs are so helpful for bloggers! I love being one and have used them myself.
This is really great to know. If I ever take my blog past hobby stage, I think I am going to need a VA!
I have a VA for when I travel and she is awesome. When I am home I can keep up myself.
I’m considering it at this point. I’ve gotten so busy lately.
I do hope that some day I am doing well enough to hire one. I surely see how helpful they are!
I’ve been a VA doing accounting, taxes, and marketing. It is a lot of fun. I have also hired them. Pretty handy folks to have 😉
I would love to have been a virtual assistant. Then I created my own business. But I think I would have enjoyed being a virtual assistant.
Virtual assistants can be very helpful. I use one when my workload gets to full.
I’ve heard of Virtual Assistant’s but was never sure on the job description. Maybe someday I will need one!
I had never heard of a virtual assistant before! Maybe one day I’ll need one! Thanks for the thoughtful post!
I worked as a VA for 3 years and it is such an awesome job – you’ve got to be SUPER organized. That being said – finding a good VA has been so hard – until GEEKYVA came along 😉
I have definitely considered getting a virtual assistant ’cause God knows I could use a little help in that area! <3
It’s so hard to get everything done on your own. This is a great idea to free you up for the important things.
I have two virtual assistants and love them. I am so glad I hired them and it’s a huge stress reliever as they do stuff for me that is vital but that I just don’t want to do.
I have seen some amazing VAs running around the web lately. I think it’s a smart move if you’ve got the funds and the traffic to justify it.
I have one! I need all the help I can get. I am so tired of being pulled in all directions so a VA can help me focus.
that’s a great idea! will keep this in mind when my blog grows bigger !
I haven’t hired a VA but I’ve definitely thought about it! My blog doesn’t bring in enough to offset the cost at this time, but maybe in the future! 🙂
Interesting Idea! I definitely need to keep it in mind.
I need an virtual assistant 🙂
One day I’m hoping to afford one. They definitely would be a time management saver!
I’m definitely not in need of one now, but maybe in the future!
The more I hear about VAs, the more I think I need to get one soon! 😉 Honestly, I’m sure I could actually get the ‘blog as a business’ venture off the ground that much faster… Maybe it’ll be my new years resolution!
xo,
lauriel
EyeForElegance.com
I would love an assistant. I need SEO help. But I have no idea how to pick someone. How do you know who’s good? If you can recommend someone, let me know.
xoxo
Candace
http://www.FromCtoC.com