By hiring a virtual assistant, you can save several hours from your hectic workweek. However, knowing which business tasks to outsource to a virtual assistant can be tricky, whether you are starting a new business or trying to expand one. Most remote assistants have expertise in administrative tasks that are similar to those carried out by your current secretary or executive assistant.
In the recent past, the number of virtual assistants and their areas of specializations have grown by leaps and bounds, making it very easy for everyone to find someone who fits the unique needs of their respective organizations. As an entrepreneur, you can use a virtual assistant for anything and everything, right from making vendor/client service calls to emailing out thank you notes to prospective customers.
As you work with a virtual assistant, you will realize that over time they will become a part of your team, who just happens to work from a remote location. Do you want to try out a virtual assistant, but don’t know where to start? Here are five ways in which you can use a remote assistant to develop your business.
1. Bookkeeping: Accounting and bookkeeping is one of the easiest things that you can outsource to a virtual assistant. Several businesses, both small and large prefer to hire virtual assistants who can keep a tab on their bills and follow up on outstanding invoices /unpaid bills. The best part is that you can enjoy the expertise of a professional and dedicated bookkeeper without having to spend a huge sum of money.
2. Online research: Internet research is something that you can easily outsource to a remote assistant. Whether you require help to find information from websites, get inputs about new products, obtain ideas for your weekly blog or conduct research on a new market, your virtual assistant can help you. With a dedicated virtual assistant conducting all your research, you can channel hours of your valuable time into other core business activities.
3. Database entries: Do you never find the time to enter in data from new business cards that you just picked up or update new information about existing contacts? If yes, then you can hire a virtual assistant to make regular database entries and keep your databases up-to-date. The next time your customers /vendors fax or scan business cards to your office, you can immediately have the data entered by your virtual assistant.
4. Data presentations: You have to prep up for a meeting, but have limited time on hand. You have data that you want to share, but it is still in a raw state. This is where a virtual assistant can help you. All you have to do is send in your raw data to a virtual assistant and he/she will turn your data into an impressive PowerPoint presentation or Word document that can be easily shared with your business colleagues.
5. Managing email: Do you spend more than 2-3 hours a day just going through your emails? If yes, then why not engage a virtual assistant who can quickly filter your most important emails and reply to the rest on your behalf. However to make this work out, you may initially have to provide guidance on how to pick out your key emails. You may also have to ask the assistant to copy you, before sending out replies.
Have you outsourced any of the above business tasks to a virtual assistant before? If yes, how did it go? Can you think of any other business chores that a remote assistant can help you with? Let us know by leaving a comment in the box below. We, at Outsource2india love to hear from you!
Interested to know more?
- Top 5 Tasks to Outsource If You Are Running a Small Business
- Ask the Right Questions before you Outsource
Editor
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In my experience in being a VA, I specialized in content creation, blog management, e-mail management and doing SEO for the blog of my clients. All this skills can be learned via the internet and would really help if VAs have this skills on their resume.