As an entrepreneur, you would ideally want to spend most of your time on your core business activities so you could find ways to generate more revenue. Unfortunately, running a successful business is not as easy as it seems, but hiring virtual administrative assistant services can help. There are a variety of administrative tasks you have to handle to ensure that everything is running in an efficient, organized way. These tasks can take a significant amount of your time since they often require close attention to detail. This is valuable time that is better spent on tasks vital for the growth of your business.
Some small business owners indeed pride themselves on doing everything on their own. Yes, it’s possible to do this. However, you don’t have to place a huge amount of pressure on yourself because running a business this way can be exhausting.
Remember, the best leaders focus on their strengths, and they delegate the rest. You can do the same thing and learn how to outsource these basic business administrative tasks to a virtual assistant or a company that offers virtual administrative assistant services.
A virtual administrative assistant can assist you with the mundane tasks involved in running your business. These tasks include responding to emails and phone calls, managing your CRM, scheduling meetings, managing a contact list, organizing calendars, providing basic customer support services, managing your social media accounts, etc. In some instances, virtual administrative assistants can even create presentations for you, perform market research, transcribe video and audio files, and handle some accounting duties. However, you have to remember that some of these administrative tasks will require training.
You may have asked yourself this question after reading the first few paragraphs of this article: Why should I reach out to a company that provides virtual administrative assistant services if I can hire an in-house employee to do the same thing for me? The answer is simple.
It normally costs a lot less to hire a virtual administrative assistant abroad than to hire someone locally. Aside from the lower rates, you don’t have to worry about things like office space, equipment, employee tax, and employee benefits like health insurance. All you have to do is to pay a flat rate for a virtual administrative assistant. This is a good way to minimize expenses in order to build a profitable and sustainable company.
Finding quality talent locally can be quite tricky in some areas as well. On the other hand, you can easily sift through resumes on job sites online, and you even have the advantage of hiring talent from anywhere in the world.
Keep in mind that you will have to hire someone with a high English proficiency rate so you won’t struggle with communication and language issues. You don’t want things to get lost in translation, do you? When it comes to outsourcing services, India and the Philippines have positioned themselves at the top of the market. You may want to hire your virtual administrative assistant from those countries.
Now, here’s something that may pique your interest. Did you know that you can hire someone to do all those administrative duties for as low as $2 per hour? Of course, the ones that are charging rates this low are likely entry-level virtual assistants with less than a year of experience in the outsourcing industry, so you will have to take the time to train them. An experienced virtual administrative assistant will cost more. However, you can still get one at a fraction of the cost of an in-house employee. The average hourly rate for a virtual administrative assistant in the Philippines is $3.20. You can find one here.
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Many business owners reject outsourcing because they don’t want to spend money hiring someone to do something they can do themselves. Yes, keeping costs low is vital for entrepreneurs when they are starting a business, so they tend to take on as many roles as possible. However, as the business continues to grow, it will become increasingly difficult to stay on top of the tasks necessary to keep things running smoothly.
Remember, time is money. By investing too much time into tasks that can be best left to others, these entrepreneurs are actually stalling their company’s growth.
Here’s a good example of a task that others can easily do for you so you can spend your time doing something else. As a business owner, it is imperative to have a presence on most of the popular social media platforms out there if you want to promote your business. However, you won’t get a lot done if you spend too much time managing these social media accounts yourself. In this case, it’s better to hire a virtual administrative assistant to do it for you.
If there is a task that you enjoy doing, then, by all means, continue to do it. However, you shouldn’t invest too much time into tasks that can be best left to others. Make your life easier by asking yourself these questions:
What are your strengths?
How much time does it usually take to finish this task?
Is this a task that only I can do?
Perhaps you would know more about when to take on a task and when to delegate after answering those questions. By outsourcing some of your tasks to a virtual administrative assistant, you can focus on what you do best. That will make you more efficient, and this will save you both time and money.
This is a piece of great business advice from William Harris, the founder of Elumynt, for business owners who try to do everything by themselves.
“The most painful mistake I see most inexperienced entrepreneurs make is not delegating tasks effectively. I actually came from a nursing background where bad delegation meant someone could lose a limb–or worse, their life. The nurses that didn’t delegate would be busier, risking careless errors from trying to make up time by cutting corners. Business owners try to do the same thing.”
“I advise entrepreneurs who struggle with this problem to first get their tasks organized and written down. I like Asana for this. The tasks that they find themselves adding repeatedly are tasks that they should think about delegating. At the end of the month, you need to send out invoices, add numbers to your analytics spreadsheet, etc. Find someone else to do that. The hours you save by outsourcing these types of tasks will help you focus on the things that only you can do–like plan the strategy and direction of the business.”
To sum it all up, hiring a virtual administrative assistant is worth it. As your business continues to grow, someone who has a vast knowledge of doing different administrative tasks can help you maintain efficiency in your day-to-day business operations.
You can visit a job site and hire a virtual administrative assistant yourself, or you can choose to reach out to a VA agency that provides virtual administrative assistant services to escape from the hassle of DIY recruitment. The choice is up to you. Pass those time-consuming tasks on to your virtual administrative assistant and cut down on operational costs at the same time.
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