- Are you an Entrepreneur who is struggling with growing your business because you’re wearing too many hats?
- Or, are you operating a small, family business where you and your partner are clocking up 100+ hours per week to get everything done?
- Are you doing everything in your business because you ARE the business?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, then it’s time that you learned about the benefits of a VPA, or Virtual Personal Assistant. A VPA does not come to your office; instead he or she works from their own office and assists you via phone, internet, fax and email.
When you consider the possibilities, it makes good business sense to leverage your time with skilled workers on your team, rather than trying to do it all yourself. A VPA can assist no matter what size business you have, no matter what industry you’re in. Your VPA could live down the road, in the next town or across the country, however staying Australian-based is always the best option.
There are many advantages of using a VPA rather than bringing an assistant into your office. You may consider the option of a ‘freelance’ VPA or a company that operates with a group of VPA’s such as Adminlink Plus; we have a team of professional VPA’s, locally based, who possess the full range of skills required by an office assistant.
Some of the rewards of hiring a VPA include:
- There’s no expense for additional equipment or space. A VPA uses their own equipment and computers, in their own office.
- You only pay for the hours required and tasks you need completed.
- You can hire a VPA to work a specific numbers of hours per day, per week or per month or it may vary as required. There’s no minimum requirement.
- A VPA company will have its own team, with a range of skills, for example, a bookkeeper, data entry personnel, telemarketers, copywriters, receptionists and social media gurus, to name a few.
- A VPA company won’t affect your operation with downtime if someone on their team is sick.
- VPA’s work for a range of businesses and gain an understanding of different industries.
- VPA’s work as consultants, not as employees therefore, you don’t have the expense of super, tax, holiday pay or sick leave.
So what tasks or duties can you delegate to a VPA? Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “I can do this so much faster and better, I won’t delegate this task.” The question isn’t whether you can do a task or not, it’s whether you should be the one to do the task or whether your skill and attention is more valuable elsewhere. Look at your ‘to do’ list and determine which tasks should be delegated, then consider how you will use all the time you free up from menial admin tasks to create more income for your business.
Some of the basic tasks that can be handed to a VPA include:
Client contact calls/telemarketing
- Copywriting
- Database set up and data entry
- Bookkeeping
- Scanning and electronic filing
- Phone answering service
- Appointment booking
- Printing & photocopying
- Completion of booklets
- Graphic design
- Direct marketing, such as mail outs, mass emails, mass SMS
- Research and marketing
- Event planning
- Weekly client reports and update letters
- Or anything else you require for the running of your business.
Once you’ve made the decision to outsource to a VPA, make sure you have a few things in writing: how much you’ll pay, how many hours a day, a week or month of work you’ll require, how often you’ll be invoiced, payment terms, a confidentiality agreement, references, terms and conditions, guarantees etc.
Finally, start delegating those tasks so you can stay focused on more profit-making tasks!