What is a Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant is a self-employed person who can be hired to complete administrative tasks remotely from wherever they may be from their home or own office.
Some examples of what a Virtual Assistant can do are:
- Email Management
- Diary Management
- Creating templates
- Social media content writing
- Social media post scheduling
- Blog post content writing
- Research
- Transcription
- Newsletter creation and management
- Arranging travel and hotel accommodation
- Sourcing and arranging gifts to be delivered
- Research
The list is pretty extensive, and a lot of Virtual Assistants have a particular niche that they offer. Here is a list of my Virtual Assistant Services, but just because something isn’t listed doesn’t mean that they can’t do it. If you have a particular task in mind, just ask.
How many hours do I need to pay for?
You can hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) for a set number of hours per week or month to complete the tasks agreed. The first step to hiring a Virtual Assistant would be to work out what tasks you can and are willing to delegate. A contract between yourself and the Virtual Assistant should be agreed, outlining the expectations of the job required.
Hours are usually booked in two ways, either on a retainer basis or pay as you go.
Retainer packages are a pre-booked set amount of hours booked in advance each month. This option is best if you have regular work that you need to outsource on a weekly or monthly basis. The advantage of this option is the security that these hours are yours month on month.
Pay as you go hours work particularly well, especially if you’ve never hired a Virtual Assistant before and need to test the water to see how long things are going to take. This is also a good option for one-off projects such as creating templates or design pieces.
Be as clear as you can in terms of what you want the outcome of the task to be. Set clear deadlines and expectations in terms of communication. Do you want regular updates, or would you rather the job be completed by the deadline. Remember, the more details you can give for a job the easier it will be for the Virtual Assistant to get up to speed doing things the way you like them.
It’s in a Virtual Assistants interest to do the job well both for their reputation as well as their own job satisfaction.
A Virtual Assistant would usually use a time tracking app to ensure that they are working within the agreed hours which will also include any communications you have with them such as a weekly catch-up meeting either face to face, online, or by phone. Your VA should let you know their availability for contact and an expectation for replies. I, for example, work part-time, so let clients know what my working hours are, and I always endeavour to reply to messages as soon as possible.
The Benefits of hiring a Virtual Assistant:
- Only pay for hours worked
- You get time back to do what you love
- No recruitment or agency fees
- Your work will be completed to a high standard – it’s in the Virtual Assistant’s interest to produce work of a high standard
- No tax, National Insurance, or employee benefits to pay
- Flexibility – increase and decrease hours to suit your needs
Hopefully, I’ve covered everything that you need to know to help you decide if you need to hire a Virtual Assistant, but if you have any questions you can always book a Discovery Call where we can discuss your business needs.
