What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant (or VA) is an entrepreneur who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office.
In a conventional office, they would be referred to as an 'administrative assistant' but to the 'on-line' world, they are called 'virtual assistants'. They are both the same type of people but with one major difference: a VA works from their own office and uses their own equipment instead of being physically present in your office to carry out the work.
For a growing small business, the need for extra assistance is often a requirement that can be unfeasible due to limited office space, equipment, or funds. In addition, the time it takes to find and train an assistant may be time that cannot be afforded.
For those businesses that experience regular (or a one-off) periods of heavy pressure due to excessive paper work and tasks, may too require the assistance of an extra body to ease the pressure when time calls.
Benefits of Using a Virtual Assistant
There are many reasons why using a VA is beneficial. Here are just a few of them:
· They are orientated to meet your personal needs
· They treat your business as if it was their own i.e. become very involved
· Minimal training required
· You only pay for their time and materials used: you are not liable to pay tax, CPP, EI and benefits, as you would when taking on a new employee
· You have the peace of mind that any deadlines will be met
You will not have to make room in the office for an extra person, or relocate completely if it was necessary!
Would a Virtual Assistant Be Useful To Me?
If you can relate to any of the following scenarios, then it may be worth using a VA:
· You generally need a personal assistant
· Delegating work to existing staff will affect their ability to meet current deadlines
· You need to 'free' some of your own time to concentrate on other areas of the business
· Your current staff does not have the skills to complete the task(s) in question
· You have limited funds to purchase equipment (e.g. PC's) to complete certain tasks
· You want a business e-mail account but do not have a PC and/or on-line connection
· You need a contact person for times when you are away
· Your premises does not have enough space to accommodate another person
Contact Every Last Detail today to start using your Virtual Assistant! 403.827.6151
