• Not everyone can afford to hire full-time or even part-time administrative support
• Not everyone needs a full-time bookkeeper
• Office space may be limited and you need the extra manpower either to get the business going or expand
• You're just starting ... so you need guidance with respect to setting up your office systems and procedures; design and order your business cards and/or office forms
• You'd like to limit your overhead and not have to buy computers for additional office help
• You need to focus on growing your business without getting buried in day-to-day chores
• You need help but not 7 hours daily, 5 days per week, 12 months per year 
• You need to cutback on personnel cost

Most entrepreneurs feel that a Virtual Assistant is additional expense. Well in a sense yes, it is an expense ... but "additional" is another thing.  Take for example advertising.  It is an expense, but it gets you new clients and so it pays for itself.  The same is true to Virtual Assistants. Many business coaches (and even CPA firms ) recommend that their clients retain a Virtual Assistant to help them increase their business efficiency, revenue and relieve stress by maintaining work-life balance.

Just imagine, that for a few bucks, you get someone to do the things you hardly have time to do, don't want to do or not trained to do.  Imagine the time savings ... and what you can do when you have this time to yourself.

If you have a Virtual Assistant and he/she works 10 hours for you each month, this is 10 hours you can use to prospect new clients or improve relationship with existing clients.  New clients or improved relationships equal more business and thus more profit.

So as you can see, a Virtual Assistant doesn't represent an expense ... rather an investment and a tool to increase your business success and improved life.

Because Virtual Assistants are independent contractors, he/she cares a lot about your business and has vested interest in learning about your business so that he/she can assist you better. She does not hurry out the door at 5:00pm or spends what would have been productive minutes by the water cooler.  He/she aims to learn more about you and your business so she can help you do your work more efficiently.

 

Virtual Assistants have the desire and motivation to continually upgrade their skills at their own cost and on their own time. 

When you need to cutback on personnel, think of those tasks that junior or middle managers do. They file their own reports and documents.  Salesmen spend hours confirming appointments when they can be out on the field selling!  Productivity suffers and senior management wonders why. 

A Virtual Assistant can fill in this gap, help boost productivity -- and in our case, at half the cost.

What's the difference between temporary staffing agencies and Virtual Assistants?

A temp is an employee of the agency who placed them in their client's offices.

The agency fees may be comparable to those charged by a Virtual Assistant, but you are not sure if they will work for and with you for the long term.  Many temps work as temps while they look for full-time, permanent employment.  They can leave you on a day's notice.  Then you have to start all over again with orienting a new person ... and don't forget the learning curve that will have to take place before the new person understands your business model.