How To Benefit From Virtual Assistants (100 Ways!)

Check out the dozens of ways good virtual assistants can help with your projects. Many popular ways they can help include:

ACCOUNTING AND BOOKKEEPING

• creating and sending invoices to clients
• posting / logging monthly transactions into spreadsheets / bookkeeping software
• balancing and reconciling account statements and books (credit cards, loans, checking, savings, Paypal, eBay, etc.)
• sending payment reminders
• bill paying (for workers, contractors, suppliers, utilities, etc.)

ADMINISTRATIVE / SECRETARIAL SERVICES

• scheduling, confirming & rescheduling appointments
• backing up data regularly
• Completing daily To Do tasks
• regular reminding of important tasks and dates
• sending out the appropriate cards or gifts for special events
• managing lists of necessary office supplies and ordering refills
• coordinating and following up with travel plans
• coordinating other workers / outsource / virtual assistants and other helpers

DATABASE AND CLIENT MANAGEMENT

• keying in data into spreadsheets / database (business cards, telesales info, etc.)
• sending introductory, sales, referral, follow up and other business communications and materials (example: to new prospects, leads, clients)
• sending scheduled materials out as well (holiday promos, birthday cards, etc.)
• tracking marketing efforts and summarizing the results in a report
• contacting your leads and lists for missing contact information
• sending faxes
• emailing newsletters (ezines), announcements and broadcasts

EMAIL & MAIL SERVICES

• reviewing mail and email for sorting and deleting
• responding to help desks / support and other communications
• forwarding & tracking items to you and / or your clients
• order fulfillment, preparing packages and mailing out items

ONLINE SERVICES

• setting up and maintaining blogs, websites, forums and other means of online presence
• establishing and growing your newsletter / ezine and subscription database
• posting announcements and newsletter / ezine issues to your subscriber base / list
• completing Internet research
• writing, recording, editing, revising and submitting content to publishers online & off (articles, press releases, audio, video, podcasts, etc.)

PERSONNEL SERVICES

• writing, revising, posting online and printing out of resumes and cover / introduction letters
• reviewing candidates’ resumes and summarizing each for your review
• helping plan, create, coordinate and instruct about your products, services, business procedures, etc. with helpers / workers, staff and client training.

PRESENTATIONS

• preparing PowerPoint presentations
• preparing workshop / seminar participants beforehand with materials
• working after presentations with follow up materials
• summarizing results in a report

PRODUCT CREATION & MARKETING SERVICES (ONLINE & OFF)

• creating of private label rights (PLR) materials; i.e. ghostwritten items that you can slap your name and branding on and call your own: ebooks, reports, articles, blogging, videos, audio, podcasts, etc.
• marketing for your products, services and events keeping in your budget range for promotions online and off
• placing follow up faxes, emails, sales calls
• creating and mailing feedback and other surveys and questionnaires
• gathering testimonials, tracking the responses
• blogging, forum posting, using eBay, Craigslist, Social Networking, MySpace, Squidoo, OnlyWire and many other means to spread the word online.
• summarizing project work in reports

PRINTING AND PUBLISHING

• designing and printing brochures, matching letterhead, business cards and other marketing items
• creating designs for and ordering labels, letter head, flyers, pens, pencils and other promotional items
• crafting content & / or gathering it including interviewing, researching stats and quotes, laying out, printing and mailing newsletters / ezines (online & off)
• designing, printing and mailing out awards, certificates, handouts, CDs and more for workshop & seminar attendees

RESEARCH

• researching travel plans, destinations, hotels, car rentals and more
• researching affiliate programs, joint ventures and partners to team up with for your projects and then following up and reaching out to them to hook up.
• finding info for catering, presentations, speeches, apparel, and more
• fact finding for your reports, quotes, stats, articles, ebooks, presentations, speeches, videos, audios, podcasts and more…
• learning about decorating, entertainment, party / host gift ideas
• gathering clips of published articles (online and off)
• performing library research

TELEPHONE AND FAX SERVICES

• receiving phone calls & faxes to allow you more time to do other things
• forwarding important messages via email, text messaging or other means
• retrieving voice messages and replying and / or coordinating responses with your team so that you know that things are taken care of while you are busy elsewhere with other things

TRANSCRIPTION / WORD PROCESSING SERVICES

• using word processing to key in / type letters, articles, ebooks, memos, etc. from recordings or other note formats
• typing of reports, video and audio scripts, workshop / seminar notes and more from recordings or other note formats
• extra services like editing, proofing, spell and grammar check, conversion of documents (to Adobe PDFs, PowerPoint slides, Microsoft Word, for example.

MORE

• Just ask! Seek customization.

Grow your business with plenty of help outsourcing with virtual assistants and teams. Learn more from: www.movingaheadmemberships.com and see how you and your business can benefit now.

So You Want To Hire A Virtual Assistant

If you are on the search for a virtual assistant, you must look for some particular things. If you are seeking an assistant for clerical duties as well as other administrative measures for your business, you must seek an assistant who has performed in an upper level position within the clerical field. You want an assistant with a high-level of expertise which will greatly become a benefit to your business.

Virtual assistants are independent contractors and not business employees. You want to inquire about the training and certification of the virtual assistant. If you need competent and professional help from your assistant, there are qualifications which you must look for.

Certifications are nice however, as a business owner, you should not place too much stock into certifications. It is not difficult to become certified through many ludicrous professional associations as well as programs. Certifications can prove misleading therefore, why it is more important for you as a business owner to concentrate on the training of the virtual assistant as compared to the numerous certifications which they might contain.

You want a virtual assistant who is literally in business for themselves. This shows commitment and a desire to succeed and you can rest assured that they will show this toward your business as well. You also to view if the virtual assistant has poor communication skills or long periods of unavailability’s.

Ask the virtual assistant how long he or she has been in business. Do they work on a full-time or a part-time basis? There are questions which are very much pertinent in forming the decision of hiring a virtual assistant. Is the assistant confident? Is their business thriving? Request testimonials from the virtual assistant. You want to view if customers have been satisfied with their services. Testimonials speak volumes for the quality of work the virtual assistant more than likely gives as well as offers.

Lastly, you want to inquire about pricing. Most virtual assistants typically charge anywhere within the price range of forty dollars to seventy-five dollars an hour. This may like steep pricing however, you must understand that you do not want a ten dollar an hour virtual ads working for you and your business. You truly get what you pay for and this rings true with virtual helper.

In letting the price of the virtual assistants soak into your brain, you must think about how your services are not cheap. You feel that you offer quality products and services and that customers receive a great bargain for the quality of the products and services which you offer. Now, aim this mind frame toward hiring a virtual assistant. Get the picture?

As a business owner, you want someone you can work well with as well as someone who can offer great customer service while representing your business. You also want someone who is going to stick around therefore seek quality and value when searching for a virtual helper and the investment will prove worth it as you view not only the increase of your profits but the success of your business.

4 Reasons Why You Should Hire a Virtual Assistant

Many people with online businesses are taking merit of virtual helpers to make their workloads a little lighter. For those who haven’t yet thought about hiring a virtual helper you may be held back because you are not privy to the five reasons why you should hire a virtual aid.

The truth is that a virtual helper won’t only make your workload lighter, but they can also help you grow your business dramatically and higher sales profits are something that’s universally understood by everybody as a benefit. If this sounds excellent to you also, keeping reading to discover a more detailed explanation of why you should hire a virtual helper now.

Ability to delegate – One of the explanations that the general public love working with a virtual helper is really because it makes holiday time a possibility again. Most people who run web businesses frequently feel as if they never get a break or a true vacation because they are either checking their e-mail many times a day or checking their website.

However with a virtual aid you can delegate requirements so you can really walk away from the small office for a while and have the confidence and security of knowing your business is doing fine.

Time efficient-One of the main issues that the general public have with building their own companies is time constraints. After you get down to the details there are thousands of tasks that has to be completed in order to keep your business running, and thousands of extra jobs that need completed if you want your business to run smoothly and continue growing.

With a virtual aid you can concentrate on the expansion of your business since you can delegate smaller jobs to your virtual helper. Therefore, you can find that the day feels less cramped and more comfortable when you free up a little time in your schedule with a virtual aid.

Specialization perks- One of the best parts of hiring a virtual helper is that you get to choose the attributes and skills that they possess. The internet is filled with virtual helpers who have specialized abilities from SEO strategies to bookkeeping to web design and onward.

Therefore, you can make it a point to hire a virtual helper who compliments your abilities so you get a more expert appearance for your business. It is comprehensible that you don’t possess every skill it takes to run a business, which is why your objective should be to hire a virtual helper who can help fill in the missing pieces.

Budget friendly- finally, the last reason you may need to hire a virtual helper is because they will be able to fit into your financial position without much fuss, unlike a genuine world helper. Virtual aides get paid by the project and do not require any type of benefits or tax authorization since they are independent contractors. Therefore, you can start employing a virtual aid now without any strings attached and find out for yourself just how beneficial they can be to your business.