The turnover of a new year is the perfect time to take a hard look at what you can do to preserve your sanity as an overworked business opportunity, franchise or other small business owner. While doing everything yourself does save you some money, it could very well be costing you far too much in the way of time and unnecessary headaches, which in turn causes tremendous stress.
Too much stress, as we all know, is not a good thing. And keep in mind that if you run a small shop and go down for the count, then the whole operation could very well go right along with you.
At the end of the day, it’s a classic potentially unpleasant risk-versus-benefit equation.
Fortunately and thanks to today’s amazing technological advances, getting the help and assistance you need—even if it’s just on an as-needed-only and task-by-task basis—is just a mouse click away.
A virtual assistant (aka, a VA) is essentially your very own administrative, technical or even creative (i.e., social) assistant. They are oftentimes self-employed individuals who work remotely from a home office for an hourly rate. Depending on how easy or complex the work is that you need them to do, those rates can vary tremendously. So, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the scope of the job involved before you start shopping for the right candidate to help you out.
Some of the most common and cumbersome tasks that virtual assistants can easily do for you include:
• Database/website management and maintenance
• Scheduling
• New business prospecting
• Email triaging and follow-up
• Online and other research, including SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Maintain social media
• Competitive research and evaluation
• Sales letters/templates development, prep and distribution
• Charts/graphs/spreadsheets/presentations
• Contractor/vendor information gathering and evaluation
• Fulfill product orders
• Live-chat support and customer service
• Prospecting for new business opportunities
• Lead follow-up
• Client/employee acknowledgements, gifts and appreciation
• And so much more!
For a fun and engaging infographic on how to identify and train a great virtual assistant as well as how to avoid mistakes when creating a mutually productive working relationship, go to Mindflash.com now!