Over the seven years I’ve been in business, I’m often asked “What is a Virtual Assistant?” While the business model has been around for 20 years, it’s a new way of doing business for many people. Quite simply, a Virtual Assistant (VA) is someone who works in a virtual setting using their computer, phone and fax (yes, people still use them), as a means to complete their daily work.
When I meet people and they ask me what I do, I tell them that “I work with small business owners who work out of their home offices and don’t have traditional office support.” They usually have a perplexed look on their faces so a little clarification goes a long way at this point.
I go on to explain that I work from my home office with professionals from a broad range of industries: executive coaches, independent financial advisors, baby furniture makers, hair stylists, tree trimmers and even tattoo artists. Yup, that’s right. While the type of business may vary, the types of services I offer remain relatively the same.
I started off providing basic admin support such as: document creation, email follow up, customer service, internet research, appointment setting and travel coordination. As social media became more prevalent, I began managing everything from newsletter & blog content creation and management to website HTML updates and social media set up and maintenance.
If you’re running a business all by yourself with a minimal office staff (or none whatsoever), chances are, you’re having a hard time managing all the details. It’s usually at this growth point that business owners start entertaining the idea of hiring an Assistant to help them out.
The issue may arise where business owners either don’t have the space, need or budget for a full-time in-house employee. This is where working with a VA can have its advantages. VAs work from their home offices alleviating the need to create an additional workspace in clients’ workspace. In many cases, clients work out of their home offices and are limited in available workspace. More often than not, my clients may only need 5 hours of admin support a week, as opposed to 40 hours. Working with a VA for 20 hours a month can save a client a lot of money and allow them to get the assistance they need without the traditional expense of an employee.
Depending on the type of work clients need completed will determine the type of VA they work with. There are VAs who specialize in various aspects of business: bookkeeping, writing, proofreading, human resources, and website maintenance. If there is something you need that I do not provide, I will recommend another VA to handle that workload.
If you have questions and want to find out if a VA would be a good solution for you, email me at mia@acumenva.com or call me on 949 285-1138 and let’s set up a time to talk on the phone for a 20 minute consultation.
I appreciate your interest.
