Virtual assistants are definitely in the top 3 list of things that can help expand a modern business to infinity, while helping you, the CEO to maintain sanity by offering more work/life balance.
VAs as they’re affectionately referred to in many circles, work independently from the business. Meaning they can work for you one day, then move onto someone else the next if their employment situation requires it. You can make use of their services as needed — full-time, part-time or on occasion as your business needs dictate.
Best, there’s a virtual assistant available for any jobs you could conceivably need them for. Note that the majority of the benefits listed on this page revolve around savings on expenses. In other words, cost savings in the form of money output and of course saving you valuable time.
After all, time is money!
1. Minimal training and recruiting expenses
Employees are notoriously costly to recruit and train. On average, it costs anywhere from 6 to 9 months in salary to properly train an employee. For example, to pay a personal assistant $40,000/yr, it will cost a business an additional $20,000 to $30,000 in their first year of employment to get them trained and up to speed.
That’s not counting benefits, taxes, and follow-up training as time goes on. With a virtual assistant, these costs are significantly reduced, as they’re independent contractors that legally work for themselves, not you. If you choose a reputable service, training costs immediately go to zero, as well as reducing the time commitments needed from you throughout the on-boarding process.
2. VAs are there whenever you need them, for however long you need them for
The scariest thing about hiring employees in a growing business is all the worries. Where will I find the time to train these new hires properly? What if they don’t work out and I have to fire them? Will I have work for them to do two months from now?
VAs can work whenever you need them to. They’re located in virtually every time zone one could imagine, so your business is never bound by traditional business hours in the area you work out of. And, if you’re a CEO living out of their suitcase, you’ll always be able to find a VA somewhere in the world to fit into your schedule.
3. Emergency deadlines don’t need to cost you a small fortune in added labor and income tax payouts
The stark reality of running a business and paying employees is that you don’t just pay them; you have to pay the government for the privilege of employing them (income taxes). Not to mention, employers have to pay equal portions of an employee’s government pension, and unemployment obligations, in addition to vacation pay and other mandated incentives.
When deadlines loom, you have to pay your employees time-and-a-half or more. And, you guessed it: pay even more taxes! That’s even if you can find an employee in the company willing to spend more than their 44 hours a week stuck at their desk.
Being that you don’t have the typical expenses of hiring and maintaining an employee, and that a VA works for the same wage on hour 50 as they do at hour 2 of the week, you never have to worry about extra expenses when deadlines loom large.
4. Virtual assistants fill in skill gaps in the company
One of the big reasons CEOs see a need to hire new staff before the budget allows is because they find skill gaps that need filling before growth can occur. Traditional freelancers are rarely an option because of the high rates they need to demand in order to keep their own business running.
VAs can fill in any skill gap you can imagine in a virtual environment. Bookkeeping, graphic design, professional billing, personal assisting, data entry, web admin and much more, are just a click away for business owners who need more skills than their current staff can offer.
5. You don’t need to provide an office for your employees
Obviously we’re going down a very budget-friendly road here working with VAs. The fact that they work from their own home — or their virtual service employer’s facility — allows you the freedom to also work from wherever you please. This is a common drawback of a traditional brick-and-mortar business.
There’s no need to rent office space, furnish it or pay for overhead such as utilities and other overhead expenses. You can rent a virtual office to legitimize your business, and work from wherever in the world you wish. Most companies that rent virtual office space also provide access to virtual employees, at reduced rates when you bundle your various virtual services.
6. You get what you give with VAs
This might sound a little woo-woo-ey at first. But, consider how little appreciation the “boss” gets when running an old-school brick-and-mortar office. Employees may seem grateful at first, and perhaps even when they’re talking to you in person. However, when your back is turned, words like “slave driver” and “cheapskate” are used to describe you to anyone who’ll listen!
You’ll never (or rarely) deal with entitlement issues working with freelance employees.
A sense of entitlement tends to follow the traditionally employed around like the black plague: Ie., They’re doing YOU a favor by being your employee; YOU don’t pay them adequately for the work they do; etc. A freelancing VA knows work can dry up quickly if they don’t work as hard as possible and provide the best service they can — they appreciate the opportunity to serve and impress you.
Takeaway
There are many other reasons to hire virtual assistant to help grow your business. After you get a great virtual team together, you’ll find that your business runs more smoothly, grows more quickly and that you’ll have more time to devote to the tasks and projects that matter most to your brand.
Considering how inexpensive it is to try out a VAs services, with zero obligation beyond today, it only make sense to add virtual services to your business moving forward. Once you’ve used a VA or two, and they prove how well they can get things done, it’s very unlikely you’ll ever go back to the trappings of how business was done prior to the digital era.
