In my “old life” I worked in Human Resources. If you’ve never interviewed potential employees, it’s not generally a favorite task. Many times you see a resume that was prepared by an expert on the candidate’s behalf. You get them in for an interview and find out they can’t even form a coherent sentence or are in no way qualified to fulfill your needs. Or, even worse, they are on their best behavior and “pass” the interview process. They arrive for their first day of work looking disheveled or end up being the office drama king/queen or any number of things. But…at that point you are locked in. You can’t let them go without consequences. And if you are able to get rid of them, the process begins all over again. What a pain in the butt!
That doesn’t happen with a Virtual Assistant (VA). First of all, they work from their own home so it doesn’t matter how disheveled they look. They aren’t physically in your office to cause drama or be a “gossip” or any of those other things. Most VAs have a trial period built into their contract. This way if you or they decide that the working relationship is not a fit, there are no hard feelings and you can part ways without any repercussions. No raise in your unemployment rates due to another claim.
Saving money is a huge reason to hire a VA. There are no payroll taxes, no workers comp or disability insurance to carry, no physical location to provide and maintain. VAs have their own equipment including computer, printer, fax, telephone, etc… You do not have to provide these things. You don’t have to provide health insurance or paid holidays or vacation pay. A VA is not an employee, they are an independent contractor, therefore, you can save yourself all of the aforementioned costs associated with an employee.
Because a VA already has experience with most tasks, they require very little direction. A good VA will provide you with the same (or in some cases even better) quality as an employee.
Let’s look at a scenario:
You have 2 time sensitive projects. One with an 11 am today deadline and one that can not begin until after 2 pm when you receive additional required details. Your in house administrative assistant will have to find “busy work” to fill the time between 11 am and 2 pm because you are not going to send him/her home for three hours. Therefore you are paying your administrative assistant for 3 hours of work that could have been done by another employee who is at a lower hourly rate. However, a Virtual Assistant charges only for time spent on your projects.
Why not start looking for your Virtual Assistant today?
