I know, I know… a virtual assistant sounds like one of those autobots that pop up when shopping online that “want to help you” but are actually no help at all. But I promise you, a virtual assistant is anything but that. The best part is, they are a real person, in spite of what their job title may lead you to believe.

Virtual assistants can do basically anything. Think jack of all trades, minus fetching the morning coffee. When you started your business I’m sure the goal wasn’t to be answering emails all day every day and scheduling calendar invites and Instagram posts, but somehow that’s where you ended up. A virtual assistant is here to take all of those things on so that you can continue to do what you started out to.

SO A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT JUST DOES… ANYTHING?

A virtual assistant is an individual who takes on administrative, biz dev, social media, marketing, and other tasks. By picking up recurring tasks, VA’s free up time for you to do the things only you can do. That’s the one catch. We all have the tendency to look at everything we do each day and say to ourselves “But I have to do that, I am the only one who can!” but the truth is, there is stuff that you do each and every day that a virtual assistant can do.

If you are still on the fence, don’t worry. Virtual Assistants are flexible so you can always start small with what you hand over. Begin with handing over a few hours a week. You’ll be amazed at the freedom a VA can give you. Then as you get more comfortable, you can always hand over more tasks.

okay, but do I have to continually spoon-feed them tasks?

No. Virtual Assistants are highly skilled. These are just a few of the responsibilities that they can take on.

Coordinate and schedule calls and appointments. 

Just this typically saves business owners so much time and keeps them from doing these tasks that they dislike. The key is to give your assistant rules about when and who.

Confirm appointments

Nothing is more annoying than planning on a meeting and then no one shows up. A VA can confirm that these appointments so that you are never sitting and waiting.  

Screen email

 Based on rules you set, VAs will delete, respond, forward or flag emails for your attention.

Add contacts to CRM

 One of the main reasons that small businesses don’t use their CRM app is due to the time involved in entering data.  Virtual assistants can add to and organize your CRM system.

Transcribe voicemails.

The voicemail box, dread of the day. Virtual assistants can easily transcribe voicemails and schedule follow up activities.

Management

As you scale your business, there will be plenty of management functions that need to get done. You may need to assemble reports for clients. This may simply mean putting together a lot of data you may already have. There are other management functions — like recruiting more people to your team. You can easily delegate some of this to your virtual assistant.

Maintain the books

Review transactions, monthly reconciliations, coding expense reports.. hand all of that over to your virtual assistant.

Create and send invoices

With the help of templates, a VA can create invoices and send them to clients.

Schedule social media

A VA takes your social media posts and schedules them per your process.

Proofread and edit letters, blogs, and presentations. 

When we are busy, mistakes can easily creep in. Let your virtual assitant help with that. One of the great risks you run when you get overloaded is that mistakes may creep into your work. So your virtual assistant can help you with that.