Entrepreneurs have to wear several hats simultaneously — from creating a business plan to developing strategies to keep the company competitive. Most of the time, they’ll have too many responsibilities to handle and will require an extra pair of hands. 

Virtual assistants are a godsend to entrepreneurs. As described by Forbes, virtual assistants provide clients with administrative, creative, or technical help. Virtual assistants usually work remotely or part-time and offer the same services as executive assistants. 

Hiring a virtual assistant for small businesses is important due to the following reasons:

1. Reduced Cost

This might seem counterintuitive, but hiring a virtual assistant will actually help your business save money in the long run. Here’s how:

• Lower operating costs and salaries: You can hire a per-hour virtual assistant and require them to use time-tracking software. In this way, you’ll only pay them for the work they’ve done. Additionally, since virtual assistants work remotely, you don’t have to pay for overhead costs, like computers, internet connection, and other office space expenses. 
• Cheaper training costs: Hiring a first-time employee is expensive as you have to invest resources into their onboarding and training. Virtual assistants only work on tasks they excel at, so you don’t have to spend time or money on training them. 

2. Increased Efficiency by Outsourcing Non-Core Tasks

Another reason why hiring a virtual assistant is important is because they allow you to focus more on your business’s core competencies. With a virtual assistant, you’ll no longer have to deal with the following non-core activities:

• Answering customer queries
• Creating and sending emails
• Doing internet research
• Performing data entry
• Scheduling meetings
• Training and recruitment

Letting your in-house team complete these tasks daily can prevent them from contributing more to the business. Outsourcing certain functions help boost your business’s efficiency without the need of growing your in-house team. 

3. Increased Business Productivity

Having a virtual assistant complete non-core tasks can significantly improve your business’s productivity. Besides freeing up your own and your in-house team’s time to accomplish bigger responsibilities, a virtual assistant helps unlock another level of productivity, which can:

• Generate more profits: If you’re not occupied with administrative tasks, you can focus more on activities that help increase your business’s profits. Whether that means interacting with more clients through different channels and spending more time on the operations floor, a virtual assistant can make it all possible. 
• Optimize workflow: Instead of paying your in-house team to complete mundane administrative tasks, you can better maximize their talent and experience by delegating more significant duties. 

4. Gain Access to Specialized Skills

Thanks to Upwork, Fiverr, Onlinejobs.ph and other freelancing platforms, your hiring potential when you look for a virtual assistant is unlimited because you can bring experienced individuals from different parts of the globe. This gives you access to virtual assistants who are trained and have become experts in various fields, including:

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills
• Advertising and marketing
• Bookkeeping
• Content creation
• Customer service
• Human resources
• Lead generation
• Social media management
• Visual and digital editing
• Web development 

Virtual assistants spend time and effort to undergo special training and complete courses to offer the best services to their clients. Having them onboard enables your business to maximize their skills without spending money on their training. 

5. Reduced Micromanagement

Micromanagement doesn’t only impact employees’ productivity; it also kills creativity and increases business expenses. Hiring a virtual assistant helps you steer away from micromanagement as they’re pros in handling multiple clients and tasks at a time. This means they’re good at time management and ensure deadlines are met. 

Because of these, you won’t have to worry about checking on your virtual assistant several times a day. This gives you more time and energy to focus on your business’s core activities as your virtual assistant carries out their duties with consistency and efficiency. 

6. Improved Customer Service

Many businesses have customers living in different locations. However, if your business and workforce are only located in one area, addressing concerns raised by customers from different time zones can be challenging. 

For instance, if your business is based in Melbourne, Australia, your operating hours will be late afternoon to evening in California, USA. Not being available during working hours in California will prevent your business from expanding its reach in that location. 

Fortunately, virtual assistants are remote workers, and you can hire them to cater to different time zones. If you want to cater to customers from California, you can outsource a virtual assistant living in California. In this way, employees working in your physical office maintain a work-life balance, and your business can still offer 24/7 customer service!

7. Grow Your Business’s Online Presence

Regardless of the niche and size of your business, it needs to have a strong online presence. Statista shows that there are about 4.2 billion social media users worldwide, and not having an online presence can mean losing the opportunity to engage with this number of audience. 

Keeping online platforms up to date requires work, but you don’t need to complete this task on your own. Virtual assistants have the experience to make and schedule posts on your business’s social media profiles. 

Most virtual assistants also have access to social media monitoring tools, like Hootsuite and Nexalogy, which helps them identify the effectiveness of their efforts. These tools provide information about relevant hashtags and keywords (which YouTube keywords and Instagram hashtags can your business use to improve its reach, trends (what your target audience is talking about online), and many others.

8. Scale Up or Down Easily 

Businesses are often unpredictable — your operations might be too busy this week and then become dormant for a couple of days. Another reason why hiring a virtual assistant is important is because they’re flexible when it comes to increasing or decreasing their work hours. 

For instance, if your business expects to receive an influx of orders during the holiday season, you can ask your virtual assistant to work for longer hours. Conversely, if sales are slow for a week or so, you can reduce their working hours. Virtual assistants can scale their work based on the needs of your business. 

And because you can pay a virtual assistant per hour, you don’t have to worry about paying them during their unproductive or idle hours. 

9. Improved Reputation and Image

From unreturned emails and unanswered customer queries to lost invoices, many things can go wrong when entrepreneurs attempt to do everything by themselves. These incidents can adversely affect your reputation and weaken your image, making it challenging to haul in customers and keep the business running.

Managing the agendas of small business owners has been one of the primary functions of virtual assistants, which is why hiring one can improve your business’s patina. With a virtual assistant, you can impress customers, clients, and shareholders as they can improve your:

• Correspondence
• Organization
• Punctuality 

10. Avoid Burnout

One study found that 63% of entrepreneurs have dealt with or are currently experiencing burnout. When left untreated, burnout can prevent you from making smart decisions and disturb your concentration and ability to work efficiently.

Hiring a virtual assistant will significantly reduce your workload, lessening your risk of burnout. A virtual assistant can complete repetitive tasks, like answering emails and taking phone calls. As a result, you’ll have more time for leisure and finally attain a work-life balance.

Promotes Innovation and Creativity

Even if you’re the boss, you need time to refocus, recenter, and refresh your thinking around your business goals. Unfortunately, trying to manage all aspects of your business prevents you from having time for self-reflection. 

Hiring a virtual assistant gives you the time to take care of yourself, so you can better look after your business. With a virtual assistant working for you, you’ll have time to:

• Think about long-term goals: When you’re not consumed by the present demands of your business, you can focus more on your business’s long-term goals and create strategies that’ll help you get there. 
• Focus on innovation: Your business is constantly evolving, and you’ll need time to identify areas of improvement and innovate better solutions. After hiring a virtual assistant, you can finally redirect your resources into creating and implementing strategies to sustain your business long-term. 

Find Your VA Today 

Wondered why virtual assistants are important to small businesses? The answer is simple: they streamline your work while helping you save plenty of resources. 

Start using freelancing sites and agencies to find the right virtual assistant for your business. You’ll be surprised how having one onboard can get your small business off the ground! 

Get started at these sites: Upwork, Fiverr, Onlinejobs.ph

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