For entrepreneurs, 24 hours doesn’t seem to be enough time in a day to get everything done. Seven days aren’t enough to accomplish all tasks marked in a week. Every hour lost add up to more opportunities foregone. But there are just too many things that have to be attended to.
The best option for entrepreneurs is to hire virtual assistants. It doesn’t matter if you are managing a large corporation or a small business. Having a Virtual Assistant on- board will increase productivity by doubling business efficiency in the following ways:
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Re- purpose cost savings
The primary reason businesses hire virtual assistants is to streamline costs of operation.
A Virtual Assistant is self- employed. Technically, he is an entrepreneur plying the virtual assistance trade. Therefore, he is responsible for his own costs of running a virtual assistance business.
You only pay him for services rendered which could be on a per- hour scheme or per- project basis. As a self- employed, privately contracted worker, you don’t have to pay him government- mandated or company benefits.
According to OutsourceWorkers.com.au, it is estimated that hiring a Virtual Assistant has a comparative cost advantage of 40% to 80% versus a regular full- time employee. Imagine the cost savings if you assembled a team of virtual assistants to manage several key areas of your business instead of hiring individual full- time workers.
The cost savings that you generate can be re-purposed and used to fund other projects or areas in your business. For example, you can use the cost savings to fund marketing and promotional activities or conduct technical upgrades in your system.
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Get the business organized
Business owners need to focus on the enterprise’s core activities. These are the functions that help the business generate income.
But a business needs to be organized in order to run efficiently. There are e-mails to be responded to, meetings to be confirmed and scheduled, records to be updated, marketing programs to be implemented, research to be undertaken and bills to be paid.
Although these are categorized as “non- essential”, these functions are essential to keep the business moving.
By hiring virtual assistants, you can delegate these tasks to those who have the experience to manage them expertly.
Virtual assistants are not first-timers in the world of commerce. Most of them used to be regular office- based workers and have had years of training and experience. You can be rest assured the support services of your business are in good hands with a Virtual Assistant.
Once all non-essential work has been distributed, you can focus on the core functions that need your undivided attention.
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Improve your technological profile
Entrepreneurs are well- versed in technology. They know the importance of being updated and competent in technology in order to keep up with its constant evolution. But entrepreneurs and most small business owners only know enough to keep its systems functional online.
Virtual assistants have been working online for a living. The most experienced ones have managed various operating systems and different software programs. They know which programs will work best for your business.
The standard online set up would have a system with processes for:
- Project management
- File sharing
- Communication
- Data security and protection
Even if you have designed a system for your business, feel free to ask your Virtual Assistant for his suggestions. He can make it better and more efficient for you.
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Introduce greater flexibility
Hiring virtual assistants offers you the advantage of having greater flexibility in operations because their time is not fixed.
If you hire virtual assistants from remote locations where time zone differentials exist, you can use this to cover your business past regular office hours.
For example, if you want customer service to be available upon close of business, designate virtual assistants to provide e- mail support, chat services or inbound calling facilities. This way every bit of valuable communication will be attended to and addressed right away.
If you need more productive hours for sales, hire two virtual assistants working a four hour shift each day. With only four hours of work scheduled per day, there is no need for a break. This will add 30 more minutes of productive time per day. In a 26- day work schedule, that is 13 additional hours of productive time.
All of these collectively add up to a fifth benefit which is often overlooked but greatly contributes to the efficiency of a business. By hiring virtual assistants, you will be able to free up time for yourself.
Entrepreneurs are so driven to succeed they overlook the importance of taking some time off to re- energize. But they learn often too late, that missing out on a few days of relaxation has greater, far- reaching consequences than just missed business opportunities.
A few days off will revitalize your efforts and help you see things with greater clarity and a stronger sense of purpose.