Let's start off with some quick facts about virtual assistants (or "VA's" as you will often see written online & in this post). VA's are administrative staff who typically work out of their homes (virtually) & who have a vast array of skills that have been acquired over time or in previous employments. Typically a VA will have multiple clients and work with multiple businesses. Every VA has a slightly different niche, so it is important to realize that not every VA will be a good fit for your business.

Hiring a VA often means a different business relationship than just hiring an employee. As a virtual assistant has their own growing business, they should provide you with a contract before commencing any work. In your working relationship you will work together to ensure the goals of your business plan are attained, giving you time to work on your services and products while they take care of other tasks. ​

Hiring a virtual assistant, like myself, can be a cost effective way for small or large businesses to take care of administrative tasks that take up several hours of your week. Especially when the tasks are not enough to justify hiring a full-time or even a part-time employee & they are too time consuming for you or your team to work on.

A Virtual Assistant’s hourly rate can often be more than the employee’s at first glance, which is sometimes shocking to most business owners. So, I suggest when looking for someone to work with you to consider the differences between an employee and a virtual assistant: 

​When you hire a part-time/full-time employee to work in-house you must consider the cost of benefits and overhead that would be applied to your new employee's wage.

To put it simply, a VA who you are well connected with, will work more efficiently and in less hours than an employee. A VA will only start their timer when they begin a task & stop it when they are done, often only billing for a few hours a week (depending on the tasks).

By having a VA you avoid paying for breaks, socializing & lunch breaks.

Lets crunch the numbers, shall we?

Not sure where to start? You can take a look at my services to see if I suit your business needs here.
You can also read my post on the top interview questions to ask when hiring a Virtual Assistant.
If you are in Canada, the Canadian Association of Virtual Assistants has a great member directory where you can submit a request for proposal.

You're not alone! Many business owners aren't sure where to start when they hire help for their business. They are so overwhelmed, the sheer thought of trying to discuss their needs makes them top out with stress.

​So, given that this is something I hear from many of the people who inquire about my services, I thought I would try to help by creating a list of tasks that a virtual assistant can help you with to give you a good start. 

Don't freeze up! You NEED the help, so go ahead and print out this list & check off the tasks you could use some help with.

So that's the whole list and I wouldn't doubt if I forgot a bunch of tasks that could be added to this list. I really hope this list will help you take that first step of hiring a virtual assistant to do some of the tasks you just don't have time to do.

If you got this far, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. I offer a free discussion session & can be contacted here.
​You can view my services and packages here.