It’s hard to be an entrepreneur – with the risk of the unknown, setting up your business for future growth, not to mention the time this will take you. Moreover, entrepeneuers are aware you can’t ignore the substantial financial risks that might also be involved. In total, the amount of stress that comes with this career path is great, and this is where a virtual assistant can be your best ally.
A virtual assistant is a remote worker who completes all prescribed tasks virtually. A virtual assistant uses the internet, and from their home office to do their work. In short, a virtual assistant is a freelancer or consultant hired to complete specific tasks, which can range from admin assistance to more specialized work like graphic design, or software development.
Moreover, a virtual assistant or VA is a game-changer for any entrepreneur and start-up. This is since a VA can assist a business to scale up more rapidly. This is because a VA will take on all the mundane and time-consuming tasks holding you and your team back from your core work. What you will notice when a virtual assistant is hired is that you and members of your team will have much more time available to strategize, connecting with your clients and other businesses. You will also be saving a great deal of money. This is since a VA is paid less than you would have paid yourself for that particular job. These include tasks that are tedious and time-consuming.
There is therefore a perfect match between an entrepreneur and a virtual assistant − by cooperating with each other the company can grow into a lucrative business.
Contents
"I'm convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance." Steve Jobs
What can a remote worker do to ease the lives of busy entrepreneurs?
Invoicing and bookkeeping
Managing your finances is essential for a successful business. You must know where the funds are going, and the debt to be paid. You must be aware of what is bringing in the money. A virtual assistant or VA can keep a precise record of your money by maintaining a detailed report of your expenditure and income. You will know where you stand; and when it comes to tax, your tax submission will have been prepared. Additionally, a virtual assistant can manage your invoicing procedures. Plus, make sure that people and service providers are paid on time, while issuing invoices so you are paid on time. Moreover, a VA will know which format to use and the information that should be on the invoices.
Managing your calendar
As an entrepreneur, you doubtless have a million and one things going on simultaneously – keeping track of what needs to be done can be difficult. Having a hold on your diary can help you stay focused and complete the tasks you should be doing. This is where a virtual assistant can be helpful. This person can manage your weekly or daily schedule, so you get the maximum out of each day. Your virtual assistant can book appointments, make changes to appointments, arrange meetings, and remind you of personal anniversaries and birthdays.
Managing your website
Keeping your website up to date is essential − the last thing you want is to lose money or clients. It takes time to make all the different changes. However, a VA can achieve this for you. Such a person can monitor your site to ensure that all is running smoothly, making necessary updates when required, also updating content when appropriate.
Social media and blogging
Some entrepreneurs enjoy engaging with their customers − just look at the social media antics of Elon Musk. However, posting and drafting new content is not for everyone, even though social media allows you to connect directly with your customer base. Outsourcing this function to a marketing company can come at a premium rate. However, you can hire a virtual assistant to do the work, saving on such costs. It will be very similar to having an inbound marketing executive to help you with your social media calendar but at a fraction of the cost – posting on all the major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Your VA can also assist with writing blogs for your SEO strategy. This will drive more traffic to your website, helping to expand your market base organically.
Competition research
Just as you do your own research, your competitors are conducting theirs. It makes sense to look at what the competition is up to, so you can gain some ideas and see the trends you are picking up which perhaps you have not noticed. However, conducting this type of research is laborious. It is much easier simply to hire a virtual assistant to help you with this type of task. Your VA can also identify the latest trends in your industry, spot new developments, and note any changes to standard requirements. The VA can then present all the data in an easy-to-read report. This can be used for your strategic-planning sessions.
Travel arrangements
An arduous task is searching for, booking, and then making all the travel arrangements necessary for any type of trip. Try doing this while preparing for your meeting and getting your presentation ready. Being overly busy can land you in a ruffled state, leading to a poor presentation of yourself to your audience. A virtual assistant can be the perfect match for a busy entrepreneur. Your VA can make all your travel agreements for you. You do not then need to multitask. You can get great travel deals, which means extra savings. Your VA can set up a detailed travel itinerary, allowing you to go attend meetings with confidence and free from any added stress.
Managing events
If you want to market your business to other businesses, then exhibits and conferences are great tools to be utilized. However, with them comes event planning. Not everyone has time for such planning; however, a virtual assistant can be tasked to help you attend to these events fully prepared. Your remote assistant will take care of all the event-management arrangements, accomplishing a perfect event. This allows you to focus on speeches, selling tactics, and how to talk about your product or service to others without wasting time on finding and setting up the venue.
The ideal mix: virtual assistants and entrepreneurs
At the core, when you onboard a virtual assistant to help you with tasks, you are not only saving money. As an entrepreneur, you can relate to a VA on many levels, bringing you benefits widely diverse. You will be productive and organized, having arrangements made for you. You will be spared the funding of office space or workstations, while having all the admin support when you need it.
The reality is that you just can’t do everything yourself – not only is this unreasonably tiring − you may eventually burn out. All the while, you are wasting valuable time on tasks that do not call for your special skills.
Virtual assistants aid entrepreneurs to focus on what is truly important, leading to effective use of time and funds. Soon you will realize the benefit of hiring a remote assistant – that perfect match where they are able to do the work for you so you have more time for yourself, your family, and your venture. In short, entrepreneurs and virtual assistants are a match made in heaven.
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