Why are more entrepreneurs using virtual assistants to grow their business?

Business growth and development will always rely heavily on good old fashioned hard work, but for significant and sustainable growth to take place, business owners must also work intelligently and efficiently. Business models are also ever changing, and recently there has been an increased focus on customer interaction and care, online marketing and social media marketing and engagement as well as well-designed branding. With so many different tasks to take care of, it can be very difficult for a business to grow if a solopreneur or business owners are trying to do everything.

Reduced costs: The problem with getting help is that it costs money, and most start-ups and new businesses just do not have the resources to get a full-time employee and it can be extremely expensive to get high quality UK-based staff. That is why virtual assistants from other parts of the world have become so popular. In the age of the internet and all the powerful tools it provides, virtual assistants can do all the business tasks that need to get done, at the fraction of the cost.

Technology:  Access to technology has drastically improved in the past few years, and it continues to improve. There are now so many online tools and low cost online apps to help every business with just about anything, from accounting to project management and customer care. Since these tools are all web or cloud based, a virtual assistant can use them on any device with an internet connection, providing the same access to corporate resources they would have if they were working in an office. This makes it simpler for your business to employ an assistant from a remote location, and for you to work collaboratively with them and keep track of their progress. These developments are also practical because you can also use apps to follow how their virtual assistant is using their time and you can pay your virtual assistant via online payment websites.

Larger talent pool: You no longer have to hire from locally within the UK. Since a virtual assistant works from their home from any part of the world, there are many choices when it comes to choosing a virtual assistant. Many business owners are concerned about employing the services of a virtual assistant halfway across the world because they never meet their VA and feel as though there is no accountability. Beyond VAs has solved that problem by having our head office in London and conducting a rigorous interview process so that you don’t have to worry! Employing a virtual assistant from a different country has many benefits. The most useful benefit is that they can save you money! The remote location of the VA also means that they do not have to rent an office space to work in, which is especially useful to new start-ups.

Specialist skills: Many businesses employ contractors to support with specialist tasks as they don’t have the skills within their internal team. The advantage of using virtual assistants through Beyond VAs is that you can gain access to virtual assistants professionally trained to help with the more specialised tasks. Many qualified professionals in places like South Africa are turning to freelance and virtual assistant work due to the decline in the number of available jobs. So if you need someone to design and run your business website, keep track of your business finances or design an effective marketing strategy, you can employ a professional web developer, accountant or marketing graduate as a VA that would be able to assist at a much lower cost. Our Virtual Assistant’s skills, talents and experience can be hugely useful to a startup or new business owner.

Long term, high quality staffing: Many business owners understand that there is far too much work to do and they believe that hiring an intern or volunteer or even hiring a family member or friend is the solution to all of their problems. This can often be a short term solution to a long term problem. They eventually realise that interns and volunteers require more training and are often only available for a few hours a week, therefore only able to take on a limited amount of work. Also, getting family and friends to help with a business can be enjoyable for the business owner but feel burdensome for the person being hired, especially if they are not being compensated to a level that they deem appropriate. It can also create a permanent issue between people that were once friends as business and friendship don’t always go hand in hand. Hiring a virtual assistant can solve the problem of constantly having to hire and train new friends, volunteers or interns to do your essential tasks.

Running the day to day operations: You may have heard the advice given to many entrepreneurs – Work in your business, not in your business. Too many entrepreneurs get so caught up in the day to day running of the business that don’t get round to working on the strategy of the business. They end up focusing on the urgent instead of the important. Your Virtual Assistant can also help with the day-to-day administrative tasks, such keeping track of emails, scheduling appointments, and contacting customers. This will definitely free up your time so that you can actually focus on growing your business and moving it in the right direction.

Avoid Burn out: We know that work-life balance for most entrepreneurs is simply unattainable.However, this doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs cannot achieve this. Many startups fail because of lack of cash flow and low sales but often there is an underlying issue that leads to this problem – The owners get burnt out and exhausted by all the menial tasks that they have to do, they get overwhelmed with the amount of work they have to do just to keep afloat and they ultimately lose a sense of why they started the business in the first place. Being an entrepreneur is less about working hard and more about working smart. If you’re working hard but not smart, burning the candle at both ends and not quite making a profit, then it may be time to sit down and re-strategise and come up with a long term solution to meet your business and personal goals.

Outsource time consuming tasks: Many big and well-established businesses are also using virtual assistants to save time and money, especially when it comes to recruitment and hiring new employees. Virtual assistants can filter candidates and do initial screening interviews to choose only suitable candidates for the position. This frees up time for management, as they will only need to interviews with viable candidates, rather than everyone who applied for the position. Virtual assistants are also being employed to carry out internet research for businesses. They search the internet to find information on corporate websites, explore new products and get business contacts. With clear instructions and access to specialty search tools, our virtual assistants are really helpful in this area. Bloggers or marketing businesses employ virtual assistants to help them find new content, keep up with online trends and stay updated on current news and events, research and understand the new market segments and ultimately improve marketing strategies and financial sustainability.

Our VAs are ready and available to help your business to run more efficiently and most importantly, to grow. The increasing power of the internet and technology has also been a major factor in the growth in demand and popularity of the VA industry.

Beyond VAs is a London based social enterprise that helps solopreneurs & SMEs grow their businesses by connecting them with talented virtual assistants from countries with high unemployment rates. To find out more about Beyond VAs, get in touch with us or subscribe to the newsletter here: www.beyondvas.com/contact-us