http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/virtual-outsourcing-can-make-your-business-more-profitable-252170.html
Many successful entrepreneurs believe that they are actually being frugal by not getting the help they need. Some assume that by doing everything themselves, they are saving money and thus earning more. In most cases, this simply isnt true. When you use your valuable time performing the tasks that generate the most profit for your company, you are using your time to its full income earning potential. If you are like most small business owners however, a great deal of your time is likely spent on paperwork and other administrative functions that are necessary to the success of your business, but dont directly generate income. Imagine how much more profitable you could be, if you could virtually erase this clerical time from your task set.
In order to illustrate this point, lets use the example of an entrepreneur who works an 8 hour day, and earns on average, $400 per day. This would mean that this business owner earns an hourly wage of $50. But, 2.5 hours of his or her day is spent on administrative functions. If we were to eliminate the time spent on these tasks, the entrepreneur would be earning close to $73 per hour for the remaining 5.5 hours. Now imagine if the entrepreneur could spend a full 8 hour work day on the tasks that generate the most revenue for their business. He or she could potentially be earning $584 dollars a day minus the cost of outsourcing the clerical work, which should be significantly less than the $184 per day gained.
Until recent years, the thought of getting the administrative aspects of your business off of your plate meant that you had to hire an employee. But, for many entrepreneurs this was not feasible due to lack of space or monetary concerns. This left many business owners with few options, except to continue doing it all themselves. Luckily, in todays world of advanced internet technologies, there are alternatives. In fact, there are very few tasks today that cant be outsourced. There are companies that specialize in customer service, Virtual Assistants for a variety of administrative functions and Accountants and Bookkeepers for financial matters. A simple Google search for just about any task on your to-do list should give you a variety of companies that specialize in the outsourcing of this service.
Virtual outsourcing is a means to accomplish the tasks you need performed without the significant cost of hiring an employee. Contracting the clerical aspects of your business on an as-needed basis means that you are paying only for the exact task you need accomplished. If this is a couple of hours of bookkeeping or administrative duties, it shouldnt cost you a fortune, and in fact will likely cost you much less than the money you could be earning by using this time on your companys primary income gaining functions.
How much is your time worth? If you do the math, you might be surprised at how much you could benefit from getting qualified help. Virtual outsourcing will likely make your business more profitable.
Kelly Sims is a Virtual Assistant and Owner of Virtually There VA Services. To sign up for her free newsletter providing useful information that enhances and simplifies the lives of busy entrepreneurs, visit her website at => http://www.virtuallythereva.com .
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Art of Delegating Tasks to a Virtual Assistant
Written by: Celine Roque
Source: http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/01/30/the-art-of-delegating-tasks-to-a-virtual-assistant/#more-6756
“It’s all hype. Trust me, I gave it a shot. I worked with a virtual assistant and it was a complete waste of time. Wouldn’t do it again.”
This is what a friend of mine said when I was thinking about hiring a virtual assistant (VA) almost a year ago. Until I tried it myself, I didn’t realize that a great working relationship with a VA goes both ways. While they have to be efficient at executing your instructions, you also need to be good at the art of delegating if you want to make the most out of their services.
How exactly do you become good at getting the most out of your VA, thus freeing up much more of your own valuable time?
Get a VA that you trust 100%. Lack of trust is a sure way to waste your money. Not because the person you hire is going to scam you, but you’ll be spending an awful amount of time worrying about it. I’m talking about the time that the VA is supposed to free up on your schedule so you can work on other projects. If you’re going to spend the same time worrying about the tasks you delegated, then there’s no point to hiring a VA. Here are some ways you can find someone you can trust to work with:
•Ask your friends and associates for referrals.
•Do a thorough background check (if you’re hiring an individual).
•Look for online reviews of the service (if you’re hiring a company or team).
•At the very least, have a couple of phone or VoIP conversations with your potential assistants before you hire them.
Be specific about your instructions. “I find myself asking a lot of questions for clients if they send me general instructions. The more specific the instructions, the better the quality of the output.” said Ella Pelayo of epVirtualAssistants. Many VAs I’ve talked to echo this statement. You’ll be wasting both your own time, as well as your assistant’s, if your instructions require more clarification.
Generic instructions such as “check my email” or “research this topic” might give you results that are different from what you expected, so it’s best to include step by step instructions, as well as a few sentences describing the expected output. In a recent webinar, outsourcing expert Jeff Mills said that he even uses Jing, a free screencasting tool, to show VAs and contractors how to do more complex tasks. This is a useful suggestion, especially if the task is more complex than you can put into words.
Also, don’t forget to point out the maximum amount of time your VA needs to complete each task. This is especially important if you’re paying by the hour. Ask your VA to repeat your instructions to you, paraphrased, just to confirm that he understood the task.
Prepare a manual for repetitive or long-term tasks. When I first hired a VA to do customer support, I provided her with an FAQ document, as well as some email templates. The FAQ document dealt with any possible questions the VA might ask herself when encountering a complex customer support situation. Here are some of the questions I answered in the document:
•What do I do if the customer is not satisfied with the service?
•What do I do if a customer is asking for a service that we do not provide?
•What happens if the customer doesn’t send the needed deliverables on time?
Alternatively, you can provide a comprehensive guide or manual that your VA can use when tackling these problems. This kind of document establishes the rules and guidelines she should follow. The point is to give an easy reference so that the VA can handle as many problems as she can without having to ask you.
Know the special skills and abilities of each VA you hire. Many VAs are generalists and can do a variety of tasks such as booking flights, setting reminders, or providing customer support. But there are some specialized tasks which you may need assistance in, so it’s important that you know your VA can handle these tasks. After all, you don’t want to spend hours writing up detailed directions – that would be contrary to the simplicity you’re trying to achieve.
Hiring an assistant, especially a virtual one, might seem like a risky or expensive move for a web worker. But if you plan for it well and learn how to delegate effectively, you won’t have to worry too much about wasting your time or your money.
Do you work with virtual assistants? Were they as helpful as you expected them to be? How do you make the client-assistant relationship as effective as possible?
Source: http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/01/30/the-art-of-delegating-tasks-to-a-virtual-assistant/#more-6756
“It’s all hype. Trust me, I gave it a shot. I worked with a virtual assistant and it was a complete waste of time. Wouldn’t do it again.”
This is what a friend of mine said when I was thinking about hiring a virtual assistant (VA) almost a year ago. Until I tried it myself, I didn’t realize that a great working relationship with a VA goes both ways. While they have to be efficient at executing your instructions, you also need to be good at the art of delegating if you want to make the most out of their services.
How exactly do you become good at getting the most out of your VA, thus freeing up much more of your own valuable time?
Get a VA that you trust 100%. Lack of trust is a sure way to waste your money. Not because the person you hire is going to scam you, but you’ll be spending an awful amount of time worrying about it. I’m talking about the time that the VA is supposed to free up on your schedule so you can work on other projects. If you’re going to spend the same time worrying about the tasks you delegated, then there’s no point to hiring a VA. Here are some ways you can find someone you can trust to work with:
•Ask your friends and associates for referrals.
•Do a thorough background check (if you’re hiring an individual).
•Look for online reviews of the service (if you’re hiring a company or team).
•At the very least, have a couple of phone or VoIP conversations with your potential assistants before you hire them.
Be specific about your instructions. “I find myself asking a lot of questions for clients if they send me general instructions. The more specific the instructions, the better the quality of the output.” said Ella Pelayo of epVirtualAssistants. Many VAs I’ve talked to echo this statement. You’ll be wasting both your own time, as well as your assistant’s, if your instructions require more clarification.
Generic instructions such as “check my email” or “research this topic” might give you results that are different from what you expected, so it’s best to include step by step instructions, as well as a few sentences describing the expected output. In a recent webinar, outsourcing expert Jeff Mills said that he even uses Jing, a free screencasting tool, to show VAs and contractors how to do more complex tasks. This is a useful suggestion, especially if the task is more complex than you can put into words.
Also, don’t forget to point out the maximum amount of time your VA needs to complete each task. This is especially important if you’re paying by the hour. Ask your VA to repeat your instructions to you, paraphrased, just to confirm that he understood the task.
Prepare a manual for repetitive or long-term tasks. When I first hired a VA to do customer support, I provided her with an FAQ document, as well as some email templates. The FAQ document dealt with any possible questions the VA might ask herself when encountering a complex customer support situation. Here are some of the questions I answered in the document:
•What do I do if the customer is not satisfied with the service?
•What do I do if a customer is asking for a service that we do not provide?
•What happens if the customer doesn’t send the needed deliverables on time?
Alternatively, you can provide a comprehensive guide or manual that your VA can use when tackling these problems. This kind of document establishes the rules and guidelines she should follow. The point is to give an easy reference so that the VA can handle as many problems as she can without having to ask you.
Know the special skills and abilities of each VA you hire. Many VAs are generalists and can do a variety of tasks such as booking flights, setting reminders, or providing customer support. But there are some specialized tasks which you may need assistance in, so it’s important that you know your VA can handle these tasks. After all, you don’t want to spend hours writing up detailed directions – that would be contrary to the simplicity you’re trying to achieve.
Hiring an assistant, especially a virtual one, might seem like a risky or expensive move for a web worker. But if you plan for it well and learn how to delegate effectively, you won’t have to worry too much about wasting your time or your money.
Do you work with virtual assistants? Were they as helpful as you expected them to be? How do you make the client-assistant relationship as effective as possible?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Outsourcing your own work!
Written by: Lisa Forbes
http://www.perfectsolutions.us
There are so many things that you personally have to take care of but what do you do when you don’t have the time to do the non-essential tasks yourself. You outsource yourself.
Sometimes the Virtual Assistant is in need of a Virtual Assistant but where do you look? You have to realize that this is a business and you really have to treat it as such. Accounting, Marketing, Advertising and all the things needed to run a successful business. Sometimes it can be more than one person can handle OR it really isn’t your expertise.
I personally use another VA to help me with my accounting practices. It definitely has SAVED me money because of all the things that I am not aware of in tax deductions and reporting. If you keep up with your accounting practices, it will make tax time easy and you’ll get the most out of your deductions.
Here are some indicators that you may indeed need some help:
1.Is your website constantly being updated (blog, testimonials, ads, samples)
2.Is your accounting up to date? (accounts receivable/payables, expense reports, receipts, mileage)
3.Do you feel like your clients are not getting the service you would like them to have?
4.Social Marketing taking up too much time? (Twitter, FaceBook, Forums, Google Analytics)
5.Advertising/Marketing goals not up or non-existent?
These are just the top 5 reasons you should consider.
Now the next thing to so is fining a VA who will work with you and one you can trust. The best place to find other VA’s and network with them are on the forums. The best one’s out there are VAnetworking.com and Virtualassistantforums.com. You can also take a look at Elance for all your technical aspects.
http://www.perfectsolutions.us
There are so many things that you personally have to take care of but what do you do when you don’t have the time to do the non-essential tasks yourself. You outsource yourself.
Sometimes the Virtual Assistant is in need of a Virtual Assistant but where do you look? You have to realize that this is a business and you really have to treat it as such. Accounting, Marketing, Advertising and all the things needed to run a successful business. Sometimes it can be more than one person can handle OR it really isn’t your expertise.
I personally use another VA to help me with my accounting practices. It definitely has SAVED me money because of all the things that I am not aware of in tax deductions and reporting. If you keep up with your accounting practices, it will make tax time easy and you’ll get the most out of your deductions.
Here are some indicators that you may indeed need some help:
1.Is your website constantly being updated (blog, testimonials, ads, samples)
2.Is your accounting up to date? (accounts receivable/payables, expense reports, receipts, mileage)
3.Do you feel like your clients are not getting the service you would like them to have?
4.Social Marketing taking up too much time? (Twitter, FaceBook, Forums, Google Analytics)
5.Advertising/Marketing goals not up or non-existent?
These are just the top 5 reasons you should consider.
Now the next thing to so is fining a VA who will work with you and one you can trust. The best place to find other VA’s and network with them are on the forums. The best one’s out there are VAnetworking.com and Virtualassistantforums.com. You can also take a look at Elance for all your technical aspects.
Monday, September 28, 2009
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