Category: virtual assistance

Never Misuse Your Privileges as a Virtual Assistant

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You are a virtual assistant, who has the greatest benefit of working at home. Thus, you do not have to socialize with a lot of people while working, helping you focus more on your tasks. Also, your family is near your reach, giving you fewer worries even if you are on duty. This gives you the security to attend to your loved ones, particularly in times of emergencies. Furthermore, you have the convenience of not battling with traffic – simply open your PC or laptop, and you are good to go.

There are many advantages a virtual assistant could have besides the ones mentioned above. Unfortunately, not all seem to take it into account. There are ones, who still end up in the ill-use of their privileges, which should not be the case.

If you are a virtual assistant, you have this benefit of asking for leaves as easily as possible. Simply imagine how less disconcerting it can be to know that you do not have to see the facial expression of your client when asking for approval.

Due to this, there are some, who take advantage of this and make it a habit to be off-duty, stating various reasons relative to the matter. You should never establish such personality, for it will be your peril one day – easy dismissal from your job. Remember, your absence even in a day is already a great loss to your client. Many tasks will be delayed and your client may be off track, for you will not be there to assist him or her.

On the other hand, there are virtual assistants, who tend to abuse their privilege of having stagnant hours in a day. As a result, they do activities unrelated to their work, risking them in missing the urgent requests of their client. Be reminded that even if your client does not provide you work that would fill in your hours for the shift, this does not mean that he or she will never need you at unexpected times. In truth, the said hours are meant for you to stand by, specifically for emergency requirements.

Thus, if your client sends you a missive, you should at least be as responsive as possible. Remind yourself that you do not have work at those idle hours. This means that you have all the time in the world to attend to your client’s concerns.

Another good example of this matter is when a virtual assistant does not even set up a conducive workspace. As a result, whenever he or she speaks with his or her client, the latter would hear unnecessary background noises, resulting in distraction. Be reminded that even if you are home, you should at least keep your environment free from such, especially when communicating with your client. This will appear very unprofessional. Even if they understand you are at home, keep in mind that you are working and you should act like one.

Indeed, there are virtual assistants, who become less appreciative of their benefits as a home-based worker, but this does not mean you should be one. There are many ways to become an effective one, such as by starting to appreciate the advantages you got on hand.

How Understanding Your Client Takes You a Long Way

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You need to understand that a relationship between you and your client is two-way. In other words, aside from your employer considering your situation as a whole when it comes to assigning you tasks, you also have to give regards to his or hers as well. This is a bigger picture that some virtual assistants miss.

To make it clearer, one good example is when your client misses providing you a task for your shift. As a result, you kept on waiting during the day and you wasted your hours, which is not a good feeling for you as a virtual assistant who is paid by the hour. This is despite the fact your client does not mind to pay for your stagnant hours.

When the said type of situation arises, you should avoid acting hastily and bother your client repeatedly. Indeed, there will be cases that you should already have the initiative to reach out and ask for tasks, either via message or call. Still, you have to keep it to the minimum. Otherwise, you may end up becoming an annoyance to your client. Why? This is due to the fact that you fail to realize first what should have caused him or her from missing to provide you activities to carry out in a day.

Keep in mind that your client is most likely a person, who is filled with appointments to attend to, not to mention the other tasks he or she has to carry out daily. This is highly applicable if your client is a business person. This only means that there is a big responsibility on his or her shoulders. A simple task (for you) of giving a task may not be the case for him or her, especially now that it would consume his or her valued time.

Another good example of understanding your client’s situation is in terms of analyzing his or her mood. You cannot simply say that a person is not fond of you or having negative feelings towards you due to a simple “short and direct” reply. Be reminded, once again, that your client is a busy person. Thus, you could anticipate that your client will not even have plenty of time to speak with you or elaborate things further when you are inquiring about something. They would be straightforward as much as possible.

Do you know that some virtual assistants even encounter clients, who do not even communicate after sending tasks? Hence, consider yourself fortunate for having a busy client, who still finds time to support you.

By being an understanding virtual assistant to your client, you would have a better approach to dealing with him or her. You would not demand too much for attention or time. Instead, you will do your best to ensure exemplary work delivered to him or her without putting much pressure on his or her highly engaged life.

With a personality as such, your client will be more confident to trust you and work with you going forward. This could also be a ground for him or her to keep you for the long-term.

Why Reporting Your Daily Accomplishments Matters

Why Reporting Your Daily Accomplishments Matters

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Communication has always been an essential part of taking the role of a virtual assistant. However, it is not simply a single entity, but is composed of various factors that should be identified individually. One of the essential components of effective communication in virtual assistance is updating the client of your daily accomplishments.

Various virtual assistants tend to make the mistake of not even giving their clients report on the things that were finished for the day. As a result, problems arise. For instance, clients would need to spend extra time simply to check if you have done your work for the day. This will definitely be a bother, especially if he or she is often caught up with tons of appointments daily. Remember, you are a virtual assistant for various reasons, one of which is to lighten the burden of your client.

Moreover, there is a possibility that your client may even doubt if you have done anything for the day. This is normalcy, especially if the virtual assistant simply logs in and leaves work without even considering to update his or her client. This has been experienced surely by a handful of VAs already. The end scenario is always that he or she has to defend his or her end. This is an event that could have been prevented in the first place.

By updating your client, you will also help in keeping him or her aware if he or she is still supplying you tasks as necessary. There are clients, who depend on what you report prior to delegating further activities on your end.

There are various ways to keep your client aware of your daily accomplishments. One good example is to maintain a habit of updating him or her every time you have done an activity. This is regardless of not receiving any response from your client often. As long as you are certain he or she is able to read your updates, this could already work.

On the other hand, you may report at the end of your work day instead. Simply ensure that your report is concise enough, which will keep your client from reaching out to you and clarify things out. Otherwise, this would just make the whole idea of updating him or her useless.

As a virtual assistant, updating your client could also be your opportunity to keep open communication between you two. This is also your chance to ask questions and even propose better means of executing certain activities for him or her. Alternatively, as you exchange words regarding your tasks, you can even learn from your client as he or she shares how things should be done more effectively.

Always keep in mind that even though you are a virtual assistant, this does not imply that you have to alter your work ethics altogether and adopt robotlike manners. Even if you are working home-based, you should still preserve human touch while reporting to your client. You may not be physically present, but you can appear to be such with the way you work.

Communicate continually.

Things to Remember Prior to Filing a Leave

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Even virtual assistants are entitled to file leaves whenever they need to take a break from work for various reasons: illness, deceased relatives, rest, etc. However, you should keep in mind that even if being a virtual assistant does not impose lots of strict rules when it comes to leaves, you should never abuse it.

To give you an effective guideline prior to filing a leave, check out the following points:

Being the Newly Hired Member of the Firm. You must remember to take things slowly if you just started working for your client. As much as possible, you keep your attendance perfect or neat. This is to give your client a good impression, which would likely last throughout your tenure with him or her. Nonetheless, this does not mean that you should sustain this habit in the beginning only.

Take note that as a new member of the organization, you still have a lot to learn. Hence, you must dedicate much of your time to get a grasp of your tasks. If you will keep on filing absences or leaves, this is beyond impossible. It will be a waste of time for the client since delays are up ahead.

Understanding Your Limit. If you do not want to make your client think twice in keeping you as his or her virtual assistant, you should avoid long vacations, unless highly necessary (e.g. you will take care of your deceased relative’s funeral or recuperate due to an accident or sickness in the hospital). Should there be a possibility to be absent in a minimal number of days, consider it. This shows that you are cognizant of how essential your presence is in your client’s firm.

Keeping It Seldom. There are virtual assistants, who tend to be absent for only a day or two but do this frequently. No matter how you think you are doing it in a clever way, know that your client will soon comment about your behavior. Take note that a typical office employee may be sanctioned for being absent in at least three (3) days for a certain period of time. You are already fortunate not to be warranted by this rule. Thus, again, do not misapply your exemption.

Making Up for Days Lost. As a virtual assistant, you are free to make up for the lost hours due to your leave. This is a good solution if you want to ensure your client that you do not want to affect his or her operations negatively due to your absence.

In truth, you may even accrue the lost hours for your leave in advance. This will enable you to carry out projects or tasks without your client fretting about deadlines.

Requesting With Respect. Always show respect whenever asking for leave approval. Enclosed in this point is the need to inform your client as early as possible. In such way, he or she could prepare, such as by finding someone to take over your tasks temporarily. Avoid last-minute requests, unless this concerns unprecedented occurrence.

Do not expect that your client will always say yes. Thus, accept his or her denial with a sincere understanding of his or her reason why.

With the aforementioned facts above, you should be able to use your privilege to ask for leaves in the most professional way possible. Remember, you are still treated as a typical employee and you should never misuse your convenience as a home-based worker.

Seamless Reporting: Possible Reasons Why Some Virtual Assistants Fail at It

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Freelancing or working remotely has become the foundation of a convenient job. There is no denying that one of the biggest reasons why people switch to gigs online due to their freedom to earn money without necessarily having to leave home. Even if you are in your pajamas, this is not an issue to your employer. All you have to do is ensure you submit the deliverables needed at the right time.

However, there are cases that some virtual assistants tend to let comfort take over them. As a result, they take advantage of skipping work whenever they want to. Simply imagine having the freedom to ask your client for leaves without the apprehension of seeing a displeased reaction. Even if your client says no, the intensity of pressure on you would not be as high when you are facing the person himself or herself. This should not be practiced as a virtual assistant.

Note that sick leaves are exceptions. You do not choose when to get ill and no one would ever want to suffer from health failure.

One possible factor that leads to some virtual assistants to leave for work without taking into consideration their clients’ businesses or pending tasks, to be specific, is having the thought that you, as an employee, is different from the ones in the office. This is totally wrong. You must remind yourself that your location is the only discrepancy. Act as someone that may require validation from your superiors. Do not simply work but challenge yourself to become a better member of the organization, as well.

Moreover, some VAs may often be not present at work if they stick to the idea that they will be able to find replacement work right away. Again, this is not right. There are more people becoming interested in online freelancing. In other words, the competition is getting tough. You do not want to get caught in this, do you? If you do not, treat your job as if it is the last you could find.

However, a virtual assistant’s absence may also stem out from the client’s side. There are VAs, who tend to lose interest with their job for they are being treated unfairly. For instance, they are often asked to carry out too many tasks in a very limited time. On the other hand, they may not find any enthusiasm to work for they are not being guided accordingly. Yes, this happens, such as when the client does not provide good training or offer a helping hand when the specifics of a task or project require clarifications.

From the given facts above, one thing is certain — virtual assistance is a two-way relationship. A virtual assistant should offer efficient service to a client (which should cover being present at all times, as much as possible, to cater to his or her routine and ad hoc tasks) and the latter should also nurture the employee.