Tag: virtual assistant

Overconfidence Can Ruin Your Reputation as a VA

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There are virtual assistants, who are way too confident about what they can do, that they did not notice that this trait of theirs keep clients at bay. Why? This is due to the fact clients are not impressed by what you say but by what you do. You cannot state that you can perform well and make him or her believe right away. Most of the time, an employer would tell you to prove it first through works, then he or she will see if you are stating a fact.

This is when trial comes in the scene. Have you ever wondered why clients request for a trial period? Be reminded that they are aware that they cannot surmise the performance of an employee by depending on his or her background, previous experience, and interview.

Virtual assistants should remember that no matter how good they think they are, staying mum is the best option to do. It is more impressive to make your performance speak for itself. Indeed, during the interview, you must share what you can do and what you have accomplished previously, but this can be done without a tinge of being improperly surefooted. You can simply say you have experience in this skill number one and number two. You do not have to say that you are the best the client could find out of all the applicants simply due to what you believe in.

Take note that clients steer away from forwardness. They would rather work with someone, who is obviously accepting the fact that he or she is not perfect and there is a lot of growth to reap out there.

Overconfidence should also be avoided at all costs in the instance of accomplishing a certain task. If you keep this trait, you may end up overestimating what you can do. One good example is when you provide a tentative date of completing a certain work. There are virtual assistants, who miscalculate their productivity due to their extreme reliance on their skills. Be reminded that during the process of finishing an activity, requirement changes may be on the way. Always consider, as well, that you may commit mistakes, resulting to repeating the work. Stay on the safe side and provide a workable end date of your project.

A client will be more disappointed if you have not met your guaranteed accomplished date of the task. On the other hand, he or she would find you admirable if you have given a feasible end date and you have submitted the work earlier than the said period.

Keep your feet on the ground and you will positively influence what your client thinks about you. It is simply normal to aim for your employer’s approval, but this can be done in the right way without ruining your reputation.

Accomplishment Reports and How These Help

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Being a busy-headed person means that you would not be able to handle all of the tasks in your company at once, which could include human resources. This may include the fact you will not be able to check the accomplishments of your people on a certain day.

Relatively, this may be the reason why you would likely be skeptical of getting a virtual assistant. You may be thinking that checking on the remote staff from time to time is imperative. However, it is not.

You should be informed that a virtual assistant is trained to work with minimal supervision. It became a norm in the online work industry that as a VA, you have to work independently.

Nonetheless, if you are still apprehensive about how things would work out between you and the VA effectively, then you should know that there are accomplishment reports.

What are accomplishment reports? These are reports sent out in a document or via e-mail, which provide details on what your virtual assistant has accomplished for the day. Instead of checking each of the assigned tasks to the VA, you can simply depend on their daily report in the meantime. This works perfectly if you do not have easy access to your workspace or you are preoccupied most of the day. Take note that each of your VAs’ activities may require the use of a different software application. Thus, it is virtually impossible to access everything instantly.

The said reports are also most helpful in cases of disputes. First, it could be your virtual assistant’s reference whenever you are looking for a certain activity that should have been accomplished on a given date. There will be probable instances that you may miss out the updates from your VA, resulting in you thinking that he or she has not done anything. The report somehow gives the virtual assistant security. Second, you may also take advantage of the reports to gauge if your VA is being productive in a day or otherwise. If the latter is ascertained, then you could at least solve the issue immediately.

Accomplishment reports could be a list of tasks done during the day. Alternatively, it may also include the documents related to the completed activities, such as a spreadsheet or word file. You may freely set a format of the daily report, if you prefer.

From the given facts above, you could already see that virtual assistance may work for you regardless of your hectic schedule. In remote staffing, communication is a foundation. All it takes is making use of it in the most efficient ways.

Can You Assure Professionalism From a Virtual Assistant?

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Oftentimes, businessmen or professionals in need of assistance with their work find it easy to hesitate in hiring a virtual assistant. This is understandable, especially if it is a fairly new concept for them. However, this common misconception about virtual assistant being an ineffective choice of employment should be debunked. There are many reasons why, and you could start with the utmost professionalism offered by virtual assistants.

There is not much of a difference. Did you know that even business people could attest that there is very little difference in terms of hiring a local-based employee and a virtual assistant? This is due to the fact it is simply true. You could say that the most apparent discrepancy between a VA and an office employee is the location of their workplace. The former is at his or her home, whereas the latter is at your company headquarters.

VAs do not need much of an adjustment. Most virtual assistants have years of experience working in an office-based setting. Thus, it is rather incorrect to assume that they are not aware of how things work in a company.

Furthermore, one cannot deny that once a VA is on board, he or she has to follow rules and regulations, which they have complied with previously, as well. Obviously, there is nothing much to worry about in terms of their adjustment. Once again, the major difference is where they will work, which is at their home.

Virtual assistants are used to a fast-paced environment. Most projects or work required in an online setting is subjected to a deadline. You could be certain that despite the urgency of tasks in your workplace, you would not encounter the VA faltering or complaining. Why? This is due to the fact they are used to such a situation, wherein they have to manage their time effectively to assure submission of work without missing the completion time. This can also be attested by the fact VAs work on an hourly or per-project basis.

Communication can still be seamless. If you worry about the coordination proper, then you should know that communication can still be seamless with a virtual assistant. With the advancement in technology, you have tons of options on how to communicate with your VA – e-mail, voice call, video call, or message. Relaying information, assigning a task, or even conducting a meeting is undeniably easy.

Virtual assistants also guarantee that the said communication means will not be affected throughout their shift given they use a stable internet connection. Should there be a cut-off, a backup is just right the corner.

Absences or late reporting should not be an issue. With the convenience offered by their setup, virtual assistants are less likely to report late or miss their work. This is regardless of their schedule, particularly if it is a night shift one. This keeps you from worrying about delayed projects or missed deadlines. Take note that office-based workers often report late or miss work due to their issue with the difficulty of transportation.

With the aforementioned facts, there is no refuting that hiring a virtual assistant could be your easy solution to common problems you encounter with your employees.

Why Consider Having Employees Working Remotely

Why Consider Having Employees Working Remotely

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There are always doubts in the mind of an employer whenever being offered to take in people working remotely. Most common factors that hold them back is their lack of experience in having a home-based worker, security, and efficiency of the employee. However, have you ever wondered why more and more organizations are taking advantage of employing remote workers? Most likely, they have reaped benefits in the long run, which kept them in adapting the new outsourcing option for companies.

If you need support in making a decision, it is best you learn the reasons why you should take into regard employing home-based workers or virtual assistants, as they are commonly called. Given below are a few that would help:

Reduction in Overhead Expenditures. Simply imagine having a smaller workspace or office without losing the people vital for your operations. It only implies lower costs on your part. Since your employees would be working at home, office equipment would no longer be in your inventory. Furthermore, you could even save on power and telephone bills.

More Local Market Insights. By having people from various places would give you the advantage of getting wider local market insights. Take note, as well, that home-based workers or freelancers often train to take in new knowledge and ideas. This is due to the competitive online industry. That being said, you could anticipate all-encompassing learning from them.

Better Performance From Employees. A worker’s performance is greatly affected by how convenient his or her situation is relative to his or her job. If they will continue to suffer from commuting nightmares, their performance at work could also be affected. Additionally, it was revealed by a SurePayroll study that 61% of 2,060 surveyed professionals found their loud colleagues as the biggest office distraction. As a result, their productivity is getting killed.

Thus, if you consider employing virtual assistants, such inconveniences will never be contributing factors in their skillfulness.

Environmental Movement. By making your operations more virtual over time, you will be able to make your company a role model for other businesses. This is due to the fact you find even the simplest means to help the environment from damages often caused by car emissions.

Future Preparation. More and more employees, especially the young ones, are becoming outspoken with their need for a work-life balance. In other words, by starting to take in remote employees, you could adapt to the younger workers’ interests.

More Effective Communication. Coordinating with remote workers would never be an issue even if you are not together personally. There are tons of software applications that make communication a breeze. As long as both of you have internet connections, extra fees on local calls can be avoided as well.

Getting the Best of Talents. Another reason to consider having employees working remotely is your better reach to best of talents. Since most home-based workers have worked with various clients worldwide, adjusting to a new environment would not be an issue with them at all.

Additionally, since the freelancing industry allows one to enter any field of work as long as he or she could be trained, people working online tend to have more job experiences. There are even those proficient in both general office and technical work. Therefore, you could anticipate a wider skill set from remote workers.

Home-based workers are the future of your organization. Instead of having doubts, why not focus on the perks of getting your team upgraded? It is time to move your business forward.

 

 

 

Top Five Reasons to Consider Hiring a Virtual Bookkeeper

Top Five Reasons to Hire a Virtual Bookkeeper

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Employing virtual assistants has become an in-demand solution for companies in need of cost-cutting solution while ensuring their operations are not affected. Nonetheless, there are firms, who only resort to having VAs responsible for administrative work, which you could consider activities that do not involve sensitive or critical information.

The aforementioned fact does not imply that you should limit your use of remote manpower. There is so much that a virtual assistant can do for you, which include bookkeeping. Apparently, you would think that it is quite risky for you to let a virtually available staff take care of your financial records, but think again, for you may be missing a lot of benefits in having a virtual bookkeeper. Given below are a few:

Budget-Friendly Solution. As mentioned above, using a remote workforce could keep you from the costs of office space, equipment, and even benefits that a typical office-based worker requires. By hiring a virtual bookkeeper, you would be able to get the same work minus the physical space, insurance, paid holidays, etc.

Advancement. More and more companies are getting the hang of using home-based employees not only to save money but to comply with the advancement in the business industry. Organizations, aside from using the latest technologies like software applications to keep track of their monetary accounts, are also using virtual bookkeepers to make their workflow consistent. In other words, they are becoming online as much as possible.

If you are already taking in remote workers for your administrative work, what is the loss of becoming paperless even in your accounting department?

Long-Term Commitment. Who would want to work with a different bookkeeper every now and then? Apparently, no one, but this is a common scenario if you outsource one from an office-based team. If you will employ a virtual bookkeeper, you can negotiate a long-term commitment from the person.

Similar Credentials and Qualifications. Simply because a virtual bookkeeper works from home, it already implies that he or she is not qualified to handle your business financial transactions. In contrary, there are lots of experienced remote workers, who have finished studies relevant to accounting or management of business records. Remember, despite being called “virtual,” these bookkeepers are real people working offsite.

Business Growth. Probably, you are adamant not to take in a virtual bookkeeper for you do not want to handle additional costs. You would rather handle the accounting tasks yourself. However, you are missing the point of broadening your business reach.

If you want to grow your business, you should take advantage of the less costly requirement of a virtual bookkeeper while you focus on more important parts of your organization. Take note that the more you make yourself stuck with tons of work, the more ineffective you will be.

There are other things to anticipate relative to the advantages of having a virtual bookkeeper. Lots of businesses could attest to this, and it is just up to you whether to take the chance or not.