subject: How Can a VA Help Your Business? [print this page] Both online and offline businesses can make use of a Virtual Assistant. If you've never used a Virtual Assistant, however, you may not realize just how much of a help one could be to you. There are many ways both small and large, only a few of which are covered here.
The first thing you should know is exactly what a Virtual Assistant is. Knowing this will assist you in determining what one could help you with. According to VANetworking.com:
"A Virtual Assistant (VA) is a highly-trained independent entrepreneur who provides a myriad of business support services virtually via phone, fax and/or internet based technology to support and meet the growing needs of businesses worldwide. Partnering with a VA reduces stress, protects cash flow, eliminates administrative hassles, and enables business people to find the success they originally set out to achieve."
Some VAs specialize in certain tasks, such as Writing, Website Management, Blog Management, Transcription or Secretarial Services. Others choose to offer a wide range of services to their clients, such as general administrative tasks or general Internet Marketing.
For the online business, there are a many ways a VA could assist you. You could get help with all methods of marketing your business, handling your emails, writing the copy for your website or blog and/or managing your online store. There are even VAs that can assist you with running your business (Online Business Managers) or handling all aspects of your projects (Project Managers).
Even if you run a completely offline business, you can find Virtual Assistants who specialize in that. In this case, your VA could help you with phone customer service, following up on leads, bookkeeping and sending postal mail-outs. A Virtual Assistant could even login remotely to your computer and complete your data entry for you, as well as helping you keep track of contacts.
Regardless of what type of business you have, decide if you want to work with a single VA that can help you with everything or several VAs, each of which specializes in a particular task. There are benefits to either method and you'll have to decide which is best for you and your business. No matter what you need help with, there is a Virtual Assistant out there for you.
