4 Most Common Industries Hiring Virtual Assistants for Years Now
VAs have been around longer than you thought. Check out the list below of industries well-known to optimize the benefits of hiring virtual assistants.
Get the right assistance on scaling your business.
VAs have been around longer than you thought. Check out the list below of industries well-known to optimize the benefits of hiring virtual assistants.
Virtual Assistants provide administrative, customer support, creative and multi-level skills for your business, as a contractor. They provide a set of skills as a freelancer which would be beneficial when you're still not sure what you would want to delegate, but sure that you need a hand in running your operations.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is now easier than before but what about knowing if you need one? Almost all industries have been using the advantage of outsourcing Virtual Assistants due to efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
So you've now realized that you're not a superhuman who can do everything in your business. Congratulations! It's all fair since you built your business to own your time and not your business owning your time the other way around.
A clear recruitment process is essential for small to medium businesses looking to expand their operations. When finding the right team member, some find it overwhelming because it is usually done by a completely separate department in corporations.
If you plan to start a business, it's best to be cautious and prepared for the reality that you may need to work harder without getting everything you thought you would. Risks are inevitable. A great reward, though, wouldn't be possible without taking risks.
May it be for profit, satisfaction, or the eagerness to make a difference, there will always be a situation where being wallowed by stress and pressure may seem like the only option.
Your willingness to outsource means you're now at a point where you understand your business. You have your system, and you know what is repetitive and what is not. Most especially, you accept that the only way to grow is to delegate your minor tasks to make way for focus-intensive and heavy development decisions.
Virtual Assistants have been in the industry for years now since the advancement of communication in technology started. Everything is much easier currently with the right tools and personalized help. Does convenience and cost begets quality?
As you grow your business, systems are going to be needed. In a system, each step of the process requires expertise. Although some skills can be learned in a span of time, having a developing business means that every decision you make is crucial.
More Filipinos have taken on roles as virtual assistants because there is demand, the work hours are flexible, and it offers opportunities to make good money, even before the pandemic started.
Whether you run a small business or making your way as an influencer, you might have encountered Facebook Business Suite as a choice to keep your posts scheduled at peace.
Inspir32 Guide
VAs have been around longer than you thought. We get it. It's valid to be skeptical about hiring a professional that is a thousand miles away from you. Zoom, Skype, and other communication tools might be your only friends on starting this new journey of outsourcing the right people for your business, in the most affordable way. Virtual assistants are generally self-employed workers. They provide professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients remotely from a home office. Can't decide if your business really needs a virtual assistant? Well, you're not alone! - For years now, actually. Check out the list below of industries well-known to optimize the benefits of hiring virtual assistants.
Virtual Assistants are well-known for filtering leads, setting and managing appointments, posting ads, handling email correspondence, providing general administration & customer service, as well as make you look good on social media - a great all-in-one solution for busy sole proprietors!
Law firms are notorious for handling a lot of paperwork. It doesn’t matter the type of law they focus on because they all have time-consuming tasks like research, legal transcription, calendar and email management, data entry, and communication with clients. A Virtual Assistant can take the responsibility of accomplishing these tasks to lessen the burden.
This industry was one of the earliest to discover the benefits of hiring Virtual Assistants. From providing world-class quality website development to administrative support, technical and customer support, and everything in between, technology companies have reaped the rewards of using Virtual Assistants.
Organizing records, data entry, accounts payables and receivables, calendar management & bank reconciliation are some of the most daunting tasks for an accounting firm. The presence of a Virtual Assistant with the appropriate skills helps lessen the distress.
Inspir32 Creative Solutions is a Digital Marketing and Virtual Assistant Staffing Agency based in Orlando, Florida. Founded by Raymond E. McLeod, the company started as an inspirational elements publishing entity established in 2020. Eventually, it ventured to outsource highly-qualified Virtual Assistants from the Philippines. Inspir32 Creative Solutions' mission is to provide global solutions to individuals and businesses, may it be for branding, designing your website, Marketing, or outsourcing your future team. Whatever your business goals may be, let Inspir32 Creative Solutions be your partner in finding the best Virtual Assistant for you and your business.
Inspir32 Guide
Considering you’re just starting with your business, at some point, you’ll have to deal with outsourcing skills to make everything more efficient. We are very lucky to live in this progressive world. The new technologies make us more and more connected - even to opportunities around the globe. It’s the internet’s way of making your needs met in most circumstances. This goes to show how important Virtual Assistants are for startups. They're the premise that builds businesses that come under a small financial limitation. Just like building a relationship, nurturing this opportunity can help your business stay relevant for a long period. If one gives relationship nurturing and proper time, the bond grows stronger, and eventually, it stays as a priority. Virtual assistants have been around longer than you thought - way before the pandemic happened. Virtual Assistants provide administrative, customer support, creative and multi-level skills for your business, as a contractor. They provide a set of skills as a freelancer which would be beneficial when you're still not sure what you would want to delegate, but sure that you need a hand in running your operations. Follow these steps below to ensure your hiring process will go as smoothly as possible.
Remember that a Virtual Assistant can provide a set of skills but it should be noted that some have expertise. You may want a Virtual Assistant who is a jack of all trades but it can help you a lot when you have a focus need and then outsource from there. Think about the responsibilities that can be thought of and you are willing to train for. For example, you might want a Virtual Assistant who is multi-skilled but your main concern with your business right now is Social Media Management. Let that be your job title for your hunt. Note that if you want some other tasks, like email management and appointment scheduling, you don't need to worry that much because those tasks are quick and easy to learn. It's also important to mention the schedule that you require them to work on since as a contractor and based on how well they are with their skills, you might not be the only client that they have.
There are a lot of freelancing platforms out there like Upwork, Fiverr, etc. Although convenience will be your friend here, there will be additional payments of course in using their website to hire. Even though you will still be the one who will check the applications, interview, and choose, you can enjoy peace of mind in verifying the freelancers available on their platform. For a more independent way of finding skilled Virtual Assistants, Facebook groups will always be the OG. You can just join or even post directly to these groups with the information you have from Step 1. The downside is there will be unverified applications, but remember that this will be an advantage as you will not have to pay the platform directly.
Your preference will suffice in this step. Remember to check the training they may have, the experiences they could boast and of course, the portfolio they've made. Ask questions about your needs and how they can meet them with their skills. Stop relying on those interview question formats because since being resourceful is the main characteristic of these Virtual Assistants, they may have already searched and memorized the ideal answers to them. If you ever get overwhelmed with the applications and the interviewing process, remember that there will always be an option to reach out to a Virtual Assistant Agency to do them all for you, while making sure that the applicants are already verified. Inspir32 Creative Solutions is a Virtual Assistant Agency from Orlando, Florida that offers various packages you can choose, based on your needs in hiring a virtual assistant. Their Virtual Assistants have been carefully and virtually screened directly from the Philippines.
How do you know if you can trust someone? Trust them. It all goes down to how you weigh experience and skillset. Which is more important for your Virtual Assistant to have? It can also be helpful to fact-check the experiences they listed down on their resume and portfolio, just to help you get that final decision in making a big step for your business' development.
If you take the time to find the right agency to work with, you should spend less time managing your admin, not more. A good agency has in-built quality control and client management to ensure that you are always getting exactly what you want from the relationship and that any issues are identified and managed as soon as possible. Talk to the virtual assistant manager at your chosen agency to put together a plan for regular reviews, quality targets and more so you can spend less time managing and more time working on your business.
Inspir32 Guide
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is now easier than before but what about knowing if you need one? Almost all industries have been using the advantage of outsourcing Virtual Assistants due to efficiency and cost-effectiveness. It has been a matter of globalization that we're able to attain this convenience of matching our needs with our preferences, especially in terms of business finances. We're talking about optimizing your budget for quality outputs, with the only difference of having to communicate remotely. The revolution of the online market is no different than hiring a Virtual Assistant. It's almost a norm anyway that online services can be trusted as much as those physical ones, and with a much cheaper price since the business doesn't need a sole place to rent! Take note of the questions below to help you decide your urgency of hiring a Virtual Assistant:
The rule here is to not let the number of your projects be greater than the time you allocate to do your business, no matter how short it is. Since you built your own business, it's normal to make your own rules. Make sure to track your time when you are productive on doing necessary tasks and never compromise on staying for more than those hours, because if you usually do, then it's obvious that a Virtual Assistant will benefit your business.
Some can say that they did a business because of its known high financial turnover, but most can say that they've built that business because they are passionate about it. Take note that in running a business, the tasks that interest you the most are not what you're only going to do. Create a step-by-step process of your business and identify which work looks too tedious or takes up too much of your time than normal. If there are more routine tasks than those that only need your direct concern, you need to delegate them to a Virtual Assistant.
It's just right to act as the boss of your business, and not a 3-in-1 person to oversee your operations, marketing, and finances all at the same time. The sooner you realize it, the sooner you'll prevent burnout. If you need time more than spending an extra dime for an outsource, then hire a Virtual Assistant right now. The good news is, if you chose budget over time, you can still hire a Virtual Assistant because not only can they offer affordable rates, most can also be paid per hour. We're talking about checking if a Virtual Assistant will fit your needs or if your needed work can be done on a contractual basis. That's how flexible this opportunity can be!
Inspir32 Creative Solutions is a Digital Marketing and Virtual Assistant Staffing Agency based in Orlando, Florida. Founded by Raymond E. McLeod, the company started as an inspirational elements publishing entity established in 2020. Eventually, it ventured to outsource highly-qualified Virtual Assistants from the Philippines. Inspir32 Creative Solutions' mission is to provide global solutions to individuals and businesses, may it be for branding, designing your website, Marketing, or outsourcing your future team. Whatever your business goals may be, let Inspir32 Creative Solutions be your partner in finding the best Virtual Assistant for you and your business.
Inspir32 Guide
So you've now realized that you're not a superhuman who can do everything in your business. Congratulations! It's all fair since you built your business to own your time and not your business owning your time the other way around. Here's what to watch out for when outsourcing help from Virtual Assistants.
Of course, Virtual Assistants are amazing! Their multitasking abilities are out of this world and they can do any work you would want them to do in just a span of a short time. Did you believe all of that? It's not your fault if you do, since Virtual Assistants are business owners themselves, and what's a business without believable Marketing, right? I'm not saying that the first paragraph is wrong but I can agree that it is exaggerated, which in turn would keep hopes way up high. At the end of the day they are still humans and as you hire them, they would be the usual "newbie" in your business. I would say the best way to know if you can trust the person is to trust them. - Ask yourself these questions before you decide to move forward: - Can the expectation I'm asking be trained? - What are the Virtual Assistants' weaknesses and strengths in comparison to what I need for my business? - Can this issue be handled in a meeting? A Virtual Assistant can do your tasks faster and more efficiently, but that doesn't mean that testing the waters will be quick.
Even with finding the right Virtual Assistant for you, it will take time. You will need to interview candidates once you post a job opening to whichever platform you prefer. You will need to compare and contrast their skills, expertise, experiences, and reviews, if available. Depending on how meticulous you can be, you will consider specific characteristics and qualifications. If it's your first time scaling your workforce, then it will also reflect how long you will finish it. According to business.com, the general time for Virtual Assistants to build their career takes anywhere from three months to a year. Let's say you've already decided on the best virtual assistant who can fit well with your business needs. If you found him/her directly or through an online platform, you might need to consider preparing the training. If you reached out to a Virtual Assistant Agency, of course, you can skip worrying about the training. Considering all the time you invested in finding your Virtual Assistant, understand their adjusting period to your business as well. Take the idea of how long it can be, from how long did you adjust in doing all those outsourcing tasks. To avoid impatience, setting the right expectations will suffice and the next point will wrap it all up.
Outsourcing is not easy. If I could rank the different methods of finding a Virtual Assistant from easiest to hardest, it would be in this order: 1. Through Social Media 2. Through an online platform for freelancers only 3. Through a Virtual Assistant Agency With #3 being the easiest and fastest, it would be because they already have a system in outsourcing. Hence, having your system in your business would make welcoming a new member easier and faster.
Inspir32 Creative Solutions is a Digital Marketing and Virtual Assistant Staffing Agency based in Orlando, Florida. Founded by Raymond E. McLeod, the company started as an inspirational elements publishing entity established in 2020. Eventually, it ventured to outsource highly-qualified Virtual Assistants from the Philippines. Inspir32 Creative Solutions' mission is to provide global solutions to individuals and businesses, may it be for branding, designing your website, Marketing, or outsourcing your future team. Whatever your business goals may be, let Inspir32 Creative Solutions be your partner in finding the best Virtual Assistant for you and your business.
Inspir32 Guide
A clear recruitment process is essential for small to medium businesses looking to expand their operations. When finding the right team member, some find it overwhelming because it is usually done by a completely separate department in corporations. We've summarized the phases of hiring to the following: 1. Job Description 2. Recruitment & Interview 3. Onboarding Below is a checklist to make sure that your hiring process will run smoothly.
✓ Company Overview Make it short, easy to understand, and don't forget to link a website in the end. ✓ Job Overview If you're still unsure about the overview, you can type "Responsibilities include but not limited to the following:" before the bulleted information. ✓ Job Details This part will include what your hire will expect for the job opportunity. ✓ Job Requirements or Qualifications Make sure to include your preferred qualifications to make it all clear. ✓ Company Perks/Benefits (Optional) These will make your offer more exciting and attractive to applicants. More applicants mean more choices. ✓ Determine Pay Range The level of your offer determines the quality of applicants you will attract.
The goal of interviews is to know the applicants beyond the papers. Usually, you will know a big difference especially if the job posting requires excellent communication skills. Remember to use the checklist below: ✓ Determine What Position You are Hiring For ✓ Determine Preferred New Hire Start Date ✓ Decide Number of Interview Rounds ✓ Create Recruiting Timeline ✓ Select Interview Questions ✓ Review Background and Resume Referrals ✓ Prepare for a Budget ✓ Create Offer Letter ✓ Send Offer Letter to Hired Candidates
Having a system on onboarding is a great contingency plan for a faster re-hiring process. Every step should be ideally defined clearly and practiced, if possible. ✓ Create New Employee Welcome Plan ✓ Create First Day Schedule ✓ Outline Full Onboarding or Training Plan
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Beginner’s Guide
Starting a business sure has its perks but many entrepreneurs are setting high yet unrealistic expectations about it. If you plan to start a business, it's best to be cautious and prepared for the reality that you may need to work harder without getting everything you thought you would. Risks are inevitable. A great reward, though, wouldn't be possible without taking risks.
Financial risk has been the main risk involved in starting a business. Under-capitalization is the number one cause of business failure. You need to have a clear trajectory on your goals and limitations. Estimation is necessary when you are either planning for loans or using your savings. The more data you have, the more you can predict how well your business will run. Running a business also means that you need to choose your investments wisely. It may be ideal to find affordable solutions, but you don't want to sacrifice quality for your building blocks to success.
As you grow your business, everything will be more complex and you may realize the greater efficiency that scaling can bring. Further development will also require establishing a concrete system to follow. Executing tasks will be harder than before because you, as a founder or head of operations, should focus on strategic plans. Strategies will change as the economy changes that's why it's important to be updated and fully engaged in building tactics In building your brand, gaining trust is also your main goal. What better way to establish that trust than making sure that expectations are met and queries are answered - through a team that will provide service at any time a lead would be interested. The key here is to identify the tasks done in routine and those which need specialized skills, and then delegate them to an outsourced professional.
"The only thing constant is change." - Heraclitus Pioneering a product or service is not enough for a business to thrive. A significant factor a business owner should consider is how to stand out from your competitors. They may be in a different step compared to you, but you both have the similarity of continuous development as your goal. Consistency and innovation are also needed to stay relevant in your industry. Like Apple's ability to lock in consumers to their brand, establishing the right Marketing tactic to engage with your audience is an excellent decision. Although the industry is ever-changing, it's still important to stay true to your voice's brand because consumers are always attracted to authenticity.
If you take the time to find the right agency to work with, you should spend less time managing your admin, not more. A good agency has in-built quality control and client management to ensure that you are always getting exactly what you want from the relationship and that any issues are identified and managed as soon as possible. Talk to the virtual assistant manager at your chosen agency to put together a plan for regular reviews, quality targets and more so you can spend less time managing and more time working on your business.
Inspir32 Guide
Everyone experiences stress and pressure at some point in their lives. There are several reasons why entrepreneurs are willing to take a calculated risk and set up a business. May it be for profit, satisfaction, or the eagerness to make a difference, there will always be a situation where being wallowed by stress and pressure may seem like the only option. The good news aside from it's normal is it's not permanent and your beginning doesn't define your outcome.
Successful people create their reality wisely using the power of the brain to create the outcomes they want in life. They truly believe they can achieve anything they set their mind to. If you haven't tried affirmation, it can most certainly sound ridiculous. It may look like encouraging toxic positivity because they're just turning back on the sad reality. The fact is, meditation and affirmation are meant to train minds and to focus on the positive events in our lives rather than the negative and stressful ones. According to inc.com, "Repetitive thoughts create connections in the brain that quickly become ironclad. These thoughts move from conscious to unconscious ways of thinking and being. That is how we act on auto-pilot." The best way to see if something works is to try it yourself.
You are not your work. There is a partnership between our skills and our attitude. Our skills are supplied with knowledge via the brain, while our attitude elicits the result of our creation. One thing you should remember is a lot of success doesn't come from passion and talent. It requires consistency. In being consistent, it is false that you create a standard of a good result because every day will bring a different outcome. You cannot expect to be consistent and at the same time only winning in every milestone. Dropping your expectations means that you need to understand the essence of failure to achieve your goals. Failures have always been taught as disappointing when all you need to do is extract the lesson from it. Remember that there is always a positive side to every action or event. Our attitude depends on the choice we will make on which side to face.
You may have heard of Theodore Roosevelt's "Comparison is the thief of joy." Inter-personally, comparison is most often negative and unproductive. It rarely serves us well. Cutting off toxicity and understanding that we all have various problems in one way or another, lessens jealousy. Another thing to note is the degree to which we react to certain things. What may be so difficult to one person may not be the same as to you, but that doesn't mean that their reaction is fake or you could have the ability to undermine them. Empathy plays a big role in encouraging ourselves to learn from others and as well as share a benefit to others.
Inspir32 Creative Solutions is a Digital Marketing and Virtual Assistant Staffing Agency based in Orlando, Florida. Founded by Raymond E. McLeod, the company started as an inspirational elements publishing entity established in 2020. Eventually, it ventured to outsource highly-qualified Virtual Assistants from the Philippines. Inspir32 Creative Solutions' mission is to provide global solutions to individuals and businesses, may it be for branding, designing your website, Marketing, or outsourcing your future team. Whatever your business goals may be, let Inspir32 Creative Solutions be your partner in finding the best Virtual Assistant for you and your business.
Inspir32 Guide
Your willingness to outsource means you're now at a point where you understand your business. You have your system, and you know what is repetitive and what is not. Most especially, you accept that the only way to grow is to delegate your minor tasks to make way for focus-intensive and heavy development decisions. Aside from making sure that you hired the right candidate, you also need to take into consideration that scaling is a continuous process, just like what having a business requires. Hiring a Virtual Assistant is an investment where you will always need to pour constant attention to its progress. "Constant attention" doesn't mean checking every second or every day, rather, looking over the value brought every attainable cutoff and creating a plan for its sustained improvement. Concise information begets the best clarity that's why we summarized in this blog two significant pieces of advice you can take in working coherently with a Virtual Assistant. Remember to apply these simple two S's:
Recognizing your purpose is a great source to fuel your motivation. Start by asking why. “Why do I want to have someone to do the specific task for me?” and build from there. Entrepreneurs become enamored with starting the next thing without first asking the critical “why are we doing this?” or “what are we building toward?” It's best to always retrieve the advice that you need to concentrate on the next step first rather than the whole stairs. Aside from relieving any pressure, it can also let you own your pace and helps to clear your mind which is highly beneficial in making decisions. Not only will it make your tactics more precise, but it will also serve as your inspiration and properly level your expectations.
As a Virtual Assistant agency, Inspir32 Creative Solutions has interviewed thousands of applicants where we usually emphasize the question "What motivates you?". Besides their families, another common answer is when they feel appreciated. Don't we all? Support your Virtual Assistant. Gratefulness goes a long way. As social animals, humans naturally seek the companionship of others as part of their well being. What better way to provide companionship than letting your VAs know their importance in your business. Give your VA nothing to appreciate, get nothing to appreciate back. It’s that simple. You’re the subject matter expert. VAs are the ones to bring your expertise to light in an efficient way. When you provide more information and direction, you’ll get more of what you expect out of your VA.
If you take the time to find the right agency to work with, you should spend less time managing your admin, not more. A good agency has in-built quality control and client management to ensure that you are always getting exactly what you want from the relationship and that any issues are identified and managed as soon as possible. Talk to the virtual assistant manager at your chosen agency to put together a plan for regular reviews, quality targets and more so you can spend less time managing and more time working on your business.
Inspir32 Guide
Virtual Assistants have been in the industry for years now since the advancement of communication in technology started. Everything is much easier currently with the right tools and personalized help. The idea of Virtual Assistants came from outsourcing companies that served huge conglomerates. These outsourcing companies provide ease for the whole recruitment process and ensure only great talents come in through the organizations.
With the fast globalization of capitalism, opportunities to build a business have emerged. From small physical stores to digital ones, the growth of business-for-all has been unstoppable. As online activities increased, so did the run of the consumer market. Convenient businesses required convenient support - that's where Virtual Assistant started taking place. A Virtual Assistant is an independent contractor who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients remotely from a home office. Big companies started with call center outfits based out of India or the Philippines for customer support. This tactic evolved to the concept of why not small business owners and individuals also take benefit of low costs and get their tasks done. When small business owners realized this, there was no turning back. The only two reasons:
US dollar stands at a might conversion of 1 US Dollar = 50 Philippine Peso exchange rate. This plays very favorably for both parties involved. So before you make a run for the moral police, or imagine that your assistant is some poorly starved slave, you will be surprised to know that your assistants live far better than you think. Most of them will be able to invest easily in properties from working for you all night on their computers.
Virtual Assistants cost less because their cost of living is also less. Since Virtual Assistants work online, they can work almost anywhere around the globe. International Living reports that you could comfortably live in the Philippines on $800 a month, covering housing, utilities, food, healthcare, and taxes. The Philippines, as an Asian country, also has this culture of staying in the house of your parents until you've saved up for yourself and not when you've already reached the age of 18, which is the norm in the west. This gives convenience to Filipinos in terms of daily expenses because almost everything will be shared with the family. It is also widely accepted to have extended families (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) living under one roof.
Hiring an assistant below $10/ hr might be the number one reason why you are interested in hiring a virtual assistant. But that’s not all. Virtual assistant gives you leverage of time. Most often underpriced, undervalued and overtly over planned activity or commodity that we need to take control and make the most of - the time to live. The advantages of hiring a virtual assistant are huge, apart from the business help you get are as listed below: - More time to do what you love to do - No overheads, benefits, insurance, payroll taxes that need to be taken care of or paid - No need of additional space or equipment - Cost-efficiency - Business flexibility - More work in less time - Strategic thinking focus - No more repetitive tasks
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As you grow your business, systems are going to be needed. In a system, each step of the process requires expertise. Although some skills can be learned in a span of time, having a developing business means that every decision you make is crucial. Your focus on your strategies is going to be more vital than spending your time on learning a new skill, to continue the upward slope in terms of cash inflow. Also, no one can master every expertise on Earth. Let's face it: you're not superhuman; you're a business owner. Luckily, if you're just starting or you can see your business being more efficient with cost-effective labor, hiring a Virtual Assistant is now easier than ever.
According to the Intuit predictions about the US workforce, over 40% of all employees were expected to be freelancers by 2020. Although these predictions may have changed due to the COVID-19 crisis, that has only boosted the increasing trend of virtual assistants, with 57 million Americans being part of the gig economy. Permanent remote workers are expected to rise to 34.4% in 2021. What all this overwhelming data tells us is that virtual assistance won’t be just a trend, but it’s most likely to stay in the years to come. This job has also become appealing to many people for many reasons. It offers flexibility, freedom to work from home (or anywhere), and an opportunity to grow and learn as a professional.
A virtual assistant (VA) is someone who provides administrative assistance services remotely. It means that you could be working for someone within your city, your country, or halfway across the globe. Virtual assistants are remote workers who are usually freelancers and who offer a wide range of services. They are trained to help you with almost anything essential for your business flow, just, of course, take note that they have different expertise for a reason. Depending on the industry, there are different types of virtual assistants. Virtual assistant statistics point to over 20 types of virtual assistants, but in this article, we're going to focus on the 3 main types and the tasks you can delegate to each. 1. Virtual Administrative Assistant The tasks under this can vary by industry. For example: Real Estate - filtering leads, setting and managing appointments, posting ads, handling email correspondence, executing timeline coordination Start-up Tech - technical support, chat/email support, project management, organizing technical support tickets Accounting Firms - bookkeeping, organizing records, data entry, processing accounts payables and receivables, invoice management, bank reconciliation Law Firms - research, legal transcription, file management, calendar and email management, data entry, and communication with clients 2. Digital Marketing Virtual Assistant Maintaining a successful brand presence through the online platform can be a lot of work. Many business owners hire a VA to handle this for them. There are two parts to social media; the actual posts and interaction with followers, of which you can delegate both to a Digital Marketing VA. Other Digital Marketing VA usually do email marketing, social media content, copywriting, graphic design, video editing, social media ads management, and sending newsletters 3. Sales Virtual Assistant Anybody that has a client or customer list and an email list can use a Sales VA. It includes keeping all the customer information organized in the CRM tool and managing the email lists to make sure every customer is on the correct list. You don’t want someone to get the wrong emails! Essentially, Sales VA usually provide services of inbound and outbound calls, receptionist duties, database building, data entry and updates (sales, contacts, CRM, etc.), checking email, responding to customer inquiries, and writing and sending invoices to clients
Virtual assistants provide valuable support to busy professionals and business owners, such as boutique owner who needs someone to promote their products on social media, or online entrepreneur who needs some help getting appointments or managing his schedule. Right now, the virtual assistant industry is rapidly growing. Many businesses and entrepreneurs are finding that virtual assistants are a vital way to improve their productivity without spending big-company dollars. If you are interested in hiring only quality virtual assistants, check out Inspir32 Creative Solutions' outsourcing services to interview only qualified applicants and make the process much easier.
If you take the time to find the right agency to work with, you should spend less time managing your admin, not more. A good agency has in-built quality control and client management to ensure that you are always getting exactly what you want from the relationship and that any issues are identified and managed as soon as possible. Talk to the virtual assistant manager at your chosen agency to put together a plan for regular reviews, quality targets and more so you can spend less time managing and more time working on your business.
Inspir32 Guide
Outsourcing has evolved from a cost management strategy into a process improvement solution. More Filipinos have taken on roles as virtual assistants because there is demand, the work hours are flexible, and it offers opportunities to make good money, even before the pandemic started. Business-wise, Filipino VAs' cost-competitive advantage puts you in leverage. This is most especially beneficial for start-up businesses or even larger corporations wherein they can hire more people and allow other funds for business continuity. Here are the top three reasons why you should hire a VA from the Philippines:
From an estimated population of 103.3 million people living in the Philippines, over 90 million speak English. The Philippines regards English as its primary medium of instruction, even if its official language is Tagalog. Most Filipinos have been bilingual almost their whole life and American influence on culture and education plays a big role in it. Because they grew up listening to Billboard-topping music and watching Hollywood movies and TV shows, Filipinos are more than familiar with American culture and can discern what your customers are talking about when conversing with them over the phone or through email and chat. This means they can lead business discussions and perform complex tasks for you. A great amount of your time can be saved by giving clear and accurate instructions to your Virtual Assistant, in your or your target market's vocabulary.
Traditional Filipino families are built around values of respect to elders and authorities. They value good relationships. Filipinos have a warm and caring attitude for their family members, which they extend to their clients and customers. A major reason is that Philippine society is mostly collectivist in orientation. Each member of the family has a role they must fulfill, and they are expected to contribute to the group. In general, they view their co-workers and customers as part of their extended family. At the same time, your Filipino virtual assistant is expected to maintain smooth interpersonal relations with you and your onshore team as well as the customers they talk to and interact with every day.
In the Philippines, labor costs are cheap but they surely don't compensate for quality -- which is one of the main reasons it is ranked the best outsourcing country globally. Filipino VAs cost less only because of the difference in currency exchange rates and cost of living. (See blog: "Why do Virtual Assistants cost less?") There’s a lot of highly educated and talented Filipinos venturing into the Virtual Freelancing business, but don’t get too cheap on them or some other client might snitch them away from you. Take some time to screen your applicants and you’ll find the cream of the crop waiting to help you get an insanely good ROI!
Business Process Outsourcing has been around in the Philippines since 1992 and has been the common business strategy of many multinational firms around the world. Give it a shot and see if it helps you become more productive. Remember that it’s important to manage your time and energy, focus on the things that matter most: developing your business, creating new products/services, most of all enjoying your spare time with your loved ones.
Beginner’s Guide
Whether you run a small business or making your way as an influencer, you might have encountered Facebook Business Suite as a choice to keep your posts scheduled at peace. Business Suite is a free tool that lets you manage your Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger accounts in a single place, saving you time and simplifying how you connect with customers. It's also known to be one of the simple choices out there to manage your content. To help you get your business going ~digitally~, here are some pros and cons of using Facebook Business Suite as a social media post scheduler.
1. You can both edit your Facebook and Instagram posts at the same time. 2. You can post more than one picture in one post. 3. It's free. One favorite feature is switching your modes from Facebook to Instagram while editing a post. It makes scheduling much easier, and comparing both in real-time is a game-changer. Carousel type of posts are also on a trend right now, so having the option to post a series of graphics without interruption is not bad for a free app.
1. Sometimes it doesn't post in the time you scheduled. 2. The limit of stories and posts is 10. 3. Can't save drafts sometimes for unknown reasons. Obviously, scheduling posts on Facebook Business Suite means that you already know the time on which your audience is active. That's where this free app got a rough spot. We, the Inspir32's Social Media team, always have to make sure that we schedule on the same day when the content should be posted. It's still regarded as scheduling though because there's an option to save it as a draft. Infographics are more engaging than longer captions so having a limit of how many words you can squeeze into your post might be a turn-off to some.
Online presence is now more essential than ever for a business to develop. Building your digital Marketing means that you also need to keep up with the existing software to use. Owning a business doesn't mean that you need to do everything on your own, even up to learning day by day how to use a certain app. Sure - it can be beneficial but weighing in its cost of time, which could then be used for making strategies instead, might be better to focus on.
Inspir32 Creative Solutions is a Digital Marketing and Virtual Assistant Staffing Agency based on Orlando, Florida. Founded by Raymond E. McLeod, the company started as an inspirational elements publishing entity established in 2020. Eventually, it ventured to outsourcing highly-qualified Virtual Assistants from the Philippines. Inspir32 Creative Solutions' mission is to provide global solutions to individuals and businesses, may it be for branding, designing your website, Marketing or outsourcing your future team. Whatever your business goals may be, let Inspir32 Creative Solutions be your partner in finding the best Virtual Assistant for you and your business.