Temp employment, project assistance, business solutions
What is a VA and how will they help me?
From the Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection (CVAC)
A Virtual Assistant (also known as a VA) is an entrepreneur who is in business to help small businesses with their overflow. VAs work from their own fully equipped offices, usually a home-based office, and offer a full range of services to help you with any task that is usually handled by an in-house employee.
VAs are professionals who take pride in building relationships with their clients so they can provide input and foresee how to best help the client and keep their businesses successful. Most come from the corporate world with years of experience in office assistance and/or have taken training in the most common services required by their clients.
Services offered by Virtual Assistants include, but are not limited to, all aspects of administrative support; bookkeeping; web design; event planning; desktop publishing; marketing support plus so much more. And, if your VA doesn't offer the service that you need help with, they can usually find someone who can. Many VAs have a team of contractors they can turn to for help or they belong to VA organizations with hundreds of members that they can a call upon.
What do VAs usually charge?
As with many service industries, rates vary depending on services offered and levels of experience. Generally, VA rates for administrative tasks range from $20 per hour to about $50 per hour. For more complex and technical services, the rates usually range from $30 to $75 per hour.
This may seem rather high when you think about the fact that you can get an in-house assistant for $10-$15 per hour. However, there are numerous reasons why VAs charge the rates that they do.
- VAs have fully equipped offices and take care of all of their own business related expenses so you don't need to worry about paying for
- additional office space for them to work in
- additional equipment
- government related source deductions, taxes, etc.
- down time, vacation pay, etc.
- VAs have years of experience to offer so there is no need for you train
- VAs are professionals and offer exceptional customer service
- VAs work 'with' you to keep things running smoothly
- VAs build relationships with their clients making the transition uneventful
- VAs are available on an 'as-needed' basis so you can get their help when you need it and not worry about finding enough for them to do 8 hours a day
- VAs are only a phone call or email away
Virtual Assistants run businesses and can become a virtual partner to their clients. As a result they have a vested interest in the success of a client’s business and will work as diligently as if they were ‘the boss’. VAs are worth every penny that they charge.
The Art of Delegating Tasks to a
Virtual Assistant
"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. Read more >>
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