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Hiring a Virtual Assistant Can Help You With Your Marketing

By admin on May 17, 2011

The virtual assistant is one of the most flexible workers there are today.  There are so many areas of business where the virtual assistant can help. One of these areas is online marketing.

The internet is one of the most effective tools for marketing and selling in today’s business communities.  While traditional media still demand a large audience, you cannot dispute the fact that millions of people are now shifting from using traditional media to online media.  Online media can provide the same information available in traditional media.  Online media present opportunities for individuals and companies to distribute information faster and economically.  A traditional publication that can reach millions can demand hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising rates per page.  A website that can reach millions usually charges lesser than the traditional media with the same reach.  Many social networks that allow for such a massive audience offer their services for free.

Twitter and Facebook fan pages are two online media that reach millions of users but you do not have to spend any money on them.  There are also many online social networking websites that are streamlined for business social media where you can promote your business’ products and services and join groups where you can share your knowledge and expertise with other members.

What you need to invest is time.  Time is precious and therefore also equals money but you can hire people who can do online marketing for you. You can hire a virtual assistant to help you out.  A virtual assistant can do all the online marketing tasks for your business without costing your business a huge amount of money.  There are plenty of virtual assistants who specialize in social media and marketing that can help you.

With a virtual assistant, you can be aggressive with your online marketing and really get the most out of the internet in terms of establishing a good image, building connections, sending messages to clients and potential clients and selling your products and services.  Hiring a virtual assistant is more economical and will deliver outstanding marketing services for your company.  These are professionals who can deliver results that we’re talking about.  They are professionals who are willing to work on a per hour basis. This type of work flexibility is not available in other employer-employee relations. You can gain a bigger share of the market and really experience an increase in sales with their help.

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Categories: May 2011

When You Have Taken on More Work Than You Can Handle

By admin on May 17, 2011

Have you taken on more work than you can finish? Hire a virtual assistant

If you have been taking on more work because of the growth in your business or if your company had to restructure or down-size and the remaining staff have taken on the work of workers who are no longer with your company, you should consider hiring a virtual assistant.

You can only take on so much work until it becomes detrimental to your own success. In the beginning, as you take on more and more work, you will probably feel a sense of accomplishment being busy all the time.  But if you end up getting exhausted or not finishing all of the work because you have bitten off more than you can chew then it really is best to get some help around the office.   You do not have to hire workers to work for you full time if you cannot afford to provide the workers with office space, office equipment and benefits but you certainly can choose to hire a virtual assistant who can help you out with overwhelming workload and time-consuming tasks.  The virtual assistant will deliver the same kind of results as a regular worker would but the costs that you will incur are more economical with a virtual assistant than with a regular office worker.

Even if you like to work hard, it is not good to take on more than you can handle.  This will definitely affect your productivity and you will not be able to deliver the quality of output that will be good for your business.  No doubt you have set a goal for the peak level of performance that you want to achieve.  You may not achieve that peak level of performance when you take in so much work that you end up getting exhausted and under-performing causing the quality of your work to suffer because you are not doing your best.  This is something you should avoid.

Remember, when you have taken on more work than you can handle, you can still get someone to help you.  And thanks to virtual assistance, you do not have to spend too much money on additional workforce.  You can get additional workers to fit your budget and to meet your needs.  You can hire virtual assistants as you need them.

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Categories: May 2011

Tasks A Virtual Assistant Can Do For You

By admin on May 17, 2011

With the continuous advances in technology, there are many tasks that you can delegate to a Virtual assistant so that you can  increase marketing activities, productivity and revenues of your business.

The whole concept of outsourcing to a virtual assistant is growing rapidly world-wide. This is because Internet technology has allowed for the existence and the development of the Virtual Assistant industry. As the Internet has enabled virtual administrative assistance and business support to exist and flourish, your Virtual Assistant can perform practically all the tasks for your online business so that you can focus on the other things that are important for the success of your business and that matter in your life.

Virtual assistants provide a diversity of services and specializations.  Here are just a few examples of how a Virtual Assistant can help you:

Your virtual assistant can help you collate and compile all the information that comes in through your website by creating and maintaining a database. A database is a very important business tool. If you have a website, definitely try to get as much information about your readers as possible. If you write e-newsletters, make sure you have a field on your website where viewers can click to subscribe to your e-newsletters so that you can send promotional flyers, newsletters and other marketing materials directly to people’s emails. Your Virtual Assistant can help you with creating your database using all the information you get from your website.

Data entry – Though this is a basic task, nonetheless virtual assistants can assist you by performing this time-consuming task. This can also involve entering data for database and spreadsheets or other applications that involve data entry.

Document preparation and transcription – there is always a need to type, edit, and proofread any business documentation, correspondence and business promotional documents.  A Virtual Assistant also creates documents by transcribing from digital audio recording or micro-cassette tape.

A Virtual Assistant can create and send out your newsletter or ezine. A Virtual Assistant who is capable of doing basic design and layout can create a good newsletter and ezine for you. These types of materials can help a great deal with any company’s branding efforts.

Accounting and Bookkeeping – some Virtual Assistants provide bookkeeping services.  You can outsource to virtual assistants bookkeeping, accounting, and preparation of financial documents.

Customer service support – your Virtual Assistant can provide email and telephone support to your clients.  Delegating customer service support to a VA is the perfect choice for when you must attend to other business priorities and you don’t have time to do this yourself.  A virtual assistant can also monitor and prioritize your emails, and handle email responses on your behalf to your clients.

Web/online services – Virtual Assistants can design, update and manage websites and blogs.  You can also assign your Virtual Assistant to assist you with setting up accounts on social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Focus.com, to name a few, for you and manage your online social networking accounts.

Copywriting – a Virtual Assistant can write web copy, press releases, sales letters and other materials for you.

Research – marketing research and other research that can help you with your business.

Administrative tasks – this involves a diversity of general office work such as calendar management, contact management, fax services, bulk mailing, meeting and event arrangements, travel arrangements, document and image scanning and more according to your specific business support requirements.

Your Virtual Assistant can also help you do research. Are you planning on expanding your clothing business to include a shoe line? Let your Virtual Assistant collect news stories, photos and other information about shoes and the shoe industry to see if your plans are feasible.

Instead of struggling to keep up with office work and spending hours after 5:00 p.m. doing paperwork, why not outsource that office work and paperwork to a Virtual Assistant.  When you outsource a Virtual Assistant, you have more time to focus on priorities that are important in achieving your goals. A Virtual Assistant provides the office and administrative support you need so that you can keep your business more productive and more profitable and there is no more need to miss out on weekends, special events and other things that matter to you in your life.

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Categories: May 2011

Is It Time for You to Outsource Tasks To a Virtual Assistant?

By admin on April 5, 2011

We all know that success in business requires a lot of  hard work, even though life is not meant to be spent in the office.  Even though it was not how you intended your life to be, you still find yourself spending more time at work than at home with your family.  When you started your business your goal was to get it off the ground and then spend equal amounts of time at home and in the office.  You probably even imagined spending more time on the things that you love to do rather than at work.  If it seemed possible in your mind then, you should know that it really is entirely possible now that you have already established your business.

So how is it possible to spend less time in the office when you are up to your neck in paper work and other tasks? The solution is outsource to a virtual assistant to get some of the load of your shoulders.

Smart business owners always delegate.  This means they assign office administrative tasks to the people who can do the work well and complete the work in a timely manner. Delegating is important so that you as a business owner can also focus on the tasks that you are competent at and not have to do tasks that you have a hard time completing or know very little about.  Instead of spending too much of your time on these time-consuming administrative tasks, you can tend to priorities that are more beneficial to the success of your business.

When you want to outsource administrative tasks a virtual assistant, you can actually assign more than a single task to the virtual assistant, provided the task you want the VA to perform is within the VA’s skill set and capabilities.  Before you outsource tasks to a virtual assistant, ensure that the person can perform the tasks you require.  If you suddenly have additional tasks that you need to be performed by the VA then verify with the VA if he or she can perform the task for the same price.  Even if some assistants can perform specialized tasks, normally they charge more for more difficult tasks than the more common tasks.

If you are already doing all the work and doing them well, do you still need to outsource to a virtual assistant? The answer is still yes. If you are doing most of the work yourself and spending too much of your time and energy at work then you could end up being burned out.  This is something you want to avoid especially because it would affect your business negatively.

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Categories: April 2011

Bookkeeping Tip: Maintaining Accurate Bill Payment Records

By admin on February 26, 2011

Whether you are starting a new business or have owned and operated your business for several years, keeping track of bill payments is one of the important daily habits of maintaining your financial records.

When you pay your bills, write on the bills:

  • The date you paid it;
  • Method of payment:  cash, credit card, online payment and from what account or cheque number if you paid by cheque;
  • The amount you paid if you didn’t pay the full amount;.
  • What the bill is for e.g., a business lunch meeting, stationery and office supplies, fuel for your car;
  • Staple the receipt to the bill.

When you receive payments from your customers, write on the customer invoice:

  • The date was the invoice was paid;
  • Method of payment:  cash, credit card, money transfer or cheque.  For money transfers note the confirmation number; for cheque payments, note the cheque number;
  • Make a copy of the cheque or transaction confirmation if payment was received by money transfer or credit card;
  • What date did you deposit the payment;
  • Staple the bank deposit receipt to the customer invoice.

When you use electronic accounting software, make sure you note in the transaction deposit record the name of the customer from whom you received payment, the invoice number; the method of payment and cheque number and transaction confirmation number.

These bookkeeping tasks may seem trivial at first especially when you business is just starting up but as you invoice more customers and receive more payments, keeping track of these transactions will help you run your business finances more efficiently.

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Categories: February 2011

Benefits of Partnering with a Virtual Assistant

By admin on February 26, 2011

  • A Virtual Assistant is someone with whom you share a common goal of the success of your business.
  • You no longer need to spend your valuable time on administrative tasks and office paperwork you don’t have time to do or are not able to do.
  • You can increase the growth of your business by freeing up your time to focus on the more important goals and priorities.
  • You don’t have to provide a physical workspace.
  • You don’t to purchase any computer equipment; a Virtual Assistant works in their own fully-equipped office.
  • You don’t have to worry about taxes, payroll and benefits; a Virtual Assistant is an independent professional contractor.
  • Outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant gives you the freedom to work on developing and enhancing your business skills, knowledge, expertise, and client relationships.
  • You will make better decisions by being able to discuss ideas with your Virtual Assistant.
  • You now have more freedom to assume new, challenging opportunities.
  • You will be in a better position to practice and maintain a more comfortable live/work balance.
  • You will have peace of mind knowing that your Virtual Assistant is handling the details professionally and on time.
  • You are finally able to run your business, instead of it running you.
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Categories: May 2011

Back Up Your Data!

By admin on February 5, 2011

No doubt you’ve probably heard that said a thousand times.  Backing up your data is something that should be done every day.  It’s a precaution to ensure you have your data safely stored in the event you need to recover it.

There are different options available for backing up your data.  You can use an external hard drive, USB devices, or an online back-up application.  External hard drive can be purchased at any stationery supplies stores as a desktop external hard or portable external hard drive and are available in different data storage capacities.  Using USB devices is convenient because they are smaller, can fit in your purse or pocket making them more portable and your data is always available to access from either your PC or your laptop.  Once you subscribe to an online remote backup system, however, it is constantly working the background backing up your data.  If your computer crashes and you lose all your data, you will be able to retrieve all data that was on your computer – applications, documents, accounting application data files, pictures – from the online remote backup system.  Two popular online remote backup systems are Carbonite (www.carbonite.com) and Mozy (http://mozy.com/).

I have experienced computer crashes.  I once had to have the internal hard drive replaced on one my computers and I was very thankful that I had subscribed to Carbonite because all I had to do was log into the Carbonite website and restore my data onto the new internal hard drive.  This saved me much panic, anxiety and stress of having to find all my documentation and re-inputting.

Unless you have one of these back systems, when all the data is lost you may never get it back again.

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Categories: February 2011

Your Business Can Be Successful With the Help of a Virtual Assistant

By admin on January 29, 2011

Employees are the most important resources of a company.  With access to all the technologies and equipment that companies use to achieve the productivity and profitability of their business to a high level, it is still the people – the employees – who truly help the business achieve success.  Even after the recent global economic crisis and recession, companies are always exploring ways to ensure that the productivity level of the employees is high.

There are unavoidable distractions that divert the attention of workers away from the work at hand.  An employee can engage in excessive coffee breaks, use the company internet to play online games, chat with co-workers, etc.  All of these distractions are part of the regular day at work.  Even a virtual assistant working from their own office location faces these kinds of distractions from time to time.  The difference is that the company is still paying the employee during all little distractions.  A virtual assistant may encounter a occasional distraction but the company does not pay for all these down times.  With a virtual assistant, you get 100% productive time.

Just like regular full-time employees, virtual assistants can perform different jobs.  When they do their work, they form a very strong support for your business. You can count on a virtual assistant to do all the repetitive administrative tasks that are normally done in your office such as:

  • Accounting/Bookkeeping
  • Article Submission/Blogging
  • Calendar Management/Appointment Setting and Scheduling
  • Client Management and Customer Service
  • Database/Spreadsheet development and maintenance
  • Desktop Publishing
  • Document Production/Word Processing
  • Document Scanning
  • Emailing/Fax Services
  • Internet Research
  • Meeting/Event Planning
  • Project Management
  • Proofreading/Copyediting
  • Social Media/Internet Marketing/Social Networking
  • Telephone Answering and Voicemail Prioritization
  • Transcription of General, Medical or Legal Recordings (Digital Or Cassette Tape) Or Handwritten Draft
  • Travel Arrangements
  • Website Design

With a virtual assistant, all the work gets done for a more affordable cost because you only pay for the time it takes for the virtual assistant to do the work.  This means that with increased productivity and reduced cost, you can operate a profitable successful business.

To meet the demands of a growing business, outsourcing to virtual assistants can prove to be a very practical solution for small and medium-size businesses and solopreneurs.  Companies that also experience seasonal peaks can outsource a virtual assistant during those peak seasons when increased workloads require more manpower to get the work done .

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Categories: January 2011

Partnering With a Virtual Assistant Can Help You Use Your Time More Effectively

By admin on January 26, 2011

As small business owner or solopreneur, there are always office paperwork and administrative tasks in your business operations that take your attention away from priorities that generate revenues for your business.  For small business owners and solopreneurs office work includes such tasks as bookkeeping, maintaining contact lists, following up with clients, handling complaints, creating marketing materials, or doing marketing research, just to name a few.

Most small business owners spend almost half their time working on office tasks and when they do they feel that they are not using their time for the benefit of their business.  A priority in owning and operating a business is to generate revenues in order to cover the business overhead expenses and provide a sustainable income for a comfortable lifestyle.  The purpose of starting their business in the first place is so business owners and solopreneurs can do the work they love to do and at the same time, use their expertise, knowledge and skills to provide services to their clients.  Therefore, instead of spending valuable time working on office work it is more beneficial for the small business owner or solopreneur to outsource office paperwork and administrative tasks to a virtual assistant so that they can focus their time and energy more effectively on important priorities that benefit most to their business.

A virtual assistant (or VA) is administrative professional with several years of administrative experience, specialized training, highly developed expertise, skills, and knowledge that qualify him/her to handle your various time-consuming office tasks.  They have the qualifications required to take care of administrative work and tasks that take up your valuable time.  Virtual Assistants understand the responsibilities of operating a business and are dedicated to providing their services to you to help you operate your business successfully.

Despite the fact that the hourly rate of virtual assistants ranges from $25 to $75 depending on the level of detail and complexity of the work, partnering with a virtual assistant can still save you thousands of dollars.  You pay a virtual assistant only for the time it takes to complete your projects and other administrative work.  You don’t have to pay income taxes, insurance, pension, vacation time, sick time, and other employee benefits.  You don’t have to provide office space, furniture, computer, other IT and office equipment.  Virtual Assistants are independent contractors, not employees, and work from their own remote fully-equipped office location.

Virtual assistants take the time to listen to and work closely with their client in order to ensure services provided address the client’s unique administrative support requirements. Virtual Assistants can be called upon to assist their clients for any length of time no matter how small or how large the office tasks.  As a professional, a virtual assistant provides you with the assistance you require with a high standard of quality and complete confidentiality.

Virtual assistants connect with other virtual assistants through many associations and networking avenues. Access to support is always available for technical questions or referring potential clients to other virtual assistants who may be more specialized to assist a client with specific types of work, e.g. 1shopping cart.

When you partner with a virtual assistant to take care of your time-consuming office tasks, you will be pleasantly surprised at how much you will accomplish in your busy workday!

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Categories: January 2011

Is Outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant Worthwhile

By admin on January 21, 2011

January 21, 2011

Even after the global economic crisis, business owners are finding that outsourcing is becoming an on-going necessity to keeping up with ever-increasing demands as their business grows. Over the past few years, a new concept to use the services of a Virtual Assistant is becoming a more practical solution.

Advances in technology have helped to make it easier for businesses to outsource their office paperwork and administrative tasks without the need of having a full-time employee on site.  Business owners no longer need to provide a office space, furniture and computer and other office equipment.  A Virtual Assistant is able to provide administrative support to businesses anywhere in the world. Distance is not a problem because Virtual Assistants communicate with their clients by email, telephone, Internet, fax, instant messenger or file transfer.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

Since 1996, the virtual assistant industry has grown to include more than 35,000 professionals around the world.  A Virtual Assistant is an independent specialized professional who owns and operates their own business and who provides administrative, technical and/or creative business support services from their private office environment. Virtual Assistants are highly skilled professionals, who keep up to date with the latest software and trends.  Virtual Assistants provide a diverse range of services but often specialize in many areas of expertise such as Accounting/Bookkeeping, Event Planning, Social Networking, Transcription, Desktop Publishing, Graphic Designer, Web Design, Marketing, Strategic Planning, Project Management or Real Estate Assistance to name just a few.

Virtual Assistant training programs are provided by organizations such as VAClassroom, International Virtual Assistant Association, Assist U, International Association of Virtual Office Assistants, and Red Deer College.  While studying in an intensive 2-year curriculum, a student can obtain a Virtual Assistant Certification and work towards obtaining a Master Virtual Assistant designation.

VirtualAssistantsGuide.com indicates that typical virtual assistant hourly rates are in the range of $25 to $75 depending on the services offered, expertise and any certifications they have.  Business owners only pay a Virtual Assistant for the time it takes to complete the project or task. Virtual Assistants are responsible for their own taxes, training, health care, insurance, and overhead costs associated with operating their own business.  This is what makes outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant an affordable option for businesses.

When business owners do administrative office work themselves, they find that this greatly reduces their time to devote to tend to priorities that achieve the goals towards the success of their business and generate revenues to make their business profitable. Business owners may not be able to hire a full-time administrative assistant because of budget cutbacks and company down-sizing. Solo professionals and entrepreneurs may require only occasional administrative support.  By outsourcing time-consuming office work and tasks to a Virtual Assistant, they have more time for important revenue-generating priorities, can achieve more in their day and operate a successful business.

AJL Business Services is a member the rapidly expanding Virtual Assistant industry and was established to provide, professional, efficient bookkeeping services and administrative support for small- and medium- business owners, independent professionals and solo-preneurs through internet, email, fax, and telephone technology.  We are dedicated to providing the services our clients need with care and attention to detail and take pride in the work we do for our clients.  It is our priority to provide our services according to our clients’ expectations so that they can do the work they love to do, achieve their goals and run a successful business.

Sources:

Virtual Assistant Networking Association (http://www.vanetworking.com)

VAClassroom (http://www.vaclassrom.com)

International Virtual Assistants Association (http://www.ivaa.org)

International Association of Virtual Assistants (http://www.iava.org.uk/)

Red Deer College, Red Deer, Alberta (http://www.rdc.ab.ca)

Virtual Assistants Guide (http://www.virtualassistantsguide.com/)

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Categories: January 2011
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