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 .

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!

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/)

Part of operating your business involves maintaining accurate financial records.  As a business owner, you want to know how your business is doing financially and especially you want to know that the revenues you generate are making your business profitable.  Keeping track of your finances is extremely important for the success of your business.  Here are some tips for maintaining efficient bookkeeping records.

Decide which accounting system, accrual or cash, that’s right for your business

There are two types of accounting systems you can use for your particular business accounting requirements:  accrual and cash.

So what’s the difference between using an accrual system and using a cash system.

When you use an accrual system, you record your income and expense transactions when they occur before the date when you receive payment for products or services and before you pay for your expenses.

When you use a cash system, your record your income when it is received and your record expenses when you pay them.

Always maintain your transaction records on a daily basis

You may not want to do this every day but it only takes a few minutes and saves a lot of headaches from trying to figure out what your receipts are for and what was the purpose for such items as lunch meetings. Doing this keeps your finances up to date and your records will be accurate which is important for tracking the financial situation of your business.

Use a backup system for your electronic files

You’ve heard your accountant tell you do this.  You’ve heard your colleagues tell you to do this.  After inputting transactions on your Excel spreadsheet or computer accounting software, do a back up on a USB drive or external hard drive to ensure none of the data is lost in the event something goes wrong with your computer and you can’t use it.  It only takes a few minutes if you do this every day.   Your back-up system will always have an up-to-date file on the financial status of your business.

Use separate accounts for your business and your personal finances

Your accountant may have told you every time you consult with him about an income tax matter or when you just want to ask him a question about accounting.  Never mix you’re your business finances with your personal finances.  Always have separate bank accounts for business and your personal finances.  Always have separate credit cards for your business and personal expenses.  This makes it easier to keep track of income and expenses for your business  and maintain accurate records for the financial status of your business.  This saves time of having to figure out which transactions are for business or for personal finances and prevents confusion.

Record cheques and keep vendor invoices and sales receipts

Doing this will help you get reconciliations done more efficiently and make it easier to review cheque payments and monitor your expenses.  Match cheques, vendor invoices and sales receipts with transactions on your bank statements in chronological order.

Reconcile your records with your bank statements every month

Always do reconciliations of your bank statement and credit card statement after you have recorded all your transactions for the current month to ensure that they have been recorded accurately.  This ensures your records are accurate and helps you find and resolve any discrepancies immediately before you record any transactions for the next month.  Never leave this task to do until the end of the year because going back to check for any errors will be much more difficult, confusing and frustrating.

Use accounting software

When you record transactions in accounting software, you can generate reports whenever you want to so you can monitor the financial status of your business, summarize financial activities, prepare documentation for your accountant for income tax preparation, and always have financial records accessible when you need them.

Hire a bookkeeper

When you don’t like doing your bookkeeping or just don’t have enough time in your day to take care of your bookkeeping records, hire a certified bookkeeper who has the skills and knowledge to do your bookkeeping efficiently and find and resolve any discrepancies or errors.