It’s the same old story. “So, what do you do for a living?” “I’m a Virtual Assistant”…..blank stare followed by awkward silence….then the inevitable “What is that?”. It’s an innocent enough question, and if I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked it I could have retired long ago!
My reply? Well, I still haven’t perfected my “elevator speech” although I’ve had ample time and no excuse. I just find it hard to form one quick sentence that adequately defines what I do without going into a long winded explanation. It’s not that complicated really, I run my own business from home providing secretarial/admin/dtp/PA support via the internet. So why is it even the most technologically minded people can’t get their heads around how this is even possible?
Let’s get back to basics. The Virtual Assistant (VA) industry is not new, in fact it’s been around since the 90’s but the term itself is still relatively unknown here in Australia. It has many A.K.A.s; WAHM (Work At Home Mum), secretarial services, virtual office support etc but whatever the term, it just makes good economic sense in today’s world. There is, however, still a strange stigma attached to it which I’ve yet to understand. For whatever reason, people initially tend to think of it either as some sort of scam or cheap labour from a 3rd world country.
Well it’s high time I dispel those false definitions, but before I do, I urge you to broaden your mind and think outside the box a little.
Traditionally, when any business addresses it’s office support needs, it considers employing full time, p/time, job-share or temporary staff to fulfil anticipated requirements. Regardless of the level of service, with all these scenarios there are substantial set up costs ie office space, staff tax, superannuation, holiday and sick pay, office equipment, training and so on.
What if there was a more cost-effective and time saving way for you to get the same, if not more customised, flexible and personal level of service, without having to bare the above costs at all?
And in addition to that, only pay for exactly what you need and what you use? Afterall, what sane business person would pay for things such as lunch breaks, idle chit chat, quiet days and personal phone calls along with the above expenses? That just doesn’t make any sense!
And these are only 2 of the many benefits of working with a Virtual Assistant.
Now you may be thinking “Ok, that all sounds great, but I’m just too busy to figure out what my needs are” or “I’m not sure I can trust someone else to do my stuff as well as I can”. All valid concerns.
Firstly, no one said you have to “figure it out” on your own. The first crucial step is taking 20mins to consider what tasks you need to/would be happy to delegate. A worthwhile investment, as that 20mins could totally alter the course of your business. 
Secondly, the point a lot of overworked business owners seem to be missing is you need to free up your time and focus on the BIGGER PICTURE. How? Don’t spend valuable hours on administrative tasks, research, marketing, client billing, correspondence etc as you have far more productive things you need to be doing if your business is to succeed. It’s just not practical or realistic (unless you want to keep working a 100 hour week!), and you need to dedicate your time developing your business properly. Can you really do that juggling all those other tasks?
It’s a case of jack of all trades, master of none. Surely you and your business deserves better than that!
Contact me now and take advantage of my FREE 1 hour consultation. I would be happy to help you sift through your daily workload and see where I can be of most service to you and your business.
Alex
