Virtual Assistants: A small business owners perspective

              With the global economy on a standstill since early 2020's, small and medium business owners have resorted to virtual operations and working with employees who were operating from the comfort of their own homes. Remote working, a concept small and medium business owners didnt think they would engage in, suddenly became the norm. From being called as remote workers, the term virtual assistants became a word of mouth for people in the workforce who opt to continue working from home and business owners who continue to broaden the reach of their business.

       As a business owner myself, I handle both the financial and managerial aspects of the business. From purchasing supplies, to answering customer queries over the phone and on social media, to managing payments and after sales. I am worried I may be missing something important in my tasks. I am in the middle of preparing to go back to the regular workforce but I would still want to continue the business as a supplement to my income. I can only rely so much on people from my household to assist me. They also have their own businesses to manage. My current scenario has made me think that I would definitely need an additional hand in management.

      Having a virtual assistant would give a business owner an extra hand to take care of the business. At the same time, a business owner would get to have some hours to oneself. You regain work life balance and eliminate the risk of bornout. 

         Before posting that classified ad, streamline the tasks, scope and limitations of the responsibilities that will be delegated to your new assistant. It depends on your preference the tasks that will be endorsed to them. You can provide access to the order taking system but provide limits to your payment system. They can help in processing orders and organizing delivery but access to the financial charts can be restricted to you and a trusted accountant. 

    Here are other functions that your virtual assistant can help you with 

• Answer inquiries and feedback provided on the company social media channels and other platforms provided for customer contact
• Write articles that would be posted on social media platform and provided to traditional media  
• Boost posts to encourage customer engagement
• Perform competition research to provide feedback on how to improve marketing and brand quality
• Establish contact with other small medium business owners for community building. 
• Data entry for the order processing platform
• Schedule and follow up on meetings and travel arrangements                                                                                                                                                                                              Now that you've established the roles and responsibilities, its time to post that ad on your social media platforms and job search databases. Over the years, the market of people who seek for virtual assistant jobs has grown. You should be able to find someone online that would be able to fill your business need in a short span of time. Its your prerogative if you want to hire a fairly new individual in the industry or someone who's tenured that knows the in's and outs of doing VA jobs.  Make sure to check on their portfolio profiles and testimonials if available. Background checks, interviews and job trainings will help you ensure that the person you are hiring is a match to your needs.

     You can evaluate on the following to see if your applicant is fit for the job.

• Creativity. Providing content and writing articles would be part of the job. Input provided should be catchy and engaging to be able to get customers to choose your product over others.  
• Data accuracy and integrity. Order taking and data entry should be accurate to avoid mistakes and profit loss. 
• Time bound tasks should be completed within the time frame provided with minimal errors
• Customer service skills is a must. Your virtual assistant would be your frontliner mostly on your social media platforms and should be engaging in responses and posts. It would also help if there is a need for phone in interactions,
•  Established relationships with ones and other people involved in the business should be considered. You would be working together on a regular basis. It is important that there is a professional yet relaxed environment.

•   Virtual Assistants: A small business owners perspective

  
  

             With the global economy on a standstill since early 2020's, small and medium business owners have resorted to virtual operations and working with employees who were operating from the comfort of their own homes. Remote working, a concept small and medium business owners didnt think they would engage in, suddenly became the norm. From being called as remote workers, the term virtual assistants became a word of mouth for people in the workforce who opt to continue working from home and business owners who continue to broaden the reach of their business.

        As a business owner myself, I handle both the financial and managerial aspects of the business. From purchasing supplies, to answering customer queries over the phone and on social media, to managing payments and after sales. I am worried I may be missing something important in my tasks. I am in the middle of preparing to go back to the regular workforce but I would still want to continue the business as a supplement to my income. I can only rely so much on people from my household to assist me. They also have their own businesses to manage. My current scenario has made me think that I would definitely need an additional hand in management.

        Having a virtual assistant would give a business owner an extra hand to take care of the business. At the same time, a business owner would get to have some hours to oneself. You regain work life balance and eliminate the risk of bornout. 

       Before posting that classified ad, streamline the tasks, scope and limitations of the responsibilities that will be delegated to your new assistant. It depends on your preference the tasks that will be endorsed to them. You can provide access to the order taking system but provide limits to your payment system. They can help in processing orders and organizing delivery but access to the financial charts can be restricted to you and a trusted accountant. 

      Here are other functions that your virtual assistant can help you with 

  • Answer inquiries and feedback provided on the company social media channels and other platforms provided for customer contact
  • Write articles that would be posted on social media platform and provided to traditional media  
  • Boost posts to encourage customer engagement
  • Perform competition research to provide feedback on how to improve marketing and brand quality
  • Establish contact with other small medium business owners for community building. 
  • Data entry for the order processing platform
  • Schedule and follow up on meetings and travel arrangements                                             
       Now that you've established the roles and responsibilities, its time to post that ad on your social media platforms and job search databases. Over the years, the market of people who seek for virtual assistant jobs has grown. You should be able to find someone online that would be able to fill your business need in a short span of time. Its your prerogative if you want to hire a fairly new individual in the industry or someone who's tenured that knows the in's and outs of doing VA jobs.  Make sure to check on their portfolio profiles and testimonials if available. Background checks, interviews and job trainings will help you ensure that the person you are hiring is a match to your needs.

   You can evaluate on the following to see if your applicant is fit for the job

• Creativity. Providing content and writing articles would be part of the job. Input provided should be catchy and engaging to be able to get customers to choose your product over others.  

• Data accuracy and integrity. Order taking and data entry should be accurate to avoid mistakes and profit loss. 

• Time bound tasks should be completed within the time frame provided with minimal errors

• Customer service skills is a must. Your virtual assistant would be your frontliner mostly on your social media platforms and should be engaging in responses and posts. It would also help if there is a need for phone in interactions,

•  Established relationships with ones and other people involved in the business should be considered. You would be working together on a regular basis. It is important that there is a professional yet relaxed environment.

• Candidate should have a clear grasp of the systems and technology used. They dont need to master every tool used in the market. As long as they can navigate and shows need for minimal training.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The screening is over, training is completed and you now have a virtual assistant in your payroll.  There's going to be an adjustment period and you would feel the need to do majority of the things that you have assigned to your new companion in the business. Once things start to transition smoothly, you should be relaxed enough to take a few hours off and focus on yourself, the smaller things in the business that you may have neglected or possibly open a new business.