May 31 2008
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant (VA) provides administrative assistance to her/his clients. In essence a virtual assistant provides the same support that an administrative or executive assistant does. However, the service is provided at the virtual assistant’s office using the technology of the internet, email, and other collaborative tools instead of a standard business office environment.
A virtual assistant is a business owner and is not an employee. She/he is an independent contractor that partners with clients. Clients sign an agreement with the virtual assistant and, more importantly, the client is not responsible for any employee-related benefits because this is a partner-to-partner not an employer-to-employee relationship.
A business owner that is overwhelmed by the day-to-day administrative tasks at some point will realize that they can not do it all. At this time, the business owner makes the decision to free herself/himself of these tasks so they can redirect their time and energy to marketing and selling their product and/or service.
When this decision is made, they can look to a virtual assistant to take on a variety of responsibilities. The business owner will benefit from this arrangement because the virtual assistant will take on these responsibilities without the added cost of employee-related benefits. The business owner will pay for the time-on task.
Virtual assistant services are board and the services range from: Correspondence, Data Entry, Word Processing, Report Generation, Email Management, Web Research, Web Design, System Administration, Document Scanning, Transcription Services, Proof Reading, Desktop Publishing, and Project Management.
Bailey Business Services, Inc. is owned and operated by Helen Bailey. Helen provides virtual assistance to her clients as their administrative partner.
Great post about virtual assistants. As a small business on a shoe string budget outsourcing certain aspects can save me a lot of money. For instance I can get data entry from India for less then half the price as hiring someone here.
Tool Belts last blog post..1
Hello. Virtual Assistants, Virtual Offices, and Remote Receptionists are the way of the future, and is the most “Intelligent” Solution for many existing and established businesses and will continue to be the most cost effective and reliable business solution for all of the forthcoming entrepreneurs in the world. Great concept! Thanks for listening.
Jessica Matyis last blog post..1
Virtual assistants are great! If you use a site by one of the major template site providers such as Point2Agent, most of them have directories of virtual assistants specializing in providing different services to real estate agents.