Hiring Virtual Personal Assistants: An In-Depth Guide

The amount of workload present in monitoring a business is immense. Proper management of a business demands all your time and effort. It’s only a matter of time before entrepreneurs realize they are slowly lagging and need to outsource a section of the work for better management. That’s when a virtual personal assistant comes to your rescue.

Hiring a personal assistant is your one-stop solution to reduce the ever-increasing pressure of entrepreneurship to some extent by delegating less critical work, and focusing on the core areas, ultimately increasing productivity and scaling up your business.

What Is an Online Personal Assistant?

An online personal assistant is a remote contractor who works independently, off-site, and handles a business’s minor day-to-day tasks. These tasks, though less critical, are integral for any business and comprise the backbone of your business’s reputation.

All virtual personal assistants work remotely. Therefore, the necessary data files, calendars, and other confidential information are remotely shared with the concerned individual.

Usually, personal virtual assistants are tech-savvy, well-versed in computer languages and skills, and know some popular software and business programs. Different virtual personal assistants are available, with specializations in different sectors.

What Does a Virtual Personal Assistant Do?

One can avail of a host of personal assistant services by hiring a suitable personal assistant online. The list is never-ending. We have enlisted some everyday administrative tasks that a virtual personal assistant usually does.

• Personal Tasks

Are you tired of looking into customer care services? Do you have other essential things to manage? Then, hire a personal assistant online and eliminate these extra headaches. A personal assistant will effectively handle these small tasks of your day of daily life, allowing you to focus on more considerable aspects.

• Travel Arrangements

Did you waste an entire day looking for the cheapest deals on hotels and flights for your dream vacation? With a virtual personal assistant, you no longer have to surf the internet endlessly to grab the best deals while keeping other work on hold. Instead, your virtual assistant will do that for you.

• Booking Appointments

Are you so occupied with your office work that you don’t have time to book an appointment with your physician? With a personal virtual assistant at your service, you no longer have to worry about it. Instead, your assistant will look into all your appointments on your behalf.

• Data Entry

Do you find data entry a tedious job? Find a personal assistant online today, and you will always find yourself doing your least favorite tasks.

• Online Research

Virtual personal assistants can also do extensive, thorough research for you! So let’s accept it: we all spend sufficient time on the internet researching and finding the best service or product we require.

Researching is time-taking and challenging, whether you need software to upscale your business or the service you intend to add. At the same time, thorough research is essential for businesses.

By hiring a personal assistant, you can delegate the research task and save time looking into other areas of your enterprise.

• Answering Calls and Other Personal Tasks

Constant phone calls from customers throughout the day become irritating at one point. Not only does it break your concentration, but it also affects your work mood. But you must pay attention to the phone calls and avoid interacting with your customers, wondering what can be done.

You can hire a virtual assistant phone answering service and free yourself of this burden. Your assistant would answer all calls for you, solve the queries of customers, and make phone calls whenever needed. Meanwhile, you can peacefully concentrate and strategize on expanding your business.

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant!

By now, you must have guessed how beneficial hiring a virtual assistant can be! Availing of virtual assistant services makes your work life effortlessly easier. Read on to learn some benefits of hiring a personal assistant for your business.

• Increased productivity

Running a business means being busy the whole day, literally. As a result, they hardly have time for themselves or their families. When you hire a remote personal assistant for your business, the least important tasks are handled on your behalf. Hence, your workload reduces, and you get some time off.

• More Time to Understand The Market and Strategize Accordingly

Remaining on top of today’s competitive market is one thing. Surviving in this competitive market is another thing. Surviving is tough without understanding your competitors and the market you intend to target. Understanding the market dynamics and your competitors is the key to improving your business.

Half of your work is done by hiring a qualified virtual personal assistant. Your dedicated personal assistant would perform market analysis, update yourself on how your competitors adapt to the marketplace, collect customer feedback, and give a detailed report on the survey. Getting these essential tasks done by your virtual personal assistant will save time and energy and allow you to study the report carefully to devise an effective strategy for progressing.

• Flexible Hiring

When you hire an assistant online, you hire them based on the amount of work you have. Once your desired requirements are met and your work is done, you no longer have to pay your virtual assistant. You can initiate the hiring process again when you need to outsource work due to an excessive workload. Also, you can hire multiple personal assistants based on your varying requirements.

This process is flexible and prevents you from paying full-time workers in the office, even if they do nothing productive all day but have to be paid nonetheless.

• Cost-Effective Option for Running Your Business Smoothly

Hiring a personal assistant online means reducing your operating costs. Since these personal assistant services are provided remotely, you don’t have to invest in candidates by providing them with an office cabin, lunch, office supplies, and other perks. Following a strict budget becomes a massive profit for businesses and start-ups. Stop investing in full-time workers when you can hire remote assistants as needed and reduce expenses.

• Better Work-Life Balance

Often, people forget to take care of themselves while trying to remain on top of the rat race. Not taking care of yourself is harmful to your business ultimately. Why not if you can find a personal assistant online and enjoy its benefits beyond work?

Outsource whatever is possible and give time to yourself. Follow an exercise regime, spend time with your family and friends, and stay fit and healthy. Only then can you concentrate on your professional life better?

Guide to hiring virtual assistants

Now that you know the innumerable benefits of hiring a virtual assistant, it’s time you know the process of hiring a suitable one. Below given is a step-by-step guide to hiring a remote virtual assistant.

• Step 1: Know What You Want to Delegate

There are different virtual assistants for different tasks. While looking for a personal assistant, you should be clear about the tasks you would outsource. Virtual assistants can do bookkeeping, data entry, social media management, research, conduct surveys, maintain records, and update calendars.

There are general virtual assistants and specialized virtual assistants in the market. The kind of virtual assistant you need depends on your requirement.

• Step 2: Follow a Strict Budget

Are you willing to invest much money in hiring a virtual personal assistant? If not, delegate only the tasks you must, and take care of the ones you can do. For example, delegating the tedious, monotonous work of your day-to-day work would be ideal.

If you wonder how much hiring a virtual assistant costs, you will never get a clear answer. The cost of hiring virtual assistants depends on the kind of personal assistant services you avail of, the years of experience the virtual assistant holds, and the country of origin.

• Step 3: Draft a Job Post

When looking for a virtual personal assistant, you must be clear about who and what you are looking for. Then, draft a comprehensive job post that explains the kind of work you would be outsourcing and how the work should be done. Also, mention what the concerned virtual personal assistant expects and the necessary skills and qualifications.

Reject the candidates that do not meet the eligibility criteria. This would save you time and energy. Besides, this job post would also allow applicants to explain why they should be hired.

• Step 4: Begin Your Search

Your search for a dedicated virtual assistant begins when your JD is ready. After that, you can look for suitable platforms available in the market, like Wishup, Belay, Delegated, and many others.

Note: If you are looking for multiple options to hire a VA like Indian VAs or US based virtual assistants, choose Wishup. They can help you with both.

• Step 6: Book a Consultation call

After choosing the right platform, you can book a consultation with the desired team to discuss the fundamental requirement and process.

• Step 7: Interview your VA and onboard!

To hire a skilled personal assistant, you can conduct one-on-one interviews.

You will surely get positive results if you avail of personal assistant services. There are innumerable benefits of hiring a personal assistant, some of which we have discussed above. What can be better than hiring a personal assistant if you cannot handle your workload and are looking for someone to assist you?

They help you increase productivity, save expenses, handle your customers and social media, maintain sanity, and, most importantly, balance your work and personal life. Therefore, wait no more and find a personal assistant online today!