Day: May 12, 2023

So you’ve chosen QuickBooks among some of the most recommended accounting and bookkeeping software out there. While this is certainly a good choice, a lot of work can go into connecting to this platform. A QuickBooks virtual assistant can definitely take a load off your shoulders. 

In this article, we will be discussing:

• What Is a QuickBooks Virtual Assistant (VA)?
• 5 Reasons to Hire a QuickBooks VA
• 10 Tasks to Assign to a QuickBooks Virtual Assistant
• How Much Does a QuickBooks Virtual Assistant Cost?
• Where Can You Hire a QuickBooks Virtual Assistant Online?
• How Do I Know If I Can Trust a QuickBooks VA w/ My Financials?

What Is a Quickbooks Virtual Assistant (VA)?

A QuickBooks virtual assistant is someone that has a working knowledge of the QuickBooks software. This person will most likely be a bookkeeper or an accountant who knows the platform inside and out and is well-versed in all the services that QuickBooks offers. 

5 Reasons to Hire a Quickbooks VA

1. Saves Time

There’s a lot that can go into setting up bookkeeping software. When you consider everything from getting all your accounts connected to navigating the dashboard, filling in the right fields, learning and selecting the right options, and in general figuring out how you can get the most out of your subscription tier, you’re already potentially spending hours. Those hours could be better spent on other more important things. 

Hiring a QuickBooks VA means hiring someone who has already spent those hours learning all about how this software works. They’ve been through the process so many times that they can get you set up in no time. 

2. Saves Money 

Time is money. By getting you set up quickly, they can get you started quickly. The earlier you can get a view of your financial health, the earlier you can get valuable information on your business, and the sooner you can make money-saving decisions. 

Additionally, outsourcing to a VA is less costly and also takes less time than training an in-house worker. 

3. Frees Up Your Time and Team 

One of the most popular reasons to outsource is the fact that it can free up your resources from lesser core functions and lets you focus on business growth. By hiring someone you can trust to keep an eye on accounts and books and make sure they are up to date, you can fully concentrate on product development, marketing, customer relations, and other important key areas of business. 

4. Increases Productivity

As a business owner, you can’t be dragged away from other areas of business where you are more needed. Don’t let your engine get cold because you’re too busy dealing with busywork. No need to slow down operations because you need to run reports, review transactions, or because tax season is rolling around and you need to consolidate paperwork. An accounting and bookkeeping QuickBooks VA can help you take care of that. Let them manage their area of expertise, and you, yours.  

Sure, you will have to take some time to get your VA up to speed, but in the long run, that’s a worthwhile exchange if it means you can get back in the driver’s seat and back on track. 

5. Increased Profitability/Enables Better Business Moves

Naturally, when you can focus on what you do best, you can improve what made your business successful in the first place. When you pair that with a capable VA keeping your books in order, running reports for you, and providing you with crucial insights, you can make wiser business decisions. When you know where to allocate your budget, lessen unnecessary spending in certain areas, and save money,  you are better positioned to scale your business efforts and increase your profit margins.

10 Tasks to Assign to a Quickbooks Virtual Assistant

There are a lot of tasks you can outsource to a virtual assistant. Here are 10 that a QuickBooks VA is most likely familiar with. 

Setting Up Your Account – This includes connecting your cards and banks to QuickBooks and integrating your old books into the new software from other places like Excel. 

Data Entry – This includes filling out necessary fields within the software about company information, inputting manual bookkeeping data into the software, etc.  

Reviewing Transactions – QuickBooks can automatically reconcile transactions, but some need to be categorized manually. 

Creating and Sending Invoices – Bill customers on time and get paid on time. Customize invoices for each customer. 

Creating and Running Reports – Set up regular reporting and customize reports to fit the needs of the business. 

Set Up Payment Schedules – They can fill out the fields for recurring billing and set non-regular payment schedules for you. 

Following Up With Customers – If customers have missed payments, your QuickBooks virtual assistant can send follow-up emails. 

Bookkeeping – Your VA can track transactions and manage your books for you. 

Interpreting Financial Statements – Your bookkeeping VA can help you make sense of the numbers and assist you in making financial decisions based on reports. 

Tax prep and filing – Some virtual assistants can help you with compiling your documents and getting them ready for submission.  

How Much Does a Quickbooks Virtual Assistant Cost?

There are a few factors that go into calculating the cost of a QuickBooks virtual assistant. You need to account for the fact that they are offering specialized knowledge. Also, if you want them to also handle your bookkeeping for you, that will cost a lot more – at least a few hundred dollars a month. 

In general, the hourly rate of a virtual assistant in the U.S. is between $15 and $22. 

In the Philippines, you can probably find a VA for around $10-$12/hr. One factor that influences this number is the lower cost of living in the Philippines. 

Where Can You Hire a Quickbooks Virtual Assistant Online?

1. Upwork 

Upwork, “the world’s work marketplace” is one of the most popular and easy-to-use marketplaces out there for finding freelancers. They have three methods of finding the skills you’re looking for, namely the Project Catalog™, Talent Marketplace™, and Talent Scout™. 

2. FreeUp

FreeUp is another freelancer marketplace that offers a wide range of talent categories. Their hiring and vetting practices ensure you only get the top candidates for the job. Their “No Turnover Guarantee”  ensures you are protected even in the event the freelancer quits unexpectedly. 

3. Fiverr

As the name suggests, Fiverr is a great place to hire at any price point starting at $5. This makes it a very flexible option. Fiverr Pro is the site version that allows you access to qualified, verified, and pre-vetted freelancers. 

4. 24/7 Virtual Assistants 

They are a US-based virtual assistant business that offers services from web design to admin work and bookkeeping. Their services are cost-effective; their personnel are skilled, and they are available round the clock to help you.  

5. Zirtual

Zirtual is a team of virtual assistants that can help you manage different everyday tasks from social media management to bookkeeping. Their VA matching process entails getting to know your business and pairing you up with a person that’s the best fit for your needs. 

How Do I Know If I Can Trust a Quickbooks VA w/ My Financials?

Some people are already hesitant about outsourcing, this skepticism can get worse when finances get involved. The most common fears involve account security and security of data within QuickBooks and out. How can you be so sure the VA you hire won’t take your financial data and use it to compromise or hack other accounts? Well, fear not, because two things can prevent that from happening. 

First, QuickBooks itself has safeguards to restrict access to certain users from seeing or changing certain information. 

Second, reputable freelance marketplaces have in-depth vetting processes that ensure candidates are screened appropriately. Some of these sites also have data security guarantees. 

What Is Outsource School?

Outsource School helps you to unlock the potential of virtual assistants and accelerate your business growth.

This is the exact system Outsource School’s founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, used to go from zero to 8 figures and 40+ virtual assistants with an exit in 2019.

Since being founded in 2020, Outsource School has helped 1,000+ business owners hire 2,000+ virtual assistants for their companies.

Schedule a free sales call to learn more

Free resources you might like: 

• Outsource School Case Study: How We Scaled to 45+ VAs and 8 Figures in Revenue
• Free VA Calculator | See How Many VAs You Can Afford
• Free Training on 5 Keys to Working With VAs
• Learn Outsourcing 101 | Guides, Downloads, and Checklists

Conclusion

It can be tempting to try and do all of it yourself to stay involved in all areas of business. You may also think that you can save a quick buck by refusing to delegate. However, a QuickBooks VA has several benefits that we hope has you reconsidering outsourcing this work so you can grow your business. 

Are emails bogging you down? Do you feel like you’re spending way too much time at your desk answering them? Do you feel like your inbox could use some sprucing up? Maybe you need a complete email spring cleaning! Whichever it is, it sounds to us like you’re in need of an inbox management virtual assistant. 

The good news is that you can actually hire one today!

But before you go there, we put together a few things that we think you should know about hiring an inbox management virtual assistant. In this article, we are going to be covering 

• What Is an Email Management Virtual Assistant?
• 11 Tasks to Hire an Inbox Management Virtual Assistant For
• How Much Does an Email Management VA Cost?
• What Are the Best Virtual Assistant Websites to Hire From?
• Case Study: How John Hired an Email VA & Saved 2 Hours Per Day

What Is an Email Management Virtual Assistant?

Also known as an inbox management virtual assistant, these individuals are responsible for handling your emails. Their duties involve organizing and sorting emails, creating folders and labels to categorize emails, color coding emails to make them easier to locate, and even deleting unnecessary emails or spam.

An outsourced inbox VA will even do all of this for you before you get on in the morning! This way, you can start your with a clean and beautiful inbox and avoid all the stress that unkept email will usually cause.

Now, that’s just the categorizing part of the job. You also have the replying side of things, which a more specialized email assistant can handle, too. 

When you think about all of that and the amount of time it could take you to accomplish a single day’s worth of emails, you start to see the value of hiring an email assistant. These people typically have developed efficient methods. They will implement proven processes to clean up your inbox and keep it that way. They may also use software programs, as needed and if you prefer, to help manage all the online correspondence. 

11 Tasks to Hire an Inbox Management Virtual Assistant For

1. Deleting junk emails and keeping your inbox clear of any unwanted newsletters, subscriptions, or promos. 
2. Forwarding emails to the necessary people within your team or others
3. Archiving old emails that might be useful later so you main box isn’t filled with old mail
4. Responding to emails and setting up automatic replies
5. Some email marketing like sending out mass emails such as newsletters and introductory emails to the selected list of customers
6. Managing your contact list which involves sorting contacts in order of importance or priority, categorizing them with labels (customers, business partners, suppliers, internal team, etc.), adding new contacts, and deleting old ones
7. Sorting emails in order of priority so you know which emails are urgent and which can wait 
8. Some customer support duties like answering customer inquiries 
9. Creating folders and applying labels to emails. Labels add specificity. Folders organize old and new emails for future reference.
10. Setting up filters ensuring incoming emails go into the applicable folders tidying up your main inbox
11. Answering emails about meetings and adding them to schedule 

How Much Does an Email Management VA Cost?

Virtual assistants have a range of prices depending on a number of factors such as skill level, level of experience, scope of work, specialized knowledge, length of project, are you hiring a VA full-time or a part-time VA, and what country they come from. 

If you want an inbox management virtual assistant who does only the admin side of things, then in the U.S. you’re looking at an average of $10-$12 per hour. VAs from the Philippines and India are less costly both averaging around $6-$7 per hour. 

Now if you’re looking for a VA who can also do some marketing and customer support duties, that’s going to cost you a few more dollars. In the U.S. you could be looking at anywhere between $15-$22 and in the PH and India around $10-$15. 

Again, these pricings vary depending on the scope and depth of the work. This is why negotiating rates and providing a detailed overview of the work should be done together. It’s bad form to hire someone and give them work you didn’t discuss beforehand. It’s even worse form to pile on extra work without just compensation. 

Take care of your VAs and they will take care of you. 

What Are the Best Virtual Assistant Websites to Hire From?

1. Zirtual

Zirtual is a VA platform known for its superb hiring processes and training programs to ensure VA excellence. They also have a matching process that connects you with an inbox va that is the best fit for your specific needs. 

2. Upwork 

Upwork is one of the most famous freelance marketplaces. They help connect businesses and freelancers together for better business opportunities. They have three unique methods for locating the talent you need. 

3. Onlinejobs.ph 

Known as “The Job Board for Virtual Workers in the Philippines”, Onlinejobsph allows you to exclusively hire Filipino VAs who are among the best in the business. Create a job post and let your inbox management virtual assistant come to you. 

4. FreeUp

FreeUp offers a variety of talents in several categories. Their hiring and vetting process only allows the top percentile of freelancers to ensure excellent service on their platform. Their “No Turnover Guarantee” means you are protected in a freelancer quits on the job. 

5. InboxDone

InboxDone is currently the only platform to offer VA services specializing in email management. They provide two assistants to cover for each other and adapt to your unique business needs and work style. 

Case Study: How John Hired an Email VA & Saved 2 Hours Per Day

John is a small business owner who has had a boom in business lately. In the beginning, he was able to manage customer emails and manage communication with his suppliers, accounting team, team members, and other business partners. Now, John has been falling behind on his inbox and it is slowly eating away at his time. What used to take 30 minutes turned into almost 2 hours of sorting through a mishmash of customer inquiries, business inquiries, internal communications, newsletters, and other subscriptions he doesn’t even remember subscribing to! 

His time is split between 

• marketing his products to capitalize on the recent surge
• organizing logistics
• getting on meetings with his bookkeeping team and workers
• answering emails
• developing an FAQ so he doesn’t have to answer the same question 20 times over

That’s when John decided to look for an inbox management virtual assistant, and she was a lifesaver. After orienting the VA on the situation, the VA began working. The email was even a bit more cluttered at this point. After all, it took some time to find the right VA and go through the whole onboarding process.

However, because she had experience, the VA was able to easily create folders for the different people John was in contact with. She created one for the accounting team, one for the internal team, one for suppliers, and one for customer inquiries. The VA also set up filters so that emails that came from any of those groups would be sorted into those folders automatically. The VA also made sure to mark those unwanted subscriptions as spam. The ones that fit the categories that John said he was interested in, she placed in a separate folder.

John instructed the VA that he wanted to keep customer records, including email interactions. So, the VA made sure that all resolved inquiries were archived and labeled as such. This made it easier for John to locate those emails and refer back to them for the development of the FAQ. 

John also mentioned that once the FAQ was finished, the email assistant could use that to answer customer inquiries. The VA, who had email marketing experience was able to help John set up an automated reply system. 

Before he knew it, John was on top of his inbox game. The emails that he needed his input on were labeled “Urgent” and the others he left to his email assistant to respond to. He is now able to focus more of his time on developing his brand. This way, he also has more opportunities to scale up his business even further. 

What Is Outsource School?

Outsource School helps you to unlock the potential of virtual assistants and accelerate your business growth.

This is the exact system Outsource School’s founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, used to go from zero to 8 figures and 40+ virtual assistants with an exit in 2019.

Since being founded in 2020, Outsource School has helped 1,000+ business owners hire 2,000+ virtual assistants for their companies.

Schedule a free sales call to learn more

Free resources you might like: 

• Outsource School Case Study: How We Scaled to 45+ VAs and 8 Figures in Revenue
• Free VA Calculator | See How Many VAs You Can Afford
• Free Training on 5 Keys to Working With VAs
• Learn Outsourcing 101 | Guides, Downloads, and Checklists

Conclusion

If you want to prevent a clogged-up inbox, stop the overwhelm, or mitigate the pileup, an inbox management virtual assistant might just be the person you need to clean things up.

 

Have you ever hired from any Filipino virtual assistant companies? Many online businesses have! Not all Philippines virtual assistant companies are the same, though. We want to make sure that you hire only from the best, so we made up this list for you!

What Is a Virtual Assistant Company?

When we talk about virtual assistant companies in the Philippines, they can be marketplaces, agencies, or BPO companies. 

Marketplaces, like FreeUp and OnlineJobs.ph, offer a platform for freelancers. They host freelancer profiles, past client reviews, and other information. This way, clients can find the freelancers that they need for their various projects. This includes Filipino virtual assistant companies that find jobs through these marketplaces. 

Some virtual assistant companies in the Philippines are called agencies. These are VA services that will do the work for you with their own VAs. Clients don’t interview and hire VAs individually. Instead, they entrust entire projects to an agency representative, and the company takes care of assigning the work.

BPOs work with larger companies. They have the capacity to provide dozens of full-time sales and customer service agents, for example, to a single company. 

Basically, all of these Philippines virtual assistant companies will help you get work done without running an office or buying equipment for hires to use.

10 Best Fiipino Virtual Assistant Companies

1. OnlineJobs.ph

This is one of the virtual assistant companies in the Philippines that specifically offers Filipino VAs. It advertises itself as the easiest job board to find outsourced staff in the Philippines. It hosts more then 2,000,000 resumes from all kinds of VAs from newbies to experts. Simply post a job to attract talented workers who will apply for your posting or search these resumes to proactively find people with the skills that you need.

2. FreeUp

FreeUp is known as the marketplace that pre-vets freelancers so you are hiring from the top 1%. They promise that you can get more done faster when you hire through them. They also guarantee that they can take most client job descriptions and get clients paired with a qualified freelance candidate within 24 hours. 

3. Upwork

This is not one of the exclusive Philippines virtual assistant companies. You can find VAs from all over the world on this platform. However, there are a ton of experienced Filipinos here. Like the other platforms, you can post a job to attract top talent. Upwork can also do the search for a VA for you. They advertise the best hires without paying top dollar with lower transaction rates. 

4. Fiverr

This is one of the Filipino virtual assistant companies that advertises you can find the right freelance service right away. Speed is so important when you need a job done! Fiverr also offers gigs at every price point so you can stay within budget. You never have to worry about hourly rates, and you can hire within minutes to get quality work done quickly. You get quoted upfront and only pay when you’re happy, so you’re protected. 

5. VA Staffer

This company specializes in providing vetted virtual executive assistants with professional with track records for technical skill. They take care of the whole recruiting process, plus even managing, training, and onboarding. When your business is growing quickly, you can rely on VA Staffer to help you keep up with projects so you don’t miss a beat. 

6. Virtual Coworker

With most virtual assistant companies in the Philippines, you want one with a long track record. However, there are a handful, this one included, that are startups yet can be trusted. Virtual Coworker boasts a very simple hiring process so you can get started right away with qualified talent at reasonable rates.

7. Task Bullet

Task Bullet is actually based in the US with offices in the Philippines. Entrepreneurs and executives worldwide use this service to hire VAs for tasks like marketing, lead generation, sales, and appointment scheduling. Their focus is helping you to streamline your business process. They use what they call bucket systems, so pricing is different from the norm. What’s great is that they have no hidden fees. You simply buy hours and use them as needed. 

8. Virtual Staff Finder

As Philippines virtual assistant companies go, this one has been around the block a few times. Clients have hired more than 8,000 virtual assistants through this platform, so your chances of finding the one you need for your tasks are good! All you need to do is sign up and upload your requirements. Then the team will take that job description and search for the best three candidates to give you a selection before you choose one to interview. And don’t worry, they do screening and background checks for you!

9. eVirtual Assistants

You can find the expert that you need in minutes when you hire here because the posting process is so simple. With affordable rates, you can build an entire team to grow your company. They offer a variety of talent to fill the most hired for outsourced positions. 

10. Virtual Assistant Talent

A lot of Filipino virtual assistant companies cater to startups, and this is one of them! Virtual Assistant Talent is designed to help you build a team from the ground up. They are dedicated to helping you to expand and grow, so they know who you need and how you need them to work to reach your goals. You will begin by getting on a phone consultation to find out more about your company. This call will help the company to understand better what you really need and how to provide that for you. You will get a chance to hear from VAs and the services that they can offer to meet your needs. Once you find the individual that you like best, you will get an invoice, and once you pay, you can get to work. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How much does a Filipino virtual assistant cost?

Virtual assistant companies in the Philippines will usually offer candidates with hourly rates ranging from as low as $3. We don’t recommend hiring at this level, though, because you get what you pay for! Make sure you scan applications carefully to get an idea of the right rates for the specific job you’re hiring for, too. More requirements and higher skill requirements mean more pay! 

2. How much does the average Filipino virtual assistant earn?

The average VA in the Philippines who does simple tasks full time earns about $600 per month, or less than $3.50 per hour. Note that most Philippines virtual assistant companies will take a significant cut. So, even if you pay more, a VA you hire from one of these companies will still usually get only that much. 

Remember, this average applies to simple VA tasks, so if you are looking for someone who is more specialized, like a content writer, a marketer, or an inventory manager, for example, you should expect a higher rate range for quality work and greater accountability.

3. How to hire virtual assistants from the Philippines?

If you’re hiring from Philippines virtual assistant companies, you will usually simply enter the details of the work you need done and wait for applications to come in. Then you would need to sort through them and interview the top candidates. Once you find someone that is the right fit, you hire them per the platform rules and you’re good to go.

4. Why should you hire a Filipino virtual assistant?

Filipino virtual assistants are famous for their cordial personalities, flexibility, and happy natures. This is, of course, on top of the affordability of hiring these skilled individuals who speak English better than most other Asians.

What Is Outsource School?

Outsource School helps you to unlock the potential of virtual assistants and accelerate your business growth.

This is the exact system Outsource School’s founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, used to go from zero to 8 figures and 40+ virtual assistants with an exit in 2019.

Since being founded in 2020, Outsource School has helped 1,000+ business owners hire 2,000+ virtual assistants for their companies.

Schedule a free sales call to learn more

Free resources you might like: 

• Outsource School Case Study: How We Scaled to 45+ VAs and 8 Figures in Revenue
• Free VA Calculator | See How Many VAs You Can Afford
• Free Training on 5 Keys to Working With VAs
• Learn Outsourcing 101 | Guides, Downloads, and Checklists

Conclusion

Distance is no longer a barrier to any work that can be done on a computer connected to the internet. Indeed, many business owners depend on Filipino virtual assistant companies to find the people they need to complete all the daily activities within their businesses. Now, you know where they go to find top talent, and you can start hiring, too!