TRUST ME – I understand how difficult it is to let a VA do the work that’s so important for your business. It’s hard being a small business owner in the position of having to offload work.
It’s your own creation – your baby.
But as your enterprise grows, the activities and tasks can become too many – that’s where a Virtual Assistant can step in.
Long hours and waking up in the night to check emails sound familiar?
With time, I’m getting better at letting go to let a VA do the work, and so can you! My virtual assistants are winning my trust day by day and I am learning to depend on him & her much more than I earlier did.
Thanks to the emergence of Virtual Assistant Services, offloading work to reliable committed people is now more easy and convenient. A Virtual Assistant can save you valuable money but also the most important asset – time.
What a VA Can Do
If you’re of the opinion that Virtual Assistants can only help you with admin assistance, it’s time to change your view. Indeed, this particular service may be the most commonly opted for but it is by no means the only one available. Virtual Assistants specialize in different fields such as:
- Graphic/Digital Design Services
- Content Writing
- Virtual Receptionist Services
- Personal Admin
- Bookkeeping
- and so much more!
They may not work in your country or time zone, but none of these come in the way of delivering their committed assistance. This frees up your time for focusing on mainstream operations, doing what you are good at, and spending time with the family. Now, who doesn’t want that?
Being Brave Enough to Hire a Virtual Assistant
So, I got in touch with ClearDesk and Time ETC. As most of my outsourced work was related to writing, I sought a Virtual Assistant who was a trained and experienced writer and other tasks and two of the highest rated VA companies on our site.
We communicated via emails and over time, our understanding grew deeper and better. I found that Virtual Assistants love helping out their clients and often go above and beyond to ensure the same. They follow instructions diligently, provide timely output, and follow up regularly. Other than the fact that you cannot see them in person, there’s nothing to complain about really.
There are several Virtual Assistant companies around the world that offer their services to businesses of various sizes – it’s a big, wide world out there with plenty of choices. Virtual Assistants are no genies or mind-readers, which is why you need to maintain a consistent form of communication to specify your guidelines and follow up with modifications, if necessary.
The task list of Virtual Assistants can help businesses grow in many ways – You only need to decide on what tasks you are spending time on which could be spent elsewhere. Then you let a VA do the work.
Ways To Let a VA Do the Work
Here are some tips on how to share your responsibilities and let a VA do the work:
- Business Communication Platforms – Constant communication is key. Thankfully, advancements in technology have brought forth several business communication platforms for smooth and safe communication. Slack replaces the idea of communicating via emails and the time wasted along with it. The platform facilitates direct conversations to ensure no detail is missed. Asana and Trello are similar communication platforms that have high utility ratings as well. Communication and tracking the progress of tasks becomes much easier with these, given the complete transparency between the two parties.
- Time and Activity Tracking – Time tracking tools are very helpful for business owners who love having control over their own work and overseeing it to the fullest. These tools help in effectively tracking the time for the tasks performed by the Virtual Assistant. It helps in determining the efficiency of a virtual assistant. Time and activity tracking software show business owners the number of hours a Virtual Assistant spends on a task and how they utilize their time. MyTimeIn, WorkPuls and DeskTime are the most advanced software programs for monitoring the time and productivity of Virtual Assistants. Hubstaff is an amazing tool for scheduling, reporting, payroll, and invoicing purposes.
- Document Sharing and File Management – Collaborating on documents and experiencing your Virtual Assistants work in real-time is now a breeze. Dropbox is a file storage platform that was initially introduced as Cloud storage. It can be used for storing all your content in a central location, to find and track content effortlessly, and to optimize workflow. Google Drive is yet another outstanding tool for managing work in real-time in coordination with the Virtual Assistant’s.
- Sleep Apps – It is not uncommon for anxiety related to work and life to get in the way of your sleep and prevent you from relaxing. There are several sleep apps that help in evaluating your sleeping patterns, display analyses of sleep phases, and come with different soothing melodies to make the mind calmer. These sleep apps are handy in ensuring that you get enough rest while your Virtual Assistant takes care of your work. Getting the recommended hours of sleep can also help you to focus better on coordinating and collaborating with your Virtual Assistant. Some great sleep apps are White Noise, Relax Melodies and Sleep Time.
It’s okay to want to be in control when it comes to your work. But letting go to let a VA do the work, depending on how bogged down you are, doesn’t hurt. I should know. In fact, hiring Virtual Assistants and letting him & her assist me has been one of the best decisions I ever made.
I hope this helps you to arrive at better decision-making in terms of letting go!
For all you know, your Virtual Assistant could be your best work buddy.
