How a Virtual Assistant Can Benefit Your Business
By Western New England Business Support Services 

Businesses of all sizes have had to make tough choices over the past decade when it comes to employees. However, as a small business owner, you can't afford to let go of vital tasks that may seem mundane to you when compared to where you'd rather spend your time - maybe it's going out and meeting clients, making sales, or manufacturing a new product. You still have to update your web site, manage client communications, keep track of sales, or manage bookkeeping and payroll. Perhaps you are wondering how to jump on the social networking bus, or need to research "cloud computing" versus installing a server in your office?

This is where a virtual assistant (VA) comes in. Although the term is used widely to cover many fields of expertise, it is usually defined as an independent contractor who works from a home office, providing support to businesses. This support may be in the form of daily office assistance, marketing, public relations, data entry, or anything in between. Gone are the days of the old secretarial pool - today's VA is tech savvy, knows how to deal with clients of all shapes and sizes, and is accustomed to meeting deadlines. 

Where to Find?

Although you may still find some VAs under the "secretarial services" heading in your local phone directory, services are so varied and so unique that directories may not do them justice with such a basic heading. While word processing services are offered, remember that VAs are utilizing their unique backgrounds and experience in such a wide variety of fields that you may not realize you can find someone with legal, financial, marketing, or even construction experience. Those industries have unique languages and processes that may make a supporting role hard to fill with a traditional employee. Some business support service owners may not call themselves "VAs" - some prefer secretary, or administrative assistant, or project manager, but they are able to work from an established home office with the latest software. Some VAs will travel to your location and still maintain their independent status, possibly at a lower rate if they are not utilizing office supplies and their own office at home.

Our local group, Western New England Business Support Services (www.wnebss.org) is a small group of business owners who work independently, yet rely on each other for software and product questions, project referrals, and general support. The group was formed in 2001 with the dual mission of educating the local business community on the benefits of services, and also to provide continuing education and referrals to members. The members of our group are not competitive with each other and although we meet occasionally for lunch and educational meetings, an on-line message board is extremely beneficial for suggestions and running ideas by each other, especially during a time crunch. Meeting topics may include how to use the latest features in word processing software, the best way to back-up client files, reviewing computer security issues, or juggling working from home with family time. But that's a topic for another article.

Karen Blinderman, of KayBee Marketing Resources, and a WNEBSS founder, says the freedom to set her own work hours is very important to her. "I became an off-site administrative assistant when I suddenly found myself unemployed after 17 years in marketing at Stanley Home Products." Adds Blinderman, "I took the skills I'd learned there and classes afforded to me while on unemployment, and founded my business full time in 1997." Blinderman's specialty is association management, which includes maintaining membership rosters, meeting coordination, newsletters, special events announcements, etc. She adds, "Over the years, this has evolved from doing just about any task someone might need to 100% association management."

Another WNEBSS member, Jan Melnik (Absolute Advantage, www.janmelnik.com) taps both her corporate marketing experience and career management background as a Master Resume Writer, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Credentialed Career Manager to work with clients when they need professional bios and resumes for board presentations, proposals, and business plans. She works with clients in industries ranging from financial institutions and pharmaceuticals to academia and pre-IPO start-ups in creating new business development plans, writing ad copy for web sites and new product launches, and interviewing top executives to then write white papers and annual reports.

Another way to find out more about virtual assistants is to visit the International Virtual Assistant Association (www.ivaa.org), where you can post jobs and search for members based on services or location. Some of the local WNEBSS members are also part of IVAA, but it is certainly not a requirement.

What Will it Cost?

Owners of business support services have a range of prices. Many track hours and will bill clients accordingly on an agreed-upon schedule. Others may work on retainer, that is, clients pay a regular monthly fee for a certain amount of work, with additional hours being billed on top of that. Either way, you only pay for the hours and tasks you require to run your business. Hourly rates differ greatly amongst VAs, as do services. An important thing to remember is that what may first sound like a high hourly rate turns out to be quite reasonable when compared to the cost of a regular employee who requires furniture, benefits, insurance, and supervision. The hourly rate will work out to be a much lower cost for the company. VAs, as subcontractors, are required to obtain 1099 forms from clients and pay their own taxes. You, as the client, would not have the tax burden associated with a direct hire.

Another Advantage to Business Clients

When you work with a VA, you may benefit from a connection to a larger VA network. For instance, if you have hired a VA to do your bookkeeping, but then find that you need some human resources assistance, your bookkeeper VA very likely has a VA colleague with HR expertise and will gladly refer you.