One of the many problems you have when you run a small company is you get stretched in every direction possible.  I probably don’t need to tell you how many business hats you have to wear in a day; marketing, selling, finance, support, trouble shooting and even Human Resources.   Oh, and once you have finished all of these, then there is the actual work – you know, the stuff that generates revenue.

If you try and do it all, you could go mad.  Yes, you could try working 24 hours a day and work all the weekends available to you, but there is more to life than money.   Health, happiness and Mental Stability are all important.  If you try to do too much, it will pull you down and you will end up achieving nothing.

One option which is worth considering is the use of a Virtual Assistant: A person to help you out on all the ‘small stuff’.   Used in the right way, they can make you more productive, and actually save you money.

Virtual Assistants- Overcoming the Cost Restriction
When I first thought about using a virtual assistant, I have to admit I was worried about the cost.   Why on earth would I pay somebody to do something when I could do it myself and pocket the money?  Then I sat down and looked at the maths.   Lets say I charge £500 a day (a figure I picked from the air).  If I work an 8 hour day, that means I earn £62.50p an hour.   So if I pay somebody £20 an hour to do something and I can fill the extra hour with my normal work, I actually make £42 more than I would doing the ‘small stuff’ myself.

So not getting help is actually costing me money.  Doh!!

Work that Virtual Assistants can do
Virtual Assistants are just that – virtual.  They don’t sit near you, you can’t pass them a bit of paper, and you can’t say ‘look at this – watch how I do this, now you do the same’.  But you can email them tasks, post them packs and of course call them.   They may be local, or they may work on the other side of the world.  As long as they can do a decent job, make the minimum of mistakes, and can speak the same language as you – there is lots they can be getting on with.

Depending on the type of business you run, tasks they can perform could include:

• Chase invoice payments
• Call or email back on sales enquiries
• Scan documents and file them on your computer/file store
• SEO your web site
• Perform web site submission
• Proof reading of your documents
• Research into competitors
• Research into customers
• Web/Printed content layout and graphical design
• Stuff envelopes for mail shots
• Transcribe voice dictation notes (very useful if you drive a lot)
• Research and book hotels, flights and restaurants
• Send follow up/thank you/initial contact/meeting request emails on your behalf
• Review CVs
• Assist in processes (including creating ISO processes)
• Software coding and Testing

Yes, the last one on the list is correct; they can do heavily technical jobs too.   When you employ a Virtual Assistant, you have the option of employing a ‘virtual person’ from a team with different skills.   You pay by the hour, and the person with the best skills for the task is allocated.  You still have a principle contact, but they may get their co-worker to do the task as their friend has stronger skills for the task.

Costs and Location
Now, it’s a fairly safe bet that you live somewhere in Europe or the USA where costs can be high (and are rising).  But there are plenty of highly skilled educated people all over the world you can use.   Depending on how you view cost saving vs. exploitation and the skill set your require, the rates can be low – very low.  Typical cost varies between £5 (overseas) or £15 and £25 an hour for UK/USA.    Whilst you may think that working with somebody in Asia may have its disadvantages, it also has the advantage that you can assign work, go to sleep, and wake with the report/task/project in your in tray.

Resources
There are lots of companies that list, support and manage Virtual Assistants for you.   The advantage of going through a managing agent is that it takes the headache out of finding somebody, managing them and you can end the relationship when ever you want.

Whilst it’s hard to recommend any particular company or service as it will vary depending on the location you want to pick a VA from and the skill set required, it is well worth looking at the following sites: Odesk, RemoteWorkMate and TalantGurus.