Virtual Assistants as Entrepreneurs

I would like to share a nice article from Mrugank_Desai on how he defines virtual assistants

VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
by Mrugank_Desai

Virtual assistants, as the name suggests, assist people from the different strata of the society but virtually. The virtual assistants normally known as the VA are basically entrepreneurs providing professional assistance to people in the administrative sphere, technical world and the creative field. They provide this assistance to the clients from their home office. There are several virtual assistants working from home to help the business people. The best part of hiring such assistants is that they are involved in a wide variety of works and are able to provide service accurately.

However, these Virtual Assistants normally work for small scale organizations and consultancy groups. A worldwide survey has revealed that there are about thirty five thousand virtual assistants serving various small scale companies. Even the consultancy groups hire them for their services. Especially in the centralized economies virtual assistants are being hired often due to the short span of job. In these kinds of firms, assistants are hired for a small span of time where they are laid off after the completion of a project. This practice is often known as the FIFO method of staffing.

Normally the data transfer between the firms and the virtual assistants take place through e mail, telephonic conferences and fax machines. Sometimes it also takes place through instant messages sent online. The virtual assistants are hired on the basis of contracts for a stipulated time period. However, most of these relationships transform themselves into long lasting ones fetching more work for the virtual assistants. If you wish to work as a virtual assistant then you must have at least five years of experience at an administrative post in the previous office. Normally they work as executive assistant, secretary, legal assistant, manager or supervisor, paralegal, real estate assistant and legal secretary.

However, one must remember that he/she is not an employee of the company that has hired its services. He is considered to be an independent business contract owner. They come under the purview of tax paying workers. In fact, they pay their own self employment taxes to the government. They decide on the terms and conditions on which they will work and also the payment pertaining to their service. Hiring them are profitable for the company since they do not come under the direct payroll of the company. Hence, they are only paid when they work for the firm based on the volume of work they have done. In fact, they are capable of expanding the small scale companies by generating more sales.

Since the virtual assistant is not a direct employee of the company, the company does not have to bear the expenses like training the employee, casual leaves, paid time off, sick leave, retirement plans and insurance of the employee. Hence, the burden on the house is much less. If you can free yourself from the little office chores then you will be able to attend more and more trade shows and establish contacts with other firms. They happen to be the obvious choice for replacing a full time secretary when he or she is on leave. Hence, working with a them has many advantages.

Article Source

You know You Need A Virtual Assistant When/If:

- you tell yourself you can do all 100 tasks by yourself

- your phone has been ringing off the hook and you seem oblivious about it

- your to-do list is filed in alphabetical order

- your mother wants to confirm your trip to visit her. That was 6 months ago.

- you developed indigestion from skipping meals often

- your Facebook friend requests has reached more than 500

- your friends are talking about a new episode on CSI and you can't keep up from your last Season 1 marathon

- you went to an empty party venue and realized that the event was not until next week

- your iPhone prompted you to update your OS and you thought it was talking about Windows

- your voicemail still says you are in the Bahamas

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Know when to delegate tasks to virtual assistant, get started now! I am a resident virtual assistant at PA Everyday, an Australian company that outsources virtual assistants to businesses in Australia, United States and United Kingdom. Contact PA Everyday today for more inquiries at info@paeveryday.com or inquire here.

10 Reasons Why More Businesses Are Training Online

Small Medium Enterprises (SME) have chosen to turn to the internet for news, entertainment and social interaction just like everyone else. These companies then are more inclined to utilize online training, or e-learning, as one of the ways to instill organizational goals to their employees. The benefits that both the company and the employee can reap from online training continue to contribute to its increasing popularity. 

Why businesses are more into online training to cater to SMEs who hire virtual employees:

Less costlier.  eLearning is 40-60% less expensive than classroom learning according to research. Deducting instructor fees, room costs, and travel and meal expenses from the total costs mean that it is often more economical than in-class training.

Learning time is reduced. Based on research, the average learning time required with e-learning is 50% less than the time required for in-class learning with the same material.

Lower administration costs. Online training results to less time and expense required for administration. It can be automatically updated with learning management systems.

Standardized learning. Employees receive consistent training content delivered with variable effectiveness depending on their particular instructor's knowledge, interests and capabilities especially for companies with many locations. 

New trainings roll out quickly.  Online training can be created more quickly than having instructors present the material in person at diverse locations.

Interactive learning. The interactive nature of e-learning makes it suitable for all learning styles.

Improved retention. Students proved to reinforce knowledge for greater retention.

Self-paced learning. Employees who might become virtual assistants one day can learn at their own pace. If one has more background in a particular subject, he can move ahead more quickly by pre-testing to demonstrate his competency level. 

Benefits to employees. Virtual Employees or the students can choose when and where they complete their training, thus, not being restricted at all to a certain time and date.