Posts

6 Don’ts for a successful virtual Assistant

6 Don’ts for a successful virtual Assistant

A Virtual Assistant is the need of the hour. In these times of competition among virtual assistants, a successful virtual assistant is someone who cares for his client’s businesses as he would have done for his own, accepts his mistakes and Learns from it, is proactive, farsighted and who can showcase his achievements more than his caliber or potential. People hire a virtual assistant keeping these qualities in their minds. 

Let’s discuss them in detail,

  • Not my Business

Never, I repeat Never; treat the business of your client as his business. If a client is hiring you as a virtual assistant then you are also part of the business, therefore, work as if the company belongs to you. A successful virtual assistant is someone who feels, works and reacts as if he belongs to that company. Felt like a king now?

  • Do it later Attitude

Time is money has been said again and again and you know exactly what it is so.

Don’t be a sucker of time but be a sucker of work and that too Quality work. (Did you expect a song of Nick Jonas instead). When clients hire a virtual assistant, they mostly prefer proactive people.

  • Perfect Assistant with no mistakes

Never be someone who hides mistakes, we all are humans and perfect human doesn’t exist so own your doings be it right or wrong. Perfection is demanded but excellence is what we can attain. Perfection can be a myth. Clients hire a virtual assistant who craves for excellence and nothing less.

  • Limited sighted Virtual Assistant

Clients hire a virtual assistant who thinks ahead of work what is asked of him/her, the VAs who does it cannot be stopped from getting hired a lot more than their competitors. Not only that but also they have their clients happy and satisfied with their work.

  • One Way Communication

Don’t always communicate verbally but try alternate yet professional ways of exchanging views.

Communicate through emails, VCs. These ways help the completion of tasks efficiently.

A successful Virtual Assistant is someone who can google his way out of any situation without asking the client and wasting his time on petty issues.

  • A Lot of caliber with No Achievements

These days Clients hire a virtual assistant not based on personality or potential but on what they have achieved to date. So a successful Virtual assistant should be someone who can showcase his/her achievements as a virtual assistant. A successful virtual assistant is someone who has a basic knowledge of various niches but deep knowledge of the sector he is working in currently as a virtual assistant.

Conclusion

These are the 6 don’ts that every successful Virtual assistant avoids. They focus on the ominous qualities which are very essential to be in the preferred list of their clients. They make rosters of their client’s activities, rely less on the inputs of their manager and make their path. These are the qualities that the clients look forward to when they hire a Virtual Assistant.

/0 Comments/by

Virtual Assistant Services that will help you to grow in a Competitive World

Virtual Assistant Services that will help you to grow in a Competitive World

A virtual assistant is a person who provides a variety of services to entrepreneurs from a remote location. From digital marketing, event management, personal errands to scheduling appointments hiring a virtual assistant makes it all stress-free.

Services Provided by Virtual Assistants:

  •   Virtual Admin Services: Virtual admin services include managing appointments, organizing tasks and scheduling meetings. It is important to hire a virtual assistant to carry out daily routine activities like general administration tasks, data management, and mailings and calling tasks. It will lead to an increase in work productivity. These regime activities may look small but affect drastically the core tasks if not handled on time.

  •   Accounting and Finance: Accounting and finance is the most important function of a company. This task being lengthy and having standards to follow it is recommended to hire a virtual assistant. The services provided by the expert virtual assistant are calculation and accounting services, assisting financial reporting, updating and maintaining invoices and checking deductions and taxes. Increase employee productivity by hiring a virtual assistant and lessen the burden of senior-level employees so that they can focus on more important tasks like forming efficient strategies and executing those strategies to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

  • Virtual Tech Support: Technological developments have been increasing at a fast pace and these advancements have proved beneficial to the business. But just installing software is not enough entrepreneurs need to manage it too. Virtual assistant providing tech support includes services like software installation, CCTV surveillance, windows support mac support, set up and configuration and remote diagnostic services. The tech support services work the best for small businesses that are willing to expand.

When an organization hire a virtual assistant to do a job in a professional way it saves cost on training employees to do the same task. The organization saves on salary as virtual assistants don’t work full time so the payout is also less. The most important aspect of hiring a virtual assistant is that it will save time for organizations as they can outsource activities to professional assistants and can focus on more important tasks.

Hiring a virtual assistant is beneficial in this competitive world. As virtual assistants are well trained and qualified, they can handle any tasks given to them. By hiring virtual assistant, entrepreneurs can expand the business as entrepreneurs don’t have to handle all tasks. 

/0 Comments/by

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant : An Outsourcing and Entrepreneur Guide

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant : An Outsourcing and Entrepreneur Guide

how-to-hire-virtual-assistant

As an entrepreneur, hiring a virtual assistant is one of the most important things to do. Once you have someone to assign tasks, you can save your valuable time and energy on activities that can contribute to the growth of your business. The main difference between a solopreneur and a small business owner is the presence of a team. Here is a guide to help you choose the right kind of Virtual Assistant India for your business.

A business owner builds systems and hires people to work on different tasks. Here are a few benefits you will have when you hire a virtual assistant :

  1. You Don’t Need an Office: Renting a physical office could be quite expensive and opting for a virtual assistant Company can help you to build a team with reduced costs.

  2. They Are Inexpensive: Virtual Assistants are an affordable alternative when compared to hiring full-time employees.  Most virtual assistants work on an independent contract basis, hence the hourly rate may be significantly lower.

  3. Not Limited by Local Talent: Since virtual assistants can work from any part of the world as long as they have an internet connection, it significantly increases the availability of potential candidates for specific roles.

  4. Outsource Prevents Burnout: A lot of entrepreneurs think that they can handle everything on their own. But they soon realize that they’re wrong. Outsourcing specific tasks and responsibilities can help you prevent burnout.

  5. Spend Time in Areas of Strength: You can’t multi-task everything, especially if it is a business that you are handling. For every task and process that is necessary to run your business, you need Experts. Hiring such people can free up your time and you can focus on other important aspects.

Types of Virtual Assistants:

  1. The General Kind: The most common type of virtual assistant is the General Virtual Assistant who can take care of the daily tasks and processes that are important to run your business, but not necessary to grow it. The tasks that you delegate to a General VA are mostly technical and repetitive in nature such as managing schedule, booking appointments, etc.

  2. The Specialized Kind: specialized Virtual Assistants with very specific skill sets are good for overseeing a specific process of a business. Tasks such as customer service, bookkeeping, video editing, project management, etc. fall under this type of assistance.

Outsourcing Tasks vs Outcomes: 

It is best to outsource the specific tasks, with a Specialized VA for an optimum outcome. You have to provide training to the general VA to carry out the specialized tasks, but with the Specialized VA as they are already skilled, no need for any kind of training as such.

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant :

  1. Document the Tasks You Want to Outsource: Before you hire a virtual assistant India, it is always best if you make a list of all the tasks and processes you want to delegate to them. This will help you understand if you want to hire a General VA or a Specialized VA.

  2. Create a Job Description: Once you have a list of tasks ready, you need to create a job description for that role. Your job description should include background information about your business, list of education, experience and skills the person requires, list of duties and responsibilities that will be assigned to him/her and the list of apps, tools, and software they need to be equipped with.

  3. Post Your Job Description Online: Once you have the job description ready, you need to post this online so that you get applications.

  4. Review Application and Schedule Interviews: review the applications that you receive and select a few candidates who are eligible for the role so that you can schedule an interview with them. Make sure you have a face to face interview or at least a video conference to know how the person is and how well he/she can communicate. In the interview, ask them about their goals, their hobbies, how they would like to work, etc. apart from asking them about their work experience and skills.

  5. Give a Test: Assign tests to the qualified candidates to see how they perform before you hire them. Make sure to pick a task that relates to the tasks they will be working on if they get hired.

  6. Give a Trial Period: Choose the best candidate and ask them to serve a trial period so that you know how they perform in real-life scenarios and if you want them permanently in your team.

If you are feeling tired or overwhelmed to handle and manage your business day in and day out, then you are not alone. A lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners think they can do everything on their own, but once they start, they burn out almost immediately, thus this accelerates the need to Virtual Assistant Agency India. Abroad Assistant will provide you with proficient virtual assistant India who will help you grow your business and free up your time so that you can focus on activities that have a greater impact on your business.

/0 Comments/by

You don’t have to make yourself miserable to be successful

Hiring a personal assistant can bring significant advantages to both your professional and personal life. There is a well-known adage that says, “Work is worship”, and, yes almost all of us agree with it. Many a time, while focusing on this worship, we tend to leave behind the pleasures of life. Work is important, but, focusing only on work can be dangerous. Today businesses are relying on a Virtual assistant to maintain the balance between both lives. The whole universe works on the theory of balance and the same goes for work culture too.

The problem here is that most of us are so busy working, that we cannot find time for ourselves. Should this happen? NO, not at all.

Why is work-life balance necessary?

Well, you know very well about the pressure you might have experienced while working continuously for hours. One needs a break to be re-energized to enhance the efficiency.

The break can be anything from spending time with friends & family to going for an outing or listening to music. Finding help from the virtual world can reduce your workload. And, to your surprise, you feel re-energized even if you take a 10-15 minutes break. This is because of the reduction in pressure that lets you be in peace. This peace is necessary.

You don’t need to just keep on working like a robot. This mechanized life can result in anxiety, depression, and tiredness. Remember, we have only one life and sustaining a balance can only let us get through it.

How Virtual help assist in personal and professional life balance?

Most of the businesspersons face a lot of problems maintaining the balance and try to find different ways to achieve this. While offs, naps, outings, parties etc. are a good choice, hiring a Virtual Assistant for your work can prove to be better than anything.

Achieve work-life balance with a Virtual Assistant

Virtual Assistant service is a blessing that seems to be a great option for keeping up with your work as well as keeping up with your life. By hiring a Virtual Assistant you will be able to have more time for many other important tasks. Assume you have a clothing business along with a website to maintain, you need to address email queries, answer phone calls, invoice to be maintained and at the same time dealing with customers. A single person may not be able to proceed with all the tasks. Even if you have a team, there may be specific persons to handle the specific tasks and no one that can be made to handle general tasks like some mentioned above.

Handling all these tasks can result in disturbing your work-life balance. There are tasks that don’t need you to necessarily focus on them. If you have a Virtual Assistant you can rely on him/her and delegate some of the general tasks. He/she can help in handling those tasks while you can carry on with other important tasks or taking a break. Therefore, if you are facing the above problems and still don’t have a Virtual Assistant, it’s high time to hire one.

What type of services can be expected from a Virtual Assistant?

Apart from handling office automation works like emails, word, excel, access etc. Virtual Assistants can be assigned with a variety of tasks according to their expertise. These tasks include chat support, accounting & finance, transcription services, graphics and web designing, SEO related work, data analysis, market research and analysis, social media marketing, website maintenance, search engine marketing etc.

The assistants may be a veteran with a mammoth experience or a youth having fresh ideas. You can choose a Virtual Assistant according to your needs from the above domains. Preferring to a site with qualified assistants like abroad assistant  can help in getting a top quality service.

Choose the service, choose the time period, choose the assistant according to your preference and enjoy your work along with sustaining a balance with your life.

Live a balanced life

Getting a right Virtual Assistant can get you a sigh of relief. Now, whenever you get some extra work and are not able or willing to do it, let your Virtual aide do it for you. Organize, modernize and simplify your business with the help of a Virtual Assistant. Save your time and money as Virtual Assistants offer assistance for a period of time and for a specific work, thus, cutting your costs of hiring a regular employee. You can easily manipulate time for personal commitments. Also, one can get into some social responsibility activities as well.

So, try out the skill-based services of a Virtual Assistant for the desired stretch of time. Get an assured quality service that may result in taking your business to next level as well does not drain big money from your pocket.

Don’t hesitate to Contact Us for more details.

/0 Comments/by

The 4 hours workweek & Virtual Assistants

This articles will explain, you how you can use Tim Ferris 4-hour workweek principles’ with the help of Virtual Assistant & achieve Work Life Balance.

The urge to earn more amounts of profits has resulted in the growth of the competition level in business. Today business persons are implementing various methods to make their business grow. The virtual assistant is one such approach.

Some people tend to focus on work that hard that they don’t have time for self, they remain busy in making money. Some work day and night to make the best results come out. Yes, the best results are necessary but are of no use if compromised with life and living. As we all know well, there must be a balance between work and life, but this remains imaginary at times. We all should try to give time to some other things as well because they are the real treasures you are working for. Working for our own happiness and killing it at the same time by not being well-connected to life makes no sense.

New ways have emerged and are emerging to manage the work. Work smart without compromising with the quality and quantity of work as well as money. Recent trends show a great hike in the culture of Virtual Assistants. Hiring a Virtual Assistant has become a trend now.

Why is this necessary?

The best answer to this can be, of course, to work efficiently with enjoying life. Many entrepreneurs have witnessed the rise in their business to a such a level that it becomes difficult for them to handle all the tasks, even with the help of the team. Also, the job workers also face the same problem if given a lot amount of work. It becomes hard to find time for something else.

One more reason to look for a virtual assistant is that not everything is known to everyone. So, in such cases one can hire a virtual assistant to do the task he/ she is less aware of or doesn’t want to spend time on them.

How to make things work?

There may be several steps one can adopt if he/she owns the business. The ways to lessen the amount of work might be different and can be selected according to work. Even if someone is an employee, he/she can look for the ways to be more efficient in work.

The need is to analyze the type of work you want to be done, defining goals and then searching for someone who matches the requirements. Virtual Assistants are a good way to proceed. There are many companies in the required category that aim to provide the best Virtual Assistant services. Take a look at their Virtual Assistant services; may make your work easier.

Fruitful Results

Most of the times getting the tasks done with the help of a virtual assistant produce fruitful results. There are possibilities of some loss too because of an inefficient virtual assistant. Being cautious before assigning the works to avoid such issues.

 

People have talked about their experience with virtual assistants as one of the best ways to be balanced and do what you love. Also, there are virtual assistants who really serve as a great asset for the company by taking it to the highest levels. So, fruitful results can be assured while working with a virtual assistant. It is the kinds of relief from the load of a heavy amount of work. This indeed result in time saved for hobbies or personal commitments, priorities maintained, and benefits earned.

 

Tim Ferris 4-hour workweek principles-what does it mean?

The phrase means working 4 hours per day and make earnings. Most of the people might be wondering that what will be the benefit in working for just four hours. Having a virtual assistant can prove to be of great help here too. Long hours of work don’t matter instead it is the quality and timely completion of the work generates concerns. So, one can enjoy the four-hour principle if he plans to get work done with the help of a virtual assistant.

Thoughts of Tim Ferris will impress you

Tim Ferris, the author of 4 Hours Work Week, explains the whole concept and benefit of 4 hour work week in the book. It was one of the best-selling books related to virtual assistant services.

The book contains the real-life experiences of the author and is a must-read for business owners and entrepreneurs. The advantages of 4 hour work week are explained in an impressive way. After reading the narrative you too might want to enjoy the virtual assistant services

Ways to improve four hour work week

The best to start is to focus on priorities and cut what is unnecessary. After elimination, outsourcing is a good way to go. Outsource your extra work to the virtual assistants and let them handle the tasks for you. You can be now free from the less productive tasks like handling emails or answering calls. Now the focus on other works can earn good revenue while working even 4 hours.

Remember, less does not refer to laziness and working for fewer hours is not a bad thing. Instead, it holds some greatest benefits. Trying to do everything will not help as nobody is good at everything. Working with your strengths and outsourcing the tasks that include your weak spots to virtual assistants will help in completing all kinds of tasks.

The concept of $500 & $1500

If there are two persons, one earning $1500 per Week from a 9-5 job and the other one earning $500 from 4 hours work week and outsourcing then who is the one earning big? Everybody would say the first one. But, analyzing the things in depth might change the answers. Working 8 hours and earning $1500 weekly may seem good but there is less possibility of enjoying the work along with life. Whereas, working 4 hours weekly and getting all things sorted, getting time for near ones and for other works, is definitely a great deal. The outsourcing allows one to have time for him and can have the real feel of life along with this. So, never go on quantity and focus on quality.

Take a smart move and be a real businessman

A real businessman is one who is able to run the business efficiently and manage the work. He/she understands the importance of outsourcing and making a smart move.

The points explained above must have increased awareness about work with virtual assistants and developed an interest towards having one. So, make the move and enjoy doing your work while maintaining a balance in life.

Don’t hesitate to Contact Us for more details.

/0 Comments/by

Why should you Hire Virtual Assistant

Type
Advantage
Disadvantage
Employee / Contractor
Productivity, Expertise, Control, Growth HappinessHighest cost (Salary Training, Management, etc)
Freelancers
A Specialist (One Person) in the task you need, job-based (easy to let go)Higher cost ( in short term), Communication, deadline, management,( often remote worker)
Outsourcing
Expert company at the process you need (payroll, accounting, SEO, etc) Project-based easy to goYou’re on their terms, communication, high cost
Offshore
Low cost’ expert in whatever you need, full-time controlCommunication (languages), Quality, market perception

What can we outsource by hiring a virtual assistant ?

  • Pretty much anything online can be outsourced –Social media, Content Creation, which can be document & delegate as like machine based
  • Daily Repetitive & time-consuming task you can get it off from your plate
  • Understand your industry & what the important actions to acquire new & manage clients.
  • You need content for clients engaging content on FB or Instagram (fitness & fashion)
  • This works best for execution, not planning & strategy ( Doing vs. Thinking)

You have to think the way to grow business not spending most of the time doing all the things.

You should have your task clearly defined & built out; how?

  • A written guide in Google docs (SOP) complete with a screenshot, step by steps tutorial and logins
  • Screencast videos explaining the process in detail. We host all videos on a private YouTube channel.
  • A checklist in Google sheet, itemized by task so we can track progress and status of the of the job

Focus on the micro process ( Instagram Postings)

You have to take what’s in your head and build it into something so simple a 3rd grader

  • Remove all thinking and decision making from their jobs – that’s done on your end
  • Think about your process like you were building it for a machine – is it simple ? or is it scalable?
  • Give them images, filter, copy and has a tag (you can outsource this as well)

To Save money you need to spend time

  • You don’t need to be an expert but you need to communicate why you are hiring a vitual assistant for figure it out. E.g. – you can hire SEO but you should know what they are doing
  • To do this right, you need to build out which you need, it takes work upfront but saves times in the long run E.g. – you need to post daily on Instagram or twitter about you products entire life which takes an hour from your daily schedule so it’s time to delegate other, in order to delegates you need to build a process it will take a long time but you will save some time.
  • The organization, communication, and process are the only way to make this work
  • Create a checklist for your Virtual Assistant before hiring, building a process to help you reduce time.

Case study – E-commerce store run on autopilot with the help of Virtual Assistant

Day to day management and marketing is handled by the single person in Abroad Assistant India including

  • Social media management
  • Research and building content
  • Produce page creation & optimization

Let take a look at the process we have built to allow this

The social + Content generation process

  1. Go to the top sneaker news sites and grabbing the top headline about sneakers release
    1. Create unique videos from images
  2. Save images to your desktops then upload them directly to the LO facebook page, creating a video slideshow from the images
    1. Schedule the post to go live on the FB page every 3 hours
    2. Copy the headline from the site and use it as the title of the post
  3. Automating Instagram accounts
    1. Download the video created by Facebook, upload it schedugram to push the LO Instagram account
    2. Schedule the post to go live twice a day.
  4. Creating a blog post framework based on content
    1. Title it “sneaker name” release date pricing info & where to buy
    2. Embedded the Facebook video into the blogs post
    3. Paste the link of where you found the headline into the body of the text for the writer
    4. Open the Photoshop templates and replace with the image of new sneakers – upload to WP as a blog image

Using multiple people for 1 task

  • We build a content calendar with the dates, types & posting times
  • The file gets passed to a graphics designer to create images and copywriter to write text for each post.
  • After these are completed our agency assistant scheduled the post via Facebook, buffer & hoot suite

Blogger outreach / PR

  • Our team locally comes up with the pitch/value proposition
  • Our team in the Abroad Assistant then combs Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest & Google search to find bloggers & journalist. They record them in a sheets file along with their contact info.
  • Our agency assistant email pitches ( based on templates) to reach the contact
  • The response is here manages by our local team (USA)

Advanced SEO  / Analytics

  • We built a checklist of the item to review on a website. each line item has a short video walking through exactly what to check
  • our technical specialist goes through each item and build out the file as pass/fail
  • We are able to deliver affordable, advanced work that other agencies charge tens of thousands for. plus our mark upon the labor is insane.
Conclusion
  •  Hiring a virtual assistant can provide numerous benefits, from cost savings and increased productivity to greater flexibility and access to specialized skills.
/0 Comments/by

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant? Know the Benefits of Virtual Assistant

If you need help to do your daily routine tasks you can hire the services of a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant is a perfect partner who can help in your day-to-day work. They are trained professionals and offer quality service.

You can approach a virtual assistant company to hire a virtual assistant. The companies have different plans based on the number of hours of work required. There are plans like

    • 20 hours per month

This is best for busy professionals who need to outsource some work. You can go for this plan if you want to give tasks irregularly.

    • 40 hours per month

This plan is for business owners who have limited number of regular tasks. They can outsource the work which they do not have time for.

    • 80 hours per month

This plan is best for entrepreneurs and startups who are looking to reduce their load by delegating the tasks.

    • 160 hours per month

This plan is best for business owners with multiple directions of work and high production volume.

You should choose the plan you require. You should be clear about what type of services you need. The virtual assistants have typing skills and computer skills. They have fax machine, copier and multi line phone knowledge. They also have knowledge of computer software used in the office.

When you hire a virtual assistant you do not have to provide them with equipment, training or supplies. They work under the management of their own company. They are trained professionals. They communicate through email, internet, fax machine, phone conferences and online workspace. You do not have to give them extra space in the office.

Benefits of hiring a Virtual Assistant
The benefits of hiring a virtual assistant are
As you delegate the routine tasks to the virtual assistant you do get time to focus on the key issues of your business. You can work towards your business growth.

  • The virtual assistants are professionals and you get skilled based service. They can do your work effortlessly.
  • You can achieve work life balance.
  • You can save your time and money.
  • You get time for personal commitments.

How to hire a virtual assistant?

  • You can approach a virtual assistant services company. You have to follow these steps to hire
  • Select the plan required
  • Meet your virtual assistant
  • Send the task list to the virtual assistant
  • Review the work and if satisfied hire

If you are not sure about hiring a virtual assistant then you can go for a trial run. The best virtual assistant services offer a trial run. This allows you to send a trial task to the virtual assistant. The virtual assistant will do the task. You can review the work and give the feedback to the virtual assistant company. You can hire the virtual assistant if you are happy with the work.

What the plans include
All the plans include trial run, phone, email and chat support. The unused hours roll over to the next month.

Dedicated personal virtual assistant

Multi task virtual assistant

Direct communication to virtual assistant

Back-up virtual assistant

Daily tasks log update

Weekly feedback

Weekend support if required

Review by operations head

No account set up fees

Data security

/0 Comments/by