Technology has caved itself into our world and is now replacing a massive part of our everyday lives, including traditional work. When the pandemic began, a lot of people looked for more ways to make a living. Most preferred working online or remotely while seeing their kids grow up or meeting new people, while others loved working in the comfort of their homes. On the other hand, business owners extended their business virtually. And matching the high demand, people ventured into freelancing and “virtual assistance”, and together, they helped businesses grow. But what exactly are virtual assistants and where to find one? No worries, The VA Duo can help you!
What is a Virtual Assistant?
According to Investopedia, a Virtual Assistant is an independent contractor who provides administrative services to clients outside the client’s office. Virtual assistants can work anywhere they want—heck, they could even work while they’re having a vacation as long as they have an internet connection and a laptop, and they still give the same output compared to an office assistant. They aren’t usually termed as an employee as virtual assistance is considered a business, but you can also find some to absorb to your company or hire someone from an agency.
But the term “Virtual Assistant” is so wide that it covers a lot of niches. They could be performing general administrative support like managing email, calendars, and websites; executive assistance like answering phone calls and scheduling appointments; social media management tasks like creating and scheduling posts and engaging with potential clients; or bookkeeping tasks like handling payroll and keeping track of the company’s finances. There are a lot more niches that every business owner needs to take off of their plates.
Why Should You Hire a Virtual Assistant?
When you were starting, you probably handled everything on your own and thought you could go on like this. It took you sleepless nights just to be where you are right now. You may even have hired a coach to guide you, but you took every step alone. And then, just one day, all your relentless efforts paid off. Congratulations! You feel more motivated than ever, ready to struggle to taste more of the success that you had. But now that your business is stable, you know you can’t do everything alone anymore to achieve success. Whether you admit it or not, you need to delegate or outsource, primarily to reach your business’ maximum potential, and to give yourself time off, hence, hire a Virtual Assistant.
At first, you may find it hard to let go of some tasks. You might feel uncomfortable, thinking you could have done it better yourself. You could trust your VA’s skills and experience to help you but training him yourself could be your clone. Yes, it could take a while, but with a suitable VA, it will get better and will be worth it. Remember, one skill a CEO should have is to be an effective delegator.
How to Hire Virtual Assistants?
Now that you know some things about virtual assistants, the next thing to do is to figure out how to hire one.
Before you hunt them, you’ve got to set your criteria. Set your budget and find what tasks you would be needing help with. Ask yourself, “what kind of virtual assistant do I need?” This question is typically hard to answer, especially if this will be the first time you’d hire a virtual assistant.
Second, after answering those questions, you have to create SOPs. According to Wikipedia, Standard Operating Procedure or SOP is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. If you have one, nice job! This is necessary for business owners to reduce the time on training their employees or contractors and them having mistakes. Before hiring a virtual assistant, you must be ready to give an SOP for him to start immediately. This will also be helpful whether your virtual assistant has experience or not.
Third, prepare his to-do tasks. You have created and prepared your SOP, so now you must give him the tasks by priority and by urgency. You may also include there your passwords, files, SOPs, software access, and other things you think your virtual assistant would need. Compiling these things will take up some of your time but, this is for you to save more time when you hire a virtual assistant.
Finally, you’re all set. It’s time for you to find and hire a virtual assistant. So where to find one?
Where to Find A Virtual Assistant?
There are many places in which you can find virtual assistants. But after considering your budget, you ought to find one that offers affordable yet quality service. Fortunately, there are many Filipino freelancers who offer good services that range from $10 to $30. If you go to Upwork, you’d find a mix of Filipino and some other nationalities bidding to offer their services. Although Upwork is a great platform, you may find it unfair for them to get a portion out of the freelancers’ every cut-off, so we do not recommend it.
Another platform to take a look at when looking for Filipino virtual assistants is Onlinejobs.ph. Here, you may post job offers for free, and you’d get up to 200 applications in no time, and unlike Upwork, Onlinejobs.ph doesn’t take anything out of the freelancers’ salaries, but you will have to spend time writing the descriptions very carefully and filter out the applicants rigorously.
Another way to find Filipino virtual assistants is through referrals. Surprisingly, you’d find a lot of business owners very happy with their Filipino VAs and would be glad to refer them to you. But you may find them more expensive than the regular ones that you can find on the mentioned platforms.
However, The VA Duo also offers affordable services with a mix of general and tech, and e-commerce soon! Not only do we offer them affordable, but you would also experience professionalism and passion in the work that we do.
