We are many months now into what has become the biggest global economic crisis most of us can remember.
In the current circumstances, many small businesses will have been thinking about cutting costs.
Cutting back on staff may be an option, but unless you are willing to let customer service slip, you may personally be stepping into roles and working the hours that do not represent the most constructive use of your valuable time.
It may be that the best solutions for your business right now would be to outsource to a VA. Outsourcing to a reputable and knowledgeable VA can save you both time and money. Building a trusting relationship with anyone you have never actually met in person can be nerve racking, but taking the time to find the right VA might be a way to grow and develop your business, without incurring the costs of hiring someone full or part time.
Think about what your needs are, what problems you have and how you can pass the responsibility for resolving these issues on to your VA while you work on those tasks that maximise your skills and your profitability. Ultimately, you need to be the leader, the profit generator, in your company. It's rare that you will achieve this by filing paperwork or deleting spam.
There are several ways to go about hiring a VA, through on-line services such as Guru and Elance, but I would always suggest you focus on personal recommendation over anything else. ( "The way Emma works as VA is that she is very flexible and able to work with me when I need her." ) For those who are not entirely sure how working with a VA might help you and your business, please feel free to contact us to talk through how best we can assist you.
Here are just a few tasks we have undertaken - and are currently undertaking - for clients:
- blog posting
- web maintenance
- price comparison
- email customer service
- voice-overs
- transcriptions
- proof reading and editing documents
- travel arrangements
- diary & email management
- newsletters & e-zines
- telephone answering
- copywriting and content research