What Does a Virtual Assistant Do and Why Does Your Business Need One?

Virtual assistant is one of the professions that has proliferated the most during the pandemic, as many businesses have had to migrate to the digital realm or reinvent themselves entirely within the web. Many entrepreneurs have discovered during the lock-in, that starting a business requires a lot of time, a broad set of skills and sometimes, the performance of tasks that are outside their expertise.

A virtual assistant is the professional who comes to lend a hand to all business owners, just in the area where they need the most help, with the aim of improving their digital marketing strategies and positioning. Today we will explain what a virtual assistant is, what to consider when hiring one and the advantages they offer to your business.

Discovering the Virtual Assistant, a Profession With a Future

Before delving into the definition of virtual assistant, we want to make a clarification: there are two types of virtual assistants in the digital world, we have:

• Human virtual assistants: These are people specialized in certain tasks that can be done remotely and help increase the productivity of a business, since they lighten the load of processes.
• Bots as virtual assistants: Chatbots are the way in which technology helps business owners to unburden their agenda, because it provides them with a means through which they can serve customers 24 hours a day.

Having clarified the types of virtual assistants found on the Internet, let’s turn to the International Virtual Assistants Association’s definition of these types of professionals:

“Virtual assistants are independent contractors who provide administrative, creative and technical support services to multiple clients in a variety of industries from a remote location, usually their home or office.”

In reality, a virtual assistant is a person who has specialized in an area of expertise or work and provides services for a much more competitive fee than having a permanent employee within a company to perform those same tasks.

How Does the Virtual Assistant Profession Arise?

The virtual assistant profession owes its origin both to the technological advances that allowed remote work, as well as to the vision of two women who opened this field of work to the rest of the world.

First, we have Anastacia Brice, who in 1992 moved her travel planning and executive assistance business to her home, creating the profile of remote assistance via digital technology.

The second pioneer was Christine Durst, who founded the International Association of Virtual Assistants and laid the foundations of the profession in 1995.

What Should You Consider When Hiring a Virtual Assistant?

The first thing you should be clear about is that a virtual assistant offers support services. This means that it is a person who provides support, either in administrative, creative or communicative tasks.

The next thing you need to define precisely is the type of support you need in your business, what tasks take up your time, what activities can you delegate, or simply ask yourself, what activities are outside your scope of knowledge?

Once you have determined which tasks you want to delegate, it is time to hire a specialist in the field.

There are assistants who take care of all the administrative control, there are those who specialize in controlling agendas and meetings, others who manage social media and those who create content or design web pages.

As you will see, you can get a virtual assistant that fits your technical requirements and the rate you can afford.

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Hiring a virtual assistant has many advantages, but among the most outstanding are:

• You do not need additional space: A virtual assistant provides his services remotely, this means that he performs the work from your home or your own office. This means that you will not need to restructure the space of your business or acquire a larger premises to have a new employee. This also means that you will not have to spend money on equipment, because the assistant already has everything necessary to provide the service you have requested. This translates into money savings.
• Cost and salary savings: One of the biggest advantages of hiring this type of professionals is that you can limit the hours of their services or simply employ them in busy seasons. This is often the case in times of big sales such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day. Making this type of limited investment will help you increase your productivity without having to decapitalize yourself, or having to resort to a full-time employee.
• You improve the quality of service: Try as you might, the day doesn’t have enough hours for you to take care of everything. That is, you can’t meet with a client and respond to social media interactions, improve SEO, or create and manage content. When you hire an assistant, you are actually buying time to dedicate to the area of the business you are good at and that generates a higher level of revenue to your organization. But also, you improve the quality of service in the eyes of your client because all tasks are carried out smoothly and those who contact you, always receive the right feedback in a very short time. This translates into a better user experience.

Summary of the Post and Frequently Asked Questions About Virtual Assistant:

It is someone who provides professional services remotely through digital technology, to facilitate your administrative, creative or communication tasks.

Conclusion

Having the support of a virtual assistant is a huge advantage for every entrepreneur or digital businessman. Especially when you are starting in this medium and you do not know many tasks such as content management, social networks and SEO.