A what? Virtual Assistant? What is that?
Member feature: by Stephanie Wium from on demand VA
A What?
A virtual assistant is somebody who is self-employed and who works WITH you to lighten your administrative load.
But How?
She, or even he, works from their home office & perform administrative tasks & functions for you. In-house this is normally done by an administrative assistant or a personal assistant.
Ok, got it! But Why a VA?
In-house you are responsible for desk space, monthly / weekly salary, leave pay, maternity leave, statutory deductions, to name but a few. This also includes non-productive time (coffee break / lunch break / water cooler chats). By utilising the services of a Virtual Assistant you have none of these costs / headaches to concern yourself with. You’ll be paying an hourly / project rate for the work you want done.
Sounds good, tell me more!
Communication between you and your Virtual Assistant takes place by email or phone. You may even Zoom / Skype if you feel more comfortable with this.
As an entrepreneur and busy executive, you want an independent agent to take care of the mundane admin work, while you get on with growing your business.
As a Virtual Assistant, it is my pleasure to take the admin headache away from you.
But what about confidentiality?
I’m so glad you asked!
Confidentiality between you and your Virtual Assistant is guaranteed at all times. No information shared by you will be made available to a 3rd party. It may be your Virtual Assistant’s preference that, before information is shared, you enter into a contract and / or a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Contract terms may be negotiated for the most part, depending on exactly what your requirements are. Non-disclosure agreements may remain valid for a period of up to 3 years, depending on what both your specific requirements are. Discuss this with your Virtual Assistant before you share information. It will safeguard the both of you in the long run.
And payment? How does that work?
Depending on your Virtual Assistant you can book blocks of hours; in other words hours paid for in advance starting from as little as 1 – 10 / 11 – 20 going up to as high as 21 – 40 hours per month. Hopefully your Virtual Assistant will do this on a sliding scale for you. The larger the number of hours you book, the lower the hourly rate. Or if you prefer, you may negotiate a project or retainer rate for yourself. Unused blocks of hours may be transferred to the next month for a period dependent on the virtual assistant. My experience is that they are generally transferred for approximately 20 days. After this time, the unused hours will expire.
What do I need to know next?
Knowing at what stage in your busy life you would require a VA to assist you with the mundane and tedious is covered in the next instalment of this blog.
For more on Stephanie and how her business on demand VA can assist you, please do visit our members page.