Having your own business comes with many perks that you can’t find with regular jobs. One of these is not having to work from 9 to 5 just to earn your keep. However, while not being confined to a specific schedule is great, owning a business doesn’t mean you get to work fewer hours.
In fact, for small business owners and startup companies, this could mean the exact opposite. You’ve merely delved into the business world and are still learning the ropes of your trade. You must extend more hours and double your efforts if you want your business to take off, right?
Not exactly.
Or at least, not if you have a virtual assistant, or a consulting template.
Virtual assistance is a gift to business owners. Now, you will have more hours to spend on high-priority tasks. You have more energy to focus on business matters that only you can take care of. To do that, you must ease up on your responsibilities by scraping some items off your plate.
Here are the top 10 tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant (VA):
1. File Organization and Storage
Have you ever found yourself deep in your virtual libraries, filing one document after another and deciding which one goes where? Before you know it, you lost an entire morning to this menial task!
Organizing and storing files is an integral part of the business that keeps it working fluidly. But if you’ll be honest, it is one of the most mind-numbing tasks there is. You want your mind to be alert and creative in finding ways to expand your business. That is why you’re better off outsourcing this responsibility to your VA.
2. Market Research
While it is essential to be on the lookout for the trends in your industry, what your competitors are up to, and what your target market is into, you can’t afford to keep your nose buried in research.
Market research needs thorough investigating, assessing, and studying that may demand hours and hours on end. Task your VA to conduct a market research in your stead. You will have a fresher mind reviewing and finding ways to use the data collected in a lucrative way.
3. Call Answering
Imagine being in an important meeting, only to be interrupted by the shrill ringing of your phone. Even if both are concerning business, you must admit that one has a more substantial significance than the other.
You can’t stay connected to your phone all the time, but you can’t miss calls from clients either. Make sure your business is always open to receive important calls by tasking your VA to take care of this job.
4. Email Management
Many customers feel more comfortable interacting with a business through email. And some days, the volume of your emails can get overwhelming! Instead of typing up generic replies, assign email answering and management to your VA. Because they are more focused on this responsibility, they’ll be better in organizing your Inbox as well.
5. Social Media Management
Your next customer can be one Tweet away from buying or one Facebook post from subscribing. Prospective clients are everywhere! But that doesn’t mean you have to dole out your time and energy all over the place, too.
Task your VA to take care of posting, answering queries, and dealing with irate customers ranting on social media. Leaving the management of your social channels to your VA means more prompt responses. Your customers will thank you for it.
6. Blogging Tasks
Writing posts on your blog takes talent, research skill, and other time-consuming tasks such as document template creation, collecting or creating relevant images, and publishing. Hire a content writer VA to take care of your blogging tasks. Remember that content plays a crucial role in increasing your website ranking in Google. You’re better off leaving it to specialists.
7. Audio/Video Creation and Editing
If your marketing efforts require audio or video production, you’re in for a complicated, laborious process. Besides, if you’re new to this endeavor, you’re better off working with a virtual staff. Let your VA or team know what you want in the project and have them take care of the practicalities.
8. Search Engine Optimization
Because you’re doing business in the age of the internet, search engine optimization is something you cannot do without. Luckily, that doesn’t mean pouring your hours and energy on this challenging task. Appoint your VA to do keyword research and build valuable backlinks to improve your company’s SEO.
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9. Data Entry
Customer information, suppliers’ contact details, market trends, and the results of your ads. From the start of your business and throughout its process of expanding, your company receives and gathers data. Outsourcing data entry to your VA ensures that these details are collected and securely stored in your spreadsheets and other storage sections.
10. Invoicing and Expense Reports
Creating and sending invoices to customers and filing expense reports are other tasks you can outsource to your VA. It’s true that there are tools that will help you perform these jobs, but a VA can double check and look over details of individual customers. Besides, every report is unique, and it takes a real person to attach files and upload photos for a more comprehensive report.
There are limitless ways that a VA can help your business take off and reach its highest potential. These top 10 tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant are just a start.
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