Top 5 Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant

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When you own a business, it can be extremely difficult to delegate tasks to another person. In fact, it can be a struggle to let go of even the smallest administrative task. However, if you want your business to grow, you’ll have to learn to give up some control.

Hiring a virtual assistant is a great first step that can help you ease into delegating. It won’t take long for you to realize the benefits. Following are five of the top benefits you’ll experience when you take the leap and hire a virtual assistant.

1. More Time to Focus on Your Core Business

When you hire someone to take administrative and other tasks off of your plate, you’ll have time to focus your time on revenue-generating activities and growth-oriented initiatives.

The reality is you shouldn’t be answering phones, doing data entry, filing, or doing any other administrative tasks. Your time should be spent on activities that require your unique expertise and experience.

Rather than paying yourself to do your bookkeeping, social media management, content writing, SEO, typing, and so on, you should hire a virtual assistant who can efficiently complete these tasks at a lower hourly rate.

2. Reduce Labor Costs

Not only will hiring a virtual assistant cost less than it costs for you to do administrative tasks yourself, but it’s also less expensive than bringing in a full-time or part-time employee.

For example, a virtual assistant could be a contractor rather than an employee, which means your business won’t have to pay for a health benefits, payroll taxes, and other expenses that come when you hire an employee.

In addition, you’ll only pay for the time that a virtual assistant actually works rather than paying a fixed annual salary to a full-time employee. This can add up to significant cost savings over time.

3. Provide Better Customer Service

When you hire a virtual assistant who is already trained to provide the types of services you need, you’ll instantly improve efficiency and customer happiness.

For instance, if you own a medical practice that needs to hire a virtual receptionist, you can work with a virtual staffing service, like My Mountain Mover, that provides trained virtual assistants matched to your business’ needs.

Your assistant will be experienced in answering phones, scheduling and managing doctor appointments, providing exceptional customer service, and other tasks that the medical practice needs help with, so they can get up and running quickly.

4. Reduce Office Space and Equipment Costs

Hiring a virtual assistant rather than an employee also helps your business reduce costs associated with office space and equipment. An outsourced virtual assistant won’t need a desk, phone, computer, chair, and so on.

You won’t have to spend time and money setting up a space for them to work because they’ll work virtually.

They’ll already have their own office space to work from and all of the equipment they need to provide the services you contract them for. This includes things like a computer, software, phone, headset, printer, and more.

5. Lower Your Stress Level

One of the biggest benefits of hiring a virtual assistant – no matter what industry you’re in or what type of business you operate – is being able to reduce your stress level and regaining your work-life balance.

When your stress goes down and your mental health improves, you’ll be more effective in your job. You’ll finally have the time and energy you need to pursue your business goals while also having enough free time to spend with your friends and family.

Key Takeaways about Hiring a Virtual Assistant

It’s hard to give up control of any part of a business you’ve built, but you have to if you want your business to grow. Take small steps, and start by hiring a virtual assistant. Give them a small number of responsibilities at first until you feel comfortable with the relationship.

Once you get started, you’ll quickly realize the benefits of having qualified help, and you’ll undoubtedly end up assigning them more and more tasks!

Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored ten books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).