If you are an owner of a startup business or a one-man/woman company and you are looking to increase your business\’ manpower, chances are that you have considered hiring a virtual assistant. Of course, that does not really mean that you actually need one. Sometimes, it\’s just better for you to ditch the VA option and just hire an employee that will report to your office in flesh.
This begs the question: When exactly do you need a VA? Here, we will detail some very familiar situations where you really, really need to sign a contract with an online assistant.
- You don\’t have enough money to hire an office employee. VAs are a cheap way to extend your manpower. They can do pretty much any administrative and support work for your company at a fraction of the price of a physically present employee, although there are some obvious downsides with working with someone from a remote location. Regardless, VAs are perfect for startups and small businesses, and works great as a stopgap measure until your business gets big enough to afford on-site people.
- Your small company lacks a particular skill and you need to outsource the job. In this situation, you will need to go online and find yourself a VA capable in handling the tasks you cannot do. Your other options is to get a new employee on-board or hire a local, offline contractor. Either way, you will get to spend a little bit more; your new guy will be working on-site and take up office resources.
- You need someone to do something pronto without going through the usual HR processes. Need to catch a plane and also need to get a a presentation done by the end of your ride, but no one else in the company is available to do the task? Obviously, you don\’t want to hire a new employee and go through grueling HR processes. Your best way out is to find a VA online, give them the task, set deadlines, and you\’re all good.
- You are swamped with administrative tasks. When you are running a business, it is very easy to get swamped with paperworks and tasks that will take up time you would rather spend actually running your company. If you have the time and money, you\’ll probably want to hire an office secretary to take on those armies of mundane tasks for you. Otherwise, it\’s time for you to let a VA into your business, give them all those many little tasks so you can have more time managing your company, or be free enough to finally spend some time for yourself and your family.
