A virtual assistant is a remote worker that can perform a variety of support tasks for your business such as (but not limited to):
- Taking customer calls and responding to enquiries
- Online research
- Social media posting and content creation
- Data entry and transcription
- Calendar organisation and management
- Bookkeeping and finance tasks
Using the services of a virtual assistance is a low cost and highly flexible way to improve the productivity of your business, freeing up time for yourself or other employees to focus on higher value objectives and strategies.
The Philippines is a popular source of Virtual Assistant workers, due to a low local cost of labour, high English language proficiency, educated workforce and internet connectivity.
List of Tasks to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant
- Internet research
- Emailing customers
- List building
- Lead generation
- Transcription
- Data entry
- Formatting Excel spreadsheets
- Data mining
- Administrative support
- Optimising product listing in an e-commerce store
- Collecting phone numbers online
- Writing content articles (like this one!)
- Populating a website with content
- Project management
- Customer support
- Creating training documents
- Posting on social media
- Market research
- Editing articles
- Reaching out prospective customers
What Hours Can a Virtual Assistant Work?
Unlike local employees, virtual assistants can be much more flexible in terms of working hours that best suit your business.
This can be useful in a number of scenarios, such as operating in different timezones than your customers, creating a 24/7 operation or simply having someone that is flexibly on hand if you work inconsistent hours.
The terms of your engagement with your virtual assistant company simply need to be clearly beforehand.
How Much Do Virtual Assistants Charge?
Virtual assistant rates will vary considerably depending on:
- The type and nature of work they are required to perform
- Hours per week (part time rates are generally a little higher than a full time worker)
- Whether they’ll be working daytime or night time hours
- Their experience and skillset required to do their job
For administrative support, a BruntWork’s virtual assistant rates start from $5 per hour for a junior to $9 for a senior or experienced VA (executive level).
A virtual assistant that is experienced with social media management and content creation may charge from $8-12 per hour.
A virtual assistant with website design and development skills generally cost from $12 – $15 per hour.
Should I hire a Virtual Assistant?
Successful businesses often refer to their VA’s as a ‘secret weapon’ that can supercharge growth, streamline operations and processes for a fraction of the cost of hiring local employees.
An entire sales team, for example, can be hired at 5-10x the productivity but the same cost as a single local sales manager, with the right set up, training and direction.
For many businesses, the unit economics of VA make their entire business model viable.
Looking for more information about hiring a virtual assistant for your business?
