Entrepreneurs desiring freedom, mobility and the ease of movement are now bucking the trend of working out of the confines of a brick and mortar office building. Instead they are opting for office mobility and hiring Virtual Office Assistants/Virtual Assistants to do the work of a traditional office employee, with sometimes twice the positive end result. This does not mean employees are lazy, not doing their fair share of the work, employers are firing their traditional employees or the concept of an employee is becoming obsolete or archaic. On the contrary! It simply means entrepreneurs are having to do more with less and are finding ways to increase productivity with an outsourced, supplemental workforce so they can stay ahead of their competition. In other words the concept of work-sharing and outsourcing has evolved. But what exactly is a Virtual Assistant, what roles do they play within your organization, how do they contribute to increased productivity and positively increase your bottom line, why do you need one and why should you have one? 

What is a Virtual Assistant/Virtual Office Assistant?

Research on this subject matter often lead one to a plethora of definitions but what it all boils down to is this – a Virtual Assistant/Virtual Office Assistant (abbrev VA/VAO) is an entrepreneur who provides specialized professional services to Clients in a collaborative long term relationship while working remotely.  I can almost hear you entrepreneurs saying now "so how is this different…well other than the remote office thingy of course"?

It is totally different in many ways as Virtual Assistants are Independent Contractors and NOT EMPLOYEES OR TEMPS and as such are able to work for more than one client at the same time and over an infinite period, depending on the nature of the relationship and service being provided.   

Virtual Assistants are professional Independent Contractors and NOT Employees OR Temps, is a very important qualifying distinction that requires recognition, for unlike employees, Virtual Assistants are required to provide their own training, "virtual" tools, equipment, office space and function as an entrepreneur.

The use of modern smart web based "cloud" computing technologies to communicate with Clients and complete tasks/projects are the right hands and best friends of VAs and feature very prominently in their world. Unlike the employees of an established brick and mortar business, VAs are responsible for their own skill training, and staying up to date on the most efficient and effective tools and or equipment of their trade. They engage in countless hours of research to be able to meet the demands of their clients and as practicing Independent Contractors they are responsible for their entire operation and the quality of their service delivery. Virtual Assistants function as solopreneurs or within multi-va practices.

The Role of A Virtual Assistant/Virtual Office Assistant

A Virtual Assistant/Virtual Office Assistant services might include such things as office administration; technical or creative support such as graphic design, web design, logo creation, website development, website maintenance and or the creation of corporate identity kits, etc. They act as literal "sounding boards" for entrepreneurs when they have those sometimes crazy, wacky ideas, can be the ultimate resourceful "go-to-person" for hard to find research information, act as a liaison between their client and their client's customer to manage customer relations, but most of all they are the ones who entrepreneurs turn to, to get those all important, critical time consuming and sometimes unexpected after hours tasks and projects completed and VAs are more than happy to take on the work load.

So how do VAs increase productivity and contribute positively to your bottom line you ask! With less of a work load on your plate you are free to engage in fun and relaxing activities with family and friends, you are less stressed, no longer need to turn to food to fill the void, you are less likely to become overweight and obese and suffer from endless health complications (ever heard of a little old show called the Biggest Looser) and you are an all around happier person to be around with a better quality balanced work-life all because of your Virtual Assistant. But don't mind me instead let us pause and examine a scenario for a moment. I will use one of my favorite real life examples here, one I like to call the entrepreneur's nightmare.

You are an entrepreneur with a lucrative business whose brand has such a huge following locally within the area in which you operate, an area outside and away from your most fierce competitors, an advantage to any business and its owner. You have spent years carving out your niche, building relationships and growing by leaps and bounds until you dominate your local market.

You decide since being so successful for all these decades it is time to "play with the big guns in the bright lights of the city" and make the move without thinking twice. Oops! There is one little flaw to your plan though – You did not analyze the market demographics and or investigate the geographic location into which you are now running head long. Not because you did not want to, you did not know you have to, or you did not know it is the right thing to do but because it was too much of a costly exercise in terms of employee hours and resources to conduct a comprehensive competitive market analysis, considering the time frame with which you were dealing. You believe the weight and "good faith" value of your brand, your loyal customers, most of whom are entrenched in poverty and depending on your services will follow you and you will make it even though signs are looming the market is about to bottom out on the European continent. Ha-Ha you laugh but I am not located on the European continent. I am on the other side of the pond, operating solely within the Americas hemisphere and so you continue to pack.  Oh, oh but you forgot about the little "invented thing" we like to call globalization – Europe catches the bug, another catch the flu and then the whole world is "economically sick" and trends have shown that this has happened like clock work every ten years only with a different point of origin. 

You move but whether you know it or not, your move is timed right smack at the cusp of the upcoming 10 year anniversary. The end result of your untimely move is that within 12 months you start to experience economic contagion and hiccups and within 19 months you have to fold. So what would a VA have done to help steer your outcome differently you muse! 

Why Do You Need A VA?

Does the above scenario sound familiar to you entrepreneurs out there? I am sure it does and as plausible as this may not sound to you now, there are entrepreneurs who will find themselves in such a situation but a Virtual Assistant can help. VAs have proven very beneficial to small business owners whose overhead costs can be exorbitant in today's uncertain and volatile economic climate and who have to make an unfavorable decision as the one portrayed in the scenario above. 

Outsourcing tasks and projects including those that are supremely technical frees up time and resources, empowers entrepreneurs to engage in more strategic and capacity building exercises whose outcome can help balance operational costs and the business bottom line. It is now more the norm to have VAs as a part of an entrepreneur's team. It is the ideal solution for small businesses, solopreneurs and start-ups especially small office home office type businesses that are trying to stay ahead of the numbers game. So should you have one? A VA I mean! Definitely…start by contacting WorkSmart eBusiness Solutions and let us help you leverage your resources, regain your valuable time, improve your work-life and save your bottom line from self destruction.