Introduction To Virtual Assistant

Synopsis
The following are some reason a business owner may want to consider the advantages virtual assistance
brings:

The Basics
Basically, a virtual assistant will be able to carry the workload given simply because of the focused
nature of the particular assignments given. In most cases, such virtual assistance capabilities are much
more refined and thus able to handle the delegated task with ease. Hiring the services of virtual
assistance would effectively mean hiring someone who is an expert in his or her own field. The need to
teach the individual would not be a factor in the equation nor would there be a need to constantly
monitor the situation to ensure the desired results are forthcoming. With the use of virtual assistance
the assignments can be done within the timelines, as the reputation of the virtual assistance depends
broadly on the ability to produce the work effectively and accurately with the time frame agreed
upon. Virtual assistance platforms can also be trusted to keep the confidentiality of the task at hand
because here again the reputation built by the services rendered would be the deciding point of most
choices made to hire the particular individual’s services. Effective communication and clear
responsibilities outline for the virtual assistant are enough to get the job done as compared to having
the same tasks tackled within the company where there many other distractions and demands to
contend with.
In terms of the cost factor, it is sometimes cheaper to hire the services of virtual assistance and this is
one on the reasons that contribute to its popularity.

What Skills Are Needed

Synopsis
Although not everyone can be a virtual assistant, for those interested in doing this as revenue earning
possibility there are some pointers one should be aware of. Having some computer and communication
skills that will help to create a complete package for the virtual assistant is important.

What Is Needed
The following are some basic skills that most virtual assistants are expected to have:
Word processing skills – because a lot of the work involves word processing, such as data entry, typing
and other online documentations the word processing knowledge will come in handy.
The level of accuracy is also something that should not be compromised in any way.
Computer skills – the very nature of the job requires the extensive use of the computer thus the need to
be computer conversant. Being able to handle the more popular software and applications is also a pre
requisite when it comes to available skills.
Strong communication skill – this is also another necessity when it comes to the capabilities listed for
virtual assistants. Being able to communicate effectively and accurately both verbally as well as in
writing is very important as a lot of the communication needs to be explicit and understood on all levels.
Strong writing skills – the bulk of the work is done through emails and faxes, therefore there is a need to
be well versed in writing skills in order to execute the requirements of the job well.
The proof reading material is also something that is expected as part of the job requirements.
Strong management skills – this will come in handy when there is a need to coordinate several different
elements at any given time.
These areas may include the advertising aspect, the marketing side and perhaps even the public
relations platform of the business.
The general idea is to help the client grow the business entity.

Arranging A Work Area

Synopsis
Taking the virtual assistant business seriously would include having a designated area to work in and this
should ideally be without distractions and disturbances.
Trying to simulate and office environment would be ideal but not totally necessary. If the work area is to
be within the actual living premise than there is a need to cordon off an area with the explicit intrusions
regarding unwelcome intrusions.

Your Space
It should be made very clear that intrusions on the work area will not be tolerated, as this could affect
any live communications that happen to be conducted. The important element to ensure is that when
the act of business is being conducted it should be done in a professional manner which gives the client
the confidence in entrusting the job to the virtual assistant. The work area would also have to include
the very basics equipment to ensure the individual is able to get the job done effectively, quickly and
accurately. These would ideally include a computer with internet access that is strong, a telephone line,
and a workstation that is fairly decent in size and uncluttered. The work area should also be designed to
be conducive to work in as the quality of the work produced can be affected by the surroundings and
the inability to focus due to the distractions. If there is any video connection between the client and the
virtual assistant the working area of the virtual assistant would speak volumes as to the quality of the
work the client can expect. Therefore keeping the area professional looking will give the client the
confidence needed to entrust the job to the individual. If the option is available to rent a small office
space for the reason of conducting the virtual assistant business, then the location chosen should be as
centralized as possible. This would help the individual get things done more easily as everything is within
accessible distance.
Decide What Services You Will Offer To Accept

Synopsis
There is really no limit as to the type of services that can be offered by the virtual assistant; however the
services offered should be in line with the expertise of the individual, otherwise, the end results of the
work produced will not be up to the client’s expectations. This will not serve well for the virtual assistant
as the job acquired usually come based on recommendations and track records.

Your Plan
The main idea behind deciding what services to offer would be deciding first if the said services are part
of the capabilities of the individual. Virtual assistants would do well to only offer services along with
their own individual expertise and knowledge. Should the individual decide to diversify then the effort
must be made to ensure the relevant knowledge and style is properly learnt in order to do the job
well. Among the more popular services that can be offered as a virtual assistant are word processing,
bookkeeping, communications with customers and clients alike. Management of clients and campaigns
is also another area that can be managed by a virtual assistant. All these are choices that the individual
would need to decide on in terms of what is going to be offered to the client as part of the services
rendered. Once the decision is made as to the type of services that are going to be offered by the virtual
assistant then the necessary skills and tools should also be available for the smooth running of the
contract given.
In most cases, there will be a need to market the virtual assistant’s skills to create the platform for
interested parties and clients to consider. This marketing exercise can be done online as the exposure
for the virtual assistant can be unlimited and borderless.

How to Know Your Budget

Synopsis
Comparatively the virtual assistant business required a much smaller budget than other styles of
business. However, this does not mean that there should not be some serious thought given to the
budgeting exercise. Taking the time to think through all the necessary elements that will contribute to
the success of the business will help the individual design a suitable and workable budget.

The Money
The following are some tips on what and how to plan the budget for the success of the virtual assistant
business:
The budgeting exercise should ideally take into account all operational cost needed to sustain the
business for at least 12 months. This time frame will give the individual a chance to get the business up
and running and bringing in some revenue without having to worry about the immediate costs of the
business entity. Since the virtual business style is mainly conducted through online platforms, the
individual should be well versed with the various computer programs available for use, thus choosing
some of these tools to assist in the set up of the operations of the business may help to keep the
budgeting cost lower. With a set budget in place, the individual will have a better picture of the freedom
and constraints he or she will have to work around. This will help especially when it comes to acquiring
the equipment suitable for sustaining the business engine. It will also help in the decision for future
expansion and maybe even the hiring of staff when and if needed. Understating the importance of
having a budget will also help the individual considering the virtual assistance type of business, get a
better picture of the profits margins that can be enjoyed or whether the business in a viable enough one
to venture into. Armed with this information better-calculated decisions can be made.

Have A Business Plan

Synopsis
Having a business plan clearly drawn up not only helps the individual to have an overview of the hoped
business endeavor but to also give the individual a sense of direction to be followed in order to see the
business to its success anticipated state.

Put The Plan Together

The following are some tips on how to start a business plan for the virtual assistance business:
The business overview is an important motivational piece of information that will help to keep the focus
of the individual on the business at hand. This overview will also help the individual and others
connected to the business have goals clearly in place to work towards. Having all the necessary products
and services intended to be offered should also be included in the business plan. Clearly defining these
elements will also help direct the individual when taking on assignments for its suitability and
convenience. If will also provide information for future reference should there be a need for expansion
or redesigning of the business direction? The business plan should include an element such as the
marketing strategy to be adopted for the realization of the business successes projected. In order to
design a suitable marketing strategy, relevant issues such as discussions on products and service pricing
should be decided upon thus giving a clear picture of what will be extended to the future client base.
Advertising campaign and how extensive or simple should also be decided and noted in the business
plan. The initial stages may require a little more commitment to the advertising side of the business as
there is a need to create visibility for the business. This particular addition to the business plan is mostly
instrumental in keeping the business owner from getting carried away with the enthusiasm of creating
visibility for the business.

Using Sites Like Script-lance To Find Clients

Synopsis
When deciding to venture into the business field for one’s self there is a lot of factors to consider, to
ensure mistakes and misconceptions are kept to a minimal. Therefore in doing so it may be a wise thing
to practice sourcing for information, comments, success stories, assisting tools and other beneficial
elements that may help make the business planning easier and the customer search more fruitful .

Finding Business
There are a lot of sites on the internet that can help the individual promote his or her business endeavor
and some of these sites provide more beneficial assistance than others. However the important thing for
the business owner to do is to identify exactly what is the purpose of accessing such sights, to begin
with. Then this purpose is clearly identified then the relevant searches and matches can be done. There
are sites that will help to connect potential customers to the merchants and likewise, there are sites that
provide information and discussions on the topics relevant to the business owner’s search. Some of the
sites on the internet will provide these services for a small one-time fee, while there are others that
require the individual to sign on as a member and yet others which provide help in an exchange style
setting. Here too there is a need for the individual to carefully consider the merits of each site for its
suitability and compatibility to the needs of the intended business endeavor. Without this careful
consideration, there can be very real problems of signing on for something that does not really benefit
and even worse cause a lot of headaches for the new business owner. The main idea of creating links to
such choices made is to ensure the higher possibility of visibility for the business endeavor, and through
this visibility, it is hoped that the business entity will be able to garner the types and amounts of
assignments that will eventually contribute to a successful business entity.

Marketing Strategies to Get Clients

Synopsis
The following are some reasons as to why the marketing for clients is important to ensure they keep
coming back:

Marketing
Although it may seem strange for the virtual assistant to be garnering customers for the clients, if
argued from business angle, it would ideally mean more income for the virtual assistant when the client
require his or her services for a new accounts. This of course would be an ideal situation both for the
virtual assistance and the original client and prove to be a rather strong liaison for the future. Due to the
nature of virtual assistant’s exposure to the client and customer base, helping to market the client’s
company will be much easier to do as the individual will already be very familiar with all capabilities of
the company and can vouch for its credibility. This is also possible to further promote, as the virtual
assistant will actually be promoting the company by assuring the customer that some if the work
actually be done by the assistant himself or herself. If the customer us familiar with the virtual
assistance work ethics and performance levels this particular promotional platform may bring about
positive commitment of the part of the customer. By helping to promoting the client’s business, the
virtual assistant is also creating loyalty bond with the client whereby the client would be hard pressed
not to give contracts to the said virtual assistance due to the help extended.

Handling Clients Correctly

Synopsis
Part of creating a successful business lies in the ability to handle clients well. Understanding their various
need and quirks will help the virtual assistant tailor approaching styles on handling the clients effectively
and beneficially. Not all clients are alike and knowing how to adjust to accommodate the various types
will eventually bring about phenomenal successes and less stress.
Doing it Right
The following are some of the tips of how to recognize categorized clients and the suitable
corresponding ways of handling then:
When a client seems disorientated with the jargon dominant speech, it is time to change the content f
he verbal approach or presentation. Failing to ensure this may cause the client to eventually decide to
go with a competitor, who is more attuned to the lack of technical knowledge of the client. Not all
clients are willing to declare their ineptness toward the technical aspect of the business entity, thus by
not being sensitive to this, the virtual assistant risks losing the client altogether. Some clients may
display disinterest in what the virtual assistant is trying to sell, mainly due to the budget constraints of
the client. There are two ways the virtual assistant can handle such situations and these may include
looking elsewhere fr clients or tryin to redesign a different package to a accommodate the client’s
budget. The former choice would only feasible if the said client’s budget is too small for consideration
against the workload put in by the visual assistant. Here are also some clients who seem to want to
extend the hands-on approach. While this can be very distracting and destructive to a certain extend,
the diplomacy extended by the visual assistant in handling such a client would be deciding factor on the
client retaining the services of the assistant. The practice of diplomacy would require some patience and
persuasive qualities to be mastered.

Wrapping Up
Having a healthy client base is the point of the entire business existence because without this healthy
client base there really is no business to speak of. A healthy client base is also what is going to generate
the income projected to keep the business entity successful and visible, thus facilitating future
expansion possibilities.
1. True or False. There is really no limit as to the type of services that can be offered by the virtual
assistant.

a) True
b) False

2. Taking the virtual assistant business seriously would include having a designated area to work in.

a) True
b) False

3. Which of the following helps an individual have an overview of their hoped business endeavor?

a) Business Plan
b) Marketing Plan
c) Either A or B
d) Neither A nor B

4. Being able to communicate effectively and accurately both verbally as well as in writing is very
important as a lot of the communication needs to be explicit and understood on all levels.

a) True
b) False

5. Which of the following provides help for virtual assistants?

a) Internet sites
b) Text messages
c) Outsourced offices
d) All of the Above

6. Taking the time to think through all the necessary elements that will contribute to the success of
the business will help the individual design a _ budget

a) workable
b) suitable
c) Both A and B
d) None of the Above

7. True or false. If there were any video connection between the client and the virtual assistant,
the working area of the virtual assistant would speak volumes as to the quality of the work.

a) True
b) False

8. What is required from the virtual assistant that is smaller compared to other style of business?

a) Budget
b) Information
c) Data gathering
d) Marketing techniques

9. True or False. Virtual assistants would do well to only offer services along with their own
individual expertise and knowledge.

a) True
b) False

10. The important element to ensure is that when the act of business is being conducted it should
be done in a _ manner.

a) professional
b) important
c) Either A or B
d) Neither A nor B

11. What should you do when a client seems disorientated with the jargon dominant speech?

a) Change the content of the presentation

b) Change the content of the verbal approach
c) Either A or B
d) Neither A nor B

12. What is the main reason why you should know the motivation of why you want your business to
succeed?

a) Suitability
b) Convenience
c) Both A and B
d) None of the Above

13. What type of campaign should be taken into consideration in your business plan?

a) Advertising
b) Operating
c) Motivating
d) None of the Above

14. What can be done to have a working space suitable for a virtual assistant?

a) Renting a small office space

b) Creating an option for living outside
c) Either A or B
d) Neither A nor B

15. Which of the following is required by sites providing help to virtual assistants?
a) Sign in as member
b) Exchange style setting
c) One-time fee
d) All of the Above

16. What should be considered when deciding what services you should offer?

a) Recommendations
b) Track records
c) Both A and B
d) None of the Above

17. Which of the following is the most popular services offered by a virtual assistant?

a) Word processing
b) Bookkeeping
c) Customer service or communication
d) All of the Above

18. Which of the following should not be a factor when hiring a virtual assistant?

a) Training them
b) Orienting them
c) Both A and B

19. Which of the following should be defined to be motivated with your business?

a) Updates
b) Styles
c) Goals
d) None of the Above

20. What platform is the virtual business conducted?

a) Online
b) Offline
c) Both A and B
d) None of the Above

21. True or false. There are sites that will help to connect potential customers to the merchants.

a) True
b) False
22. True or false. A virtual assistant will be able to carry the workload given simply because of the
focused nature of the particular assignments given.

a) True
b) False

23. What should be done when a client expresses disinterest with the offer of virtual assistants?

a) Look for other clients

b) Redesign a different package
c) Both A and B
d) None of the Above

24. Which of the following skill will come in handy when there is a need to coordinate several
different elements at any given time?

a) Word processing skills

b) Computer skills
c) Writing skills
d) Management skills

25. What is the usual reason why some clients may display disinterest in what the virtual assistant in
trying to sell?

a) Number of considertion
b) Declaration of ineptness
c) Budget constraints
d) None of the Above