Ultimate Virtual Assistance guide. What is and what do VAs DO?

Mireya Fonseca Schmidt
4 min readOct 17, 2022

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Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash

With the birth of the digital age, the business world has become more competitive than ever. So business owners need every bit of help they could use. But, unfortunately, hiring full-time employees is not always possible, especially for small business owners. And part-time workers, unfortunately, aren’t always up to the task.

That’s where a virtual assistant comes to save the day. If chosen well, this person can help you make it. Moreover, a good VA can help you make it big.

Read on, and you will find out what is a VA and what they do, the benefits of hiring a VA, and how to find a virtual assistant that fits your needs.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is a person ready to take on any challenge you agree upon hiring. Whether it’s administrative work, marketing tasks, event management, or even online errands.

VAs are remote workers that take on any “time-consuming task” your business needs to stay efficient and progress. Some virtual assistants work with specific skill sets, so they might be just the person you lack in your team.

Nowadays, there are many talents to choose from, and I will show you how to find the perfect virtual assistant.

What do Virtual Assistants DO?

Virtual assistants can do all sorts of jobs to help you scale your business. Whether responding to emails or managing social media, it’s all up to you and your business needs.

In general, VAs deal with many different tasks, including:

Calendar Management:

· Schedule clients, set up calendars, and handle cancellations

· Schedule calls/interviews/consultations

CRM:

· Set up and send out client contracts

· Follow up with clients when they don’t complete tasks or contracts

· Manage and maintain client contact lists

· Research the people your clients are meeting with

· Maintain/create a CRM system

Email Management:

· Write and/or schedule newsletters and general emails

· Sort through client inboxes each morning, organize according to what is urgent and priority

· Maintaining inbox zero for clients

· Set up email auto-responders

· Send emails to a list

· Look up and email your client directions to their next meeting

· Design simple email templates

· Basic setup of the email marketing automation funnel

Research:

· Comparative research

· Informational research

· Data research

· Research products for future/planned purchases

· Research new leads

Other Tasks:

· Organize Dropbox/Google Drive

· Create daily to-do lists

· Create PDFs, workbooks, and transcripts for classes, workshops, or podcasts

· Proofread slide decks, emails, landing pages, and all other copy

· Transcribe live streams and videos

· Audio Transcriptions

· Translation EN>ES

·Data Entry

More Niche Tasks:

  • SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT
  • CONTENT CREATION AND WRITING
  • WORDPRESS PAGE CREATION
  • BOOKKEEPING
  • REAL ESTATE

And the List can go on and on!

How do you know you need a Virtual Assistant?

Easy. Once you learn the benefits of using a VA to help you grow your business, you’ll be ready to go on the quest to find one for yourself.

KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

🔥Do you need to show up on social media more consistently?

🔥Do you feel you need more FREE time to focus on other more important areas of your business?

🔥Are you struggling with STRESS as a small business owner?

BENEFITS OF HIRING A VA:

They Can Take the Load off Your Team’s Back

As you probably already know, there is a well-spring of mundane tasks that can eat up a big chunk of time from you or your team. Hiring virtual assistants lets you focus on more demanding and more pressing tasks.

VAs Are Cost-Effective

Outsourced work is usually less costly, so business owners often use virtual assistants for small jobs.

Virtual Assistants Save Your Time

A Virtual Assistant can help you manage your time more efficiently! As we all know, time is money. So, no explanation is needed here, hopefully.

WRAPPING UP most important Benefits

Hiring a Virtual Assistant helps you:

  • Reduce Stress
  • Save Time
  • Focus on your Business

Where to Find a Virtual Assistant

There are a lot of unique and talented humans out there. However, not every person will be suitable for the job or your business needs. Also, some of them might not be up to the task.

That said, there are still many great sources online. Finding your VA from reputed sources such as virtual assistant companies is the most apparent solution. Those online agencies for virtual assistants can help you choose the perfect VA for your enterprise.

On the other hand, there are many job postings on freelance websites like Fiverr and Upwork, with thousands of postings daily. But that said, you need to prepare to sift through hundreds of replies on a posting and be ready for some unreliable applicants.

Still, thanks to the digital revolution, building the perfect team for your business has never been easier. Even if some of its members work remotely.

Social Media is another useful and important source to find a Virtual Assistant. For instance, Instagram is a great option because you can see what type of content they post and sample their writing in captions.

For more steps on How to find a suitable VA, check:

I hope this was useful information for your business. If so, give a CLAP, or TIP. Thank you.

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Mireya Fonseca Schmidt

Virtual Assistant, writer, freelancer and English Language Teacher. I love health, nutrition and life coaching.