I know when I ask that question and everyone thinks of the size of their candy bowl they had for Halloween that is not what I am referring to. I am referring to your “life, experience and business” bowl! Take a plant for instance, you purchase plants to decorate your home or office with from stores like Home Depot and they are in 2 inch pots. It is recommended for it to continue to grow that you change out the pot and replant it in a slightly bigger one and then do it again for the plant to be able to grow bigger and bigger. OK, see the similarities? The plant (and fish are the same way) need a change of surroundings along with a bigger location to continue to grow. It cannot grow to its full size if you keep it cooped up in the same small habitat! Now relate this analogy to you and your business. Are you networking in the same groups you have been for years? Are you holding onto all of the “needed to be done” tasks for yourself to do? Open up your bowl size… reach out to new groups whether it be social networking on the internet with Facebook, LinkedIn and so on or meeting with a new networking group – find a 5 Minute Networking event – they are great! For those tasks that are holding you back from getting more work because you cannot keep up with what you have, hire an assistant whether it be in your office or a virtual assistant. The cost of paying an assistant will be more than covered when you have opened your bowl up for growth and more business comes in!

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Bids, most of the companies create bids in order to secure an account. As a VA we speak with our potential clients, evaluate their needs and put together a proposal bid, not unlike most service businesses. Here are some quick tips for “winning the bid”
1) Target the correct company for you and your services. Make sure they are a perfect fit with your company and same the other way around. You do not want to be putting in a bid on a job just because and then do the job poorly.
2) If you are a “smaller” company think about working with larger service suppler companies! This allows you the opportunity to work with clients you might have never had the chance to work with before. 3) Get certified! For a lot of the smaller service based companies you can look to be certified in different service arenas. Organizations like Women’s Business Enterprise National Council www.wbenc.org offer certifications and this shows larger companies you are serious! Get out there and check out the opportunities, they are everywhere!

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How do you save money if a Virtual Assistant’s hourly rate is higher than an in-house employee?

This is a question that hinders a lot of business owners from hiring a virtual assistant. The cost of hiring someone to come into your office or business location for $20 per hour seems like such a better deal than hiring a virtual assistant for $35 per hour, right? In the long run NO WAY! State to state in house employees salary laws are different but just take this – with a fringe benefit of 35% you add $7.00 to your in-house employee’s income per hour, then you take in the overhead (office equipment, supplies, worker’s comp and so on) of 50% you add $10.00 to your in-house employee’s income per hour for a total of $37.00 per hour. Those costs seem to get lost in the shuffle because they are either calculated by a payroll service OR through the accounting program you have set up. Those are costs that are not included in your Virtual Assistant’s wages. On top of those “extras” you need to calculate in tardiness, sick days, vacation days and slacking time which every employer pays and have no completed tasks to show for it! Again this is something you do not calculate in when working with a Virtual Assistant – they get paid for the project completed OR for the house actually worked! It has been calculated that you pay on average 2,080 hours per year for an in-house employee and can get the same amount of work completed by a virtual assistant in 480 hours per year (an employee’s 8 hour day can usually be crunched into a 3-4 hour day with a virtual assistant) – calculate this out and it is a savings of over $60,000.00! Now that is a savings!

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The quick answer to the question, “Are Virtual Assistants a new thing?” is NO. It started back in the 1970’s. The founder was Stacy Brice. Stacy looked at the traditional secretarial role of assistants and felt there should be more. Not just a person performing “tasks” but one who assists in getting tasks completed but also be a part of the overall outcome. She felt there should be a bond between client and assistant and in that builds a relationship between the two. This idea forever shifted the “model” of boss and assistant. You can imagine the effect this had on efficiency and value one took on in completed tasks as well. By 1992 Stacy had created a platform in which she was working virtually full time from home. She even was working internationally by then. By 1996 the Virtual Assistant was “coined” by Thomas Leonard while speaking with Stacy on the phone. In 1997 Brice opened AssistU which is a school to be trained and certified as a Virtual Assistant. In 1999 Christine Durst and Michael Haaren stated International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA). From this point on every year brought a new group onto the scene that had the purpose of support for the Virtual Assistant, whether they be new to the business or a veteran to it, along with a place for people searching for a VA could go and post “help wanted” adds. The industry has grown very large and I for one am thankful to Stacy Brice for having such a vision. I love what I do! How many people can say that about their “job”?

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I have been asked several times by other Virtual Assistant friends and team members “How do you get a long and like your clients so much?” They go on to tell me how they have clients that do not invest any time to get to know them, respect boundaries, or share the products that they with them.

This is a common problem I hear around the “virtual water cooler”.

The best advice I can give business owners using virtual assistants (and really any kind of assistant) is to take time to invest in them. Granted, you pay your virtual assistant for the work they do but believe me you will get a lot more if you invest in them as a person too.

This needs to be real and not a passing question that is later swept under the rug… but one from your heart. It only takes a few minutes a day/week to get to know your team member and the rewards will be endless! Does your virtual assistant have a family – do you know their names? There ages? How about “working hours” and “working days of the week”, do you know them and respect them?

Too many times business owners are so caught up with what their project is or needs are that they are expecting a lot from their VA and expecting it immediately. Is that really fair? Would any business owner allow them to be treated that way, even if they were doing something in a joint venture? I think not.

Several business owners will not share their product line with their assistants – this is silly… you want them to know everything about what you do right? You want them to invest a piece of themselves in your business and success, this is a very inexpensive way to invest in your VA – build on their education.. trust me it is a win win for you both!

As a Virtual Assistant I love what I do! I love helping my clients and making them shine! I have great relationships with them and we understand one another. I have taken the time to get to know them as a person not just a client and they have gotten to know me and my family. It makes a difference when you are called upon at 6:35am on a Sunday for help.. I can promise you that!

As a Productivity Consultant working with Business Owners and their teams, I cannot stress that the relationship between the client and VA is the most needed part of a strong working foundation.

Good luck, go and bond.

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Virtual Assistants are here to do just that ASSIST business owners. When VA’s work with business owners there is a bond that should be created. A personal relationship and an understanding of what the business owner’s plans for their company is. Working together for a common goal increases the productivity along with the success of the business. Beyond the “bonding” between a VA and their client, there are some key elements that can increase the productivity of that “assistance”…

5 top ways to add to the productivity are:

• Needed Programs Available & Understood by both VA and BO
• Realistic Due Dates (scheduling is key)
• Authority Given to VA to Complete Tasks (of course once trained properly)
• A Repeatable Process for Tasks
• And TOP #1 WAY to increase productivity – CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS & COMMUNICATION!

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Do you ever say to yourself, “I wish I had some help in my business, but I just cannot afford to hire someone?” or “My friend just hired an assistant, I wish I could find the funds to hire one too.”  Money these days is a sensitive issue for everyone around.  As business owners we tend to cut corners in the administration areas and don’t hire the support  “staff” to get the job done.  It is easy to say “I can just cover the follow-up” or “I will enter these new contacts in my database” – the “I can do” and “I will do” statements tend to build up and our “to do” list grows out of control.  Are you really saving money by doing it all yourself?  Are you able to put the proper amount of time and focus ON YOUR business?  Are you able to keep up with follow-trough, follow-up and customer/client relationships?  When you sit back and think about it, it just may be costing you more in the long run by not having that support staff.  Hiring a Virtual Assistant can help free you up to focus on building and growing!  There are several types of Virtual Assistants out there – you can find VA’s that specialize in office work, bookkeeping, webmasters, blogging and so much more!  Look into it!

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What do you do with the “tons” of business cards you have collected while networking??  Can your VA help you with this?? The answer is a bellowing YES!!  Networking is fun and sometimes can be a chore in itself.  You are out there at Chamber events, and sometimes multiple Chambers too.  You belong to a networking group, or two.  You attend “meet your neighbor” events and other locally sponsored events.  All of this is done to get your business out there and in the eyes of consumers and other business owners in order to attrack business.  But in doing all of this “networking” you have collected business cards by the masses and leads by the handfuls, what do you do with them all?  Staring at the piles can be overwhelming and some of us tend to do nothing and those leads and relationships can go cold.    A virtual assistant can help you create a data-base from those items.  Your VA can scan or hand input each one and delivers them to you via mail, email or even creates a shared database for the two of you to keep up to date!  This is a daunting admin task that is a time stealer for business owners!  Pass this task to your VA and free time for you to actually tend to those leads and relationships!

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Many small business owners host throughout the year – these could be “open house” for a new business to lectures and workshops.    The events might be big and they might be a bit more intimate and special invite only.  Virtual Assistants can help set up ways for announcing the event, (newsletter format, email blast, regular mail, and website advertising).  VA’s can help by handling registration or RSVP’s (organizing them on a chart).  VA’s can take payment for the event through the business owner’s merchant account or paypal account if it requires payment to attend.  VA’s can follow up on the details of the event with the guest, confirming they have everything they need.  Wow, I am exhausted just going through all of the steps that need to happen to take note of RSVP’s and registrations for an event.  A VA can also help secure a location, secure food and speakers if needed.  There are so many tasks to hosting one event, why do it alone?  It would not make sense for the business owner to go through all of these administrative tasks to host an event without any help!   Check into a Virtual Assistant and see how they can assist you at your next event!

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