At times we just need to sit back, relax, and enjoy a cup of coffee, right? I know what your thinking, WHO HAS TIME?
Well, you can. Did you know that more people are relying on outside sources to be of assistance at home, the office, even to do the shopping. That’s right! Personal and Virtual Assistants take care of everything so you can get back to the ones that are most IMPORTANT to YOU!!!!
Why Hire a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual assistants (VAs) work from their own premises and provide personal and office support services, such as general administrative tasks; making customer contacts; writing reports; editing documents; sending out marketing materials; handling thank-you notes, gifts and follow-up letters; setting up and maintaining databases; handling billing and bookkeeping; and updating Web sites.
Some VAs even help clients manage their personal lives, doing such tasks as arranging for pet-sitting, calling the plumber, scheduling doctor’s appointments, planning an upcoming family reunion, or coordinating a move.
A VA may be in your local area or anywhere across the county-after all, he or she communicates with you via e-mail, phone, fax and IM. By using software like Symantec’s pcAnywhere, you and your VA can even access one another’s computers, or you can jointly coordinate work tasks via software housed on Web sites.
The typical background to look for in a VA would include experience as an administrative or executive assistant, office manager or customer service rep. But because the kind of work VAs do varies, you also want to look for someone who has experience in doing the specific tasks you need help with. Since you’ll want a VA with good problem-solving skills who can communicate well and be counted on to get things done, consider working with someone on a time-limited project first to see how that goes before entering a long-term relationship.
VAs usually charge a higher hourly or daily rate than other office-support professionals because they do more complex tasks. Expect to pay $30 to $45 per hour or more. Find VAs through two professional organizations: Virtual Assistance U and the International Virtual Assistants Association.
If you can’t find an assistant to do the full range of tasks you need, or if a VA is too pricey, here are a few lower-cost options to consider:
- Use other business services. While these businesses charge more than you would pay an employee, using outside services for tasks like marketing or Web development can still save you money since you pay only for the service you need when you need it.
- Try barter or exchange services. Bartering is the cashless exchange of services in which you offer your services in return for someone else’s. This is a great way to keep costs down or get assistance you couldn’t otherwise afford. Consider joining a barter club that will link you with other service people who want to barter. Barter clubs keep a credit balance for you so when you provide a service to one member, you get credit to receive services from any other member. There is usually a startup fee involved. Find these clubs through search engines.
The IRS considers any business service you get through bartering to be income, but the business services you provide through bartering are deductible as business expenses. So keep records of your exchanges and claim values that represent actual market rates.
- Get help from family members. Asking family members to help with simple tasks in your home office, like filing and cleaning, can be a good way for them to be part of your business while keeping your costs down. You can ask for volunteers or offer a wage. And hiring your children actually has a tax advantage. Your child’s salary is a deductible business expense, and his or her earnings are taxed at a much lower rate than yours. Below a certain amount each year, there is no tax on their earnings.
- Call on clients and suppliers. Sometimes you can use or buy the services of other companies you’re working with. These companies may be happy to let you purchase services from them like mailings, word processing or duplicating to help offset their overhead. Or they may be willing to let you use their company services without an additional charge or as part of your fee.
Originally published in the May 2004 issue of Entrepreneur’s StartUps
Why Hire a Personal Assistant?
BENEFITS OF A PERSONAL ASSISTANT
- seasoned PA will always been one-step ahead of their employer
- takes care of life’s details that busy people do not have time to manage
- works with members of employers’ personal office and domestic staff
- become treasured assets to an efficiently run team
DUTIES OF A PERSONAL ASSISTANT
- maintains household, business, and social calendar
- schedules all appointments for employer
- makes all travel arrangements
- handles event and social planning
- oversees home business and personal office
- conducts media and public relations
- handles all mail and written correspondence
- manages bill-paying, bookkeeping, and account maintenance
- maintains personal and business files
- maintains private rolodex and contact database
- coordinates business meetings and business conferences
- writes personal thank-you notes, invitations and greeting cards
- computer and office supply maintenance
- completes all personal errands
EXPECTED QUALIFICATIONS
- 2+ years experience as a PA (home, home office, or to an executive)
- minimum of a B.A. or B.S. degree
- computer literacy in all basic computer programs
- including Microsoft Word, Excel, Microsoft Office, ACT!, and QuickBooks
- strong communication, organization and “people skills”
- knowledge of business, personal and social etiquette
- strong moral and professional outlook
- polished, professional appearance and disposition
- available for travel
SALARY
- salary range will depend on a number of circumstances
- years of professional experience
- educational background
- formal training
- extent of benefits offered
- hours
- duties
- in general, a PA will be compensated $25.00 – $45.00 per hour, plus benefits
WHO NEEDS A PERSONAL ASSISTANT?
- employed for individuals who live extremely busy lives
- have a time-consuming, executive career or own their own business
- may work in a large home or estate handling day-to-day “office” operations
The Katie Facey Agency specializes in the recruitment, placement, and training of the finest domestic professionals in private residences and estates throughout the US. For more information, visit their website at www.katiefaceyagency.com.
If that’s not reason enough, read this
Hiring a concierge service or personal assistant can give you more of the most precious resource – TIME. Business executives, by nature, are busy people; company meetings, sales conferences, business reports, management duties, delegation, training, and other duties take most of their time. Even with the greatest time management skills, there is still not enough time in the day for them to do what needs to be done. Concierge services and personal assistants are trained to do their menial, day-to-day, tasks with professionalism and competence.
Take the following sample list of chores that a personal assistant can perform and think how much time a busy executive can save by having a professional do them for him:
Making travel arrangements
Booking conference rooms for meetings
Household management
Event Planning
Buying gifts for birthdays
Car washes
Administrative office work
Filing
Pet care
Dry cleaning
Last minute courier deliveries
Grocery shopping
These are all tasks that a busy executive can outsource to a professional personal assistant. It should be time-management 101.
The average cost of hiring a personal assistant is $65/hour. When considering if this is worth it you should consider the opportunity cost of a high-paid business executive doing these types of menial tasks. Let us say that a business executive earns $200/hour. That means that his time is worth $200/hour as well. It is the same as him paying himself $200 each hour that he does these duties. If, on the other hand, he can hire a concierge service to do the same work for $65/hour then it is worth it. The opportunity cost in this example is $135/hour (The difference between what his time is worth and what he can pay someone to do the work). Not only would this business executive create more time for important business tasks by hiring a personal assistant but he would also create more time for himself – time, a precious commodity that he can spend on the more important things in life like friends and family.
Hiring a concierge service or personal assistant can be well worth the investment. Even corporate concierge is available if you want to hire a service for your company.
Tino Buntic’s website, TradePals provides free B2B & B2C sales leads to concierge services and personal assistants, as well as to other professionals such as realtors, accountants, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, architects, engineers, general contractors, and website designers. Create a free profile to receive sales leads without cold calling.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tino_Buntic
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