Wake Up and Partner With a Virtual Assistant

Love your comments. Here's Kelly and my latest article. Why do you partner with a Virtual Assistant? Or what should businesses partner with you as a VA?


Wake Up and Partner With a Virtual Assistant

Is your to-do list keeping you up at night? Are you counting tasks rather than sheep to fall asleep? Does this resemble one of your peaceful night’s sleep?

1. Wade through emails - 2. Finalize the presentation for tomorrow’s meeting - 3. Get handouts ready for Wednesday’s meeting - 4. Make follow up calls zzz - 5. Schedule sales meeting zzzzzz - 6. Buy anniversary gift. - 7. Call my kids.zzzzzzzz

If it’s been a long time since you laid your head down on the pillow at night without a care in the world, I assure you – there is hope. You can have sanity and sleep, too.

When business worries and personal commitments get too much, you need to get help. Businesses today are faced with more and more challenges, more work, and also the need to keep up with the latest in social networking. If you’re spending more of your time on administrative tasks, marketing or staying on top of the latest on the web, it’s time to make a change. It’s time to partner with a virtual assistant (VA).

So what exactly is a Virtual Assistant. No, we don’t mean the Veteran’s Administration. And, we are not talking about the state of Virginia. We are talking about a virtual assistant, also known as a VA.

A virtual assistant, or VA, is an independent business professional who among many things, can help busy professionals handle administrative tasks and PR needs so they can focus on growing their business. Utilizing the latest technology your Virtual Assistant, can manage your social networks, write press releases and letters, tweak or create a presentation, make travel arrangements, be your own personal concierge, follow up on trade show leads, handle literature fulfillment, and even prepare your expense and call reports. The possibilities are endless once you start to see how many tasks you really can delegate.

"I don't know what I'd do without my Virtual Assistant. As a sales professional who works out of my home and travels extensively I don't have an on-site staff to keep things moving. I can rely on her to prepare marketing materials, organize my contacts, send out letters, and keep me on track with special projects. Delegating routine tasks and special projects to my Virtual Assistant allows me to spend more time growing the business," says Mark Loudenslager, VP of Sales, Cathay Pigments USA.

Partnering with a virtual assistant affords you the luxury of spending more time in front of your clients and less time behind your desk. Because virtual assistants are independent professionals they come equipped with their own office, their own equipment, the latest software programs, and the know how of running a successful business. They don't, however, come equipped with added expenses like payroll taxes, expensive benefit packages, paid vacations, holiday pay, or "free time" (that you pay for) for talking to co-workers. They're only there when you need them. Sometimes they're even there when you don't think you need them!

Virtual Assistants are also invaluable in helping to keep your business from being lost among its many competitors or overlooked because of lack of professionalism. Amidst the Internet and Social Networking craze, millions of email exchanges, and web and teleconferencing many professionals have literally ‘lost sight’ of their clients. In a day and age where we thrive on customer relationship management, personal sales calls have taken a back seat to technology. Further, today’s economy has forced more layoffs and corporate downsizing, which has impacted the availability of internal support systems and other such resources. The lack of internal resources has forced companies to rely on already overburdened staff to pick up the slack. Staff such as sales people who are now spending more time doing administrative tasks than they are generating sales. Where does the madness end?

It’s time to wake up and get back in the field! Get ahead of the competition and you won’t find yourself saying “Oops, I could have had a VA”

Kelly Poelker and Diana Ennen are successful virtual assistants and co-authors of numerous books including Virtual Assistant: the Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After Virtual Assistant and accompanying Virtual Assistant the Series Workbook. Stop by http://www.vatheseries.com for information on starting a virtual assistant business, or contact authors at authors@vatheseries.com if you need a virtual assistant. Article is free to be reprinted as long as bio remains.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DianaEnnen and www.twitter.com/KellyPoelker