What Is A Virtual Administrative Assistant?

At a certain point in the growth of every new venture, small business owners realize they are spending far too much time maintaining the company’s foundation and not enough time building the business.  While the foundation to any structure is critical and should always be maintained, a point is eventually reached when it is time to delegate the clerical, administrative maintenance tasks so they can have more time to innovate. 

In the past at this juncture, many have chosen to hire an administrative assistant. 

Administrative assistants were the backbone of most successful organizations for decades.  Critical in nearly every industry, they were often a business’ most essential worker, ensuring that everything behind the scenes ran smoothly.

But today there is a new option for overworked managers and entrepreneurs looking for help with their day-to-day tasks. 

The work administrative assistants do is increasingly being outsourced to independent contractors - virtual assistants.  And for good reason! 

Virtual administrative assistants, who work from their home office, are rapidly replacing onsite administrative assistants, and taking over the role of buttress in any growing business.  In fact, a virtual administrative assistant can do everything an administrative assistant traditionally does - and more - and at a lower cost to small business owners! 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONSITE AND VIRTUAL ASSISTANCE?

Administrative assistants have traditionally supported managers and employees with a variety of clerical and organizational tasks.  They typically work in a company’s physical headquarters and usually receive benefits as full-time employees.  Administrative assistants historically answer telephones, arrange meetings, book travel, and manage schedules.  They help smooth interactions between a company’s management and employees.  Administrative assistants also often serve as the first point of contact between the company and potential clients or patrons of the business. 

A virtual administrative assistant can do the same, and for less money.  Virtual administrative assistants are often part-time workers, who are independent contractors, filing as 1099 workers.  This means they are responsible for their own taxes and benefits.  They are paid hourly or the time worked or task accomplished.  No longer do employers have to shoulder the cost of employee overhead, or even provide a workspace, computer or telephone for their administrative assistant. 

NEW TECHNOLOGIES HAVE CHANGED THE GAME 

Remote technologies are changing the way business is done, for the better. New devices and software platforms have made virtual administrative assistant work more practical and possible than ever before. Fast and stable internet connectivity, video conferencing and instant messaging tools, cloud storage, and file-sharing applications allow for high levels of administrative support and collaboration between workers, regardless of geographic proximity. 

Technology is advancing to allow nearly every task to be accomplished from a remote environment. 

For example, until just recently, companies relied on onsite administrative assistants to handle incoming and outbound calls.  But now new voice-over-internet-protocols, or VoIP systems, are eliminating the need for an assistant to be physically present to answer the phone.  VoIP systems are a proven technology that allows phone calls to be placed and received over an internet connection.  Thanks to increasing broadband, call routing is now seamless and creates an undetectable connection between a client to a virtual administrative assistant working from home.  He or she can even initiate calls on behalf of the business which facilitates this important customer service logistics. 

Even support services like ordering lunch for an important meeting or providing coffee for management can be accomplished by a virtual administrative assistant.  Even though they aren’t physically present, they can place an order using a food delivery service like GrubHub or UberEats, and achieve the desired end result.

VIRTUAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS HAVE INCREASED CAPABILITIES

Often an administrative assistant working in a traditional office has a role that is limited to entry level assignments.  But because virtual administrative assistants are highly-skilled contractors, they more often have the ability to offer a business a more robust menu of assistance.

Administrative and clerical tasks typically outsourced to a virtual assistant include:

• Daily office functions like making/receiving phone calls
• Appointment scheduling
• Calendar management
• Making travel arrangements
• Taking and transcribing notes and memos
• Sending and receiving correspondence
• Bookkeeping
• Form management
• Data Entry
• File management
• Managing email accounts

In addition to the traditional tasks an administrative assistant executes, a virtual administrative assistant can also help a company with a wider variety of tasks, including technical, financial, marketing and even creative work. In addition to the clerical tasks they are experts at, many virtual administrative assistants can also handle tasks like: 

• Graphic design
• Social media engagement and scheduling
• Blog writing
• Editing and proofreading
• Website content management and design services
• Marketing services
• Online review management
• Research
• Project coordination
• External vendor management
• Bill payment
• Event management
• Customer Relations Management (CRM) / Database support

Virtual administrative assistants can also have niche-specific skills that prove an enormous help to business owners in specialized career fields like real estate transactions, medical coding or transcription, paralegal work, and accounting.  Beyond being able to tackle clerical office tasks, many virtual administrative assistants have degrees or certifications that help these practitioners become more productive.

A virtual administrative assistant can vastly improve productivity by taking care of essential, and recurring tasks that are not only administrative in nature.  This increased capability is an inexpensive option to getting many necessary jobs done.

VIRTUAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS ADD VALUE

Hiring a virtual administrative assistant is smart business investment.  As a small business begins to scale, there are suddenly more orders to fulfill, more meetings to take, more emails to answer, a windfall of prospective clients now interested in offerings... all while current clients and customers need attention. 

Virtual administrative assistants are cost effective and flexible.    Due to the nature of their work, virtual administrative assistants understand that small businesses are fluid environments with fluctuating cash flows. When money is tight, or there is a downturn in the amount of work needed, virtual administrative assistants understand this means a decrease in the number of hours they will work.  Gone are the days of paying an assistant their salary when there isn’t enough work to keep them busy. Virtual administrative assistants can adjust to and accommodate the changing needs of a small business. 

This built-in flexibility also means that virtual administrative assistants can assist with last-minute requests, unforeseen circumstances, and special projects.  Because most virtual assistants are highly skilled in multiple areas due to years of varied professional experience, they are more likely to provide a business owner with a wide and deep range of support.

Virtual administrative assistants are competent and professional.  They are independent and self-driven and do not require a ton of time consuming supervision.  They are experienced at getting up to speed quickly and working efficiently.  In this way, virtual administrative assistants free up time, alleviate stress and give business owners back their time.  The renewed energy  small business owners feel knowing their daily to-do list is being handled professionally is a huge value to any company.

IN CONCLUSION

Virtual administrative assistants are talented, resilient and skilled individuals who are rapidly becoming a small business life-saver.  They surpass the abilities of a traditional onsite administrative assistant by offering overworked business owners a wide variety of professional skills in addition to being able to perform essential administrative and clerical tasks.  Because they are 1099 workers and paid hourly, virtual administrative assistants are a less expensive option to get nearly every type of job done. 

Freedom Makers are military spouse virtual administrative assistants.  Due to their association with the military and their service mindset, they understand how to be flexible and deliver top-notch service!  Check out our task audit to figure out which tasks to delegate, and find the right virtual administrative assistant for your business!