Why Virtual Assistants Are In High Demand

Sarah Clarkson • Sep 20, 2022
lady at desk

The demand for virtual assistant support services is increasing. The secret is out – virtual assistants are a valuable asset to any business.


But as recently as a decade ago, the idea of an assistant working remotely was nearly unheard of. Remote work, or "working from home," is any work environment where team members do not need to share the same physical space. Remote work is often done by individuals who are spread out across different locations or in different time zones.


Before the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work was typically only utilized as a special arrangement for upper or middle management to accommodate specific cases, commuting conflicts, or hardships. It was not often extended as an option to those who make up a company's foundational levels of support.


TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES FACILITATE REMOTE WORK


However, technological advances over the last five years have made remote workfor support staff not only possible, but often, preferable.


Mobile work
tools like laptops and cellphones, cloud-based project management platforms like Asana and Trello, interconnected communication channels like Slack, Google Suite, and Skype, and video conferencing like Zoom and Google Meet have become standard workplace tools for teams sharing an office or working geographically apart from each other.


Technology now allows all workers to get the same job done, no matter where in the world they are. 


CHANGING PERCEPTIONS ABOUT REMOTE WORK


Working from home once had a bad reputation. But today, new research is emerging that proves remote workers are just as likely to be productive and successful as workers who commute to an office environment each day.   


The company
Ergotron polled 1,000 remote and hybrid workers about their productivity and wellness. Like many others, Ergotron found that working from home improves work-life balance, increases productivity, and fosters healthier lifestyles. Specifically:


  • 56% of those polled reported improvements to their mental health due to remote work


  • 40% of workers report working longer hours now that they are remote/hybrid (helping to dismantle the myth that remote workers are not productive)


With data like that, it is not surprising that for those who have a workplace outside of their home,
61% choose not to go into their workplace.  They are happier and more productive!  With more and more businesses becoming comfortable with outsourcing work to remote teams, outsourcing support tasks to a virtual assistant has become more appealing and desirable.


VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS ON THE RISE


Virtual assistants like the ones in the Freedom Makers Virtual Services community are independent professionals who provide critical support services to businesses and entrepreneurs from remote environments. They are highly-skilled contractors that can help a company with various tasks, ranging from
administrative and technical to marketing and creative work.


They are hard-working customer service specialists, executive assistants, social media creators and blog writers, and data and
operations managers. They have extensive experience using cloud-based platforms like:

  • Asana, Process Street, Trello, Clio, Microsoft Planner, etc.
  • Zoho
  • MailChimp
  • Salesforce
  • Streak
  • Quickbooks
  • Google Suite
  • Canva
  • HootSuite
  • Buffer
  • MailChimp and Constant Contact


Business owners have begun to recognize the benefits of outsourcing their administrative support to a virtual assistant to reduce their workload and increase the overall productivity of their business. Today, more and more companies, regardless of size, are looking to outsource their support tasks to talented, qualified virtual assistants. 


When polled, the most highly reported reasons for the demand for virtual assistants are cost savings and time savings. 


COST SAVING


Of course, all companies, regardless of size, look to save money on overhead. Every little bit counts. Many businesses are downsizing from expensive corporate spaces and eliminating redundant employee hiring. Instead, business owners are looking to save money by investing in virtual assistants who are knowledgeable about and comfortable with cloud-based technologies. 


Business owners are also finding they can reduce their capital needs by outsourcing tasks to virtual assistants. 


The cost of engaging a virtual assistant is substantially less than hiring a traditional employee due in large part because virtual assistants are 1099 workers. Business owners do not have to pay the same taxes they would for a full-time employee or provide employee benefits like medical or dental healthcare or paid vacation leave.


Because virtual assistants work from home and can utilize flexible schedules, they are typically happier workers who are more productive and stay engaged with their company for more extended periods of time. 


Virtual assistants are in high demand because, with remote workers, there is less churn. And if a virtual assistant does step away, it is typically
less costly to replace them with someone with a similar set of skills than it is to replace a traditional employee.


Additionally, virtual assistants are hired based on the specific needs and requirements of the business or entrepreneur, so they can be brought on as part-time or full-time team members, paid hourly, or contracted project-by-project as needs arise. Virtual assistants are only paid for the work completed as agreed upon at the beginning of the relationship. Due to fluctuating cash flows, most business owners find this arrangement far more preferable and cost-effective than bringing an employee into a traditional office environment. Not having to provide physical office space, desks, computers, etc., helps keep overhead low.

Cost Comparison Chart

Also, management and training costs are reduced when virtual assistants are brought onto teams. Virtual assistants can perform different support endeavors due to their exposure to other industries. To remain competitive in their field, they must know and train on a wide variety of platforms. Our military spouse virtual assistants - our Freedom Makers - have a range of skills and depth of technical understanding, making them capable in many areas.


Freedom Makers, and virtual assistants in general, have a bias toward learning that can be an extraordinary benefit to business owners who don't have the time or capacity to be forward-looking themselves. 


Additionally, because they often work for multiple clients, virtual assistants are used to adapting to different management styles. They can quickly learn the ins and outs of various business systems and environments.  Without having to constantly invest in training a traditional employee to new technologies or emerging platforms, business owners find more capital available for other areas of their business.


Virtual assistants are in high demand because business owners can lower their costs while simultaneously building up their teams efficiently and increasing the quality of the work produced.


TIME SAVINGS


Because virtual assistants typically take on administrative, tactile, or repetitive tasks, they can vastly free up the time of other members of the team so that they can do things more geared toward revenue building or lead generation. Note-taking, submitting monthly expenses, tracking invoices, creating content for social media platforms, and responding to customer inquiries are essential to the operation of a business. Still, they take a lot of time when more critical tasks are at hand. When business owners delegate these support services to a virtual assistant, they find they have the brain space to think strategically, network with energy and enthusiasm, and develop new ideas.


Virtual assistants are in demand because they work IN the business, allowing owners and entrepreneurs to work ON the business.


When business owners aren't locked into low-level (yet essential) tasks, they can innovate and grow their company. In fact, one of the reasons virtual assistants are currently in such high demand is because the statistics show that outsourcing administrative tasks like email and calendar management, customer support efforts, and blog writing can bridge the gap between startup and growth.


84.4% of business owners interviewed by VirtuDesk expressed a positive impact on their business since outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant. Many report hitting higher growth rates due to the contributions of their virtual assistants and that they can focus more on complicated tasks.


It just makes sense. 


If you are a business owner, burnt out on blog writing or coming up with clever social media posts each day, you begin to dread the time you will have to spend doing these tasks. You've committed yourself to your social media strategy, but writing doesn't come easily to you, and you find building posts tedious and frustrating. The anticipation of the task each week causes you anxiety and stress, which can be distracting even when you are working on other tasks. Just knowing you need to sit down and spend a chunk of time hammering out a blog for your website can be distressing! You might wind up procrastinating or spinning your wheels toward exhaustion. Valuable hours are down the drain.


Blog writing and social media management are the perfect tasks to outsource to an efficient virtual assistant or support specialist. A creative virtual assistant who enjoys writing can complete this essential job in less time than it would take you. They can quickly find your voice and channel your brand's message into powerful posts that convert scrollers to subscribers. The focus and experience they bring to the task you dread ensures a better overall result.


THE SKY IS THE LIMIT FOR THE DEMAND FOR VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS


Business owners know that time and energy are their most valuable and least renewable resources. For a fraction of the money it would take to bring on a traditional employee - or to do the task themselves - they are choosing to outsource jobs to a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants are in high demand because they are increasingly becoming the key that allows a business owner to redistribute their time, energy, and cash flow to the things that add value to their business.

Freedom Makers Blog

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