What is an online virtual assistant?

An online virtual assistant is someone who provides professional administrative, technical, or creative assistance to clients.  Here at Vital VA Web Help – I provide technical and creative assistance to clients.

There are a lot of advantages to hiring a virtual assistant.  Because a virtual assistant is an independent contractor – you don’t have to pay payroll taxes or provided benefits. Another advantage to hiring a virtual assistant is the flexibility.  If you have 30 hours of work which needs done this month – but then need 80 hours next month – most virtual assistants can accommodate your needs.

No two virtual assistants are alike.

Some virtual assistants provide general administrative services like

• appointment scheduling and reminders
• Phone/voice mail monitoring and call response
• E-mail monitoring and response
• Mailings
• Faxing
• Shipping

Others will include light bookkeeping, data entry and personal assistance such as shopping, running errands and making travel arrangements.

Here at Vital VA Web Help, I focus on providing technical and creative assistance to business owners.  While I could perform the duties listed above – most of my clients tend to want me to focus my attention on the tasks that they find difficult.  Some of those tasks include:

• Creating professional power point presentations
• setting up email newsletters
• updating web site content
• working with WordPress
• creating  ebook covers
• shopping cart set up

One thing that has surprised me since I launched my virtual assistant business is how many clients hire me AFTER they’ve spent literally hundreds of dollars on “how to” instruction from various internet marketing gurus.

One dear client – after hiring me to update her WordPress installation and to create a series of posts – asked if I could create a power point presentation for her.  Her goal was to create the power point presentation – and then she would create a video and use to promote her business.  When I agreed – she sent me the files from an online training course she had purchased on how to make Power Point presentations.  While there wasn’t anything in the presentation that I hadn’t already discovered myself  – I realized that the 4 hours it took me to research and create her Power Point presentation was a much better investment than buying the program.

I seem to have a “gift” for figuring out technology quickly and easily.  Not only can I easily learn to use most software – but I have a creative streak which most “techies” don’t possess which means – in the case of a Power Point presentation – that the end result is a very professional piece.

Later – that same dear client began asking me to perform other general administrative tasks for her like making appointments.  Instead – I suggested she sign up for free online appointment scheduling and set that system up for her for a fraction of the cost of hiring me to manually schedule appointments for her.

Sometimes – the most valuable asset an online virtual assistant brings is knowledge – knowledge of software programs and other technologies that can be put to work to make your business run more efficiently.

Recently – I was asked by another client to find software to perform a specific task.  Research can be a time consuming task – especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for.  While my client asked me to find software which would allow her clients to create an online profile – it turned out that what she really needed was more of a “help desk” kind of program.  When she described why she wanted her clients to be able to create their own online profile I was able to save hours of research by focusing on the right kind of software products and services.

If you need my help with the technical and creative needs of your business – contact me.