The fast-paced world of small and medium businesses forms the backbone of multiple economies. The changing business landscape requires constant innovation to streamline operations.
What is the solution to this rising demand? You can hire freelance business assistants for your small and medium business.
They are cost-effective solutions to all your productivity-related issues.
Feeling excited? Keep reading to know where you can hire your next VA today!
What is a Freelance Business Assistant for Small and Medium Businesses?
A freelance business assistant for small and medium businesses is a remote professional who provides administrative and operational support to small and medium businesses.
SMBs generally have 1-20 employees and revenues below $50 million annually. To keep up with the demands of their business, they hire Freelance Business Assistants.
Virtual Assistants for SMBs answer emails, manage scheduling, social media, client communication, marketing, and all other required tasks for SMBs.
Benefits of Hiring a Freelance Business Assistant for Small and Medium Businesses
We have covered exactly what a virtual assistant for small business owners does. Now, let’s talk about the benefits of hiring virtual assistants for entrepreneurs below:
- Enhanced Productivity: Hiring freelance business assistants leads to increased productivity because you have delegated repetitive tasks to experts.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Freelance Business assistants allow you to scale according to your business needs, while also providing more flexibility compared to hiring full-time employees.
- Specialized Expertise: SMBs get access to an expert global workforce.
- Supporting Strategic Focus: VAs provide supporting strategic focus to SMBs to improve core-business task performance.
- Improved Work Quality: Professionals are taking care of operations, leading to an improvement in work quality.
- Innovative Solutions: Small and Medium Businesses experience innovative solutions due to improved collaboration with their expert VAs.
- Enhanced Customer Service: This occurs in SMBs through innovative marketing campaigns spearheaded by freelance business assistants who are experts in marketing.
- Streamlined Business Operations: When you’ve delegated your tasks to experts, you experience streamlined business operations due to increased productivity.
- Cost-effective engagement Management: VAs are more cost-effective compared to in-house employees. This is because they require no office space or benefits and are paid hourly or on a project basis.
- Focused Support: Experience focused support by professionals who are industry experts.
This is not an exhaustive list. If you want more information about the benefits of remote assistance for entrepreneurs, please check out our detailed article about this topic!
Read More: Why hire a virtual assistant?
Key Tasks a Virtual Assistant in SMB Can Handle
Freelance business assistants for small and medium businesses can perform a wide array of tasks.
Whether it’s day-to-day operational tasks or industry-specific jobs. We have broken down some of the tasks they perform, below:
- General Administrative Support: VAs perform administrative tasks like responding to emails, scheduling appointments, and communicating with clients.
- Financial Management: Remote freelance assistants handle financial management, such as finance report generation, bookkeeping, and invoicing.
- Digital Marketing: Virtual assistants for small & medium businesses are digital marketing experts.
They can design marketing campaigns, create and post social media content, edit videos, and perform search engine optimization (SEO). - Research: Freelance Business assistants for SMBs conduct research, such as market research, research for content and marketing purposes, etc., which aids in generating leads.
- Customer Service: VAs communicate with customers and listen to customer feedback. They provide 24/7 online chat or call support as needed.
- Website Management: Virtual assistants manage your website to enhance your engagement. They update your listings, reply to queries, and manage posts.
- Event Planning: VAs plan events, manage venues, take care of logistics, manage budgets, and market and promote your event.
- Human Resources: Freelance assistants specializing in HR look through resumes, conduct initial interviews, manage payroll, and even conduct employee satisfaction surveys.
- Supply Chain Management: Specific supply chain management tasks like inventory management, order processing, and shipment tracking are frequently handled by virtual assistants.
- Project Management: A Virtual Assistant who is an expert at project management takes care of scheduling, communication, and document preparation.
They will ensure project planning, execution, and measure performance.
There are many more duties that virtual assistants perform. You can also hire virtual assistants for niche tasks depending on your business needs!
Key Skills Required for a Freelance Business Assistant for Small and Medium Businesses
Many skills are necessary for Virtual Assistants. Given the specificity of the tasks they perform, it’s of utmost importance for them to have certain skills:
- Excellent Communication Skills: Your SMB VA must have excellent written and verbal communication skills since they will be communicating with you, your employees, and your clients!
- Technical Proficiency: Given the fact they work remotely, freelance business assistants must have superior technical proficiency.
They must be proficient in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and any other necessary software like project management software or communication tools. - Multitaskers: A non-negotiable for VAs is being a multitasker. SMBs simultaneously run multiple projects, so your remote office assistant must have the mental fortitude to expertly handle multiple projects at once.
- Time Management: SMBs cannot afford to miss project deadlines! Virtual assistants for SMBs must deliver their work according to strict deadlines. Therefore, they must have excellent time-management skills.
- Communication Software and Tools: The remote nature of VA work means that freelance business assistants must be proficient in communication software and tools.
Your VA needs to be fluent in using software like Zoom, Discord, and Meets.
You can read the following article to learn more about the essential information for a virtual assistant.
When to Hire a Freelance Business Assistant for Small and Medium Businesses?
Given that freelance business assistants for small and medium businesses are so essential , it’s important to know when to hire them. There are several steps to follow when hiring your perfect virtual assistant.
1. Identify Business Needs and Opportunities
Look into your business. What are the areas of improvement? Where can you streamline operations?
If there are specific areas that need immediate improvement, you should hire a VA.
2. Preparing for Growth and Efficiency
SMBs are constantly preparing for growth. When you expand a company, you need to keep up with increasing company demands.
This puts pressure on your SMB to innovate constantly while also having high-stress standards. Therefore, it’s crucial to streamline operations to maximize efficiency.
If you are looking for more productive ways to run your business, you need to hire virtual assistants.
3. Ensuring Customer Satisfaction and Brand Consistency
Ensuring customer satisfaction and maintaining brand consistency go hand-in-hand.
This is especially true for SMBs because you have to build a dedicated customer base.
If there are lapses in the quality of your project, your customers won’t be satisfied. A virtual assistant specializing in marketing can completely revamp your brand identity.
Your VA will design targeted marketing campaigns, maintain product quality, and ensure brand consistency through continuous development.
Where to Find Freelance Business Assistant for Small and Medium Businesses?
We hope you are convinced that you need to hire a freelance business assistant for small or medium businesses as soon as possible. Now the question arises: where can you find VAs? We have prepared a list below for your convenience:
- Green Feather Technologies
- BELAY
- Fancy Hands
- Time Etc
- Wishup
- Zirtual
- Elite Virtual Assistants
- Boldly
- VirtualEmployee
- MyOutDesk
This is a non-exhaustive list of agencies that provide virtual assistants. You can also find them on freelance websites like:
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Freelancer
How to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Your Small Business?
What process do you need to follow to hire your ideal virtual assistant? We have broken them down below so that you can hire your perfect virtual assistant for your small business today:
step 1: Determine which type of VA you need
step 2: Determine which tasks you need help with
step 3: Determine your budget
step 4: Begin the search
step 5: Start the interview process
The process highlighted above is a condensed version. You can find more details in our ‘How to Hire a Virtual Assistant‘ article.
How to Use a Freelance Business Assistant for Small and Medium Businesses?
Once you’ve found the perfect freelance business assistant for your small and medium businesses, your job is not over. You need to know how to use him.
Let’s break down the steps of how to use a virtual assistant, below:
1. Effective Integration Strategies
You need to ensure your virtual assistant is properly integrated into your workforce. The onus is on you to make sure they are properly trained and integrated.
2. Clear Communication Protocols
As they say, communication is key! It’s important to always maintain clear communication with your virtual assistant. Clear communication protocols include:
- Regular check-ins
- Preferred communication channels
- Response time expectations
- Reporting structures
3. Project Management Systems
Each company uses its own project management system. Maintaining effective project management systems is key for all small and medium businesses. To properly use virtual assistants for small businesses you have to use the following tools:
- Task tracking tools
- Time management software
- Document sharing platforms
- Collaboration tools
The information above has been succinctly presented and is not a complete list.
If you’re wondering about how to properly utilize and communicate with your VA, please check out the following article!
Read More: How to Use a Virtual Assistant
Common Challenges & Solutions of Small Business While Working with VA
Working with virtual assistants can present challenges for small businesses, but with the right solutions, these challenges can be easily overcome. Here are some common challenges and effective solutions for small business owners.
Challenges
There may be certain communication lapses. Let’s take a brief look at certain challenges that you may face when working with your virtual assistant:
- Communication Barriers in Remote Work: Communicating online remotely often leads to miscommunication and unclear conversations, due to internet or clarity issues.
- Challenges of Managing Time Zone Differences: Due to VAs being part of a global workforce, time-zone differences often cause miscommunications.
- Difficulty in Efficient Task Management and Delegation: Improper task management occurs when proper instructions are not given. Improper task management looks like missing deadlines or deliverables.
Solutions
There’s no need to worry, though. Although there are certain challenges, those challenges also have solutions:
- Maintain Constant Communication: Constant communication, such as: maintaining regular check-ins through your preferred communication channels.
- Account for Time-zone Differences: Schedule frequent meetings. But do it in a way that accommodates both your and the VA’s time zones. You should meet in the middle!
- Productivity Tools and Project Management Software: Use productivity tools such as Asana, Trello, and Notion. Project management software will also orient your VA’s tasks properly, and allow you to keep track of your projects.
Conclusion
Small and medium businesses can profit greatly from having remote freelance assistants. There is a rising demand for VAs globally, and the industry is expected to keep growing!
You can find your perfect remote office assistant on reputed freelance agencies.
The VA industry is only going to keep growing. If you haven’t hired a freelance business assistant for your small or medium business yet, this is your sign to do so!
FAQs
What kinds of tasks can a virtual assistant or freelance business assistant manage for my business?
Your virtual assistant or freelance business assistant can manage daily administrative and operational tasks.
How can I find the best virtual assistant to suit my business needs?
You can find the best virtual assistants through freelance platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, or agencies like Green Feather Technologies.
Are there any risks in hiring a virtual assistant for startups?
There are certain challenges to working with freelance business assistants. Time-zone differences and unclear communication may be issues.
What is the typical cost range for freelance business assistants in the U.S.?
In the U.S., freelance business assistants typically cost around $10-$50 hourly, depending on industry and experience.
How to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) for hiring a freelance business assistant for small and medium businesses?
To evaluate the ROI for hiring a freelance business assistant by tracking their performance and having objective metrics to evaluate their output.
