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Every Small Business Owner Should Have At Least One
Written by: Rita CartwrightArticle Overview: A business owner with 1-4 employees or is a single-person business owner should have at least one Virtual Assistant (VA).
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Every Small Business Owner Should Have At Least One
A business owner with 1-4 employees or is a single-person business owner should have at least one Virtual Assistant (VA).
Virtual assistants (VAs) started out in the 80's as home-based word processors or home-based secretarial services taking on temporary assignments from small business owners (SBOs). With the advent of technology, the first official virtual assistant was in the mid-90's. Now the Virtual Assistant industry has expanded into an industry of professional virtual assistants partnering with SBOs providing them with services on a permanent basis.
According to Small Business Trends, the number of single-person business owners is booming, and they account for 78% of all U.S. Businesses (U.S. Census 2005 report). A 2008 Small Business Administration report states that 99.7% of employer firms are small businesses. Fifty-two percent are home-based. These business owners need assistance in more areas than just typing or word processing. They are becoming more dependent on virtual assistants for a wider variety of tasks and on an ongoing basis rather than temporary.
Today VAs offer assistance with more than secretarial type of projects. They provide assistance with the mundane tasks small business owners are faced with daily. A few examples include marketing, updating websites, Internet research, submitting articles and/or blogs, writing articles and/or blogs, making appointments, returning phone calls, sorting through e-mails, etc. There are many uses for a Virtual Assistant. The time saved from not having to handle the daily administrative tasks can be used to gain new clients and/or retain current clients.
The first step in effectively using a Virtual Assistant is to decide which daily tasks can be outsourced. Second, establish a business relationship or partnership with a VA and, in turn, he or she will become familiar with the business and can anticipate the needs of the business owner. This will save time in communications, giving instructions, etc. In addition, virtual assistants are also small business owners, and they know how to operate a small business.
Partnering with a VA rather than hiring an administrative staff member(s) will save money and time. The cost associated with having an employee is more than having a VA. Working with a VA rather than a regular employee cost over $40,000.00 less per year, because there are no employee-related expenses to pay. In addition, it is not necessary for SBOs to train virtual assistants, which will save time. Most virtual assistants have years of experience from working in the corporate world in some type of administrative support positions.
Technology and the Internet make it possible for VAs to provide assistant services to small business owners from their virtual offices. There are numerous ways of using technology to communicate; for example, Skype, e-mail, digital computer camera (webcam), teleconference or virtual meetings, video e-mails, Instant Messaging (IM), or GoToMeeting. If necessary, a Virtual Assistant can access the owner's computer desktop using GoToMyPC in order to perform certain tasks. Documents can be exchanged using e-mail to send attachments. Due to technology and virtual assistants, SBOs are able to have the assistance they need without having to supply office space, office supplies, equipment, or software.
Every small business owner should retain the services of at least one Virtual Assistant on an ongoing basis in order to have more time to develop and grow their businesses, add to the bottom line, close the next business deal, gain more personal time, as well as save over $40,000 a year.
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Article Tags: entrepreneur, online business, outsoucing, small business owner, virtual assistant
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About the Author: Rita Cartwright RSS for Rita's articles - Visit Rita's website  After Rita earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing, she was hired and trained by Sears to be a Sales Manager. She soon discovered retail sales was not for her. So, Rita decided to become an entrepreneur offering virtual assistant services. Since 2002, she has provided word processing services and other virtual assistant services to entrepreneurs and small business owners. During the past eight years, Rita has used various Internet marketing strategies to market her online business and discovered that she has a passion for Internet marketing. As a result, she decided to focus on offering Internet marketing services and recently, decided to change her business name to RJ's Internet Marketing Services in order to reflect the niche service offerings. Rita enjoys being an entrepreneur, as well as working with other entrepreneurs, especially, business and life coaches. She admires how they transform people's businesses and/or lives by helping them to become successful. Today, Rita is glad she didn't receive any job offers 10 years ago. She has been more successful at searching for clients as opposed to searching for employers. Click here to visit Rita's website   Working with a Virtual Assist |
Related Forum Posts
My entry
- 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read
- this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto.
3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book
Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Job titles
- [quote:3shpwvxj]In fact, I've had friends tell me that "Founder" is better than "Owner" since it's less possessive.[/quote:3shpwvxj]
For myself, I don't care for the term "Founder" [i:3shpwvxj]because [/i:3shpwvxj]it's not possessive. You can be the founder of a company and have sold it - so it no longer belongs to you.
However, if you call yourself "Owner" - people know the company is still in your hands.
But I don't like Owner, either. I'd prefer President or Director, because one can be an absentee owner, whereas if one is a President or Director, people assume you're involved in the day to day activities.
Manager, on the other hand, wouldn't work if its your business, because (to me, anyway) that implies that you "manage" for someone else - like at a restaurant.
These maybe the coldest franchises out there:
- Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops.
WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure %
1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56%
2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94%
3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18%
4 COPY CLUB 36.36%
5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71%
6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71%
7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59%
8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78%
9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48%
10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33%
11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33%
12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33%
13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33%
14 BLIMPIE 31.39%
15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77%
Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005
Exclusive: Interview with Results
- Hi Forum Members,
I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles).
As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business.
This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business.
I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months.
At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews.
I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum.
If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM.
Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: Biz Plan Competition
- i just wanted to say that posting Small Business Events on CanadaOne is a great resource. Thanks Julie!
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