Need to cut costs? Look to virtual workers

If you need to offload some tasks but don’t want to go all out with outsourcing, consider this cost-effective strategy.

Businesses used to only be able to outsource bookkeeping tasks, but things are changing. There’s been an influx of virtual assistants who can be highly cost effective.

They accomplish tasks ranging from data entry to typing correspondence and writing speeches.

Most companies that offer this service can be contacted 24/7 via email and they usually have written correspondence back to you for approval within 24 hours.  There are also private contractors that offer the service and usually work from home.

A Virtual Assistant (VA) can perform almost any duty assigned to an in-house administrative assistant. General duties include: data entry, writing correspondence and inter-office memos, creating of ads, copywriting of marketing collaterals and ad copy, speechwriting, and public relations. You can also hire an answering service to take, answer, screen and forward calls. 

The cost for a  VA is between $15 and $75 per hour. But they’re paid piecemeal, so you only pay them while they’re working on your stuff. You may be able to hire an assistant for a flat fee on long term or complex project.

Depending on the size of your business, you may be able to save as much as 33% by going with a VA over a full-time employee.  You’re not only cutting out salary but also benefits, holidays, sick and vacation time and office space. It also takes away the headache of hiring and training the right person.

The International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA) and the Alliance for Virtual Businesses (AVB) are good places to start looking for a VA. Both the IVAA and AVB offer a searchable database of members.