Thinking of Hiring a Virtual Assistant? Think Savvy.

If you are considering a virtual assistant for your business, but you aren’t sure about the cost…consider this. The modern virtual assistant is a master at many different fields, not just one. They are a business owner...not another secretary.

So think savvy (definition: well informed and perceptive)…my company offers business services that incorporate many different types of savvy such as;

-Business Savvy
-Internet Savvy
-Design Savvy
-Organization Savvy
-Social Media Savvy
-Coordination Savvy
-Web Design Savvy

Can you imagine they expense your business would incur to bring someone from each of these industries into your company? Consider that the salaries for these professions range from $35,000-$120,000 each. Sure, you can go on-line and “outsource” some work to someone charging $4 an hour…or maybe even $15. Can you ensure you are getting a professional? How much time are you going to have to spend correcting their work?

The most important question you can ask before hiring a virtual assistant is, “How Much is It Worth to You”? If you normally make anywhere from $125 to $200 an hour for your services, and you spend an hour or more a day doing tasks that don’t bring in money…you just paid $125-$200 an hour. So why not pay a virtual professional much less to do that work?

The ideal Virtual Assistant will cost between $30-$55 an hour, depending on the services you need. On top of that, you don’t have to worry about office equipment, training, insurance, benefits…all of the added expenses that businesses incur with a traditional “in office” assistant. Most Virtual Assistants will average around $1400 a month for around 40 hours of work. That’s $16,800 per year! The savings and overall value truly adds up!

Many people hear the term Virtual Assistant and automatically think…it’s a secretary. That’s actually not correct, although the title includes “assistant”…think of us as your business partners. Someone you can run your ideas by, and create realities out of those ideas. Someone working on YOUR TEAM to help your business thrive.

Spend your time doing what makes you money, and we will help you with the other stuff! Busy business owners like you will fully enjoy the benefits of having a strong team behind you. Virtual Assistants can be that team!

Are You Ready To Find Your Business Partner?
www.amandasvirtualoffice.com | Amanda Lawson

Definition of Virtual Assistant from Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virtual assistance (or VA) is the professional service of remote administrative office and other specialized support by an independent contractor called a virtual assistant who works with clients in an ongoing, collaborative professional relationship. The profession was formalized in 1997 by Stacy Brice when she created her company, AssistU - the first organization of any sort for Virtual Assistants.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Job description
* 2 In popular culture
* 3 Differences between a VA and an Employee or Temp
* 4 Virtual Assistance vs. Secretarial or Business Support Services
* 5 References
* 6 External links

[edit] Job description

Virtual assistants own their own businesses (called practices), work from their own offices and utilize today's technology to deliver their services and communicate with clients.

A virtual assistant's core practice consists of administrative or clerical tasks. However, many virtual assistants offer additional specialties that fall under various other categories, such as marketing, website development or maintenance, creative and technical services, etc. In addition, many VA’s have target niches, and those include real estate, coaching, and writers to name a few prominent ones.

Virtual assistants come from a variety of business backgrounds, but most have several years administrative experience earned in the real (non-virtual) business world working in occupations such as administrative assistant, executive assistant, secretary, legal assistant, paralegal, legal secretary, real estate assistant, office manager, etc..

There are several organizations that train individuals to become virtual assistants, including AssistU [1], the Virtual Assistance Training Program [2], and Red Deer College[3].
[edit] In popular culture

Virtual assistants were an integral part of the 2007 bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.[4] Ferriss claimed to have hired virtual assistants to check his email, pay his bills and run parts of his company.[5] He specifically recommended classified-type services like Elance where employers and employees solicit and hire on demand.[6], and the company that formalized the Virtual Assistance profession, AssistU, where clients are mutually matched with VAs.
[edit] Differences between a VA and an Employee or Temp

Virtual assistants are independent contractors, not employees, who structure their own rates and operating standards and policies, pay their own self-employment taxes, and control management of the work and how it is carried out. While many self-employed people specialize in one area—for example, they are bookkeepers or web development specialists who work from home—a true virtual assistant provides across-the-board administrative (and other) services.

Employees are managed and directed by the employer they work for. They are paid a salary with employment taxes deducted by the employer. Work is directed, managed and supervised by the employer.

Temps are employees of a staffing agency who go on-site or work virtually for an employer customer. They are paid by the staffing agency they work for, while their on-site or virtual work and activities are managed, directed and supervised by the employer customer of the staffing agency.
[edit] Virtual Assistance vs. Secretarial or Business Support Services

Secretarial and business support service businesses predate the Virtual Assistance industry. The core differences are:

1. BSS provider: Focus on one-off, task-based projects and piecework.

* Virtual Assistant: Work with clients on needs across the board, long term, and their assistance hinges upon relationships.

2. BSS provider: Any client will do; often has to "chase" the work because there's rarely continuity.

* Virtual Assistant: Works with a small group of hand-picked clients, long term.

3. BSS provider: Fees are often set per project.

* Virtual Assistant: Charges per hour; clients are often on a monthly retainer.

4. BSS providers: No need to understand a client's business to accomplish tasks.

* Virtual Assistant: Understanding is key to collaboration

Since 1997 when the VA industry was formalized, many BSS providers have taken on the moniker of VA, although many of them still work within their established work model.

Washington Report: Anti-Foreclosure Program

by Kenneth R. Harney - Sun, Feb 21, 2010

Provided by

The Obama administration came out with a score card on its anti-foreclosure program last week, and there's just one word for it: Minimal.

Of roughly 1 million financially-distressed home owners who've been given mortgage payment reductions through three month “trials” under the HAMP program, that's the Home Affordable Modification Program, just 116,000 have ended up with permanent loan modifications from participating lenders.

At the same time, sixty thousand borrowers who entered trial payment plans have flunked out or been kicked out for a variety of reasons.

Contrast these numbers with the bold predictions from the Treasury Department and President Obama nearly a year ago, when they said the foreclosure avoidance efforts would help three to four million homeowners over the coming couple of years.

The administration itself appears to recognize that the report card doesn't look great. Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr acknowledged to the Associated Press that “we were attempting to set realistic expectations, but I think we failed to do so.”

Among the complications bogging down HAMP efforts so far:

The original design of the program allowed homeowners to request three month trial modifications with relatively little documentation of their situations, including incomes. Many of them managed to get through their trial periods, but then haven't been able to satisfy program requirements that they document their incomes to their lenders.

Though the program can reduce payments to 31 percent of monthly incomes, it cannot deal with increasingly common situations where job losses have eliminated or sharply curtailed household incomes. Many of those borrowers, housing analysts say, are likely to end up in foreclosure.

The program is limited to monthly payment reductions, not actual cuts in the principal balances owed by borrowers. While that formula works for some distressed homeowners, it doesn't do anything for the estimated 15 million plus owners who are underwater on their mortgages, stuck with houses valued less than the mortgage balance.

Critics of the administration's plans have argued for months that foreclosures cannot be averted on a massive scale until lenders and investors agree to permanently write off a portion of the borrowers' principal debts.

As Sedona, Arizona homeowner Kevin Miller, who's underwater on three properties including his main home, told Realty Times last week: “Someone's got to recognize that it was not just buyers who made a mistake (on pricing and timing.) Lenders did too.

They share part of the blame because they lent out money on real estate that often wasn't worthy anywhere near what they thought.

“They need to lower people's principal before we all walk away.”

Today's Local Market Conditions Report