Of the many trends that have come and gone amongst entrepreneurs over the years, one of the most exciting and useful has been hiring virtual assistants. Doing so helps to free up a significant amount of time and mental space for business owners that have more than enough on their plates as is. It’s a worthwhile expense that can make a serious improvement in your life and business. For any entrepreneurs interested in reaping the many benefits of hiring a Philippines virtual assistant, here is a guide for how you can do so.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is like an updated version of the typical assistant role. Instead of working for you as an employee out of your office, most virtual assistants are remote and freelance, helping you to manage your schedule and business from locations like Indonesia and the Phillippines. This is an exciting and logical development in the assistant field, as so much of what an entrepreneur does these days is not limited to a physical office space or typical working hours.
Hiring a virtual assistant offers both you and your assistant freedom and flexibility to work in a way that makes the most sense for you, while still getting all of the benefits of having somebody take care of the administrative tasks that can really bog down your day when you do them yourself. It’s an important and significant step in the lifespan of your business.
Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant
There are many benefits to hiring a virtual assistant Philippines over a traditional one, or over not having one at all. Here are some of the most relevant.
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You don’t have to rent a physical office space as a place to host your assistant. This saves you the expense of renting an office and gives you and your assistant the freedom to work from wherever you choose and is most comfortable for you. If you’re already into the groove of working from home, hiring a virtual assistant allows you to continue to do so.
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Compared to hiring a regular employee, working with a virtual assistant is highly affordable. Because they are self-employed, you save on the cost of benefits, and you only need to pay for the hours that you actually need your assistant. Plus, because it’s all done remotely, you can find virtual assistants whose rates are much lower than those in your area. For example, a Philippines virtual assistant will be much more affordable than one from the United States.
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You can hire whomever you like without the limitations of geography. Whether the best possible person for the job lives ten minutes away from you or in a faraway country like Norway, India, or the Philippines, you can still work together no problem without having to deal with all of the pesky inconveniences of relocation.
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You can spend your time on the work that really matters. Instead of having to deal with phones and emails and schedules and booking tickets and all of those time-sucking administrative tasks, you can spend your time on high-impact tasks that you enjoy and are good at.
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You’ll have a better work-life balance. Having a virtual assistant Philippines will free up your time and bandwidth so that you don’t have to constantly have work on your mind. You’ll have free time for the activities that help you relax and unwind so that you can come back to work refreshed. No more of that classic entrepreneur burnout grind.
How to Hire a Virtual Assistant
First, you’ll want to choose which tasks you want your virtual assistant to work on, as this will help you narrow your search. There are so many options for what a Philippines virtual assistant can do for you, but here are just a few options to consider:
- Email management
- Client care and scheduling
- Bookkeeping
- Research
- Database entry
- Travel planning
After you make a list of the tasks that you want to delegate to a virtual assistant, write out a job description with background information about you and your business and information about what you’re looking for in an assistant including skills, experience, and qualifications. If you want your assistant to come from a certain country, like one with high levels of English proficiency such as the Phillippines, you’ll also want to mention that. And of course, include the duties your assistant will be responsible for and any software and apps they will be using.
Once you have that, it’s time to post your job description online. You can use general job boards like Indeed and Monster or go to ones more geared toward virtual assistants.
Once your inbox is flooded with candidates, choose your top five to ten options for a video interview. As part of your interview process, you may want to administer a test task that is similar to something your virtual assistant will be doing in order to see your candidates in action.
Then it’s just a matter of picking the person who is the best fit for you, offering them the role, and going through all of the necessary paperwork and legal procedures to get working together! Remember that the country your assistant is in, whether it is the US, Canada, the UK, the Phillippines, or elsewhere, will have an impact on what kind of forms and legalities you are dealing with, so do your research.
And there you have it! You’ve found your virtual assistant Philippines. Now it’s time to reap the benefits. Good luck!
