eWeek Year in Review 2008
16.December, 2008
eWeek this week gave their roundup of 2008.
One interesting article of many was Eric Lundquist’s call for businesses to review their outsourcing strategy in these times of economic strife. He suggests that outsourcing is still the way to go but that businesses should be looking onshore for their partners rather than onshore. for the full article click here
Managing your Time
10.December, 2008
One of the most important ways to manage the time that you have available is to delegate tasks. A great book to set you on this road is First Things First.
Delegation can be done within your company but if you are a small to medium size business you will probably benefit more from outsourcing the tasks that you wish to delegate. See my previous post on the costs and time benefits of outsourcing tasks to Virtual Assistants, Virtual p.a. or Girl Fridays.
Tasks can be outsourced to Virtual Assistants, Virtual p.a. or Girl Fridays with relative ease. It isn’t like training up a new member of staff, they are consummate professionals with a wealth of experience. It is likely that they are fully conversant with any task you need carrying out. You can find assistance for all sectors from legal, medical, construction right the way through to the creative arts. Subscribe to my feed for future articles which will include the questions you need to ask when hiring a Virtual Assistant, Virtual p.a. or Girl Friday.
If you are a small to medium size business by delegating all or some of your administrative tasks you will find yourself with more time to concentrate on sales or product creation. Following the entire process through you will also find yourself in a better position to enable work-life balance.
As we look forward to 2009 and review our goals and objectives there is no better time to start thinking outside the box about how we run our businesses. We need to find a competitive advantage in these hard times. If you only make one New Year’s resolution about your working life why not make it to find away to change the way you do things for the better!
Why use a Girl Friday, Virtual p.a. or a Virtual Assistant?
10.December, 2008
Lots of people ask me why on earth someone would want to utilize a virtual assistant. The reasons are many and varied but in the end the biggest 2 factors are time savings and cost. The following is extracted from some research that was carried out in the USA which paints a very clear picture and is food for thought in our present economic climate.
|
Cost Comparison (£) |
Full-time employee |
Virtual Assistant |
|
Hourly rate of pay |
12.00 |
£25.00 |
|
Fringe benefits @ 35% |
5.00 |
None |
|
Overhead rate @ 50% |
7.00 |
None |
|
Total effective rate of pay |
24.00 |
25.00 |
|
**Hours per year |
2,080 |
480 |
|
TOTAL Annual labour cost |
52,000 |
12,000 |
Difference = £40,000 per year
By hiring a Virtual Assistant, you SAVE £40,000 per year!
Although the Virtual Assistant’s hourly rate is more than the employee’s rate in the first place, you save the cost of benefits and overhead that would have to be applied to the new employee’s wage. And, because Virtual Assistants are usually more experienced, more efficient, and better connected than the employee, you’ll need to devote far less time to the project to get the same results: an average of 480 hours a year versus 2,080 for the new employee.
Don’t forget you are also making savings on training costs, equipment costs and software costs.
**Remember, with a Virtual Assistant, you only pay for the time on task by the minute! No more paying for socializing, hour-long lunches, or frequent trips to the restroom.
Your employee’s 8-hour day can be crunched into 3-4 hours with a Virtual Assistant.
Simply put, you should contract with a Virtual Assistant because it’s more cost-effective and Virtual Assistants go above and beyond the normal assistant’s duties to impact your own productivity. As small business owners themselves, Virtual Assistants understand the importance of effective time management. And since your bottom line directly affects the Virtual Assistant’s bottom line, s/he has a vested interest in helping your business succeed.
No task is too big or small for a Virtual Assistant to handle. Even if you only have one hour of work a month for a Virtual Assistant to do, a VA can (and will) do it.
*Source: Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA) Cost Comparison - The Largest Global Network Online for Successful and Aspiring Virtual Assistants.