Eight Ways A Virtual Assistant Can Help You Boost Your Productivity
BySarah Harris
Sarah Harris takes care of the customer support requests at Workast. She is also an avid writer.
Sarah Harris takes care of the customer support requests at Workast. She is also an avid writer.
Entrepreneurs are naturally diligent people. They aren't afraid to put in the effort and power through a challenging workload, but sometimes it becomes incredibly demanding.
That workload will become too heavy for you to carry alone as your business expands.
Furthermore, it's challenging to succeed when all the little details divert your attention from your primary business objectives. Therefore, it's critical to effectively manage your time and get everything done efficiently – trivial or big.
That's where a virtual assistant can come in handy.
A virtual assistant can assist you with all recurring yet significant tasks, so you can take out time to concentrate on the matters related to your core business and increase business productivity multifold.
This blog outlines how a virtual assistant maximizes productivity and enhances business operations. But first, let's understand the role of a virtual assistant in detail.
Virtual assistants work from home to provide your business with various services and tasks. They assist with daily management by working full- or part-time with you.
Depending on your industry, VAs can manage different workloads – whether they are heavy workloads or everyday routine tasks. You can hire these professional remote workers to provide your company with administrative, artistic, and technical support.
Many virtual assistants also have years of project management experience, making them invaluable to start-ups and small businesses.
Now that you might be familiar with a virtual assistant's role let's dive into how they can help increase business productivity.
Your company's potential for productivity increases with how organized everything is. You will encounter fewer problems if your tasks and schedules are correctly organized.
However, over the day, your tasks may get scattered all over the place, and your productivity might get badly affected.
By keeping your task list organized, virtual assistants can help you streamline your business processes. They can also take on tasks that would otherwise prevent you from concentrating fully on expanding your business. For example, your VA can take care of answering customer questions and posting on social media, so you don't have to.
This way, you can run your business with a clear headspace and set priorities.
Many obligations demand your time when you own a business. Every day quickly sells out. It can be hard to remember where you must be at all times without a reminder. Although you can set alarms for yourself on your phone, it is easy to silence them, especially when you are intensely focused on your work.
Nonetheless, virtual assistants can be your ultimate reminders. They can help you set up appointments, ensure that you arrive on time for meetings, and even assist you in meeting deadlines that you have set for yourself.
In addition, VAs can contact clients for follow-up via phone or email. Even when you don't have the time, this is a great way to show your clients that you care about their time.
Furthermore, your virtual assistant can batch your tasks into similar groups and schedule the time blocks into your calendar if you give them access to your daily, weekly, and monthly tasks list. This will help you save a substantial amount of time and boost productivity.
The ability to multitask is valued highly in today’s business landscape. However, studies have indicated that it may reduce productivity. The truth is that we were never supposed to be machines that could multitask. So it's best to block distractions and concentrate on one thing at a time.
You can begin working on a new project when you're done with the first one. If you have many things that need your attention, you can free up some time by giving your dependable virtual assistant some of the work. With their assistance, you can stop multitasking and increase your productivity. Virtual assistance can increase your productivity in the following ways:
Working on one thing at a time helps you think more clearly, be more intelligent, and develop better solutions to issues.
When you delegate work to a virtual assistant, fewer demands are placed on your time, which makes you less likely to multitask to get everything done.
Despite what might seem counterintuitive, taking a break increases productivity. Even though you might want to cross everything off your list immediately, you are not a superhero.
To enhance concentration, re-energize your creative process, and maintain a high level of performance, you need to take regular breaks. Making time for breaks, even if it's just a half-hour lunch break, allows you to have a mental break and replenish your energy.
By doing this, you'll be able to power through the entire day and, consequently, less likely to put off or postpone leaving work until the following day.
Do not fret about your work, as your virtual assistant can continue working on your tasks while you get a snack or coffee, take a quick stroll or practice meditation. Taking regular breaks will help you stay mentally healthy and work more efficiently.
Some of the most prevalent workplace distractions that reduce productivity include snack breaks, conversations with coworkers, all-day birthday lunches, scrolling social media, and online shopping. Some distractions are minor and manageable. However, they can become more severe at work. Once distracted, it can be challenging to get back to work, and the "restart" factor can lower the quality of the work.
You discover that you spend your time bouncing from email to email, getting dragged into last-minute meetings, and dealing with everything that comes your way rather than setting your hours and organizing your day as you would like. Consequently, you spend hours working on trivial things, leaving little time for business development.
Virtual assistants work quickly and efficiently, leaving no room for distractions.
Working from their home office allows virtual assistants to complete more work per hour. They also can be proficient at time blocking. They arrive for a job, clock in, and focus solely on that task until it is finished. As a result, they can boost productivity at your business without a distracting office setting.
As an entrepreneur, it is apparent that you want to excel at everything you do! However, you cannot possess every ability at once.
Nevertheless, you can hire a virtual assistant who possesses many abilities. Virtual assistants have more education or experience in various areas. As a result, they are better suited to manage multiple tasks. This way, they can carry out their assigned tasks in a polished manner.
Furthermore, virtual assistants are experts in the same time-consuming and tedious tasks you dislike.
As a result, they can concentrate on these tasks. Moreover, due to their extensive knowledge, they finish the tasks more quickly because familiarity breeds speed, and productivity is bound to grow with speed.
Not every message you receive via email, phone, or live chat is worth responding to. Some can even get a quick reply or a canned response that doesn't need your attention.
A virtual assistant can filter messages that don't require a deliberate response by managing your inbox or other communication channels. This prevents you from constantly being distracted by an overflowing inbox and lets you concentrate fully on other significant messages.
Most business owners have a specialty. For example, you could create software or provide marketing strategy assistance to other companies. However, when you first launch a company, you must also take care of ancillary duties like customer relations, social media management, and bookkeeping.
If you need to improve at them, you might waste much time trying to figure out the ins and outs of these things, or you might struggle through trial and error.
However, there’s no need to struggle as you can outsource the tasks you find difficult by working with a skilled VA. You can rest assured that the work will be done skillfully — perhaps even better than you could have done it yourself.
It will also free up a ton of your time to concentrate on what you're good at. Additionally, it will give you a better chance to work on expanding your company rather than getting bogged down in day-to-day operations.
This can be especially useful for solopreneurs or small business owners who must wear several hats simultaneously.
There are only a few hours in the day, and time is precious for entrepreneurs and start-up owners, who typically have a limited resource pool. You can, however, make it easier on yourself and those around you by finding ways to work more efficiently.
A virtual assistant can help you complete more high-quality, impactful work in less time.
Virtual assistants offer assistance as and when you require it, keeping your costs down. They also work with you to accomplish your business goals, increasing overall business productivity.
So, hire a virtual assistant right away and double-up your business productivity!