Freelance Business Assistant for Small and Medium Business: Your Secret Weapon for Scaling Up
Running a small or medium-sized business can sometimes feel like an act of juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle. There’s so much to do, but not enough hours or hands to get it all done. That’s where the freelance business assistant comes in-your one-stop solution to getting it all done without losing your balance, or worse, your sanity. In this post, we’ll show you just how scaling up, saving time, and restoring work-life harmony are made possible through hiring a freelance business assistant.
What Can a Freelance Business Assistant Do for My Small Business?
A freelance business assistant-other more common terms include virtual assistant-is like a superhero in sweatpants. Because, yes, they can work from home. Take over those administrative-type tasks that take your brain away from what you’re really good at: growing your business. Let’s break it down.
Administrative Support: They can provide support related to email responses, maintenance of schedules, setting appointments, and even customer calls. Just think about someone else answering those never-ending emails, so you could be free to take care of your core business.
Social Media Management: With the world getting digitalized every second, no one needs to fall behind; frequently updating your online presence is literally a huge time sink. A freelance assistant can manage all your social media accounts, including content creation and audience engagement.
Bookkeeping and Invoicing: Of course, not everyone loves playing with numbers, but keeping one’s books intact is an important thing to do. In light of this, freelance business assistants will be able to help you keep tabs on your expenses and invoice your clients to have better management of cash in-flow.
Research and Marketing: Need to get some market research done or a list of potential clients compiled? While you are busy strategizing the next big move, your virtual assistant can do that.
A freelance business assistant may be just that secret sauce to make the small and medium businesses stand on an equal footing with bigger companies. They free you from minutiae so that you scale your business effectively.
How Much Do You Pay a Virtual Assistant?
Perhaps the biggest question when it comes to hiring a virtual assistant is-how much is it going to set me back? Depends. Here’s what you should know:
Virtual Assistant Hourly Rates: The usual hourly rate for a virtual assistant in the United States ranges from $15 to $30. However, specialized services may be charged up to $40 to $75 per hour, such as marketing strategy or advanced bookkeeping. In contrast, offshore virtual assistants from Remote Leverage range from $5 to $7 per hour, making them a more cost-effective solution for businesses looking to cut down on operational costs while maintaining productivity.
Project-Based Fees: Some assistants prefer a project-based fee if you have specific projects. This is a good option if you need to complete a particular task, which is finite, say launching a new product or setting up an email marketing system.
Retainer packages involve a fixed monthly cost against the estimated amount of hours needed. That’s great for establishing continuity and dependability.
Keep in mind that when you hire a freelance business assistant, you’re buying back time. According to Business Insider, outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant can set the pace for major productivity gains that help entrepreneurs better manage their workload.
Virtual Assistant for Small Business: Your Affordable Business Partner
For many small businesses, hiring a full-time staff is simply out of the budget as one needs to pay full-time salary, benefits, and office expenses. That’s when a freelance business assistant may be of great service.
Since virtual assistants are freelancers, you pay for your time worked. You do not have to pay for any employee benefits, training costs, or office supplies. Additionally, they offer flexibility-if you only need help 10 hours a week, you’re not stuck paying for 40.
And last but not least, the most important is virtual assistants can be based anywhere. You open yourself up to a bigger talent pool, meaning you’re likely to find someone better to do whatever exact thing you need than you might in your immediate vicinity. Investopedia also mentions this flexibility, along with helping small businesses stay agile and quickly change direction.
Personal Assistant vs. Business Assistant
You might find yourself pondering-isn’t a business assistant just a pretty name for a personal assistant? Not quite so. Here’s the key difference:
Personal Assistant: Their work remains focused on personal tasks, such as managing your household, going around town performing errands, or coordinating your personal schedule. Think of them as the gatekeeper of your personal life.
Business Assistant: Responsible for professional tasks, ranging from organizing emails to setting meetings, bookkeeping, and anything else that keeps the operations of your business running smoothly.
A business assistant will make sure everything in the backend of your company runs as if it were a well-oiled machine, so that you can focus on the big picture-you know, the fun stuff.
Benefits of Hiring a Freelance Business Assistant
Cost Efficiency: You save on overhead costs. No office, no benefits, no hassle.
Scalability: Hiring a virtual assistant is flexible. Need more hours during a busy season? You’ve got it. Need to scale back? No problem.
Expertise On-Demand: Many times, virtual assistants bring their special expertise to the work. Be it digital marketing, social media, or admin, they can do it all without requiring much training.
Focus on Growth: By handing over time-consuming tasks, you can focus on growth-oriented activities. More time for you to network, strategize, and innovate.
According to Travel Market Report, this same concept-to hire a virtual assistant so he could focus on higher-value work-was a virtual assistant himself and grew his income by leaps and bounds because of it.
Ready to Grow with a Freelance Business Assistant?
All in all, hiring a freelance business assistant is all about taking control of your time. It’s all about letting you, as the owner, do what you most want to: lead, strategize, and develop your company. A freelance business assistant could do just that for you: whether it be via drowning in emails or just having someone around to handle any old nitty-gritty.
So, why not take the plunge? Hire for a couple of hours a week to start, and watch the difference that makes. Trust me, you’ll be wondering why you didn’t sooner.
Looking for more information on how a freelance business assistant can change your business? Book a call with us and let’s chat scaling smart!