In reality it is not a new profession, Virtual Assistance has existed since the early 90s; therefore, since the last century! In El Salvador it is still, alas, a little-known reality, so much that it is not considered among the new web professions.
The professions mentioned in the link, with cool and sometimes incomprehensible names for the common mortal, are certainly respectable, but I was surprised not to see the Virtual Assistant among web professions; after all it’s the mother of all web professions. Back then social networks didn’t even exist and there was no online reputation to maintain; however, the VA’s were already working on it behind the scenes.
But what we really want to talk about in this post are the advantages of hiring a VA because we believe it is one of the most stable of all the web professions.
The advantages of hiring a Virtual Assistant
Last week we talked about the professional skills needed to become a VA and the advantages are plenty. If you’re interested in becoming a VA, take good note of these advantages because they will be your winning card when you present yourself to potential clients.
By hiring a Virtual Assistant you cut your costs in half compared to an employee. In fact, you don't pay taxes, you don't pay holidays, permits, sick leaves, maternity, etc.
Realistically anyone who has worked in an office knows that one does not always actually work 8 hours, very often employees take a coffee break, a phone call, or chat with their colleagues, etc. By contracting a VA you certainly won’t have a person who’s available to bring you coffee, but that’s the only thing a VA cannot do because in reality the work will be optimised and extremely efficient since this person will be working from a workspace which greatly increases its performance. Think about it, if you really want coffee, you should just order one through Uber Eats rather than pay a person who’s in the office just to serve you coffee.
By delegating tasks to a VA you will have more time for yourself, precious time that you can devote to the activities that make your business grow, instead of wasting time answering emails, confirming appointments, maintaining your online reputation, etc.
Like we said at the beginning, Virtual Assistants have been present in our lives since the 90s and since then it has only evolved. Some of the web professions with cool names didn’t exist until five years ago and who knows if they will exist in the next five years. Maybe the ones that are considered “cool” right now will be obsolete in a few years… but there will always be a need for a role to cover a series of activities that “steal” too much or tasks customers are simply unable to do.
In short, our suggestion is to invest in a Virtual Assistant now because…
“Don’t try to do everything by yourself, but try to connect with people and resources. Having that discipline and perseverance is really important.” -Chieu Cao, Co-founder of Perkbox