What is a Virtual Assistant and What They Can Do to Help Your Business

As a CEO of a Remote Executive Assistant agency, I have been asked so many times with this question: “what is a virtual assistant and what can they do to help my business?”⁣
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In this article, I will be going through what a virtual assistant is and what are the different ways that they can do to help you out in your business.⁣
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So, to answer the question, a virtual assistant is like a personal assistant but is working for you online. They can be working for you from a different country, city or state depending on where you are hiring them from.⁣
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Now that we have defined what a virtual assistant is, let’s move on to what they can do for you. There are three key areas that I usually have our clients focus on inside of 2xYou as they are getting started with their assistant.⁣
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1st Key Area

The Tasks a Virtual Assistant Can Do For You⁣

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𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬⁣
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Cleaning up your email, calendar management, file management, and data organization. These are just some of the usual things your VA can do for you. A virtual assistant can definitely help you with the usual day-to-day processes inside your company.⁣
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When it comes to tasks, there are 2 Types of Virtual Assistants, a 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 and a 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭.⁣
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A 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 is someone mentioned above, who usually does admin tasks and are jack or jill of all trades where they can help you out in different parts of your business.⁣
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A 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭, on the other hand, is someone who has expertise in one certain area. They are still a virtual assistant as they can do other things for you, but they are more focused on one key area. Examples of this could be bookkeeping, social media management, or website management. So, they are someone who has a specialized niche that you can have them focus on in your business.⁣
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As you’re thinking of what tasks you can give your assistant, you must consider if you need someone who can do more general tasks or if you want someone to help in one key area in your business then you will be set to move forward.⁣
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As you try to figure out what are the things or tasks you can give to your assistant, I recommend you download the 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐃𝐅 found at the bottom of this article and you will have a better idea of what tasks to give depending on the day to day, week to week tasks you’re doing to keep your business running.⁣
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In reality, the goal of having a virtual assistant is to free you up from your business so then you can actually build the life that you want to create, and at the same time, give someone a job that they love doing versus you having to tire yourself over and having to figure everything out yourself. Having a virtual assistant helping you figure things out makes business basically just a little bit less stressful.⁣
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2nd Key Area

A Virtual Assistant Can Help with Your Systems

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One of the things that a virtual assistant can help you with is building and updating systems. It could be making sure that you have a checklist of how you do certain things inside your business so then you can just easily repeat them, you’re not the only one who knows it, and you can give it off easily. This is the fastest way you can delegate a new task and creating those repeatable results for you and your business. And with systems, it creates freedom and makes it easier for you to make tweaks and adjustments inside your business knowing where things are at. And having someone else know your system, you have that outside perspective who can give you feedback of what else can be done better in your current system.⁣
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With systems, this could also mean making sure there’s an organized way for you to find files or the information inside your business, this could also be your VA cleaning up your desktop from time to time, or creating a system on how to basically better take care of you as their client.⁣

3rd Key Area

Your Virtual Assistant Becoming Your Second Brain

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This is something we focus a lot in 2xYou, where we get the assistants to a point where they’re actually writing, speaking, and deciding on things almost the same as their clients. What this looks like, is, for example, my Instagram. Half of my Instagram nowadays is not me, it’s my assistant making the graphic posts and the captions sounding like me. That’s the magic of having someone who becomes your second brain. You don’t have to do all the content, the filtering, or the research because you have this person who knows your preferences, who knows what you are looking for, what are the things you try to avoid, and just gives you the right information at the right time.⁣
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These are the different ways that having a virtual assistant who becomes your second brain can free you up and build that life that you actually want instead of constantly working inside of your business.⁣
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All in all, a virtual assistant really is someone who can help free you up from tasks that you don’t need to be doing and even create tasks that could help you in your business. They are also someone who creates and documents systems inside your business, creates Standard Operating Procedures, and manage your projects. Having a virtual assistant who becomes your 2nd brain, making them a mini-you, can really free you up from your business so then you’re not always in it. You’re able to step back because you know someone else is taking care of you and your business.⁣
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The biggest potential that a virtual assistant can have is that they can become the Head of Operations in your business. Because they’ve learned enough about how your business runs, they are literally helping you run it. This happens so many times with our clients in 2xYou, that their assistants are running their businesses without them, which is for me, that point is the magic rush, where our clients are able to take vacations, take weeks off to be with their family and spend the time the way they want to spend their time.⁣
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With everything that’s been discussed above, this is what you may look forward to and even more as you think of what a virtual assistant is and what they can do for you. So, if you’re looking for ways to run your business instead of your business running you, hiring a virtual assistant can be your very best option.⁣
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If you know of other ways that a virtual assistant can be of help that’s not being mentioned above, comment down below and let’s discuss about it.