This week we met with several clients who are in need of personal assistants to help with day to day projects and tasks. Having used and worked with several personal assistants (also called virtual assistants) I thought it might be a good topic for today’s blog post.
First let’s answer some common questions
“What is a Personal Assistant or Virtual Assistant?”
Basically, a personal assistant is an individual who is a fulltime assistant who you would work with just as you would an assistant in your office. The reason the term “virtual” is commonly used is because they are based overseas and all communication is done via technology e.g. Skype, VOIP, Phone, Video Call etc. The term virtual assistant and personal assistant in our references can be used interchangeably.
“What does a Personal Assistant do? What tasks can I assign my assistants?”
The best performing virtual assistants are assistants that have a clear understanding of the long term goals and strategy of the organization or people they are working with and how they can help achieve the goals. With that in mind let’s dig in…Personal assistants can perform a variety of tasks just as they would if they were your executive assistant in your office. Some common tasks include the following: phone call screening, email support, calendaring, appointment reminders and verifications, scheduling, writing emails, note taking in meetings, helping with travel, research, presentations, bookkeeping, data entry, and much more. Basically anything you would need an assistant for you can have them do. Having an assistant can help keep people organized and on task, while saving them time and money.
“What about communication? Is there a language problem?”
This question usually comes up with companies who have never outsourced with Zylun before, but it is a good one to answer here. As with all our positions we qualify and make sure the person you will be hiring is exactly what you need. One of the big benefits to the Philippines is the English ability and the lack of accent. All our personal assistants are tested for English ability for both written and spoken proficiency. This is an additional benefit to having a US citizen in our offices to actually help evaluate the English. As far as methods of communication the easiest and one of the most used is online video chat or instant message chat services. Because English isn’t a problem many clients will record a message and simply email the messages to their personal assistants to transcribe or perform the tasks. With technology communicating with your virtual assistant is easy.
“Why would having a personal assistant be beneficial?”
The simple answer is time maximization. When you have a personal assistant you can focus on what matters most to you. Having someone to help with your tasks is extremely valuable and can lead to more profits and better use of time.
Hopefully that helps answer your questions about outsourcing with a personal assistant and beneficial this can be. Of all our positions we staff personal assistants are some of the most valuable. Companies big and small utilize assistants overseas to help them manage their time and customers more efficiently. If you have specific questions call us today to find out if our solutions will work for you.
Image Source: Ambro
g Capital published the 2011 class of the vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs which is also referred to as the v100. Brigham Tomco, CEO of Zylun, was included on the list of emerging entrepreneurs. The v100 list is compiled of individuals nominated by Utah businesses and the academic community based on “individuals who are most likely to lead a successful startup venture in the next five to seven years in the IT (information technology) or biotech industries,” according to vSpring Capital. In addition these individuals are, according to vSpring Capital, “entrepreneurs with Utah ties that are most likely to experience successful venture returns.”
