If you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner, outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant (VA) can help save you time and money.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

Virtual Assistants help busy business people save time and money by providing professional administrative, technical, and creative services. They are independent contractors that work remotely, allowing for flexible scheduling to meet your needs.

The best tasks to outsource to a VA are ones that they can perform more quickly or efficiently than you or your in-house staff. There are only so many hours in a day, so having a VA on retainer can be a huge benefit when higher-level projects and tasks require your individual attention. Many entrepreneurs and small business owners find that using a virtual assistant frees up their time to focus on more important aspects of their business.

25 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Save You Time & Money

1. Create an email system of folders and filters to manage your incoming business or personal correspondence
2. Unsubscribe you from newsletters & mailing lists
3. Manage your business’s email subscriber list
4. Create newsletter templates for customer mailings
5. Blog post or website page SEO
6. Write headlines for social media marketing
7. Convert documents to other file types as needed
8. Add alt tags and image titles to older articles
9. Set up meetings with prospective clients
10. Screen and respond to voicemail messages
11. Find the lowest airfare for your next business trip
12. Research topics for speaking engagements
13. Proofread presentations or other documents
14. Transcribe podcasts or interviews
15. Build charts or graphs with provided data
16. Send customer emails for upcoming promotions or sales
17. Develop workflow checklists to ensure consistency of service
18. Collect data & write copy for podcast episode notes
19. Analyze website analytics
20. Prioritize HelpDesk support requests
21. Submit your content to republishing sites
22. Interact with potential clients on discussion boards or forums
23. List upcoming events on local or national community calendars
24. Moderate blog comments and manage spam
25. Build inbound links for internal SEO

This list of 25 ways a virtual assistant can save you time & money is by no means exhaustive. You can hire a VA to do almost any task you can think of that they can accomplish remotely. VA service providers range from generalists to specialists, and rates vary according to experience and expertise.

We’ll share more about how to find a virtual assistant and what to look for when hiring one in the coming weeks.

Image Credit: Adrián Pérez