Guest Post from Emily Suess
Posted on September 6, 2011 by admin in Guest Posts, Lisa's Corner7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Freelance Business
Life for the freelancer can be very, very hectic. When there’s just one person to run the whole operation, lots of things receive only minimal attention. Some things just don’t get done. Period.
Fortunately, freelancers have several options for taking control of their workflow and managing their time more productively. From learning how to better prioritize tasks to saying “no” to hiring a professional assistant to take on some of the workload, there really isn’t a good reason to keep spreading yourself so thin.
If you’ve cut out all of the unnecessary distractions during your workday and still find you have trouble maintaining your sanity, the next step is hiring a virtual assistant.
7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help You
1. Manage your social media profiles. Twitter and Facebook are great tools for self-promotion, but they can also be a real time-suck. These accounts can be easily managed by a virtual assistant, giving you time to focus your energy on the work you do for your clients. It can also free up your time so that you are able to take on more clients and earn more money.
2. Organize your files. With plenty of online file management and sharing tools (like Dropbox, for example) you can toss all of your files into a single a folder and leave the more tedious details to a virtual assistant. With your files organized, you’ll spend less time wondering what you did with that last proposal you wrote and more time completing assignments.
3. Post online advertisements. By hiring a virtual assistant to place ads for your business or products on sites like Craigslist or industry forums, you can actually get the word out to more people. Most freelancers have little to no time to work on self-promotion, so it can be difficult to reach out to potential clients.
4. Compiling research for your next project. Research is one of the most time-consuming parts of any project, but a virtual assistant can compile preliminary and even in-depth reports on any topic so that you can dive right into the more creative aspects of your work.
5. Make travel arrangements and build your itinerary. If your job involves a lot of travel, a virtual assistant is an absolute must. You can concentrate on your presentation or conference while your assistant handles the details of flight, rental car, and hotel reservations.
6. Create and distribute your newsletter. It’s important to stay in touch with your clients and let them know about changes and new services you plan to offer. Virtual assistants can write and distribute e-newsletters or traditional newsletters that keep everyone informed.
7. Send and track your invoices. Not all freelancers enjoy creating invoices, sending invoices, and tracking payments. A virtual assistant can take over these tasks too, making your invoice tracking more streamlined and efficient. When you have someone to help track and collect on past due notices, you can continue to make money instead of stopping everything to worry about who still has an outstanding balance.
There are so many different ways that a virtual assistant can help freelancers grow their business that it’s impossible to list them all. These seven benefits are just the tip of the iceberg. With a virtual assistant to help, you can stay ahead of the game. And, most importantly, you can stay sane!
Emily Suess is a freelance writer in Indianapolis. She blogs about writing and freelancing at Suess’s Pieces.
