The tough part of bringing a virtual assistant into your organization is figuring out just what he or she can do to help you get more done. To make things more complicated, many VAs offer a wide variety of different services — you can just as easily find one who specializes in bookkeeping as one who works on social media projects. But a good VA can give you some guidance on what tasks he or she can handle.
Wanda Green is both a virtual assistant and a certified bookkeeper. In this interview, she offers a little insight into what she does.
Getting Started
When Green begins working with a new client, she starts with a
conversation with the client. It may be via e-mail or by phone, but
it’s extensive and helps to nail down exactly what the client needs
and how Green can help. For certain projects, such as tax
preparation, she needs to go beyond just a conversation: “Again, it
starts with a phone conversation, and then a questionnaire via e-mail
that the client must answer [and] usually an e-mail with a scanned copy
of last year’s tax return, payment [PayPal or Google checkout] and we
go from there.”
Green makes sure that the process is easy for a new client working
with her. The crucial point is making sure that both sides understand
what the virtual assistant can and is expected to accomplish. “There
is always a clear understanding of all that is to be accomplished with
the virtual working relationship,” says Green.
The Services Available
While the services that the average virtual assistant offers can vary
dramatically, Green has focused on some of the more standard services,
along with offering help with bookkeeping and tax preparation. Her
services include:
- Telephone reception
- Bookkeeping
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Tax preparation
- E-mails (response and preparation)
- Sales (inquiries and sales and adjustments and just general questions)
- Whatever a company needs
Because Green keeps the process simple, her clients are pleased with
her work — driving home the point that a small business owner in
search of a VA needs to know just what sort of approach that virtual
assistant takes to work before setting an agreement in stone. If you
want a VA who touches base at each step of the project, that’s OK —
but there are also VAs who operate with little communication. Green
notes, “The business owner just needs to realize that there can be as
much communication, or as little, as needed. They are always pleased,
because they just did not realize how easy the process is. They do
have to trust and show a little faith.”
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