Virtual assistants are amazing – that’s a fact! But there are myths about virtual assistants floating around, scaring off potential employers!
This is why not all business owners are rushing to hire one or two VA’s for their business despite the need.
Today, we’re going to bust those myths and show you that you’re missing out on better productivity by refusing to get a virtual assistant for your team.
Myth #1: Small business owners don’t need virtual assistants.
Some business owners may feel that just because their business is still in its early stages, they don’t need help just yet.
But in reality, small business owners need virtual assistants more.
As a small business owner, you wear many hats. That’s understandable, especially if you have limited resources.
Here’s the problem – when you wear too many hats, you lose your focus. You may be ticking off a long list of administrative work when you could be working on sales and marketing. Even worse, you may lose your grasp of which tasks are more important than the others.
This will not only delay your success and growth, it could also lead you towards a path of self-destruction.
Hiring a virtual assistant allows you to zero in on the tasks that need your attention the most.
Do you want to personally work on increasing your brand’s exposure and reach? Then focus on that, then hire a VA to do everything else.
Myth #2: Virtual assistants are only good for temporary work.
Another of the popular myths about virtual assistants is that they’re only good for remote work. Well, just because they work remotely does not mean they aren’t in it for the long term. If anything, virtual assistants are looking for sustainability. They want long-term commitment and will work hard for that opportunity.
When you think about it, location does not impact one’s tenure at work. For as long as there’s work to be done and the virtual assistant is fully capable and willing to do the job, then you can enjoy the perks of having a virtual assistant working for you for as long as you need them.
Of course, expecting a home-based VA to work for you for years (even decades) would require some effort from your end.
How can you make your VA stay?
Think about this – what perks are you willing to give to make your VA stay? What benefits would a VA appreciate?
One common perk that employers offer their virtual assistants would be the promise of a raise. This could be done annually and could be based on the person’s performance.
You could also offer sick leaves, vacation leaves and birthday leaves.
You can even offer a 13th month’s salary, which is a common (and sometimes expected) benefit by virtual assistants from the Philippines.
Better yet, ask potential VA’s about benefits that they would love to enjoy if given the chance to work with you. If you could make adjustments for special benefits they would like to receive, this only shows that you’re willing to keep your VA on for as long as possible, something that could prompt loyalty from them.
The bottom line is this – treat your VA well, and they can stay with you and help you grow your company for a long as you want.
Find out what mistakes you should avoid when hiring a virtual assistant here.
Myth #3: Virtual assistants can only deal with administrative work.
When people hear the term “virtual assistant”, they think about personal assistants.
To be fair, a lot of virtual assistants started out as personal and administrative assistants. This is probably where these myths about virtual assistants came from.
But the truth is, VA’s can do so much more than just data entry, answering phone calls and emails, scheduling meetings, etc.
Each virtual assistant has a set of skills that makes adds value to specific parts of your business.
What can VA’s do for you?
There’s the general VA who takes care of administrative and back-office tasks that take up a lot of your time.
You also have your digital marketers who can make your brand known to people who have never even heard about you before. They’re considered as virtual assistants as well. You’ve got social media managers, content writers, SEO experts and a lot more.
You’ve got virtual assistants who can run through your business numbers. There are bookkeepers and data analysts who can tell you where your performance is and how your funds are looking.
You also have experts who know how to deal with every single kind of customer out there. There are technical support representatives who can walk customers through any issues with their accounts. You have your e-commerce experts who do not only post your products online, but also take care of potential customers.
Regardless of what kind of tasks you want to pass onto them, the right virtual assistants will be able to work on those. As long as you hire the right VA, your business will continue to head the right way.
Here are 101 things that a virtual assistant can do for you.
Myth #4: Virtual assistants are mostly scammers.
Yes, we are not denying the fact that there have been instances of virtual assistants disappearing on their employers. Some may have even worse horror stories, with their VA’s scamming them out of their money.
But this happens in EVERY industry.
There will always be bad seeds out there. There will always be people who refuse to earn money the fair way. But don’t let these few affect your perception of an entire industry that has been proven to help businesses time and time again.
The reason why the virtual assistant industry is still thriving is because there are more VA’s with integrity than the ones that are only out to scam people. The key here is to make sure you don’t become a victim.
Here are some tips on How to Avoid Virtual Assistant Scams
How do you do avoid virtual assistant scams?
Make sure you go through the right channels, especially when it comes to payments. Some of the more popular secure payment channels are PayPal, Payoneer and Wise (formerly Transferwise), but some employers also send payments via direct bank transfer.
Going through trustworthy virtual assistant sites like eVirtualAssistants will also give you extra protection.
It’s also important to establish trust before anything else. Don’t agree to pay anything before work has even started. You can, however, agree to send payments on a weekly basis first just to show your VA that you’re true to your word. Virtual assistants are also scared of being scammed, after all.
Also, make sure you do not give out too much sensitive information to your VA until you completely trust the person. Sometimes, we become gullible because a person is nice and says all the right words.
Trust your gut. It’s usually the best protection you have against virtual assistants who are out to hurt the reputation of the entire industry.
Check here on How to Safely Pay Remote Employees
Myth #5: Employers will have a hard time supervising virtual assistants.
How did traditional businesses work?
Employees would be seated at desks provided by the company. Then, their supervisors would be hovering over them, making sure they did their work properly.
So what happens in the case of a virtual assistant who would be working remotely?
Guess what? Work is still going to be done.
Just because a supervisor is not hovering over an employee’s desk does not mean that productivity gets thrown out the window.
Thanks to technology, you can ditch the supervisor altogether and rely on different software that can do all that for you.
Tools you can use to monitor your VA
If you want to effectively monitor your virtual assistant, you can start off with these:
Although most of these software have free versions, you could also consider looking at the perks that come with the paid ones as well.
It’s also important to look at all the features that you’d need.
Timekeeping would probably be one thing you want to have as a feature. If you want to make sure you know how your VA is using his or her time, most of these productivity apps also allow you to either take screenshots, or have a list of websites and programs they accessed, and how long they stayed on each page.
You may also want a software that allows you to assign tasks and track their progress on each task. As for productivity, you can check out tools like Trello, Monday, Teamwork, Workzone, and Proofhub.
Find out more about how to manage a remote team.
Myth #6: Virtual assistants won’t need training.
Yes, virtual assistants have their own areas of specialization. But just because they already have skills does not mean you get to skip on training them.
First of all, they would need to have a good grasp of your business – what it’s about, what the culture is, who your customers are – before your VA can be effective in whatever task you’re assigning them.
You may also prefer things to be done a specific way. You may have preferences and prefer to keep things that way. A training session should help you show your new VA your process.
In some cases, business owners prefer specific software to be used. If your newly-hired virtual assistant uses a different tool to get the job done, then it would be completely necessary to train the person as well.
Also, don’t forget that some business owners like giving opportunities to newbies who have little to no experience in being a VA. Usually, this is because it’s sometimes easier to hone someone and let them start from scratch, than hiring someone experienced and making them unlearn their own practices.
Pro Tip!
Although you may want to train your virtual assistant to work the way you prefer, make sure you are still open to change.
Especially if you hire someone who already has massive experience in the field, it could turn out to be advantageous to your business if you also get inputs from your VA.
Who knows? Their process might turn out to be more efficient – and possibly, more profitable – for your business.
Myth #7: Hiring a virtual assistant is expensive.
It’s actually weird how this myth even started.
When you think about it, it’s actually the exact opposite. Any job that is done remotely automatically saves you money in terms of overhead expenses.
Little to no overhead expenses
You won’t have to set up desk space nor provide a computer or laptop for your VA to use. Especially for the more experienced virtual assistants, they already have their own workstation set up at home.
You won’t have to worry about utilities, either. Virtual assistants know that their operational costs would be their own problem, not yours. So when they ask for a salary range, they should have already computed those costs into that price range.
Lower minimum wage
Because most virtual assistants come from the Philippines, you should also expect that their expected salaries would be much lower.
To help you better understand the economics involved, let’s compare the minimum wage in the US and in the Philippines.
In the US, the minimum wage per hour is around $7.25.
But in the Philippines, the hourly rate is only around Php537. Yup, that’s $1.29 per hour.
This is why virtual assistants are cheaper. They definitely won’t agree to just $1.50 per hour, especially if they’re skilled VA’s. But giving them a rate that’s slightly lower than the average rate in the US already gives you huge savings.
So how much are we talking about here?
Average virtual assistant salaries
Just to give you an idea of the usual rates, here are some of the salary ranges of some of the most sought-after VA’s:
| General Virtual Assistants | $500 to $800 a month |
| Content Writers | $500 to $700 a month |
| SEO Specialists | $750 to $950 a month |
| Web Developers | $800 to $1400 a month |
| Graphic Designers | $700 to $1200 a month |
| Mobile App Developers | $800 to $1400 a month |
Note that you can either go lower or higher than these prices, depending on your VA’s set of skills, amount of experience, and the tasks and responsibilities you’ll be assigning them.
The busier a virtual assistant is, the higher the rate. The more specialized their skills, the higher the salary. The more tenure, the higher the price.
Now, consider these rates and the fact that you’re saving a lot on overhead costs, and you’ll realize that hiring a VA isn’t as expensive as you initially believed.
Myth #8: Virtual assistants are all stay-at-home moms.
Remote work is amazing because it allows stay-at-home mothers to earn while taking care of their families.
But that doesn’t mean that all VA’s are stay-at-home moms.
You’ve got tired professionals who are tired of the traffic and stress that come with traditional corporate work.
You’ve got single people who would rather work from home than spend all their time slaving away at the office.
You’ll see people who, regardless of sex, age, gender and status, are just hoping to grab the opportunity to dictate how they work, where they work, and when they work.
And that’s one of the other awesome things about hiring a virtual assistant. You’re giving people who are tired of the usual system the chance to find success their own way.
Myth #9: Virtual assistants do not get as much work done as in-office assistants.
Again, we go back to the image of a supervisor hovering over an employee.
When you think about it, this doesn’t ensure productivity, either. The employee could be typing away at their desk but may not be delivering optimal results.
Now, let’s take a peek at the life of a remote worker.
Home office setup
A virtual assistant can choose to work anywhere inside the house – on the bed, on the dining table, while sitting on the couch – anywhere!
Of course, the more experienced virtual assistants usually have a home office set up to make sure they don’t get tempted to fall asleep when working in a more comfortable position. Nevertheless, the fact that virtual assistants can set up their work area their own way means that they have the potential to be even more productive.
Wear anything
Virtual assistants don’t have to wear business attire! They can work in their pj’s and still finish the tasks assigned to them. Again, this increased comfort could motivate them to work more. They’ll just have to throw on a blazer or jacket for those occasional team video calls, if you have those.
But what if they get too comfortable at home that their creativity starts to suffer?
Work anywhere
Don’t worry. Virtual assistants, being the flexible beings that they are, can always spot a nearby coffee shop, internet café or coworking space in case they feel that staring at the same boring walls every single day is draining the creativity out of them.
Even better, VA’s can travel to gain inspiration from different places. The term “digital nomad” is now more common, with more and more remote workers jumping from one place to another, laptops in tow, earning money as they work remotely.
Technical setup
But what if they lose their internet connection or live in an area where power interruptions are common?
Most virtual assistants know that it’s important for them to stay online all the time. This is why most of them have multiple connections at home, to make sure that when one ISP fails them, they have another one supporting them.
As far as other technical problems are concerned, virtual assistants are a resilient bunch. Again, they have the option to go to the nearest place with an internet connection to continue working.
Myth #10: Virtual assistants are amateurs.
Anyone who says real pros don’t go for remote virtual assistant jobs evidently knows so little about an industry that has been bringing financial success to a lot of people worldwide.
Sure, there are a number of fresh graduates (as well as undergraduates who have little to no experience) setting up profiles on virtual assistant sites. But there are more professionals with extensive experience in this industry than you can imagine.
You see, the economics will always tell every professional out there that working from home gives the best deal.
Transportation, for example, will not be a problem any longer. Your VA can wake up 5 minutes before they’re expected to be online. This means they do not only save money on gas or commuting expenses, they also avoid wasting time spent in travel (and traffic).
Remote work also promises better opportunities for those who are willing to work for the long-term. It isn’t news if you hear people moving up the ranks despite working from home as a VA. Remember that performance is measured by the quality of output, and not by physical presence.
Working remotely also allows professionals to choose a contractor-client relationship instead of an employee-employer one. This means that a VA can claim the entire payment as his own! Look at this from a corporate setting, and the employer would only be giving a small portion of the profit to an employee, even if it’s the employee working hands-on on a project. But as a contractor, a professional VA gets to take the entire prize.
Myth #11: It’s difficult to find good virtual assistants.
Some people think that finding a good virtual assistant takes up a lot of time and too much effort compared to hiring a person face to face.
In reality, the hunt for a great VA can be less challenging and less stressful if you do it the right way.
You are not blinded by the bias of physical appearances, for instance. This means that you get to gauge an applicant’s capabilities through their achievements and through the results of your interview and recruitment tests.
Finding a great virtual assistant would also depend on where you’re looking for them.
There are a number of great virtual assistant sites that can help you make the process a lot easier. Visit sites like OnlineJobs.ph, Upwork, Task Bullet, Outsourced, Virtual Coworker and a lot more to browse through thousands of virtual assistant profiles.
If you don’t want to browse through profiles, you also have the option to post job ads on these places. Because these sites already have a number of professional VA’s waiting to pounce on the next best offer, you’ll have a ton of applications to go through in no time.
If you want an even better experience, you can visit eVirtualAssistants. Not only will this site give you a huge variety of virtual assistants to choose from, you are also ensured that your money stays safe. eVirtualAssistants has a number of security measures put into place to make sure that no employer and no virtual assistant is ever scammed out of their time, effort and money.
Want to get started in hiring a virtual assistant? Click here now.
From Where to Hire the Best Virtual Assistants?
Before getting into the topic, let’s learn about some trustworthy platforms from where you can hire a virtual assistant. It can be done either from a VA agency or from a freelancing platform.
Here are some VA agencies to look at:
Some best freelancing platforms to hire a virtual assistant are:
