The Top 3 Methods A Virtual Assistant Increases Productivity

A higher rate of productivity in both your professional and personal lives can be achieved with the help of virtual assistants.

Productivity is not merely a buzzword, despite the fact that it is used frequently in professional and business contexts. 

Productivity can be understood as the ratio of output to the amount of time that is spent creating that output. Another definition of productivity is the rate at which a person performs work that is beneficial. 

When it comes to output, productivity can be reduced to a simple equation: the faster a person can create it, the more productive they are.

The very same can be said for a business. If the employees of a company are more productive, then they will be able to provide their products and services to their clients and customers in a more timely manner. Growing the rate of production gives a company the opportunity to expand its customer base and, ultimately, its market share. When it comes to gaining a competitive edge over other businesses, increasing productivity is one of the most important factors. However, increasing productivity should never be done at the expense of quality, particularly in the context of a small business. Instead of cutting corners, small businesses need to become more efficient to increase their productivity rate.

The use of virtual assistants increases efficiency, which in turn results in higher levels of productivity.

According to Small Business Trends and the findings of a study conducted by The Alternative Board, 72 percent of owners of small businesses report feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work and responsibilities placed on their shoulders. 64% of those same business owners surveyed believe that in order for them to feel less stressed, they need to delegate more responsibilities.

Sound familiar?

Delegate tasks for better efficiency to increase productivity.

As the owner of a business, you have the ability to quickly and easily delegate tasks relating to administration and support to a qualified virtual assistant. This will allow you to concentrate on the activities that will have the greatest impact on the expansion of your company. Using a virtual assistant is an efficient and inexpensive way to obtain specialized support in the areas in which you are most in need of assistance. Virtual assistants have the potential to become reliable business partners if they are able to assist you in the day-to-day operations of your company and thereby contribute to its expansion.

Let’s take a look at three different ways in which increasing the amount of work you delegate to a virtual assistant can boost the productivity of both you and your company.

1) VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS DO NOT GET DISTRACTED

Snack breaks, gossip, long lunches to celebrate birthdays, scrolling through social media, and online shopping are all acceptable activities during this time. VAFLIX lists these as some of the most common workplace distractions that hinder productivity. Some workplace distractions are apparent. But workplace distractions can snowball. The Association for Psychological Science explains that being distracted by workplace interruptions can degrade the quality of the work done, even when the task gets resumed. In other words, once distracted, it is hard to get back to work, and additionally, the quality of the work can suffer due to the “restart”/”where was I?” factor.

You most likely are aware of this fact to an excessive degree. When you are rushing from one task to the next, putting out fires, and responding to incoming inquiries, it can often feel as though you are constantly reacting to the events that occur throughout your day. You find that rather than setting your hours and organizing your day as you would like, you are constantly responding to emails, being pulled into meetings at the last minute, and taking care of anything urgent or non-essential that comes your way. While you are busy working in your business, precious little time is left over for you to work on your business.

Freedom Maker virtual assistants are able to complete tasks quickly and effectively.

Because they are solely devoted to the tasks at hand, virtual assistants cannot be diverted from their duties. When working from the comfort of their own homes, Freedom Maker virtual assistants are able to complete a greater amount of work in each hour. They are well-equipped with the skills that allow them to perform time blocking effectively. They are able to give the task or tasks they have been assigned the highest priority and focus all of their efforts on completing those tasks. They clock in to do a job and work determinedly and continuously on that one thing until complete. Without a noisy office environment, Freedom Makers can increase your company’s productivity.

It has been demonstrated through research that an increase in productivity can be achieved by concentrating on finishing one task at a time over a predetermined amount of time.   

2) A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT IS SKILLED AND EFFICIENT IN THE WORK THAT THEY DO

Once your company is up and running, there are a variety of tasks that need to be completed each day in order to keep it that way. Writing blog content, formatting newsletters, managing comments on social media, answering calls, responding to emails, creating spreadsheets, designing graphics in Canva, posting on social media, managing comments, posting on social media, creating spreadsheets, formatting newsletters, creating bookkeeping entries, etc. are all examples of administrative tasks. 

Do you find that these tasks give you a headache?

You brought your skills and your enthusiasm to the launch of your company. It doesn’t matter if you’re a website designer, craftsman, legal practitioner, software developer, or florist; your area of expertise is unique to you and predominates your skillset. It comes down to what you value the most! 

However, a software developer for a small business must quickly become skilled as a bookkeeper, customer relations manager, marketing maverick, and blog writer. 

Exhausting.

The upheaval that comes with becoming skilled at things that are not typically within your wheelhouse can result in decreased levels of productivity.

Freedom Maker virtual assistants are experts in the specific kinds of laborious and time-consuming tasks that you find most frustrating. 

Typical responsibilities that are delegated to a virtual assistant include, but are not limited to the following:

Daily office functions like:

• Making/receiving phone calls
• Appointment scheduling
• Calendar management
• Making travel arrangements
• Managing email accounts
• Blog writing
• Bookkeeping
• Social media engagement and scheduling
• Graphic design
• Website content management and design services
• Marketing services
• Research
• Project coordination
• Event management
• Operations management
• Customer Relations Management (CRM) / Database support

The virtual assistants provided by Freedom Maker come from a diverse range of professional backgrounds and areas of concentration, and as a result, they are skilled and talented in performing the tasks that you do not particularly enjoy. Many people focus their expertise on the spheres that demand an excessive amount of your time and energy. Because of their “time in rank” and extensive knowledge, virtual assistants are able to complete the tasks that you have delegated to them in a more timely manner. 

Speed is directly proportional to familiarity. The faster you go, the more productive you will be.

3) A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT FREES UP YOUR TIME

Hiring a virtual assistant allows you to reclaim your precious time and put it to better use in other aspects of your company’s operations.

Because of this, YOUR productivity will increase. 

Time is the most valuable asset that your company possesses, regardless of the products or services that it offers or sells. When you give yourself the task of doing everything, all the time, by yourself, you quickly come to the realization that the hours in each day and the days in each week pass by much more quickly than usual.

Have you ever come to the end of a long day, knowing that you kept yourself extremely busy throughout the day but being unable to point to any particular progress made? You are worn out, but you do not have the impression that you have accomplished very much today.

A virtual assistant can take care of the tasks that consume too much of your time, allowing you to focus more of your attention and effort on activities that are beneficial to your company. You will see a significant increase in your overall productivity in the realms of innovation and expansion after you hire a virtual assistant to handle administrative responsibilities such as social media management and database upkeep. 

Do you need more evidence?

If you were to do the math and examine your day-to-day schedule, you would find that you spend a disproportionate amount of your time on activities that are oriented toward upkeep rather than those that are oriented toward development. One study conducted at Harvard found that nearly 24 percent of a CEO’s time is spent reading and responding to emails as well as managing their inboxes. 

Important, yes. Productive? Not really.

According to the available data, a typical small business spends an average of 120 working days per year on administrative tasks… which equates to a productivity loss of almost 5%.

This reduction in productivity can also lead to a restriction in the growth of the business. 

Suppose too much of your time is spent on administrative tasks, and your energy is wasted on maintenance-focused operations. In that case, you aren’t working ON your business in areas like:

• The formulation of strategies
• Innovation within your business landscape
• Leadership growth and mentorship
• Internal culture building

Those vital, fundamental touchpoints have to be strengthened while you’re in the process of building your organization. Your company is going to struggle in the long run if administrative procedures are preventing your leadership from being as productive as they could be.

Contact VAFLIX to learn how a virtual assistant will increase your – and your businesses – productivity.