| Mr. James Lawson gets in his office and checks his | | | | services vs. the typical $40,000 for an in-house |
| email for a status update from his bookkeeper Sheela. | | | | bookkeeper yields tremendous cost savings. A small |
| An email from Sheela has an attached statement | | | | business can then use the money saved to (a) beat |
| generated using QuickBooks which includes invoices | | | | the competition with lower prices for products and |
| waiting for Mr. Lawson's approval and hours to be | | | | services, (b) invest in additional advertising to outgrow |
| billed to his clients for services. Mr. Lawson contacts | | | | the competition, and (c) prepare better strategic plans. |
| Sheela over instant messenger and tells her to (a) pay | | | | Hot coffee on your desk can be a challenge but a |
| the invoices, and (b) send bills for services clients. | | | | virtual assistant can do just about everything else an |
| Sheela immediately acknowledges and goes on to pay | | | | on-site assistant can do. Many a times, even with a |
| off invoices using Mr. Lawson's online Bill Pay system. | | | | full-time on-site assistant, the work load can get too |
| She then emails and faxes bills for services provided | | | | much to handle. The on-site assistant can, at that point, |
| to clients. | | | | off-load work to a Virtual Assistant who can act as |
| Who exactly is Sheela and where is she located? | | | | an overflow buffer. |
| Sheela is a virtual assistant - virtual bookkeeper to be | | | | Small businesses can find it cumbersome to train and |
| specific - working for an online bookkeeping services | | | | retain an assistant or bookkeeper. Further, the |
| company based in from India. Every firm has tasks | | | | effective hourly pay rate for the assistant gets quite |
| that can be handled via virtual assistants. And, if these | | | | high especially if the assistant has to be paid for |
| tasks can be done better than on-site bookkeepers at | | | | vacations, health care, sick time and bench time. As a |
| a fraction of the cost, the explosive growth of | | | | result, having more than one assistant is really a luxury |
| outsourced bookkeeping services shouldn't be surprise. | | | | that a small business may not be able to afford. |
| Since virtual assistants work with various businesses | | | | Small business owners may attempt to do everything |
| and specialize on a specific process or task such as | | | | on their own. However, it may not make good |
| bookkeeping or word processing, they can draw upon | | | | business sense to do so because their time could be |
| best practices of operating a small business. | | | | better spent focusing on their core competency and |
| Online virtual assistant and bookkeeping services are | | | | developing the business. It would be more efficient to |
| an outsourcing strategy that can be used to gain | | | | delegate the operational grind to online services which |
| competitive advantage. As a result, they have shot to | | | | consists of specialists such as bookkeepers, paralegals |
| prominence and firms of various sizes are utilizing | | | | and administrative assistants. With technology paving |
| them. The recession has made businesses more | | | | the way, even very small firms can hire virtual |
| prudent about how they spend their operating budgets | | | | assistants and bookkeeping services as a cost saving |
| making virtual assistants a hot commodity. How do | | | | and more efficient alternative to a jack-of-all-trades |
| they help crush the competition? | | | | in-house assistant. That is, if you don't need coffee |
| Paying as low as $5 per hour for online bookkeeping | | | | brought to your desk as well! |