Work · 2 min read

Save Time with a Virtual Personal Assistant

A virtual personal assistant (sometimes known as a ‘virtual concierge’ or the provider of a ‘virtual valet’ service) is essentially someone that provides personal assistance via the internet. The great benefit of having a virtual assistant is that it can save you (or your staff) a lot of time, and allow you to make better use of your time. Virtual assistant time How can you make use of virtual personal assistant? Think about the following services they can offer:
  • Make bookings (e.g. – flights, restaurants, accommodation, repairs, kid’s birthday)
  • Proofreading
  • Ordering supplies for your office or home.
  • Research (e.g. – market research, job search, holiday options)
  • Diary and/or email management
  • Word processing (e.g. – tidying up documents).
  • Web site administration (e.g. – checking content, comments, etc)
  • Pay bills
  • Data entry (e.g.- building a marketing database, or entering account information)
  • Mailings (e.g.- e-marketing, of postal marketing)
No doubt you could think of other uses. Such services offer a great benefit in the work place, and some companies now offer employees such a service as part of their package. Often virtual personal assistants are used instead of an in-house secretary.
How much does a virtual personal assistant cost? One of the most popular virtual assistant services (and ranked 2nd on Time magazines best websites) is offered by ‘Ask Sunday’. They 0ffer a number of pricing plans starting from around US$14 per hour. Even cheaper options are provided by outsourcing companies in India and elsewhere.
Perhaps the more important questions to ask are:
  • How much use do I (we) have for a virtual personal assistant?
  • How much is your time (or the time of your staff) worth?

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