Do you have a large vision for your company, but realize that you’re spreading yourself too thin by performing essential and non-essential daily tasks?

Starting a small business entails wearing many hats at first. If you’re going at it alone you’re likely answering customer calls, managing social media, developing company blog content and much more. If you’re managing a growing small to medium enterprise, you may not have access to more experienced and highly qualified professionals due to budget constraints.

In both cases, you are deep in the trenches of daily operations that there is little time left for strategic level tasks associated with business growth. If these scenarios sound familiar, it may be time to hire virtual employees.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

First, let’s define the term, virtual assistant.

A virtual assistant is someone who works for your company, like an in-house or local employee, with one primary difference: your virtual assistant is most likely working from an office halfway around the globe.

You might think to yourself, “That’s impractical!”

But as more companies — large and small — start to embrace the concept, they soon realize it’s not. A virtual assistant is your employee even though they’re not located in your zip code. Thanks to improved technology, you gain the benefits of global talent with the control and collaboration opportunities you enjoy, as if your new virtual hire was local.

“Seems like virtual assistant are like freelancers! Right?”

Not quite.

Sure, virtual assistant work remotely and come cheap, but the keyword here is ’employee’. A freelancer can never be an employee because they don’t work for you full-time or exclusively. A virtual employee can work for you remotely and exclusively as a dedicated part of your team without juggling other assignments.

Should I Hire Virtual assistant ?

If you’ve been contemplating hiring virtual assistant , it may be time to seriously consider taking the leap. Why? Because, adding highly qualified individuals to your team (without minimal overhead) can remove a large burden and free up your time to focus on driving profit instead of daily administrative tasks.

Tedious, repetitive tasks can exhaust time and energy. Why not delegate these tasks to someone better suited and enjoy the cost-efficiencies gained in lieu of hiring locally?

Not convinced? Here are are six simple ways your small business can benefit from hiring a virtual assistant :

1. Build your business faster.

Decrease your tactical workload instantly and gain increased freedom to focus on core competencies that build your business, while your virtual assistant manages the non-core processes.

2. Eliminate headaches associated with freelance hires.

Rid yourself from the uncertainties and sometimes unprofessional conduct associated with hiring freelancers since the model itself caters to short-term work. Most entrepreneurs need someone more permanent and reliable for long-term tasks.

3. Cut staffing costs.

Not only can you save money in salaries, but also in overhead costs such as office space rentals, ancillary services, information technology (laptops, hardware and software), office supplies and much more. When you employ a virtual staff, you can run a successful business from anywhere in the world — even your own backyard.

4. Do away with the hassles of recruitment and hiring.

A virtual employee is legally employed by an outsourcing company, so you are not in any way responsible for a virtual employee. All of the hiring, employment legal issues,  human resources issues (benefits, time-off, etc.) and IT concerns are handled by a virtual staffing service provider — not you.

5. Enjoy the benefits of outsourcing without the uncertainty.

Since a virtual employee works out of a physical office with HR management supervision, and constant monitoring, the questions of tardiness and missed deadlines are a non issue.

6. Expand your home-based operations.

If you are launching a new startup, hiring one or more virtual employees can quickly help you scale operations. You can run a multinational small business from the comfort of your home.

The key thing to remember is that a virtual employee, when managed through a service provider, is as real as a local employee and technology takes care of the rest!