Best Way To Get Through COVID-19 Without Shutting Down Business
Seeking Alpha Analyst Since 2020
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Summary
- Google, Twitter, and Facebook among other leading tech companies have opted for WFH model permanently.
- 40% of people in the US prefer to work as freelancers, most of them choose VA as a career.
- Virtual assistants can help you in the cost-cutting without letting the ongoing pandemic affect business operations.
- The US had 3.7 millionsecretaries and administrative assistants in 2018. Many of them have lost theirjobs now and switched to VA as a career.
No matter how well you had been doing last year or before that, it’s time to face the truth. The world order, especially for small businesses, has changed completely. It’s not the Growth, but survival has become the primary short-term goal for startups and SMEs across the globe at the moment.
Not only startups, but large businesses are also following the same formula to keep their operations alive and running. You must have read about Twitter, Google, Apple, and other large tech companies allowing their employees to work from home. It served them two purposes simultaneously — keeping the safety standards high and saving fixed costs like electricity, rent, in-house employee refreshment expenses, etc. along the way.
WFH was considered cool in the pre-COVID era, but now it has become the need of the hour. The question is — how well does it serve you as a small business owner?
Let’s find out!
Effects of WFH On Small Businesses?
It’s out and clear that large businesses can afford to fire employees at will and keep small teams at home to take care of core business operations, even if the productivity level is below average. But small businesses that don’t have deep pockets have to think twice before taking any such step.
They don’t have enough funds allocated for months-long training programs for new full-time remote workers or multiple assessments before assigning contractors any work.
Work from home can be tricky as startups, and small business owners might have to spend more money on training & development than they can afford. If not dealt with properly, this strategy can backfire and put their operations at a halt.
Such businesses need employees who are skilled and prepared for the kind of duties they are asked to perform at their new workplace from day one. The concept of virtual assistants serves this purpose just well.
Why Is Hiring Virtual Assistants A Good Idea?
In 2018, there were over 3.7 million administrative assistants and secretaries in the US. The ongoing pandemic has destroyed many such careers but given rise to VAs across the globe. At present, around 40% of working professionals in the US prefer to work as freelancers. And most of them choose a virtual assistant in order to maintain work-life balance and increase their earning potential.
It’s reasonable of you to be skeptical about VAs if you haven’t been lucky enough to find the right people. However, if you have found an excellent virtual assistant who can take the workload off your shoulders and help grow the productivity to the next level, you’d never want to go back to hiring full-time employees again.
The most significant advantage of hiring a VA instead of a full-time employee is that you pay only for the work done. No need to pay for insurance, training, food & other stuff that most full-time employees demand. Another benefit is that you can hire VAs from tier 2 countries who charge way less than contractors from countries like the US, UK, Australia. In the long run, it can save you a significant amount of money that can be reinvested in the business to grow it further.
Who Should Hire VAs?
Small tech-based businesses, individual service providers, consultants, doctors, lawyers, and others who have a lot of clerical work to finish but don’t have enough time to do it can look for VAs. Some of the duties they can hand over to VAs include scheduling blog posts, social media posting, making client calls, fixing meetings, responding to emails, taking care of the hiring process, content writing, copywriting, web development, etc.
In short, you must continuously look for alternative ways to save money at present when thousands of businesses are shutting down daily. The primary goal is to survive through this period. Growth can wait until 2021 when things become normal, and the economy stabilizes. Until then, keep your focus on cutting as much as cost as possible to ensure your business can run even if you have a few bad months.
Most small and medium businesses have already adapted to this new world order by making changes in how they operate. You can also do the same and make yourself a part of the league that survives this year and shifts its focus back to the growth post COVID period.
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