Virtual Assistant

The Ultimate Support System: How a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Real Estate Business Thrive in a Tough Market

As a real estate professional, even in good times you have a lot on your plate to deal with. But in a tough market like now in 2023, it could be even more difficult. Especially at a time when interest rates are high, inventory is low and prices are high, thus leading to a freeze in the market. Deals are hard to close as clients are merely playing the wait and watch game. The bottom line is that the real estate industry is fiercely competitive right now with too many entrepreneurs chasing too few clients. So to weather this storm and survive in a competitive market one needs to play smart; continue to pursue opportunities aggressively while cutting down on unnecessary costs. Also while you become more efficient with the time you may spend on each opportunity it should nevertheless not translate into reduced service levels, either. It also means that you should be able to reach out to prospective clients via the most cost effective means (digitally) possible to ensure that you have better chances to succeed. That’s why having a virtual assistant can be the ultimate support system for your real estate business. Here are seven ways a virtual assistant can help you survive and thrive in the real estate industry. Streamline Administrative Tasks: A virtual assistant can help you manage your day-to-day administrative tasks, such as scheduling appointments, managing your email, and keeping track of your to-do list. This frees up time for you to focus on more important aspects of your business, like building relationships with clients and closing deals faster. Organize and Manage Leads: A virtual assistant can help you keep track of leads, including contact information, property preferences, and communication history. They can also help you reach out to leads, follow up on inquiries, and nurture relationships with potential clients. Persistence is much needed in a tough market. Research and Marketing: A virtual assistant can help you research properties and keep you up-to-date on market trends. They can also assist with marketing and advertising efforts, such as creating digital flyers and social media posts. Virtual Viewings: With more and more people working remotely and seeking virtual solutions, a virtual assistant can help you conduct virtual viewings. They can help set up and facilitate virtual tours, answer questions, and provide clients with additional information as per your needs. Transaction Coordination: A virtual assistant can help you keep track of transactions, from contract to closing. They can help you manage deadlines, communicate with all parties involved, and ensure that everything runs smoothly. Customer Service: A virtual assistant can also serve as a point of contact for your clients, answering questions, providing information, and ensuring that your clients are happy and satisfied. Data Management: A virtual assistant can help you manage and organize your data, including property listings, client information, and transaction records. They can also help you analyze data and create reports to help you make informed decisions. And the biggest differentiator in a tough economy can be cost. A Virtual Assistant from a leading global Virtual Assistance Service like GetFriday is definitely more affordable than a regular employee on hire. Plus it comes with the benefit of flexibility to hire for as many hours (Monthly Plans) as you would require or even go on a Pay-As-You-Go mode. Plus you can upgrade or downgrade your plans as per your needs. In conclusion, a virtual assistant for business support can be a valuable asset for any real estate professional. By streamlining administrative tasks, organizing and managing leads, assisting with marketing and research, facilitating virtual viewings, coordinating transactions, providing customer service, and managing data, a virtual assistant can help your real estate business thrive. So, if you’re looking for an ultimate support system to thrive in a tough economy, then consider hiring a business virtual assistant today.

The Ultimate Support System: How a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Real Estate Business Thrive in a Tough Market Read More »

As a real estate professional, even in good times you have a lot on your plate to deal with. But in a tough market like now in 2023, it could be even more difficult. Especially at a time when interest rates are high, inventory is low and prices are high, thus leading to a freeze in the market. Deals are hard to close as clients are merely playing the wait and watch game. The bottom line is that the real estate industry is fiercely competitive right now with too many entrepreneurs chasing too few clients. So to weather this storm and survive in a competitive market one needs to play smart; continue to pursue opportunities aggressively while cutting down on unnecessary costs. Also while you become more efficient with the time you may spend on each opportunity it should nevertheless not translate into reduced service levels, either. It also means that you should be able to reach out to prospective clients via the most cost effective means (digitally) possible to ensure that you have better chances to succeed. That’s why having a virtual assistant can be the ultimate support system for your real estate business. Here are seven ways a virtual assistant can help you survive and thrive in the real estate industry. Streamline Administrative Tasks: A virtual assistant can help you manage your day-to-day administrative tasks, such as scheduling appointments, managing your email, and keeping track of your to-do list. This frees up time for you to focus on more important aspects of your business, like building relationships with clients and closing deals faster. Organize and Manage Leads: A virtual assistant can help you keep track of leads, including contact information, property preferences, and communication history. They can also help you reach out to leads, follow up on inquiries, and nurture relationships with potential clients. Persistence is much needed in a tough market. Research and Marketing: A virtual assistant can help you research properties and keep you up-to-date on market trends. They can also assist with marketing and advertising efforts, such as creating digital flyers and social media posts. Virtual Viewings: With more and more people working remotely and seeking virtual solutions, a virtual assistant can help you conduct virtual viewings. They can help set up and facilitate virtual tours, answer questions, and provide clients with additional information as per your needs. Transaction Coordination: A virtual assistant can help you keep track of transactions, from contract to closing. They can help you manage deadlines, communicate with all parties involved, and ensure that everything runs smoothly. Customer Service: A virtual assistant can also serve as a point of contact for your clients, answering questions, providing information, and ensuring that your clients are happy and satisfied. Data Management: A virtual assistant can help you manage and organize your data, including property listings, client information, and transaction records. They can also help you analyze data and create reports to help you make informed decisions. And the biggest differentiator in a tough economy can be cost. A Virtual Assistant from a leading global Virtual Assistance Service like GetFriday is definitely more affordable than a regular employee on hire. Plus it comes with the benefit of flexibility to hire for as many hours (Monthly Plans) as you would require or even go on a Pay-As-You-Go mode. Plus you can upgrade or downgrade your plans as per your needs. In conclusion, a virtual assistant for business support can be a valuable asset for any real estate professional. By streamlining administrative tasks, organizing and managing leads, assisting with marketing and research, facilitating virtual viewings, coordinating transactions, providing customer service, and managing data, a virtual assistant can help your real estate business thrive. So, if you’re looking for an ultimate support system to thrive in a tough economy, then consider hiring a business virtual assistant today.

Why your Business should use Virtual Assistance in a Tough Economy?

As businesses face economic uncertainty, many companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and streamline operations to stay afloat. In this context, hiring a remote Virtual Assistant (VA) can be a wise decision. A VA is an experienced person who provides administrative, creative, or technical services to clients remotely. Here are some of the reasons why businesses need a VA in a tough economy. Cost savings: Hiring a VA is an affordable option compared to traditional in-house employees. Companies can save on salaries, benefits, office space, and equipment costs. VAs typically work on an as-needed basis, allowing businesses to pay only for the services they receive. This is particularly beneficial for small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs who are operating on a tight budget. For instance, with GetFriday virtual assistance, it is not only affordable but also flexible in terms of allowing upgrades and downgrades to your membership plan. So pay only as much as you use them. Increased productivity: VAs are highly skilled and experienced people who can take on a variety of tasks. This frees up time and resources for business owners and employees to focus on core business activities. VAs can handle administrative tasks such as email management, appointment scheduling, and data entry, which can significantly improve overall productivity and efficiency. You would be surprised to know how much of what you would prefer to delegate can be accomplished by an experienced VA. Quite a lot, actually! Flexibility: VAs work from a remote location, providing businesses with the flexibility to have work done outside of normal business hours. This means that tasks can be completed even when the business is closed, providing faster turnaround times and improved customer service. VAs can also be hired on a project basis, allowing businesses to scale their support up or down as needed. Like GetFriday virtual assistance is available round the clock 24/7 for any urgent tasks in addition to your regular VA being available during your business hours. And you can even get work done while you sleep. Access to a wider pool of talent: Hiring a VA gives businesses access to a global pool of talented individuals, rather than being limited to the local job market. This provides businesses with a wider range of skill sets and expertise to choose from, increasing the chances of finding the right person for the job. In addition to that, services like GetFriday provide you access to a complete team of people with specialized skills to handle your every need. While your regular VA may be able to do only a limited set of tasks, along with the supporting team he or she will be able to get anything done including design, bookkeeping, content, social media, market research etc. Improved customer service: VAs can provide exceptional customer service, as they are trained to handle customer inquiries, complaints, and support requests. This helps businesses to maintain a positive reputation and build stronger relationships with their customers. VAs can also handle customer service tasks outside of normal business hours, ensuring that customers receive prompt and efficient support. Startups and small business owners who operate on the internet find customer support the most daunting. It takes time, it takes effort and in effect can take away your focus and energy. A well trained remote virtual assistant or team from GetFriday can easily handle this. Cost-effective marketing support: VAs can also provide marketing support, such as social media management, content creation, and email marketing. This can help businesses to increase their online visibility, attract new customers, and generate more leads. Marketing support can be expensive for businesses, especially during tough economic times, but hiring a VA can provide cost-effective and reliable solutions that can deliver results. Improved work-life balance: VAs can handle a wide range of tasks, freeing up time for business owners and employees to focus on other important aspects of their lives. This can help to reduce stress and improve overall work-life balance, which is crucial for maintaining good health and wellbeing during tough economic times. In conclusion, hiring a VA can provide businesses with numerous benefits during tough economic times. VAs can help to reduce costs, increase productivity, improve customer service, and provide cost-effective marketing support. With access to a wider pool of talent, flexible working arrangements, and improved work-life balance, businesses can thrive even during tough economic conditions. Whether you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, or corporate executive, hiring a VA can be a smart investment that can help your business to succeed.

Why your Business should use Virtual Assistance in a Tough Economy? Read More »

As businesses face economic uncertainty, many companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and streamline operations to stay afloat. In this context, hiring a remote Virtual Assistant (VA) can be a wise decision. A VA is an experienced person who provides administrative, creative, or technical services to clients remotely. Here are some of the reasons why businesses need a VA in a tough economy. Cost savings: Hiring a VA is an affordable option compared to traditional in-house employees. Companies can save on salaries, benefits, office space, and equipment costs. VAs typically work on an as-needed basis, allowing businesses to pay only for the services they receive. This is particularly beneficial for small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs who are operating on a tight budget. For instance, with GetFriday virtual assistance, it is not only affordable but also flexible in terms of allowing upgrades and downgrades to your membership plan. So pay only as much as you use them. Increased productivity: VAs are highly skilled and experienced people who can take on a variety of tasks. This frees up time and resources for business owners and employees to focus on core business activities. VAs can handle administrative tasks such as email management, appointment scheduling, and data entry, which can significantly improve overall productivity and efficiency. You would be surprised to know how much of what you would prefer to delegate can be accomplished by an experienced VA. Quite a lot, actually! Flexibility: VAs work from a remote location, providing businesses with the flexibility to have work done outside of normal business hours. This means that tasks can be completed even when the business is closed, providing faster turnaround times and improved customer service. VAs can also be hired on a project basis, allowing businesses to scale their support up or down as needed. Like GetFriday virtual assistance is available round the clock 24/7 for any urgent tasks in addition to your regular VA being available during your business hours. And you can even get work done while you sleep. Access to a wider pool of talent: Hiring a VA gives businesses access to a global pool of talented individuals, rather than being limited to the local job market. This provides businesses with a wider range of skill sets and expertise to choose from, increasing the chances of finding the right person for the job. In addition to that, services like GetFriday provide you access to a complete team of people with specialized skills to handle your every need. While your regular VA may be able to do only a limited set of tasks, along with the supporting team he or she will be able to get anything done including design, bookkeeping, content, social media, market research etc. Improved customer service: VAs can provide exceptional customer service, as they are trained to handle customer inquiries, complaints, and support requests. This helps businesses to maintain a positive reputation and build stronger relationships with their customers. VAs can also handle customer service tasks outside of normal business hours, ensuring that customers receive prompt and efficient support. Startups and small business owners who operate on the internet find customer support the most daunting. It takes time, it takes effort and in effect can take away your focus and energy. A well trained remote virtual assistant or team from GetFriday can easily handle this. Cost-effective marketing support: VAs can also provide marketing support, such as social media management, content creation, and email marketing. This can help businesses to increase their online visibility, attract new customers, and generate more leads. Marketing support can be expensive for businesses, especially during tough economic times, but hiring a VA can provide cost-effective and reliable solutions that can deliver results. Improved work-life balance: VAs can handle a wide range of tasks, freeing up time for business owners and employees to focus on other important aspects of their lives. This can help to reduce stress and improve overall work-life balance, which is crucial for maintaining good health and wellbeing during tough economic times. In conclusion, hiring a VA can provide businesses with numerous benefits during tough economic times. VAs can help to reduce costs, increase productivity, improve customer service, and provide cost-effective marketing support. With access to a wider pool of talent, flexible working arrangements, and improved work-life balance, businesses can thrive even during tough economic conditions. Whether you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, or corporate executive, hiring a VA can be a smart investment that can help your business to succeed.

Manage-Blog-with-Virtual-Assistant-GetFriday

Manage your Blog using a Virtual Assistant

Are you an entrepreneur using a blog to drive traffic for your business? When your blog starts to drive traffic, you may find difficulty to manage your blog every day. Fortunately, Virtual assistant can help you with. There are always reasons to outsource tasks to a virtual assistant especially when it comes to regular blog management. In the starting stage of your business, there are lots of tasks and many issues that you want to deal with it. This is where the virtual assistant can help you and be your resource in reducing your tasks and rapidly increasing productivity to your business. However, it looks that much simple to have an online personal assistant services to manage your blog updates on the regular basis but it should be managed properly in few views to create elite and optimized benefits. Reasons why you are looking for a VAs for managing your blog: Your professional skills are not ample to create promoting master-piece You are not a systematic geek You need to focus on some other features of your business You need more systematic and specifics rendering blogs You need someone innovative to have different ideas frequently Why drown under your workloads when you could hire a virtual personal assistant? Here’s few of the tasks that VAs could help you with and how you can get the maximum benefits. Start an article publishing calendar. Try to use the innovative tools to get ideas and to develop a publishing plan. Your VA would then updates existing tasks and include their own particular ideas. Deliver your VAs the topics with list of keywords, and ideas from which blog posts will improve. Also you can request them to search for unique blog ideas and to keen eye on your competition. Ask your assistants to help in reviewing; formatting and proof reading the blog posts. Then, you can check the post before it published. You can ask assistants to help in managing blog comments and to reply properly. Use SEO plugin and delegate a task to your VA with completing the subjects when publishing the blog post to WordPress. Maintain a record of your Blog post, a portfolio. Your assistant can perfect this with a normal spreadsheet which prevents duplication. Blog Back-up which is a personal choice. Also there are various great plugins which is easy to install and use. You can try BackupBuddy. Plugins updates. This is a long process but it is essential one which can be done by your Virtual assistant. The plugins that you are using should be updated regularly for security concerns and to make sure compatibility with CMS updates (WordPress). WordPress updates. Ask your VAs to ensure that your site is operating the up-to-date version of WordPress. If it fails, it could cause security issues for your site. This can come in highly reasonable costs which are tactic lower than the expenses of an in-house staffs if you get virtual assistant services. Virtual personal assistance is the need of hour nowadays in the bustling schedules of people when they have to do multitasking and procure maximum benefits out of their work.

Manage your Blog using a Virtual Assistant Read More »

Are you an entrepreneur using a blog to drive traffic for your business? When your blog starts to drive traffic, you may find difficulty to manage your blog every day. Fortunately, Virtual assistant can help you with. There are always reasons to outsource tasks to a virtual assistant especially when it comes to regular blog management. In the starting stage of your business, there are lots of tasks and many issues that you want to deal with it. This is where the virtual assistant can help you and be your resource in reducing your tasks and rapidly increasing productivity to your business. However, it looks that much simple to have an online personal assistant services to manage your blog updates on the regular basis but it should be managed properly in few views to create elite and optimized benefits. Reasons why you are looking for a VAs for managing your blog: Your professional skills are not ample to create promoting master-piece You are not a systematic geek You need to focus on some other features of your business You need more systematic and specifics rendering blogs You need someone innovative to have different ideas frequently Why drown under your workloads when you could hire a virtual personal assistant? Here’s few of the tasks that VAs could help you with and how you can get the maximum benefits. Start an article publishing calendar. Try to use the innovative tools to get ideas and to develop a publishing plan. Your VA would then updates existing tasks and include their own particular ideas. Deliver your VAs the topics with list of keywords, and ideas from which blog posts will improve. Also you can request them to search for unique blog ideas and to keen eye on your competition. Ask your assistants to help in reviewing; formatting and proof reading the blog posts. Then, you can check the post before it published. You can ask assistants to help in managing blog comments and to reply properly. Use SEO plugin and delegate a task to your VA with completing the subjects when publishing the blog post to WordPress. Maintain a record of your Blog post, a portfolio. Your assistant can perfect this with a normal spreadsheet which prevents duplication. Blog Back-up which is a personal choice. Also there are various great plugins which is easy to install and use. You can try BackupBuddy. Plugins updates. This is a long process but it is essential one which can be done by your Virtual assistant. The plugins that you are using should be updated regularly for security concerns and to make sure compatibility with CMS updates (WordPress). WordPress updates. Ask your VAs to ensure that your site is operating the up-to-date version of WordPress. If it fails, it could cause security issues for your site. This can come in highly reasonable costs which are tactic lower than the expenses of an in-house staffs if you get virtual assistant services. Virtual personal assistance is the need of hour nowadays in the bustling schedules of people when they have to do multitasking and procure maximum benefits out of their work.

Interesting Tasks @ GetFriday

Every day a number of tasks are executed by virtual assistants. Most of the tasks which are taken up by the assistants are routine and mundane. But at times there come requests from clients to do tasks that are out of the ordinary. These tasks stretch the boundary of the normal and can be termed as “Special” tasks. This article tries to explore some of the tasks that came into GetFriday and was executed with full zest by the employees. Task 1 Expressing through Post Cards One of our client’s former teacher was based in France. The client residing in the UK wanted someone to write postcards for his teacher who was interested in Indian culture. This task seemed interesting and virtual assistants at GetFriday took up the task. They started sending postcards from Indian to France, once every 2 weeks. The teacher was very pleased with the fact that she was receiving postcards from India on a regular basis and that too on behalf of her former student. The client was also delighted that he could do his bit to bring a cheer on to his teacher’s face. GetFriday, the virtual assistant services company has experience with over 14,000 clients over a decade of its existence. If you have a task similar to the one mentioned above, you can right way forward it to assistants at GetFriday. Task 2   Healing from Far A client at GetFriday based in America wanted someone to send medicines to an elder relative in Bangalore. We at GetFriday were asked if this task was at all possible from our side, to which we replied in the affirmative. Our virtual assistants here at Bangalore procured the medicine and sent it to the client’s relative on a regular basis. The client was happy about the fact he was able to help his elder relative with medication. The relative was praising the client all along for having done so. Even if you have such tasks that are out of the ordinary, virtual assistant companies such as GetFriday will be happy to accommodate such tasks if you are willing to come forward. There are many such tasks that have come through the doors of GetFriday. We are willing to take such interesting tasks and you can follow us on social media https://www.facebook.com/GetFriday for updates on such interesting tasks.

Interesting Tasks @ GetFriday Read More »

Every day a number of tasks are executed by virtual assistants. Most of the tasks which are taken up by the assistants are routine and mundane. But at times there come requests from clients to do tasks that are out of the ordinary. These tasks stretch the boundary of the normal and can be termed as “Special” tasks. This article tries to explore some of the tasks that came into GetFriday and was executed with full zest by the employees. Task 1 Expressing through Post Cards One of our client’s former teacher was based in France. The client residing in the UK wanted someone to write postcards for his teacher who was interested in Indian culture. This task seemed interesting and virtual assistants at GetFriday took up the task. They started sending postcards from Indian to France, once every 2 weeks. The teacher was very pleased with the fact that she was receiving postcards from India on a regular basis and that too on behalf of her former student. The client was also delighted that he could do his bit to bring a cheer on to his teacher’s face. GetFriday, the virtual assistant services company has experience with over 14,000 clients over a decade of its existence. If you have a task similar to the one mentioned above, you can right way forward it to assistants at GetFriday. Task 2   Healing from Far A client at GetFriday based in America wanted someone to send medicines to an elder relative in Bangalore. We at GetFriday were asked if this task was at all possible from our side, to which we replied in the affirmative. Our virtual assistants here at Bangalore procured the medicine and sent it to the client’s relative on a regular basis. The client was happy about the fact he was able to help his elder relative with medication. The relative was praising the client all along for having done so. Even if you have such tasks that are out of the ordinary, virtual assistant companies such as GetFriday will be happy to accommodate such tasks if you are willing to come forward. There are many such tasks that have come through the doors of GetFriday. We are willing to take such interesting tasks and you can follow us on social media https://www.facebook.com/GetFriday for updates on such interesting tasks.

Hiring a VA from an Agency versus an Independent Freelancer

      When assigning your workload to a virtual employee, it is always a choice between hiring someone from an agency or an independent freelance worker. There are different kinds of virtual assistance service providers out there, and even many independents (freelancers). This article is meant to help you narrow down your search. In this article we shall try to weigh the pros and cons of an assistant from an agency versus an independent freelancer. Commitment – It is generally seen that employees from agencies are more committed to their clients as they are answerable to their companies. While freelancers are not much committed as they manage it themselves and is not liable to anyone. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) – Companies are generally seen working safe when it is confidential data of clients. All companies mostly sign a NDA with the clients to keep the work confidential between the client and the company. While, when it comes to the independents, no such arrangements or assurances are made. Cost Versus Quality – It can be disputed that agencies come off as expensive when it comes to pricing. However, if you compare to independents, the kind of quality which an agency delivers is quite high.    Scalability – If you want to execute a larger than the usual project and need more hands to complete, a company can provide you with all the necessary help with extra hands. Likewise, if your business starts growing real quick and your requirement for human resources shoots up, a company will be more than willing to suffice your staff requirements. In the case of freelancers there is not enough scope for scalability and you would not be able to go beyond a single individual’s capacity. Even if you want to expand beyond the present capacity, you would have to start your recruitment process from the start. Experts in Varied Areas – In a company, you would find many experts supporting a varied number of skill-sets like accounting, digital marketing, and website development. But among independents it is difficult to find a single person who is an expert in different domains. Replacing an assistant – In case your regular one is not keeping well or has gone for a vacation, companies’ generally have enough hands for a replacement. In case of a freelancer, if such a situation arises, you would have to strive extra hard yourself to bridge the gap to finish the work. Or you would have to ask your assistant to train someone to function as a backup. Even in a situation, where your virtual assistant quits the company to join elsewhere, companies would quickly find a replacement and seamless transition would be in place. In case of a independent, such a situation would set you back to square one and you would have to start again at finding a new assistant. Urgent Tasks – Suppose you need to get something done immediately, companies like GetFriday would get it done. While in the case of a freelancer you would have to hold back and wait till the person is available during your time. In case he/she is filled with any other work, he/she may not take it up immediately also.   Trial Period – Most agencies that are into personal assistance give some kind of trial period for the client. This ensures that the client gets to judge the services, without committing any capital upfront. This is kind of a set-up is unheard of, when it comes to independents. Feedback Giving – When your task is not completed as per your guidelines, you can always escalate within the company to a manager and you would find your concerns addressed. In an independent’s case, you would have to give the negative feedback directly to the assistant. Recently outsourcing to a freelancer has become a trend since the prices are low, but in real scenarios majority of the clients are dissatisfied with the freelancer’s efforts and get the same work redone by the agencies. We later realize that outsourcing to an individual had been an unnecessary expense. With the major points mentioned above, hope you would agree that outsourcing to an agency/company is more advantageous than going with an independent.  GetFriday (earlier YMII or YourManInIndia) is a service that was featured and used in the NYTimes best-selling productivity and lifestyle design book ‘The 4-Hour-Workweek’ by Timothy Ferris. Sign up now!

Hiring a VA from an Agency versus an Independent Freelancer Read More »

      When assigning your workload to a virtual employee, it is always a choice between hiring someone from an agency or an independent freelance worker. There are different kinds of virtual assistance service providers out there, and even many independents (freelancers). This article is meant to help you narrow down your search. In this article we shall try to weigh the pros and cons of an assistant from an agency versus an independent freelancer. Commitment – It is generally seen that employees from agencies are more committed to their clients as they are answerable to their companies. While freelancers are not much committed as they manage it themselves and is not liable to anyone. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) – Companies are generally seen working safe when it is confidential data of clients. All companies mostly sign a NDA with the clients to keep the work confidential between the client and the company. While, when it comes to the independents, no such arrangements or assurances are made. Cost Versus Quality – It can be disputed that agencies come off as expensive when it comes to pricing. However, if you compare to independents, the kind of quality which an agency delivers is quite high.    Scalability – If you want to execute a larger than the usual project and need more hands to complete, a company can provide you with all the necessary help with extra hands. Likewise, if your business starts growing real quick and your requirement for human resources shoots up, a company will be more than willing to suffice your staff requirements. In the case of freelancers there is not enough scope for scalability and you would not be able to go beyond a single individual’s capacity. Even if you want to expand beyond the present capacity, you would have to start your recruitment process from the start. Experts in Varied Areas – In a company, you would find many experts supporting a varied number of skill-sets like accounting, digital marketing, and website development. But among independents it is difficult to find a single person who is an expert in different domains. Replacing an assistant – In case your regular one is not keeping well or has gone for a vacation, companies’ generally have enough hands for a replacement. In case of a freelancer, if such a situation arises, you would have to strive extra hard yourself to bridge the gap to finish the work. Or you would have to ask your assistant to train someone to function as a backup. Even in a situation, where your virtual assistant quits the company to join elsewhere, companies would quickly find a replacement and seamless transition would be in place. In case of a independent, such a situation would set you back to square one and you would have to start again at finding a new assistant. Urgent Tasks – Suppose you need to get something done immediately, companies like GetFriday would get it done. While in the case of a freelancer you would have to hold back and wait till the person is available during your time. In case he/she is filled with any other work, he/she may not take it up immediately also.   Trial Period – Most agencies that are into personal assistance give some kind of trial period for the client. This ensures that the client gets to judge the services, without committing any capital upfront. This is kind of a set-up is unheard of, when it comes to independents. Feedback Giving – When your task is not completed as per your guidelines, you can always escalate within the company to a manager and you would find your concerns addressed. In an independent’s case, you would have to give the negative feedback directly to the assistant. Recently outsourcing to a freelancer has become a trend since the prices are low, but in real scenarios majority of the clients are dissatisfied with the freelancer’s efforts and get the same work redone by the agencies. We later realize that outsourcing to an individual had been an unnecessary expense. With the major points mentioned above, hope you would agree that outsourcing to an agency/company is more advantageous than going with an independent.  GetFriday (earlier YMII or YourManInIndia) is a service that was featured and used in the NYTimes best-selling productivity and lifestyle design book ‘The 4-Hour-Workweek’ by Timothy Ferris. Sign up now!

Trending Traffic Outside Restaurants

Food Delivery Industry Trends

In the western world, a home cooked meal is a luxury only a few can afford. The recent market research study in U.S. reveals, 82 percent of food delivery orders were placed from home, while only 16 percent were placed from the workplace. Added to this, there is a constant craving for new cuisines to have healthy and fresh foods delivered to their homes and office for a healthy living. Where do you think this Industry is heading now? It’s an interesting road map to read through to understand the current trends dominating the food delivery market.     Trending Traffic Outside Restaurants Future of online food delivery industry is in the hands of the Millennials says National Restaurant Association, US – that by 2020, 70% customers who look for off premises meal solutions are Millennials, 21-36 years. Exceptional Growth Prediction of Online Food delivery   There is an astronomical rise in the number of orders delivered. More people are catching on to the bandwagon. According to a study conducted by Morgan Stanley U.S. restaurant analysts, the food and delivery industry has the opportunity to grow 7 folds more than its current value of $30 billion, that’s a $210 billion, potential. Online food delivery giants in the different parts of the world are trying to position their services by acquiring new food players in the market such as chef made meals or Meal kit delivery startups. These mergers and acquisitions are indicative of how the food delivery industry market is empowering the global online space. The next evolution in this industry is not only attributed by rise in number of delivery companies which are enhanced by technology but also accompanied by new niches. Competition with New Niches and Technology The startups and highly funded companies are creating tremendous competition in the food delivery space. Everyday companies are finding new niches in the market like customized healthy and nutritious meal being prepared and delivered or the technology with the modern digital users which has fierce competition in the food delivery space. There is digital transformation in companies like Domino’s, robot named “DRU” (Domino’s Robotic Unit) is an autonomous delivery vehicle and is set to take the world of food delivery space by storm. Hence 2017 will be undoubtedly driven by more innovations through technologies. Inhouse or Third Party Delivery Lieutenants The traditional restaurants lean on either in-house or third party delivery lieutenants to face the online food delivery competitors. Take for example, UberEats which is allowing online delivery services for in-house restaurants. There is a trend that restaurants are starting their own delivery service models to reduce reliance on third party usage. If this trend grows, third party delivery services would need to re-think in future. Outsourcing Vs  Online Food Delivery Industry In this growing phase, these start ups face a lot of pain areas in their day to day operations, for which they reach out and knock the doors of outsourcing companies. Virtual assistant companies like us have experience in servicing food industry clients across the globe. We help these companies to monitor their logistics and delivery management, uploading product details to website, customer support (email, chat and phone), market analysis and business expansion, and other website support. In this industry, where technology and logistics has major say, it is a wise decision to employ a virtual business team to save on infrastructure and various actuals. New players capturing Online Food delivery market Times have changed; we see constant improvements in the food delivery market. At first, it was only pizza which dominated the food delivery market. Today, it accounts for 60% of the US market, with rest of the 40% shared by new players like start-ups and food apps. These are the major trends which are likely to shape up the second half of 2017. If you are in the food delivery business or know someone in the food delivery business this article can be shared with them.

Food Delivery Industry Trends Read More »

In the western world, a home cooked meal is a luxury only a few can afford. The recent market research study in U.S. reveals, 82 percent of food delivery orders were placed from home, while only 16 percent were placed from the workplace. Added to this, there is a constant craving for new cuisines to have healthy and fresh foods delivered to their homes and office for a healthy living. Where do you think this Industry is heading now? It’s an interesting road map to read through to understand the current trends dominating the food delivery market.     Trending Traffic Outside Restaurants Future of online food delivery industry is in the hands of the Millennials says National Restaurant Association, US – that by 2020, 70% customers who look for off premises meal solutions are Millennials, 21-36 years. Exceptional Growth Prediction of Online Food delivery   There is an astronomical rise in the number of orders delivered. More people are catching on to the bandwagon. According to a study conducted by Morgan Stanley U.S. restaurant analysts, the food and delivery industry has the opportunity to grow 7 folds more than its current value of $30 billion, that’s a $210 billion, potential. Online food delivery giants in the different parts of the world are trying to position their services by acquiring new food players in the market such as chef made meals or Meal kit delivery startups. These mergers and acquisitions are indicative of how the food delivery industry market is empowering the global online space. The next evolution in this industry is not only attributed by rise in number of delivery companies which are enhanced by technology but also accompanied by new niches. Competition with New Niches and Technology The startups and highly funded companies are creating tremendous competition in the food delivery space. Everyday companies are finding new niches in the market like customized healthy and nutritious meal being prepared and delivered or the technology with the modern digital users which has fierce competition in the food delivery space. There is digital transformation in companies like Domino’s, robot named “DRU” (Domino’s Robotic Unit) is an autonomous delivery vehicle and is set to take the world of food delivery space by storm. Hence 2017 will be undoubtedly driven by more innovations through technologies. Inhouse or Third Party Delivery Lieutenants The traditional restaurants lean on either in-house or third party delivery lieutenants to face the online food delivery competitors. Take for example, UberEats which is allowing online delivery services for in-house restaurants. There is a trend that restaurants are starting their own delivery service models to reduce reliance on third party usage. If this trend grows, third party delivery services would need to re-think in future. Outsourcing Vs  Online Food Delivery Industry In this growing phase, these start ups face a lot of pain areas in their day to day operations, for which they reach out and knock the doors of outsourcing companies. Virtual assistant companies like us have experience in servicing food industry clients across the globe. We help these companies to monitor their logistics and delivery management, uploading product details to website, customer support (email, chat and phone), market analysis and business expansion, and other website support. In this industry, where technology and logistics has major say, it is a wise decision to employ a virtual business team to save on infrastructure and various actuals. New players capturing Online Food delivery market Times have changed; we see constant improvements in the food delivery market. At first, it was only pizza which dominated the food delivery market. Today, it accounts for 60% of the US market, with rest of the 40% shared by new players like start-ups and food apps. These are the major trends which are likely to shape up the second half of 2017. If you are in the food delivery business or know someone in the food delivery business this article can be shared with them.

Six Virtual Assistant services you must opt for a merrier Christmas

It’s time to make merry, decorate trees with mistletoes and stars, because Christmas is just around the corner. We all know that it is a busy season for Santa Clause and so it is for small business owners like you. It’s a shorter working month for you, above that you have to launch seasonal campaigns, host parties, dinners and manage all sorts of festivities. Santa manages his load of work with the assistance of his elves but what about you? Don’t worry, just like elves are there for Santa, there are Virtual assistants for you. Doing everything on your own in this festive season could be overwhelming. Now is a good time to outsource some of those piled up tasks to Virtual Assistants. It will decrease your stress; ensure quality deliverance along with timely accomplishment. In order to reap the best benefits of outsourcing you must outsource the right things. Here, we list out six such tasks you must outsource this holiday season to make the most of Virtual Assistance: Sending your clients Seasonal Greetings: Let your business clients know how much you value them -wish them a merry Christmas and a happy new year. You can easily outsource such seasonal greetings campaign to a virtual assistant. If outsourced to an expert e-mail marketer, it will run smoothly and efficiently without adding to your stress. Calendar maintenance and reminder setting: As already stated, Christmas season is loaded with festivities as well as business errands and it is likely to miss out on something important. Maintaining a calendar and setting reminders to accomplish everything on time will help you sail smoothly through the season. Outsourcing calendar maintenance will save time and make your schedule easier to manage. Settle all accounts: This season awaits a fresh New Year and it is good to start the New Year with a fresh financial account. Which means it is an ideal time to settle your payable and receivable accounts. It requires a lot of time and patience, so outsourcing this to your virtual book-keeping team will save you time and money. Gifting your clients: Just like sending seasonal e-mails to delight your clients, you may send them gifts as well. Sending gifts is again a time consuming procedure. All the tasks, right from segmenting your list of clients for personalizing the gifts till purchasing the gifts and sending them to their respective addresses can easily be offloaded to a Virtual Assistant. Social media marketing: An interesting new social media campaign is a magnet of client attraction for this season. Creating Christmas themed videos for Facebook and YouTube, initiating a contest in twitter or Facebook, making an Instagram film and other similar initiatives will help further your brand goals. Outsourcing seasonal social media marketing to expert virtual assistants will improve the engagement your audience. Making travel itinerary: After working for a long year you need a break away from the routine and to spend quality time with your loved ones. But you can enjoy the vacation only after going through a host of boring errands like booking flight tickets, finding the right hotel, hunting a suitable travel agent and the like. These errands can also be very efficiently accomplished by virtual assistants. Outsourcing the above mentioned errands will free up your time to focus on your core business and wrap up the important things on time before you leave for your much awaited vacation. You will be able to strike a balance between your work and festivities, which in turn will help you enjoy longer and happier hours with your family.

Six Virtual Assistant services you must opt for a merrier Christmas Read More »

It’s time to make merry, decorate trees with mistletoes and stars, because Christmas is just around the corner. We all know that it is a busy season for Santa Clause and so it is for small business owners like you. It’s a shorter working month for you, above that you have to launch seasonal campaigns, host parties, dinners and manage all sorts of festivities. Santa manages his load of work with the assistance of his elves but what about you? Don’t worry, just like elves are there for Santa, there are Virtual assistants for you. Doing everything on your own in this festive season could be overwhelming. Now is a good time to outsource some of those piled up tasks to Virtual Assistants. It will decrease your stress; ensure quality deliverance along with timely accomplishment. In order to reap the best benefits of outsourcing you must outsource the right things. Here, we list out six such tasks you must outsource this holiday season to make the most of Virtual Assistance: Sending your clients Seasonal Greetings: Let your business clients know how much you value them -wish them a merry Christmas and a happy new year. You can easily outsource such seasonal greetings campaign to a virtual assistant. If outsourced to an expert e-mail marketer, it will run smoothly and efficiently without adding to your stress. Calendar maintenance and reminder setting: As already stated, Christmas season is loaded with festivities as well as business errands and it is likely to miss out on something important. Maintaining a calendar and setting reminders to accomplish everything on time will help you sail smoothly through the season. Outsourcing calendar maintenance will save time and make your schedule easier to manage. Settle all accounts: This season awaits a fresh New Year and it is good to start the New Year with a fresh financial account. Which means it is an ideal time to settle your payable and receivable accounts. It requires a lot of time and patience, so outsourcing this to your virtual book-keeping team will save you time and money. Gifting your clients: Just like sending seasonal e-mails to delight your clients, you may send them gifts as well. Sending gifts is again a time consuming procedure. All the tasks, right from segmenting your list of clients for personalizing the gifts till purchasing the gifts and sending them to their respective addresses can easily be offloaded to a Virtual Assistant. Social media marketing: An interesting new social media campaign is a magnet of client attraction for this season. Creating Christmas themed videos for Facebook and YouTube, initiating a contest in twitter or Facebook, making an Instagram film and other similar initiatives will help further your brand goals. Outsourcing seasonal social media marketing to expert virtual assistants will improve the engagement your audience. Making travel itinerary: After working for a long year you need a break away from the routine and to spend quality time with your loved ones. But you can enjoy the vacation only after going through a host of boring errands like booking flight tickets, finding the right hotel, hunting a suitable travel agent and the like. These errands can also be very efficiently accomplished by virtual assistants. Outsourcing the above mentioned errands will free up your time to focus on your core business and wrap up the important things on time before you leave for your much awaited vacation. You will be able to strike a balance between your work and festivities, which in turn will help you enjoy longer and happier hours with your family.

Gift your Loved ones the ‘Gift of Time’ this Christmas

Ho ho ho Christmas is just around the corner.   Christmas kindles our emotions. It is the season for expressing love and joy in the form of family get-togethers, merry making and gifting. In fact, gifting is one of the most enjoyed traditions of Christmas. The joy of gifting is in delighting our loved ones. So, gifts must actually satisfy the desires and needs of our loved ones. During Christmas, almost everyone yearns to spend more time with their families, take days off in dream destinations, revel with old friends, and decorate trees and all the more. More than anything else, the first thing we all need for fulfilling these wishes is time. Yes, ‘time’ makes for a unique gift this Christmas season. In order to make your Christmas merrier than usual GetFriday brings to you ‘the Gift of Time’. On the flip side, festive season also means a lot of chores, both business and personal. For businesses it means wrapping up all your pending accounts and initiating new marketing promotions/activities for the festive sales. While back at our home, our loved ones wait for us to be a part of in a string of festivities and parties. It’s a challenge to strike a balance between our work and personal life amid this load of activities until and unless someone assists us. GetFriday’s Gift of Time is a package of hours for which the recipient may avail Virtual Assistance for a range of errands from travel arrangements to data curation. So, while the Virtual Assistant handles all these errands, the recipient may enjoy these free hours. So, you may send this Gift of Time to your loved ones and help them offload the seasonal workload and thereby help them enjoy a carefree holiday season. Follow the steps below to gift time to your near and dear ones this Christmas: 1. Purchase a GetFriday digital gift card 2. Gift it to your loved ones or your friends/family. 3. Your loved one will outsource errands to a Virtual Assistant who will take care of everything. So while a Virtual Assistant takes care of these chores, your loved one may use his/her freed up time to travel, revel and focus on things that are more important for making a merrier Christmas.

Gift your Loved ones the ‘Gift of Time’ this Christmas Read More »

Ho ho ho Christmas is just around the corner.   Christmas kindles our emotions. It is the season for expressing love and joy in the form of family get-togethers, merry making and gifting. In fact, gifting is one of the most enjoyed traditions of Christmas. The joy of gifting is in delighting our loved ones. So, gifts must actually satisfy the desires and needs of our loved ones. During Christmas, almost everyone yearns to spend more time with their families, take days off in dream destinations, revel with old friends, and decorate trees and all the more. More than anything else, the first thing we all need for fulfilling these wishes is time. Yes, ‘time’ makes for a unique gift this Christmas season. In order to make your Christmas merrier than usual GetFriday brings to you ‘the Gift of Time’. On the flip side, festive season also means a lot of chores, both business and personal. For businesses it means wrapping up all your pending accounts and initiating new marketing promotions/activities for the festive sales. While back at our home, our loved ones wait for us to be a part of in a string of festivities and parties. It’s a challenge to strike a balance between our work and personal life amid this load of activities until and unless someone assists us. GetFriday’s Gift of Time is a package of hours for which the recipient may avail Virtual Assistance for a range of errands from travel arrangements to data curation. So, while the Virtual Assistant handles all these errands, the recipient may enjoy these free hours. So, you may send this Gift of Time to your loved ones and help them offload the seasonal workload and thereby help them enjoy a carefree holiday season. Follow the steps below to gift time to your near and dear ones this Christmas: 1. Purchase a GetFriday digital gift card 2. Gift it to your loved ones or your friends/family. 3. Your loved one will outsource errands to a Virtual Assistant who will take care of everything. So while a Virtual Assistant takes care of these chores, your loved one may use his/her freed up time to travel, revel and focus on things that are more important for making a merrier Christmas.

Quickbooks and Virtual Assistance – a golden duo for book-keeping

The journey of thousand miles begins with one step – Lao Tzu.   Ben the owner of a startup in Australia, was overwhelmed by his business errands. Owning a startup in a competitive business environment and growing his business was in itself a challenge. On top of that, handling and tracking expenses added to his worries. He knew, the solution was in efficient book-keeping but he lacked resources for the same. So he decided to outsource one of his book-keeping tasks to GetFriday. He started with outsourcing monthly invoice maintenance which included updating bills from vendors and invoice for the clients. This was his first step towards success and it worked out wonderfully. GetFriday’s team of QuickBooks experts created Ben’s QuickBooks account which was linked to contact details of all his clients and vendors. They customized invoices with ‘create invoice’ feature of QuickBooks. Apart from customizing invoices, Ben’s Virtual Assistance team scheduled, tracked and sent invoices to his clients. All these activities of invoicing were accomplished through QuickBooks’s built-in features. Just like they managed invoicing, GetFriday team also updated Ben’s bills from vendors in an accurate and timely manner. Thus with QuickBooks and virtual assistance, Ben’s accounting became simpler and efficient. After he got comfortable with GetFriday’s assistance, Ben started outsourcing the task of budget tracking. For this, Ben’s Virtual Assistants matched and verified his income and expense accounts. This freed his accounts from errors and kept his finances safe. Thus, Ben got a better control over his expenses. By now, GetFriday Assistants had won Ben’s trust and he outsourced the task of reconciling his expenses with his bank statements. As a direct result of outsourcing, finances turned out to be the most efficiently managed function of his business. He did not have to invest extra resources for making financial reports as it was auto generated by his QuickBooks account. QuickBooks‘s report generation feature yielded financial details of various aspects whether it be transaction details or a customer report. Ben could now understand his financial loopholes and opportunities. With all these insights, he was able to focus on realizing his objectives. Just like Ben, many other small-business owners crave for more efficient solutions for managing their finances. QuickBooks is a leading software for managing the accounts of small business. It comes with many features to simplify the accounting processes but its benefits are best seen with expert handling. Ben’s decision of outsourcing to GetFriday paid him in the long run, because GetFriday boasts of a team of QuickBooks experts. GetFriday’s QuickBooks team’s expertize includes: Account maintenance: Creating and sending invoices to customers based on requirement. Updating customer payments Sending weekly pending invoices to clients based on follow up Matching bank transactions with invoices Reconciliation of customer, vendor and stock accounts: It involves matching of all balances of band and books of accounts. Reporting and Analyzing financial statements: Analyzing monthly, quarterly and annual comparison report. Preparing customized reports For small business owners, it is often an expensive affair to hire and employ an expert bookkeeping team in-house. Even if he/she is enough rich to employ an in-house team, it is definitely a leaner choice to outsource bookkeeping to Virtual Assistants. There are two types of Quickbooks accounts viz, ‘the online account’ and ‘the desktop account’. The online account is a real time account and it can be availed by paying a monthly fee. The desktop account is accessible only when the account manager shares the details with an authorized person and one can use a desktop account with installed payments. So, one may avail any of these QuickBooks accounts as per one’s convenience. One advantage of using Quickbooks is that is customizable. It has customized industry specific packages for contractors, retailers, health care and non-profit organizations. Above that, when virtual assistants manages your Quickbooks accounts, your accounting overheads are reduced. Thus, a Quickbooks’ account managed by a Virtual Assistant makes book-keeping easier and efficient for small businesses.

Quickbooks and Virtual Assistance – a golden duo for book-keeping Read More »

The journey of thousand miles begins with one step – Lao Tzu.   Ben the owner of a startup in Australia, was overwhelmed by his business errands. Owning a startup in a competitive business environment and growing his business was in itself a challenge. On top of that, handling and tracking expenses added to his worries. He knew, the solution was in efficient book-keeping but he lacked resources for the same. So he decided to outsource one of his book-keeping tasks to GetFriday. He started with outsourcing monthly invoice maintenance which included updating bills from vendors and invoice for the clients. This was his first step towards success and it worked out wonderfully. GetFriday’s team of QuickBooks experts created Ben’s QuickBooks account which was linked to contact details of all his clients and vendors. They customized invoices with ‘create invoice’ feature of QuickBooks. Apart from customizing invoices, Ben’s Virtual Assistance team scheduled, tracked and sent invoices to his clients. All these activities of invoicing were accomplished through QuickBooks’s built-in features. Just like they managed invoicing, GetFriday team also updated Ben’s bills from vendors in an accurate and timely manner. Thus with QuickBooks and virtual assistance, Ben’s accounting became simpler and efficient. After he got comfortable with GetFriday’s assistance, Ben started outsourcing the task of budget tracking. For this, Ben’s Virtual Assistants matched and verified his income and expense accounts. This freed his accounts from errors and kept his finances safe. Thus, Ben got a better control over his expenses. By now, GetFriday Assistants had won Ben’s trust and he outsourced the task of reconciling his expenses with his bank statements. As a direct result of outsourcing, finances turned out to be the most efficiently managed function of his business. He did not have to invest extra resources for making financial reports as it was auto generated by his QuickBooks account. QuickBooks‘s report generation feature yielded financial details of various aspects whether it be transaction details or a customer report. Ben could now understand his financial loopholes and opportunities. With all these insights, he was able to focus on realizing his objectives. Just like Ben, many other small-business owners crave for more efficient solutions for managing their finances. QuickBooks is a leading software for managing the accounts of small business. It comes with many features to simplify the accounting processes but its benefits are best seen with expert handling. Ben’s decision of outsourcing to GetFriday paid him in the long run, because GetFriday boasts of a team of QuickBooks experts. GetFriday’s QuickBooks team’s expertize includes: Account maintenance: Creating and sending invoices to customers based on requirement. Updating customer payments Sending weekly pending invoices to clients based on follow up Matching bank transactions with invoices Reconciliation of customer, vendor and stock accounts: It involves matching of all balances of band and books of accounts. Reporting and Analyzing financial statements: Analyzing monthly, quarterly and annual comparison report. Preparing customized reports For small business owners, it is often an expensive affair to hire and employ an expert bookkeeping team in-house. Even if he/she is enough rich to employ an in-house team, it is definitely a leaner choice to outsource bookkeeping to Virtual Assistants. There are two types of Quickbooks accounts viz, ‘the online account’ and ‘the desktop account’. The online account is a real time account and it can be availed by paying a monthly fee. The desktop account is accessible only when the account manager shares the details with an authorized person and one can use a desktop account with installed payments. So, one may avail any of these QuickBooks accounts as per one’s convenience. One advantage of using Quickbooks is that is customizable. It has customized industry specific packages for contractors, retailers, health care and non-profit organizations. Above that, when virtual assistants manages your Quickbooks accounts, your accounting overheads are reduced. Thus, a Quickbooks’ account managed by a Virtual Assistant makes book-keeping easier and efficient for small businesses.

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