How to Hire Virtual Assistant?

If you’re a busy person working hard to achieve success in your business and financial life, you may not be able to afford hiring a full-time personal assistant. But in order to achieve more and get rich, you must delegate works and tasks. You can’t do everything on your own. So there is other option for you, why not hire an online personal assistant instead? It’s low-cost and easier than a regular in-house personal assistant.

Getting assistance virtually and at very low cost is not a bad idea. You have lots of things to do, you have goals in your career and life, but time flies like anything. Why not offload few things and give them to your Virtual Assistant to complete, under your supervision and guidance.

Workplace Vendor offers best solutions for Virtual Assistance, and we have given below few important points to note while selecting your VA.

Given below are some important steps to consider while hiring Virtual Assistance Services:

First: First of all you need to confirm the geography of the Virtual Assistant. As many low-cost VA’s are available outside US or Europe, hence their availability in your time zone is important. This is good to confirm availability and support time before entering into any agreement or contract. Most of the VA’s in the Third Word are working over night so this would not be an issue, but better to confirm at the outset.

Second: The language of the Virtual Assistant. Your VA must speak your language. If you are based out of France or Germany or if you speak any language other than English and hiring Virtual Assistant from India or Philippines, you need to be extra cautious as VA’s in these countries normally speak English and may not be able to support you in your language except if they have special multi-lingual skills.

Third: You need to check and confirm the domain knowledge. If you are hiring for general assistance, or for human resource department or for IT support, the VA’s must have required knowledge. The issue comes in when we hire General Admin Virtual Assistant and ask him to design a website or perform technical SEO activities, in these cases the VA’s fail to perform and whole industry suffers.

Fourth: Check the availability of daily usage tools and technologies like Computer, Software, Mike, Camera, Word Processor or Spread Sheet, etc.

Fifth: Better to have an agreement with a Virtual Assistance Services agency for better security and proper support. The agency will serve you in more responsible way and keep alternatives and back-ups for smoother support.

Sixth: You may use some tool to count utilized hours, as Virtual Assistance agencies charge hourly. But you may also have an agreement with monthly fees that is better if you have permanent flow of work.

How to Make Money Online: A Virtual Assistant Business Plan Is Important to Your Success

A virtual assistant business plan can help you determine the direction that will give you the best possible chance of success. Virtual assistants are independent contractors who perform a variety of tasks and services remotely. If you work as an assistant, writing a business plan will help you define your objectives and assist you in keeping your daily tasks well managed.

Benefits of a Business Plan

If you want to effectively promote your services and achieve your career goals, then you need a plan for your online business. A virtual assistant business plan can help you establish priorities and find new job opportunities. It should also give you a clear picture of your goals, competition, budget, services, and targeted audience.

Writing a plan for your business is a great way to increase your self confidence and organize your ideas. A business plan shows you where you need help and guides you into the direction you want your business to go into. It also outlines your vision for the future of your business and enables you to identify problems early on and take appropriate action. By creating a plan, you will be able to look at your business ideas objectively and persuade others to invest time and money in your services.

How to Write a Business Plan

The Internet is an excellent resource for finding a business plan template. A standard plan should include the following sections:

• Summary
• Company description
• Services
• Objectives
• Strategy and implementation
• Market analysis
• Financial analysis

It should answer four simple questions:

• Why does your business exist?
• What are your goals on long term?
• How will you get there?
• How much will it cost to achieve your goals?

Your objectives should be measurable and realistic. The plan you write should have a logical structure and present a well thought out idea. You also need to identify your potential customers and show how they will benefit from using your services. A plan that covers all aspects of your business will help you advertise your skills more effectively and find new clients who are interested in what you have to offer.

There is no single formula for creating a business plan. Make sure you understand what makes your business unique and then search for ways to achieve your goals. Your plan should outline potential opportunities for your business and help you implement your sales strategy. Identifying your objectives will make you a better assistant and help you grow your online business.

Voice Technology Is The Future – Google Assistant

Google recently demoed their Assistant to make a phone call to help book a haircut appointment. When the conversation was being heard, the discussion sounded just like two people talking together, while in fact online there wasn’t a live person, but an ‘AI powered Assistant’ that sounded pretty much like talking to a real person. Besides the “hmm” and “m-hmmm” that a live person would do when in a conversation, it ended up booking an appointment for the Customer who had called in.

Like some, of its ‘friends’ Siri, Cortana, Alexa, Google Assistant can also be used to help support a particular business process. The only upgrade that it had was using its Duplex Technology capability and perform a task with the same sounding effort as a human being. Here the test was to check if Google Assistant could be used to perform different tasks, something like book an appointment at a salon or restaurant however for a business there are a lot of things that will be considered, this also includes the Security Policies for using Robots to do a Human’s job.

Google Assistant is a virtual companion and is available on Android phones and tablets running Android 5.0 or higher, on iOS devices via a downloadable app, and on certain Chromebooks and home speaker products. With Android and other Google devices, Assistant can typically be summoned via a simple voice command or by pressing and holding the Home key on your device.

Below are some of the basic functions that can be performed simply by saying “OK Google..( and your query )”

Notes & Reminders

If you need to take down a note, one can simply open Assistant by saying “OK Google..” and say “make a note to self”. You can even opt to have the note sent as an email to your own address via Gmail. Google Assistant can act as your secretary and compile a list of reminders, to-do tasks, or notes and then send this list as an email. It can even send the list to multiple people or post it into apps like Slack, Evernote or Trello.

As an example Assistant can set a reminder for a specific time and day just by saying “OK Google… Remind me to call John on Monday at noon,” One can set recurring reminders by adding the word “every” into the spoken command ( e.g., “Remind me to check the inventory every Thursday at 1:00 ). In addition to Reminders, there is also a command “Remember that the meeting is at 4:00 every Thursday”

If you need to recall the information, one can just say, “OK Google..what did I tell you about..?” followed by the subject “the inventory” or whatever the case may be.

Calendar

You can create a calendar event by telling the Assistant “add to my calendar” followed by the event’s name, date and time. You can also ask Assistant something like “When’s my next appointment?” or “What’s on my calendar for next Monday?” Apple users can also link Assistant to their iPhone’s calendar by setting up Google’s IFTTT applet for integrating Apple Calendar with Google Home and then use the command “Add to my iOS calendar” followed by the event’s title, date, and time.

Communication & Messaging

If you need to make a phone call, Google Assistant can act as your operator. One can ask it to call any publicly listed business or any person in their contacts by specifying “mobile” or “work” and even include “on speakerphone” in case you need them all to be on a speakerphone.

Google Assistant can understand “OK Google..text..” followed by the contact’s name and the message. It will confirm if it got everything right and then ask if you want to send the message. Assistant makes it easy to find emails within Gmail too, simply ask it to “find my emails from” a particular contact or to “find my emails about” a specific subject, and it’ll pop up results.

The Assistant will also provide functionality to link LinkedIn to Assistant and then let you write a post speaking it aloud.

Functions & Settings For The Phone

Google Assistant can help get around your Android phone as well, for example, if you are instructing it to open any app or website or even ask it to search within an app. Something, like increasing or decreasing the volume of music playing, or completely asking the Assistant to mute the phone, can also be done hands-free.

Additional Useful Tools

One can get detailed information on traffic before they head out just by asking Assistant “what the traffic is like on the way to work” or “how long it’ll take to get to a location” and it will be able to tell you the distance and time that will be taken to reach the destination. Just like a human being, Google Assistant can occasionally get a little talkative too. If you want to get info from Assistant without having it talk out loud every time, one can either silence their phone’s media volume.

Ups & Downs

This voice-based technology is surely a game changer for not only individuals but even businesses alike. However, unlike any other technological innovation, this too has its ups & downs and adds in its own security risks. This will include chances of it being misused too, however, if there are restrictions implied towards its use for supporting businesses, it will need rigorous testing, and continuous innovation to make sure it is able to keep up with the security authentication and privacy policies to avoid any technical vulnerabilities affecting the consumer or business.

Originally Published on https://www.globaltechinsights.com/voice-technology-is-the-future-google-assistant/

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