5 Tasks To Delegate To A Virtual Assistant

1.  Email 

We all know how much time is wasted trawling through email.  Allow your Executive Assistant to screen your email and prioritise customer enquiries ensuring you are drawn to the most important ones. Set up an Admin email account for your VA to manage as well as a personal email account using your business domain so that your PA can answer in your company name.

2.  Calendar 

You don't need to be wasting time managing your calendar appointments.  Let your VA manage your calendar and schedules. If you have a good PA, that person will be adept at managing the back-and-forth calls and emails required to set up and confirm appointments. If you use Google calendar, it can sync directly to your iPhone.

3.  Invoicing 

Timely invoicing is crucial to any smart business to ensure cash flow doesn't become an issue. Your Virtual Assistant can prepare, send, track, record and receive your business invoices. H/she can even pay your invoices via online banking if you have already developed a long-term trusting relationship.

4.  Expenses  

Expense reports can be a business professional's least favourite task. By allowing your VA to organise your expenses and receipts, you will immediately lose the stress they can cause and end up with a neat spreadsheet showing each item, totals and summaries, set out in date order. To simply share receipt images, use Dropbox, a great invention for sharing documents.

5.  Travel  

Maybe because the word itself is appealing, in our 

experience most people are reluctant to release control of travel arranging. Take a tip and record how much time you waste looking at flights and hotels (even without getting distracted and ending up on other more appealing sites) to secure the right deal at the right price.  You may be surprised!  When delegating, ask your Virtual Assistant to have a look at TripIt a free tool which can sync your travel itinerary to your mobile device.

Don't Be Afraid To Delegate To Your VA

You will save time which can be better spent working on your business. 

If you want more time for yourself and / or your business, it’s time you relinquished your administrative tasks to a virtual assistant.
Hesitancy to release control of your tasks in itself is a sign that you need some help. In many cases, a VA can perform your administrative tasks more quickly, professionally and more effectively than you can because these are jobs a good Virtual PA does every day and your Assistant will instinctively know where or which contacts to go to for the fastest and best results.

Delegate - You will save time which can be better spent working on your business.

Check back soon to read our next blog on "Which Social Media Tasks Should You Delegate To A Virtual Assistant - Part 2"

Which Social Media Tasks Should You Delegate To A Virtual Assistant

CJ Virtual PA
06-02-2014

Part One

In a recent online survey 460 small business owners, 63% admitted they spend between one and hours on social media each week. The remaining people spend even more time, with some spending as many as 21 hours a week just on their social media management!
It doesn’t take much to work out that’s around half a working week – we wonder how on earth they are getting anything else done to create revenue! 

If you're not careful, the majority of time spent on social media can be totally unproductive and should be delegated to a Virtual Assistant for them to manage the promotion and scheduling, leaving you free to focus on what you’re good at, i.e., the client-facing role in your business.

If you've been on Facebook for a while, you'll know that due to all it’s various options it can be difficult not to get sidetracked.  However, social media, if used in a  productive way, can do amazing things for your online business marketing.

Letting Go

If  you have already made the decision to delegate your social media to a Virtual PA, you are to be congratulated! 

As an owner of a business built on hard work, blood, sweat and and sometimes tears, we understand only too well that it is not easy letting go, but by delegating you will save yourself a lot of valuable time which can be so much better spent on increasing revenue.



Once you have made your decision to "let go", you’ll need to give your VA access to your social media accounts and share your login details with them. You will also need to make them administrators of your social profiles. 

Social Media Marketing Model

Firstly, you need to evaluate which networks you will focus on, based of course on your business. For example a clothes manufacturer might use Pinterest to portray their colourful images, whereas service-based businesses like corporate coaches might be better off utilising Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to network in their areas of expertise. 

Some businesses fail in their social media efforts because it just is not possible to build an online presence overnight. You need to create a social media marketing strategy which summarises your goals, recurring tasks and the different achievements you're aiming for.

Social Media Tasks for Your Virtual Assistant to Manage

It’s really important to give your VA an overview of how you have managed your social media to date. This will allow him or her to understand your thought processes as you will want to ensure consistency when your Virtual PA is posting / blogging etc., on your behalf.

Drafting Content  

Your followers expect you to provide them with valuable information, which is why they chose to follow you in the first place.  This is where links and quotes come in as they are extremely popular on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Sourcing quotes, images and links to share across your social media platforms can be time consuming. This is where your Virtual Assistant can really add value by devising a document on a weekly basis, containing draft posts for your approval. As soon as you've authorised them, your Virtual PA can schedule them via HootSuite to be posted when you want them to go to get the best readership for your business.

Increasing your Network

Ask your VA to follow / friend / connect with new people based on your specific criteria. 
Liaison is crucial when it comes to social media, and sharing and commenting on content which is not your own is really important if you want to increase your network. Be careful not to link back to your own website too frequently or your followers may "unfollow" you if they think you’re just trying to directly promote your business / products / services. 



There are lots of ways to encourage social interaction online - here are just a few tasks which can be undertaken by your Virtual PA:

1. Share a content-relevant article or link relating to your industry
2. Add a video from Youtube and comment on it
3. You could even post an online survey to encourage a reaction from your followers
4. “Like” others' pages and interact with the larger names within your particular line of business
5. Post inspirational and amusing images and quotes

Finally, don’t forget to thank your new followers and liaise with those who have re-tweeted your posts and replies.

Check back soon to read the second part of "Which Social Media Tasks Should You Delegate To A Virtual Assistant"

5 Ways To Enhance Your Tweets

By CJ Virtual PA

When using Twitter, its important to make sure your content is interesting enough to encourage online discussions.  Here are 5 ways to increase engagement on your social posts:

1. Tell Your Followers A Story

People can tell a sales pitch a mile away and will, for that reason ignore them, but people really cannot resist reading an interesting story. Always include a relevant image which will spark imagination - graphics are a great way to capture attention. It is also important to include a call to action with a link the reader can click on for more information.

2. Communicate What Your Stance Is

Once you know who your audience is, it’s important to let them know your point of view. Without a clear and consistent voice, it becomes difficult for potential followers to discern what your interests and areas of expertise are (and whether or not following you will be beneficial for them).

 3.  Use Descriptive Words & Upper Case

The words you choose to use when posting to Twitter posts can have a significant effect.  Tweets with links which contain verbs tend to have a higher click-through rate than those that don’t.  Another interesting fact is that using Capital Letters works better when it comes to hashtag descriptions.

 4.  Use Quotes In Your Posts

Many people have limited time and rightly should be choosy about which web-based content they decide to spend time reading. By using a compelling quote to summarise content is a great way to gain interest. It’s an opportunity for your followers to click through to your content for more detail.  

5. Re-Share Previous Posts

Use scheduling tools like Buffer or HootSuite to re-share your previous social media posts. As only a small percentage of your followers are going to see your posts each time you add something new, it’s worth posting them out again to gain maximum readership and interest.

Five Examples Of How A Virtual Assistant Can Save You Time

Five Examples Of How A Virtual Assistant Can Save You Time
Author: CJ Virtual PA

Deciding which tasks to delegate to a Virtual PA, VA or Virtual Assistant can take a while to establish.

Most virtual assistants are self employed and work from home focusing on administrative tasks similar to those of an executive assistant in a corporate office.

As the number of virtual assistants increases, their area of expertise is growing - it is therefore much easier to find someone who fits your needs than say it was five years ago when Virtual Assistants were only just beginning to get their names out there in the UK.

Entrepreneurs tend to use virtual assistants for everything from making client calls to sending out marketing material to prospective clients. It's important to build trust, just as you would with a permanent assistant as a good VA will be become a member of your team - he or she works virtually, saving you the overhead of office space, recruitment costs and expensive health / life insurance.  

1. Online Research
You can easily delegate Internet research to a Virtual PA. Requests could include searching for information on corporate websites, exploring new products and vetting potential employees or business contacts. It is important to give clear instructions, as well as user names and passwords so your assistant can get access to speciality search tools or paid websites. You can ask your VA to research blog topics and to find out what the current trends are before you delegate your Twitterfeed, blog, newsletter or website updates.

2. Database entries  From new business cards picked up at networking events to updated information for existing contacts, keeping databases current is vital if you want to become an expert marketeer.

Be specific about your needs and make sure your Virtual Assistant is aware of your expectations. Proper follow up is crucial for business owners if they want to market themselves efficiently. You can even scan business cards to your VA who will enter them into your database.

3. PowerPoint Presentations

Creating PowerPoint presentations from raw data and flipcharts or summarising research findings in a Word document can be a huge timesaver and can help you to prepare for those important meetings Your VA can return the data  to you in an electronic format which is easily shared later on.

4. Managing email
To save you time on a daily basis, your Virtual Assistant can filter your most important e-mails and respond to the rest on your behalf, ensuring nothing gets missed.  E-mail management is simple to administer remotely, but if your assistant is new to your business, you may need to provide guidance on how to select key e-mails and don't forget to ask your PA to ensure you are kept in the loop!

5. Social tasks
Virtual assistants are worth their weight in gold when it comes to drafting correspondence, writing cards or sending thank you notes.  This type of task can become a real bugbear for business executives but a good Virtual Assistant will take care of it all seamlessly.

At the end of the day it is all about creating a level of trust with your VA, Virtual PA, or Virtual Assistant and being prepared to just “let go” - a must for anyone who wants to grow and expand their business. No-one got rich by "doing it all themselves!"

Five More Reasons To Use Social Media In 2014

Five More Reasons To Use Social Media In 2014

By CJ Virtual PA

13.01.2014

Posting To Social Media Sites Doesn’t Take As Much Time as You Think

Lots of us use social media every day, but on a somewhat limited basis. If you think that you have to spend all day researching to find  results you could have your eyes opened.  By adopting a positive and structured approach, you can achieve great results by asking your  Virtual Assistant or PA to spend just a few regular hours per week on social media sites such as Twitter. The important thing is to be consistent.

Those Who Use Social Media Are Predictable

As soon as you get to know your social media audience, you can design your content to be appropriate for their needs. Also, your knowledge about social media, for example Facebook, can easily be posted to your other sites and blogs.

Inbound Links Help You To Climb Up The Search Engine Rankings

As well as sending traffic direct, the links which result from social media allow your new posts to rank well with search engines almost immediately.  Of course it may take a while to build your search engine rankings but it is possible to create specific posts which rank well straight away.

Social Media & Branding

One of the best benefits of social media exposure are the results it has on the branding of your blog. Branding is key to building a successful blog and social media is an excellent, free option for helping readers to view your blog in a specific way.

Social Media Enables You to Leverage Your Existing Traffic

If you already have a popular blog the chances are you could leverage that traffic to draw even more visitors via social media. You could consider asking your PA or virtual assistant to include voting buttons in your posts and ask your readers and followers if they would vote for you.

Five Solid Reasons To Make Social Media A Priority In 2014

By CJ Virtual PA

1. Social Media Doesn't Cost You Anything!

Marketing your website with social media is free. There are several ways to market a website or blog but most of them involve spending money. 

2. Results Are Imminent

Building a successful website takes a considerable amount of time and it can take a while to climb up the search engine rankings. By using social media you can develop content and be seen by thousands of visitors within the same day. For this reason alone, social media is a great option for getting your website or blog noticed.  

3. Blogging Gets Easier As Time Goes On

If you haven’t yet put your social media strategy in place, try to remember that it does take time and effort, but it will get easier!  Once you have established a reader base and you’ve attracted some social media followers to your blog, it will be much easier for you to attract comments and ultimately more exposure for your business.

4. Social Media Leads To Other Valuable Traffic Sources 

Visitors who come from social media sites may not be necessarily as responsive as other types of visitors, but a successful social media strategy will increase the number of inbound links you receive to your site, which are usually good quality as far as the search engines are concerned, and these are important to your search engine rankings. 

5.  Start With Twitter!

As a business owner you are bound to be knowledgeable about your products or services so share your expertise with others to prove your credibility online and engage people! You will soon attract followers if you do your research on how to tweet successfully (or ask your Virtual PA to help - he or she can also devise, manage and schedule your tweets for you).

12 Tasks To Get Out Of The Way Ahead Of Christmas

12 Tasks To Get Out Of The Way Ahead Of Christmas 

By CJ Virtual PA

We thought we’d share 12 tasks to tackle which, once complete, will help you to wind down for the festive season so that you can relax, sure in the knowledge you have planned ahead (and don’t need to feel guilty while you party and take some well deserved time off).

10^th December

Produce your Christmas Card list from your Outlook contacts (if you don’t have one, ask your VA to create one – you can build on it year after year)

11^th December

Write those cards!

12^th December

Print your labels and don’t forget to mail your cards!

13^th December

Write a blog and place a link to it on your website. You never know who will be browsing from their shiny new tablet over the holiday period!

16^th December

Get yourself on Google+ if you haven’t already done so. Click on the link for instructions

17^th December

Ask your Virtual PA or business manager to prepare Tweets which can be sent over the holiday period via  Hoot Suite.

18^th December

If you sell products and are launching a January sale, now is the time to get those gorgeous things on Pinterest!

19^th December

Add a message to the home page of your website advising your clients when you’ll be closed for business, reminding them they have a couple of days left to get those orders in!

20^th December

Collate your receipts for the month and enter them onto a spreadsheet for your accountant (and make this a monthly habit - April will be here before you know it)!

21st December

Yes, we know the 21st is a Saturday, but this is probably the last opportunity most of us will get to buy those last minute gifts ... remember, stay calm and carry on - it has to be done!

23^rd December

Prepare your out of office email message and record your voicemail greeting, advising people when you’ll be back at work.

24th December

Call those important people you won't be seeing over the break and as soon as the sun is over the yard arm, treat yourself to a glass of mulled wine, or something stronger. Finally, sit back, relax and wait to see what Santa brings those who have worked hard all year.

Happy Christmas!

Links To CJ Virtual PA Previous Blogs:

The Best Ways To Market Your New Website

Twitter - Trending & Hashtags

How Do I Get My Website Found?