McClure Virtual Business Solutions August 2011 Client of the Month – Gayle Morales of Keller Williams North Central

Our August Client of the Month is Gayle Morales, Realtor with Keller Williams North Central Massachusetts.  MVBS assists Gayle with business development services on a project basis. Gayle decided to become a Realtor because she extremely enjoys working with people.  It gives her great satisfaction helping her clients with one of the most important decisions in their life, the purchase of a home.

Her work experience has helped her to prioritize and be organized in the work place. She has a great understanding of the importance to remain calm in crisis situations and work well with people. She is talented and resourceful in handling any situation that comes her way.  Gayle’s  focus is always on a win – win outcome. She has been college educated in the Business industry has been told  that she is hardworking, thoughtful, patient, practical, sincere and honest. (and we at MVBS can vouch for that! 🙂 )

Gayle’s motto is “My goal is to help you achieve your goal”.

To find out more about Gayle’s services and your local real estate market, contact her at Gaylewithkellerwilliams@yahoo.com. She’d be happy to answer any questions you may have!

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How to Utilize a Virtual Assistant for Maximum Results

So you have signed on with a Virtual Assistant, now what? Having a VA can be  one of the best financial decisions you do for yourself and your business but if you do not approach it in the right way, you can end up wasting both you and your VA’s time as well as your financial investment.  The following is a few ideas to keep in mind when utilizing your Virtual Assistant to ensure you, the Client are receiving satisfactory results:

1.  Make sure you are utilizing a firm with a team of Virtual Assistants

This is important in order to eliminating any possibilities or circumstances where you may have an urgent task and your assigned VA is unavailable unexpectedly.  A firm that works within  a team structure has other team members to direct you to and fall back on when they are unavailable. No missed deadlines makes everyone happy and ensures peace of mind.

2.  Give precise instructions

Communication is key when interacting with your Virtual Assisstant. Since you do not interact with your VA in person and they are not in your particular business’ office setting, it is important that you give your VA as much information as possible. Once you have a task for your Virtual Assistant, make sure you are clear and to the point when requesting assistance from your VA. One good way to avoid miscommunication  is to request your VA respond to your request with their game plan on how they will complete the task at hand.  It is also important to let your VA know what the task is for or about so that you both are on the same page as to what is expected or needed.

3.  Conduct Damage Control

When assigning tasks to your Virtual Assistant, it is important to set deadlines or give desired completion dates/times. Another good damage control system to implement is to request status updates every few hours/days, (depending on the type of task), or request that your VA submits updates at specified times that work for both of you.

If you keep the above items in mind when utilizing your Virtual Assistant, you can be confident that you and your VA are on the same page and you both can feel comfortable and strong in the results of the Client/VA relationship. McClure Virtual Business Solutions understands that the idea of hiring a Virtual Assistant can be a little unnerving as you have to trust someone you never met (most likely) with the details of your business and livlihood. We are sensitive to this fact, which is why it is Team MVBS’  philosopy  to approach our Client’s businesses as if they were our own.  For more ideas on how to get the most from your VA and what to expect from a VA relationship, contact us at mccluresolutions@hotmail.com.

Can You Afford A Virtual Assistant?

Most professionals view having a virtual assistant as a a great idea but a novelty. This post will outline the cost structure to having a virtual assistant as opposed to having an on site employee.

Lets work out the numbers:

Consider an on site employee at a minimum of $15 per hour.                               Calculate:

$15 x 40 hours                                                                         =                                     $600 Weekly

$600 x 4 weeks                                                                       =                                      $2400 Monthly

$2400 x 12 months                                                                =                                      $28,800 Year

+ 35%  (Taxes & Benefits)                                                    =                                     $38,880 Annually

(Now add in lunch breaks, office space, equipment, supplies, technology, non-productive hours, sick & holiday pay, that is some big money, which is not always being put to good use)

Now consider a Virtual Assistant at an example rate of $25 per hour.  First, figure out approximately how many hours you will actually require of your virtual assistant, for this example lets assume 20 hours per week (each individuals specific needs will vary).

$25 Hourly Rate for a VA                                                                            Calculate:

$25 x 20 hours                                                    =                                                500 Weekly

$500 x 4 weeks                                                   =                                                $2000 Monthly

$2000 x 12 months                                            =                                                $24,000 Annually

Total Cost =    $24,000 Annually

Virtual assistants work as subcontractors so you never have to worry about taxes or providing insurance. VA’s work from their off-site offices and provide their own equipment, supplies and technology. Not to mention, with a VA you do not pay for lunch breaks, potty breaks, sick, holiday or vacation time. The client doesn’t have to be concerned about non-productive hours as they are only paying for the work received. Even if you only require part-time assistance just divide the both numbers in half because utilizing a VA will allow you to cut the hours of on site assistance at least in half as a VA can do a considerable amount more in an hours time as opposed to an onsite employee.

Evaluating the above example, we can see that utilizing a Virtual Assistant will give you an absolute minimum savings of $14,880! That extra savings could purchase you more than 6 months of additional VA service!

Now the question goes from “Can you afford a Virtual Assistant?” to “Can you afford not to have a Virtual Assistant?”

At McClure Virtual Business Solutions, our team offers highly competitive rates  and a wide variety of prepaid packaged plans that offer additional savings. In addition to our great rates, we offer Client Loyalty Rewards and Referral Programs. We offer free, no obligation consultations as our rate plans are customized to fit the individual client needs.  Our philosopy at MVBS is to simplify and streamline the lives and businesses of our clients so that they may conduct both aspects in the manners in which they most desire. Contact us at mccluresolutions@hotmail.com for more information or with any questions you may have.