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Virtual Assistants and Virtual Offices Save in Overhead

davincivirtualdavincivirtual subscriber Posts: 1 Member
edited November 2008 in Grab Bag
As a business coach, one of the first things I tell my clients is keep your overhead down. Working from home and using contractors instead of employees will help bootstrap your business in a way that works.
I also recommend that my clients don`t bootstrap themselves to the point that their functionality is impaired. Case in point, the use of virtual assistants and virtual offices. When you have a new business, chances are you will need some type of actual live receptionist to assist you with things like appointment scheduling, SEO work, returning calls, generating thank yous, etc. And, if you are officing out of your home, chances are good that you do not want your business meetings to be held at your breakfast table.Outsourcing assistants and office space is beyond a trend now. It is becoming the standard. And with the services being so affordable, it seems like a no-brainer to add them to your budget...saving the cost of an employee and office.
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    SlowCookerMateSlowCookerMate subscriber Posts: 1
    As a business owner, I have always tried to follow this advise as much as possible:
     
    Work ON the business and not IN the business.
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    redfishredfish subscriber Posts: 10
    I`m too small right now to need those services -- I`m certain that there are others in the same boat.  But what I`ve done is setup a virtual phone office -- it seems like we`ve got a location when you call as there are extensions (and you can setup departments which is great if you`ve got a mobile sales staff) and it directs the calls to another number.  So a caller selects the person they want to call, and then the call gets forwarded to my cell phone, or my partner`s home phone.  If we don`t pick up, or choose not to take the call, they leave a message on our system.  It`s fabulous. Not to mention very cheap (as it saves on phone bills).  I use gotvmail (http://gotvmail.com/rae?r=8776199489  -- that`s a promotional number that gets you free setup).
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    seosupportseosupport subscriber Posts: 0
    I completely agree. If there arent enough hours then prioritise your workload accordingly. This is where I outsource a lot of my non priority stuff
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