The administrative roles that are required to run the operations of a business are many. It used to be that one person could pretty much handle the day-to-day responsibilities of answering the phone, bookkeeping, or typing up letters or reports.

Now with the technological advancements that have taken place with computers and the Internet, not only can you have graphic design, article writing, internet marketing, programming, and more, it’s just too much for one person to handle. It’s just not cost effective for businesses to hire the amount of staff needed to handle everything. Now businesses not only can, but also should examine the benefits of using a centralized freelance marketplace for hiring virtual assistants.

Businesses can gain access to highly skilled professionals from all over the world.

When you utilize a freelance marketplace, you are not limited to local staffing agencies. You can get highly skilled virtual assistants from India, Pakistan, UK, Canada — there are no limits or boundaries. Providers can be chosen that specialize in administrative tasks such as data entry, personal assistant, Web research, customer service, and so much more.

Businesses can save money by using freelancers.

No longer are businesses tied to expensive overhead costs like overhead, payroll, insurance, licensing, training, taxes; I could go on and on. When you hire a virtual assistant from a freelance marketplace, you either pay them by the hour or at a fixed rate. For hourly jobs, you only paid for the hours that are worked.

Hiring managers can monitor work as it’s being completed.

For those freelance marketplaces that require virtual assistants to sign into a time clock, the benefits for businesses are immense. The hiring manager can gain access to actual screen prints of the work as it’s being completed. This translates to an effective insurance against paying for work that has not been done yet.

Businesses can have as little or as large a team as they want.

One of the benefits of using a freelance marketplace is flexibility. You can start small and expand your team as your business gets larger. It is quick and easy to add on new independent contractors that can start work the same day.

Businesses can hire at competitive rates.

By utilizing a freelance marketplace, you receive bids from virtual assistants — many times at far less than what you would expect. You can now afford to be choosy about how much you will pay.

So in this article, we’ve examined what the benefits are for companies to hire virtual assistants through a freelance marketplace. Among the benefits, we looked at access to highly skilled professionals, cost savings, monitoring capabilities, and possibilities for growth. Now the question you should ask is who is a good freelance marketplace to use?

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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. She is co-owner of Borlok Virtual Assistants — the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

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The virtual assistant industry is highly competitive right now, especially with corporations starting to look overseas for cheaper, faster freelancers. It’s up to you to make sure that you avoid being late for that interview with a potential client.

Below are some suggestions that you can possibly use to be prepared and be early, not only for client interviews, but also webinars, conference calls, and seminars.  Let’s take them one at a time.

Let’s start with the night before the interview.

One way to start mentally and physically get ready is to do things ahead of time, right?. Draw up a checklist of things that you want to have for the meeting and cross them off as you do them.

Get plenty of rest. For some of us, it’s human nature to go to bed and lay there thinking through everything you want to say the next day. Do the mental rehearsing before you go to bed so you can have a good night’s sleep and feel refreshed the next morning.

Lay things out for your interview or meeting preferably the day before, but at least in plenty of time prior to your meeting so you’re not rushed.

If you have a headset, have it hooked up and ready to go. Print out whatever your need for the meeting – presentations, resumes, etc. Have a notepad for notes and at least two pens. I have been in a meeting, only to find that my pen ran out of ink. Shucks! Invariably, there wasn’t one available in the drawer next to me. Then I had to pull up Word in a hurry and start typing my notes and switch back and forth to something else on my desktop that I may have needed.

Start the day out relaxed and on schedule.

Now I know that’s not an easy task when you have kids to get off to school or your husband off to work; however, the benefits of starting relaxed is that you’ll stay relaxed. Things will flow much easier. Once you get behind, it seems like you can never catch up to where you should be.

Do your research ahead of time on the prospective client.

It’s so easy to use the Internet to research whether or not your client has a company website, a blog, or participates in chat or forum rooms. You will also be able to determine whether or not they are members of social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others. All of this information should be put in a folder after you take the time to do some reading on them so you can gain an insight into your client. Don’t wait until half an hour before the interview; you will be late and sound totally unprepared.

Do your homework, mental preparation, and physical preparation ahead of time so you can avoid being late to an interview over the phone. You want to shine like the sun and show that you can be organized — not sound harried, rushed, and totally unprepared.

Let’s take a brief run through again what I’m suggesting so that you are not late to a phone interview. Early preparation was the first tip I suggested, with my recommending that you create an atmosphere that will allow you to feel in control of things and relaxed. Get a good night’s sleep the night before and have everything you need laid out ready for that all important meeting with your potential client. Check out any references to your client and/or their company on the Internet. The early bird can get the worm. Remember that when you’re looking to get that all-important next client.
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Borlok Virtual Assistants has the global expert services with quality, on-time delivery that you require. Get more tips on increasing your knowledge in the world of VA and come see us at Borlok Virtual Assistants or Borlok Transcription.

Be kind to your clients and provide comprehensive customer service!

Most likely your interview will take place over the phone. Now, you might think that not having to be in the physical presence of your interviewer might be an easy thing to do. You might be surprised, however, to learn that a telephone interview can actually be more difficult than being across the table from someone as a telephone interview has its own unique skill sets you should know about. So let’s look further into how a virtual assistant should prepare for a phone interview.

Don’t Wait Or You’ll Be Late

I would say that you should be at your desk at least 5-10 minutes ahead of the interview. You don’t want to sound rushed, and you don’t ever, ever want to be late. That will give the interviewer good reason to not want to hire your services. You’ll want to have your headset set up ahead of time and have a notepad and pen handy for notes.

Be Prepared

Please listen to me when I advise you to prepare ahead of time. You will want to have the job posting, their website (if they have one) and any other important details that might help you to put your best face forward. One such paper might be a list detailing your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your recent accomplishments that are similar to what the client is looking for you to do.

Practice Makes Perfect

Always, always, always practice sounding out what you might say ahead of time. Try to think of questions they might ask. Practice how you might answer them. It will help make you sound much more self-assured. Use your family or friends as sounding boards as you practice in front of them.

Don’t Eat Or Drink During the Interview

Refrain from chewing gum, eating your lunch or snacks, or drinking your soda on the phone during the interview. The sounds of chewing, slurping, etc., could not only stand a chance of being heard on the other end of the line, but it will also cause you to slur your words making you less likely to be heard clearly.

Be Neat and Tidy

This one might sound silly, but it really isn’t. So, hear me out. Run a comb through your hair, put on a clean shirt or blouse, wash your face, whatever it takes for you to feel good on the outside. That feeling will make you feel better on the inside as well. When you do this, your self-confidence will be quite evident during the phone interview. Don’t forget to have good posture so your voice will carry. Watch your tone. You want to have an animated voice at a consistent pace and level.

Shut Down Communications

While you undoubtedly have IMs that you have open, email open, your cell phone on your desk, and Skype open, take care to ensure that these methods of communication won’t be a major distraction during the phone interview. Shut down your email, either close your IMs or put them in a busy or offline status, and either leave your cell phone in another room or turn it off. Now is not the time for distractions to occur. Let your family know that you can’t be disturbed, and maybe put the dogs out in the back yard for a while.

So let’s take a look at what a virtual assistant should do to prepare for a phone interview. We’ve discussed that you should be on time and prepared. Check out the interviewer’s company on the Web and even look at their website(s) or blog(s) if they have any. Practice what you might say if a certain question comes up.

The final sections we looked at were what you can do to create a good impression and avoid distractions. A virtual assistant must do everything they can to land new clients in this highly competitive business. Now go out there and ace that phone interview.
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Borlok Virtual Assistants has the global expert services with quality, on-time delivery that you require. Get more tips on increasing your knowledge in the world of VA and come see us at Borlok Transcription or at our blog Borlok VA.

If you’ve recently been laid off from a position within a company, and you’ve been pounding the pavement with little or no success at landing an interview, let alone a new job, then listen up. There is hope.

If you have the drive and determination to succeed and work out of your own home, there is an alternative work arrangement that you might want to consider. Besides the flexibility of setting your own hours, there are many more benefits of becoming a virtual assistant, with the ultimate goal of being able to bring in extra money for the bills and to put food on the table, without paying out a lot in the way of equipment.

Now you may be wondering what kind of things a person could possibly do from home – especially if you are used to working in an office. And, just what is this freelancing that I mentioned in the title? You also might be wondering how to get into freelancing. Well, let’s take a look briefly at each question.

What is freelancing?

According to Wikipedia, “A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is a self-employed person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any particular employer. The term was first used by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) in Ivanhoe to describe a “medieval mercenary warrior” or “free-lance”. Some additional synonyms you might hear tossed around are contractor and independent contractor.

How can you get into freelancing?

The easiest way to get into freelancing is through one of the multiple freelance marketplaces that abound on the Internet. The one that I use, in particular, is Looking for work? Sign up at Elance and search over 30,000 jobs today.. Elance has been around since 1998 when it was founded. Privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, California, this company is insistent that it be the most widely used application for Services and Contractor Management. According to their website, more than 200,000 employees are using Elance in all facets of finding, buying, managing and paying external services and contractors from more than 2,000 suppliers across 50+ services categories. You will register with them in the specific niche that you want to pursue. When you are paid, Elance, of course, will take their cut; but they are the one site that I feel has the highest quality standards.

What kind of things can you freelance in?

Elance offers a wide variety of categories that a virtual assistant can mix and match in to complement their abilities and expertise. The two categories that I’m personally signed up for are Admin. Support and Writing & Translation; these will cover a wide array of services that you can specialize in.

I’m not saying you will get rich at freelancing, but I do attest to the fact that you can make money by freelancing. If you work hard, bid reasonably, and maintain high quality standards, you just might enjoy it so much while bringing in an extra income that you’ll want to continue.

Yes, indeed. There are several freelance marketing sites out there where you can post a project and have eager providers bid on the project in the hopes that you will choose them. It is definitely possible to get good help through outsourcing.

Overview

One of those sites is Elance. Elance has been around since 1998 when it was founded. Privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, California, this company had a vision that has allowed it to become the most widely used application for Services and Contractor Management. According to their website, More than 200,000 employees are using Elance in all facets of finding, buying, managing and paying external services and contractors from more than 2,000 suppliers across 50+ services categories.

Why

With over 169,000 expert professionals in Elance as of this writing, you can’t possibly go wrong. You need someone to write articles for you? No problem. Elance has a category for that. Need someone to do website design? Yup, Elance has a category for that, as well. You have a wide variety of professionals that you can choose from. Just take a look at the major categories that you can post a job in:

* Web and Programming
* Design and Multimedia
* Writing and Translation
* Administrative Support
* Sales and Marketing
* Finance and Management
* Legal
* Engineering and Manufacturing

Within each major category, you have a wide array of skills for hire. Let’s look at just five examples in the Design and Multimedia as an example:

* Graphic Design
* Photography
* Animation
* Dreamweaver
* Videography

And this is just a sampling. There are 30 more skills within the Design and Multimedia major category. Are you beginning to see the wide field of opportunity for getting outsourced help easily?

How

It’s easy. With the Elance Work System, it’s a piece of cake to hire professionals with a standardized way to post jobs and receive proposals, hire, manage, and pay for results, and also enables collaboration, tracking progress and providing feedback. What could be easier?

Time is of the essence

As more and more companies are trying to tighten their expenses, outsourcing your jobs out to freelancers only makes sense.  Perhaps you are behind on finalizing your marketing plan or just plain need extra help to fill in for someone that is sick. Well, don’t stress out about it. Now is your opportunity to Find a world of talent online at Elance. Post your job today. now! You won’t be sorry you did.