Category: Business administration

No business could be a bigger fan of outsourcing than GetAheadVA. The regional directors and I practice what we preach, outsourcing our own business tasks within the team, freeing us up to connect with clients, do our own virtual assistant work and still have time to go for a run. If you’ve called us and we’re not there, you’ll have encountered our efficient phone answering service, and all those gorgeous infographics you’ve seen on LinkedIn were created by our own graphic design experts.

There are a number of excellent VAs who operate alone, but we firmly believe that VA agencies offer a more efficient, flexible service. In this blog, we look at why outsourcing to an agency makes sense for your business.

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Virtual assistants can provide invaluable services to businesses at the best of times, and especially so right now, when many people need extra support to keep their businesses running smoothly during lockdown. Remote, flexible working is the comfort zone of the virtual assistant, and that’s why we’re well placed to help you adapt to these extraordinary circumstances. Want to know more? Here are 5 key ways a virtual assistant can help you during lockdown.

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Get Ahead VA offers a wide range of business and marketing services. In our Service Spotlight, we take a closer look at one of these and show you how our virtual assistants can help you and your business. This month, we’re looking at telephone answering.

Why do you need telephone answering?

Phone calls can be one of the biggest distractions in the workplace. We all know the feeling of being fully immersed in a project or piece of work, only for a phone call to break our flow and add extra tasks to our to-do list. Business calls can also happen at the most inconvenient times – when you’re travelling, in a meeting, or even (horror of horrors) when you’re at home with your feet up!

If you find yourself bombarded with calls, or you just want a break from the phone while you finish an important piece of work, then a telephone answering service could be just what you need.

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Email is at the heart of every business – for keeping in touch with clients, managing projects and marketing to customers – but it is so easy for your email inbox to get out of hand.

According to research,* the average office worker receives about 90 emails per day, and sends about 40. That’s a staggering number of emails zipping back and forth and taking up space in your inbox. Of course, because it’s all online, it’s tempting to let the backlog build up, but if your inbox is so overflowing that you lose track of important emails, or you just feel overwhelmed every time you open it, then it’s time to do something about it.

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Do you collect data about your business? It might seem like an obvious thing to do, but for many small business owners the answer is ‘no’, even though harnessing the power of data can help you to increase your revenues, reach more customers and grow your business.

In the modern world, the most effective way to gather data is through a website. However, according to research published in 2017,* nearly two million SMEs don’t have a website, even though they stand to gain the most growth in revenue by having one. So what’s so important about gathering data, and if you don’t do it already, where should you begin?

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Get Ahead VA offers a wide range of business and marketing services. In our Service Spotlight, we take a closer look at one of these and show you how our virtual assistants can help you and your business. This month, with the aim of getting organised for the new year, we’re looking at administration.

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Thursday 5th April will be the last day of the 2017/18 financial year, and if you’re a freelancer, sole trader or business owner, this will obviously be an important date for your diary. However, this can also be a stressful time for the self-employed, especially if the thought of spreadsheets and tax returns makes you shudder.

The best way to deal with the transition is to get organised. Now is the time to put your finances in order and prepare yourself to fill out your tax return. Not sure where to start? Here are four essential tips for dealing with the end of the financial year as a self-employed person.

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Here at Get Ahead VA, our team of virtual assistants includes experts in a wide variety of fields. From accounting to admin, Hootsuite to holiday cover, email marketing to Excel, our VAs can add value to many aspects of your business.

In this ‘How to’ guide, one of our blogging and copywriting experts, Clare, shares her expertise on one of her favourite productivity tools: Kanbanflow.

“One of the most complicated parts of running a business is managing your time. Which tasks should take priority, how long should you spend on them, and how can you work effectively throughout the day? The best way to handle these sorts of questions is with a tool that can manage your entire workload. For me, this tool is Kanbanflow.

What is Kanbanflow?

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Here at Get Ahead VA we are privileged to work with a wide variety of clients, ranging from will writers to window cleaners, financial consultants to fashion designers. All of our clients are motivated and driven business owners with clear plans for business growth. They recognise the value of outsourcing, passing onto others the tasks that either they lack the skills in or that drain their valuable time.

Here’s 60 seconds with one of our clients, Tracey Barney from Guildford HR, who was looking for administrative support to enable her business to take on new clients:

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Between the indulgence of Christmas and the celebration of New Year, there’s a strange week that has been given a number of names – Twixtmas, the Fallow, Romjul (meaning ‘half holy’ in Norwegian) – and it can often feel like limbo.

When it comes to working during this week, different businesses take different approaches. Some close down for the entirety of the festive season, while others expect their employees to be back at work as soon as the Christmas bank holidays are over.

If you’re not sure whether to keep your business open for Twixtmas, here are some of the main pros and cons to help you decide.

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