Freelance Tidbits #3: What is a Virtual Assistant?

I posted the new business logo for CG Virtual Assistant Services to my Facebook story last week and received a lot of questions regarding it. Chief among them was “What is a Virtual Assistant?” and “What type of tasks do you offer/do?”

So instead of answering each question one by one, I decided to write a post that answers them all!

According to Wikipedia, “a virtual assistant provides professional administrative, technical, or creative assistance to clients remotely from a home office.”

In addition, since Virtual Assistants aren’t tied down to any location in particular, we can work from anywhere as long as there’s an internet/WIFI connection. Places like coffee shops, internet cafes, libraries, and even bookshops are great to work from if you can find a quiet enough spot to focus and let the creative juices flow.

Virtual Assistants provide a vital service for businesses. We focus on tasks that business owners may find mundane, repetitive, and extremely time-consuming. By hiring a Virtual Assistant to perform these tasks, business owners are in turn free to focus on other key areas of their company, essentially making them more productive and efficient in their role. 

Outsourcing tasks to a Virtual Assistant is a sure way for executives to claim back work hours that would otherwise be lost in the haze of confusion and overwhelm, never to return.

In my next posts, I’ll be looking at how you can become a Virtual Assistant and offer your services and talents to businesses.

I hope you found this helpful.

Happy working!

Freelance Tidbits #2: 8 Essential Apps & Tools for Virtual Assistants

Acquiring knowledge is a continuous process. As Virtual Assistants we can learn something new every day whether its planned or spontaneous. The sources are endless and varied and can be completely free or paid.  When I started freelancing back in 2015,  my knowledge of apps and tools that could make my life easier and make work more efficient and productive was little to none.

However, by working with different Clients from all over the world I’ve been exposed to a myriad of tools and apps that can maximize my time as a Virtual Assistant and help me produce topnotch work. Below I have compiled a list of eight (8) of these apps & tools that I hope will be of help to you too.

1. Dropbox

With Dropbox you can upload and transfer files to the cloud, and share them with anyone. I use it to back up photos, docs, videos and other files. Those same files are then synced with any of my computers or mobile devices and I can access them from anywhere. This gives me peace of mind and comfort in knowing that my Client work and personal files are safe and always readily available whenever I may need them.

2. Google Drive

Similar to Dropbox, Google Drive allows you safely store and share your photos, videos, files and docs in the cloud. You can also access these files from anywhere across multiple devices. The first 15 GB of storage is free with a Google account.

3. Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a time-management and scheduling calendar service form Google. You can get organized on the go with the Google Calendar app and use it to quickly schedule meetings and events and get reminders about upcoming activities and also view and edit them. You can also sync your schedule across platforms and devices, so you’re always on top of task deadlines and deliverables. The easy user interface allows you to toggle from day, week, and month view so you always know what’s next.

4. Canva

Canva is a graphic design platform that allows you to create social media graphics, posters, presentations, and other visual content. I use Canva to create all social media memes, posts, graphics for blog posts and websites for myself and for my Clients. Images and pictures are polished, professional, and are of extremely high quality.

5. Trello

Trello is a visual tool for organizing work and life and is a web-based listmaking application. I use it to organize the different moving parts of a project by listing the steps needed to get it completed. As each step gets done, I move it along the respective list so I always know what’s outstanding and what’s already done.

6. oTranscribe

If one of the services that you offer as a Virtual Assistant is transcription, then oTranscribe is a great tool for you to know and use to get faster, more accurate transcripts. It is a free HTML5 app that takes the pain out of transcribing interviews, podcasts etc. To get started, you upload your audio or video recording or enter the URL for your Youtube video. While using oTranscribe, you can choose how fast you want the recording to play, fast forward, or rewind as needed. This tool has helped me to transcribe a LOT of content accurately and efficiently.

7. Grammarly 

If like me you have strong attention-to-detail and hate to make grammar mistakes and errors, then Grammarly is just what the doctor ordered! It literally takes the guesswork out of great writing, eliminates grammar errors and easily improves any text. I use it to check my emails, documents, Client work, blog posts and much more.

8. Hunter.io

Finding email addresses is just one of the services I offer in my Virtual Assistant business and Hunter.io helps me to find them in mere seconds! They are the leading solution to find and verify professional email addresses and it actually works. For ease of use, install the extension on Google Chrome and once you visit a company website just click the HUnter.io icon to see email addresses and their sources on that page.

What are some of the apps and tools that you find useful? Please share, I would love to know!

Happy working!