When you’re running a business, big or small, time is your most precious resource. As your business grows and changes, administrative and operational demands increase, meaning you and your team by find yourselves spending valuable hours on routine tasks. These tasks are necessary, of course, but are they directly contributing to your growth? Probably not. Which is why delegating these responsibilities to a virtual assistant can help you claim back a significant amount of time and enable you to focus on strategic priorities.
But with so many tasks on your to-do list, where should you start when it comes to outsourcing them to your VA? Let’s explore 5 time-draining tasks you should be outsourcing to benefit your business.
Invoicing and Credit Control
We’re starting strong with a task that most businesses (if you’re anything like us) have a bit of a love-hate relationship. It is the backbone of your business, and also the bane of your existence. You need that positive cash flow, but getting it requires time, patience, and, quite often, a bucketload of stress. Sending invoices, chasing late payments, managing relationships with clients – it can quickly become an awkward, clunky process if you’re not careful, and one you probably didn’t have time for in the first place.
A Virtual Assistant can take ownership of your invoicing and general credit control processes, using accounting tools such as Xero or QuickBooks. They can work to ensure invoices are generated and sent on time, monitor outstanding balances, and issue payment reminders according to pre-agreed timelines. No late payment battles necessary! Delegating credit control responsibilities not only saves you copious amounts of time and effort but also removes all those awkward moments of having to chase late payments yourself. By streamlining these processes, a VA can help reduce payment delays and improve financial consistency across your business.
Data Entry and CRM System Management
If data entry hits the automatic snooze button in your brain, you’re not alone. Data management is a particularly repetitive task that often takes up more time than you expect it to (and bores you to tears in the process!) But it is essential for decision-making and maintaining customer relationships, so it’s important it’s not put on the back-burner or left alone for too long. Again, this is where support from a Virtual Assistant can be crucial. A VA can handle updating spreadsheets, entering information into customer relationship management (CRM) systems, maintaining sales or contact records, and tagging leads according to business priorities.
Having a dedicated onboard to help manage and maintain data ensures information is always up to date and reduces the risk of errors that can occur when rushed or overlooked. This support saves you time while also giving you accurate data to work with, which in turn supports better planning and communication.
Document Preparation and Internal Reporting
Creating, formatting, and maintaining documents is another routine yet essential part of running a business – and one that eats into your time like no other! From internal reports to client-facing proposals or operational checklists, the preparation and upkeep of such documents can take up way more time than you need it to. Instead of finding time in your busy schedule to keep on top of it, you can task your Virtual Assistant with consolidating data, formatting documents, creating standard templates, or generating recurring reports. For example, weekly financial summaries or project status reports can be compiled by your VA using pre-defined inputs and procedures – miminal effort on your part, maximum effect.
Delegating these tasks ensures consistency in all documentation while also freeing up your time to focus on the more strategic growth elements of your business.
General Administrative Support
How many hours per week do you reckon you spend on general admin? On things like organising digital files, responding to standard queries, processing purchase orders, managing internal records, or handling supplier communications? According to Transcription City, small business owners spend around 16 hours per week on admin – that’s two full work days! These admin tasks, although varied and flexible for the most part, are crucial to the smooth day-to-day running of your business. When you’re already tight on time and resources, keeping on top of them may not be feasible.
A Virtual Assistant can handle many of these responsibilities independently with minimal supervision once clear instructions and procedures are provided. Offloading these small but frequent tasks can significantly reduce workload and free up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.
Accounts Support and Reconciliation
We mentioned earlier that Virtual Assistants can handle invoicing and credit control, but what about all those other financial admin bits? We’re talking logging expenses, matching receipts to transactions, reconciling bank statements, preparing basic reports for accountants – all these bits that need doing but tend to fall to the bottom of the pile in favour of more pressing matters. You’re in luck, because a Virtual Assistant can take on those tasks too. While these tasks don’t require full accounting expertise, they do require consistency and accuracy – two qualities are Virtual Assistants possess in spades.
By keeping financial records organised and up-to-date, handing these tasks over to a VA helps ensure compliance, reduces the risk of overlooked transactions, and makes financial reporting at year-end more straightforward. This type of administrative financial support is particularly useful if you’re a small business owner who hasn’t yet taken on a full-time bookkeeper – someone to keep things ticking along smoothly in the background while your business establishes itself.
Business Support with The Edwards Company
And there you have it. Five time-draining tasks that you can outsource to a Virtual Assistant to help you reclaim some of your hours, keep your business running smoothly, and open up more opportunities for strategic development. For more information on how we can support your business, please do not hesitate to get in touch.