This is an all to familiar phrase to so many people, especially small business owners. There just never seems to be enough hours in day to get all revenue generating tasks done, not to mention abundance of administrative tasks that seem to always be piling up.

For most, only known alternative to doing work yourself is to hire a temporary employee. This has always been how most have received help with their administrative overflow.

Well, not anymore. Now you can get help with office tasks from professional, self-employed Virtual Assistants (VAs).

But, why would you choose a VA over a temp? Well, there are many differences between two… differences that we will cover here and that will point out benefits and advantages of utilizing services of a VA over help of a temp.

1.Temporary employees (temps) are just that, temporary. They’re here today and may be gone tomorrow. A VA, on other hand, is available on an ongoing basis or can be called upon, at short notice, when an extra pair of administrative hands is required.

2.VAs take a vested interest in success of their clients and their businesses. VAs believe that absolute best job possible will not only help their own reputation but will also help to build client’s business. The more successful client is, higher possibility of more work needing to be done by VA or more referrals. A temp, however, may look at assignment as just a means of padding their resume or getting a paycheque.

3.Training and experience is also an issue when comparing VAs to temps. VAs are generally those that have had many, many years of experience out in workforce. This knowledge, along with any additional training and schooling, allows them to provide a wide gambit of services, all of which they have had many years to perfect. VAs also tend to be more apt to upgrade their skills in order to provide their clients with most up to date and professional services that they can possibly provide.

Temps, on other hand, may be those that are right out of school with little or no ‘on job’ experience, or those who are simply looking for something to fill their time. Not to mention, when a temp is hired, they have to be trained. Now, if that temp is not available when next assignment crops up, another temp will have to be brought in and thus more time is needed to train that employee. And so on.

A classy man or woman, dressed in a high priced business suit, an overflowing briefcase sitting on corner of desk, dictating memos and delegating tasks to a very overworked secretary?

How about a home-based business owner, sitting in their basement office, kids pulling at their pant legs while they are spending far too much time dealing with their correspondence and other administrative tasks?

Either of these sound familiar?

Well, these may be true but, with our ever-changing business environments and with ease of using Internet, more and more business professionals, especially small business owners, are altering how they conduct their daily activities.

Sure, they still have their offices, sometimes in their homes, but they also have more time to spend on generating revenue or to be with kids than ever before.

How, you ask? Well….they outsource some or most of their non-core tasks to professional, reliable fellow small business owners who take pride in helping other businesses succeed by providing them with a helping hand.

These days, almost any normal (or even not so normal) task that a small business owner usually does, can be accomplished by an outside source.

Let’s take a look at typical daily (or so) tasks that are usually needed to be done:

1.Read and respond to incoming mail and email 2.Enter account payables and receivables into accounting software program 3.Prepare a quotation for a potential new client 4.Order flowers for spouse’s birthday 5.Reserve a spot in local industry trade show 6.Update pages on company website 7.Clean office 8.Update your contact database 9.Book airline tickets and make hotel reservations for an upcoming seminar 10.Attend a networking breakfast

This list gives you some idea of many tasks that need to be done each day by most small business owners. And, this is only a portion of what is usually required to be done.

Some of these small business owners run their businesses from their homes, which means there is added activities of dealing with “around house” things (that everyone seems to think you have all time in world to do), running errands (ditto), tending to family, and accepting those calls from telephone solicitors who somehow know you are at home to answer phone.

It’s all kind of like a math equation… tasks ADD up, which SUBTRACTS from running your business smoothly, which EQUALS a less successful business and a more stressed out business owner.