As your business grows, so does your task list. But not all tasks are created equal. At a certain point, it’s time to offload the more time-consuming, repetitive tasks so you can focus on the skill-based tasks that move your business forward.
You’re reading this article because you’re ready to hire an assistant, but now the question remains: what kind of assistant do you need?
Hiring an in-house assistant can be very costly.
Between the time spent vetting potential assistants (~$4,000 according to Glassdoor), training (~$1,252 according to the Association for Talent Development,) salary (~$70,000 according to salary.com), benefits, paid time off, and other overhead costs, hiring a new in-house assistant adds up to approximately $92,750 per year —and that’s if they stay.
Zippia reports that the average executive assistant stays at their job for only 1-2 years, which means you’ll have to continually restart the hiring and training process, losing even more time and money in the process of finding a competent replacement.
Visionary business leaders like you understand that in-house assistants aren't always essential for task coverage. Opting for a virtual assistant service provides all the advantages of an assistant at a lower cost.
Learn More: The ROI of a Virtual Assistant
Now you’re likely asking, “Do I need a Virtual Assistant or a Virtual Personal Assistant?” or "What exactly is a Virtual Personal Assistant?"
Good questions! These job titles seem interchangeable at first glance, so let’s go over their similarities and differences.
What’s in this article:
- Similarities between a Virtual Assistant and a Virtual Personal Assistant
- What does a Virtual Assistant do?
- How are Virtual Assistants Different than Virtual Personal Assistants?
- Typical Virtual Assistant responsibilities
- Virtual Personal Assistant responsibilities
- How to hire your own Virtual Personal Assistant
Similarities Between a Virtual Assistant and a Virtual Personal Assistant
So, what exactly is a virtual personal assistant?
A Virtual Personal Assistant (VPA) is a type of Virtual Assistant that caters to an individual's professional and personal requirements. In contrast, a Virtual Assistant (VA) generally handles administrative tasks within a business setting.
The most significant difference is their area of focus, but there are many similarities between the two roles.
Organization
If there were only one word to describe what VAs and VPAs do, it would be this. The ability to organize is a key skill that all assistants share in common.
Professionalism
VAs and VPAs are expected to be competent and dependable. Although assistants in both roles are usually not full-time or in-house, a certain level of professionalism is required. When you hire a managed virtual assistant company like Prialto, you can feel confident that these standards will be upheld.
Computer Skills
Since they work remotely, all VAs and VPAs must have fundamental computer skills. At Prialto, we train our assistants to become proficient in various software, enabling them to quickly adopt and execute your preferred processes.
Trustworthiness
Your virtual assistant supports multiple facets of your life and business, so it’s vitally important that you find someone you can trust.
Trustworthiness is among the main advantages of choosing a managed virtual assistant service like Prialto over an independent contractor. We perform background checks and oversee our employees’ work under enterprise-level security, eliminating worries about security breaches.
Communication Skills
Your assistant’s role is to support you, which means they must be excellent communicators.
At Prialto, we have a team structure and training focused on ensuring smooth and consistent communication.
Although Prialto assistants reside in different countries, they are all college-educated, fluent in English, and trained in-house, so no important messages are ever lost.
What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
The primary role of a VA is to help with various administrative tasks. The tasks you assign to your VA or VPA will depend on your specific needs. They may include:
Calendar Management
Let your VA manage your calendar and be prepared to worry less as all the moving puzzle pieces of your work and life seem to fall into place.
Once your VA understands your preferences, they can coordinate meetings with various stakeholders and reserve time so you can focus on your priorities.
Learn more: Calendar Management with a Virtual Assistant
Expenses
At Prialto, you can easily set up secure systems with your VA so they can keep track of all of your expenses for you. Your virtual assistant can work directly in your systems for security, convenience, and efficiency.
Email Management
Say farewell to inbox clutter. Your VA can sort your emails to highlight only priority messages, helping you focus without being distracted by less urgent ones. Other emails can be neatly organized into folders, ensuring you can find anything quickly whenever necessary.
Learn More: Email and Inbox Management
Travel Booking
Don't waste time on travel planning. Your VA can find the best flights, hotels, and car rentals for you, so you don’t have to spend hours of your life trying to find good deals, plans, and schedules.
Organizational Support
VA support can transform operations for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a small startup that needs one VA or a bigger team that requires extensive support, Prialto has the solution that will work for you.
How Are Virtual Personal Assistants Different Than Virtual Assistants?
What does a Personal Virtual Assistant do? VPAs can also perform all of these administrative tasks, but they take it one step further by helping you balance your personal life as well.
Personal Errands
Need a prescription filled? Your virtual personal assistant can call the pharmacy. Need dry cleaning picked up? Your VPA can arrange it. Need to schedule a parent-teacher conference? No problem, your VPA’s on it.
The internet and services like Uber Errand allow you to have a Personal Virtual Assistant take care of almost any errand you can think of.
Grocery Shopping
Let your VPA handle meal planning and order groceries for delivery when you get home.
House and Family Organization
Do you need to organize a house cleaner? Are you looking to hire a new nanny? Your VPA can research options, schedule interviews, and handle payroll.
Event Planning
Whether it’s your colleague’s retirement or your youngest child’s birthday, your VPA can help you find the best caterers, entertainment, and decorators to make any party an event to remember.
Orange Moments
At Prialto, we strive to go the extra mile and put a personal touch on everything we do.
Instead of booking a weekly team lunch at your favorite restaurant, your VPA may contact the restaurant to see if they have a Frequent Diner’s Club. Instead of just booking appointments on your business trip, your VPA may research gym classes they know you’d like to attend during your downtime.
We refer to this level of service as an “Orange Moment” because it represents a distinct benefit of working with us.
Typical Virtual Assistant Responsibilities
At Prialto, we offer full-time and fractional virtual assistant services that can be customized to fit your unique personal and professional needs. We charge a flat price with no overage fees, so you always know exactly what you're getting.
In addition to all of the tasks we’ve already mentioned, many of our VAs do the following every day:
Online Research
Whether you need to find new prospects, identify restaurants in your area, examine flight options, or get the right keywords for SEO, your personal virtual assistant has your back.
Data Entry
Most VAs at Prialto excel in data entry and Excel skills. If they need development, we will train them on your specific processes to meet all your data entry requirements. They can also learn and integrate with your CRM or other frequently used software, providing a smooth and seamless experience.
Document Preparation
Creating documents can be tedious and time-consuming. Instead of spending your energy on this, consider delegating the task to your personal virtual assistant to prepare standard documents, allowing you to focus on tasks that require your unique skills. This can be anything from vendor documentation to invoices. If it's templatable and standardizes, your VA can handle it.
Answer Phones
Although Prialto VAs work from different countries, they always operate within your timezone's business hours, so answering phones is never an issue.
Personal Virtual Assistant Responsibilities
Virtual personal assistants do all of that and more.
Online Ordering
Once your virtual personal assistant is familiar with your preferences, you can rely on them to handle all of your online ordering.
Restaurant Reservations
Interested in trying a new restaurant? Your VPA can find the best chefs nearby and send you suggestions. After choosing a place, your VPA can handle the reservation and make special requests for you (see “Orange Moments” above).
Gifts
Looking to send your spouse a gift? At Prialto, your preferences are recorded, allowing you to specify the budget to your VPA who will assist in finding the ideal gift.
How to Hire Your Own Virtual Personal Assistant
A Virtual Personal Assistant can make your life much less stressful. Gone will be the sleepless nights and days when your mind feels cluttered.
When you hire a Prialto VPA, they will help you organize your life so that you can prioritize what’s most important to you and rest assured that everything else is being taken care of.
Want to learn more about hiring a personal Virtual Assistant? Let's chat about how a Virtual Assistant can transform your work and life!
Learn more: How to Find a Personal Virtual Assistant