Month: November 2012

Your Small Business May Need a Virtual Assistant


If you are the owner of a small business, you probably spent most the early years dealing with most of the duties required to keep the business operating in an efficient manner. You know the kind of duties that, though mundane in nature, are very much a part of any business or entrepreneurship:

Clerical work that includes everything from answering the phone(s) to typing up contracts and balancing the books, in addition to writing checks to merchants which, ultimately, is the task that determine whether or not you get the services necessary to keep your business operational.

Those early years in business consist of some of the longest days – and some nights – a small business person or entrepreneur has to endure. You are afforded very little time for rest or leisure because, in addition to doing what you do best (generating revenue and managing the business), you had to do everything else.

As an entrepreneur you know your time and money are worth more when you are able to concentrate on what you do best and leave the rest to an assistant. The kind of assistant you can readily afford without the need to establish workman’s compensation, or withholding and payment federal and local taxes on behalf of your employees.

I’m referring to Virtual office assistants who work from their own home-based offices and are highly trained in their skill areas as well as a variety of technologies. Many of them have advanced degrees as well as years of professional experience. Not only can a virtual assistant relieve you of mundane, everyday tasks, but also in many cases, s/he can even help you grow your business.

One of the biggest benefits to hiring a virtual assistant is the ability to delegate work to people who have better skills, and can do work you don’t know how to do, don’t have time to do, or just don’t want to do.

The next big draw (when considering virtual assistants over bricks-and-mortar assistants) is that virtual assistants only clock-in and work when you need them and use their own resources. In other words, they’re not charging you to sit there and play solitaire on a computer you purchased for them.

Here Are Some Reasons that Justify the Use of Virtual Assistants:

  1. Your VA receives calls routed to his/her home office phone and your prospective customers do not receive a voice mail. You pay only for the minutes that the VA is on the phone
  2. You need to confirm appointments for the week. Your VA calls the appointments and notes who is confirmed and who must be rescheduled. Your VA even updates your calendar online, if you’re using a mutually accessible calendar program.
  3. By purchasing a software program that installs a desktop electronic billing system on the VA’s computer, billing can be done off-site. The software vendor technical support trains the VA to use the program, then you email or fax information to the VA, who then does daily electronic billing or accounting services to get your billing done.
  4. You are preparing a marketing plan and need further information. Your VA can contact possible advertising outlets on the Internet, magazines, periodicals, newspapers, etc. and acquire information on pricing, publishing dates, publishing deadlines, payment policies, etc. All information is compiled into a report for you to review.
  5. You are preparing a direct mailing and need to verify your database. The database is sent to your VA via email attachment. Your VA telephones each name and verifies name, spelling, title and address. All corrections are made, old names are deleted, and new names are added. The corrected database is “zipped” and returned to you via email attachment.
  6. You need a brochure, business card or flyer for your business. Your VA can design, type and print your advertising material using your own artwork or stock art. Your VA can also make the materials ready to print by a professional print shop and simply email the file to the shop for printing.

To be continued. Look for more VA skills in our next post

Pitfalls to Avoid in Your Search for Ohio Tax Attorneys


A bit of advice

If you are looking for Ohio tax attorneys, you might have a lot of work ahead of you. You you may agree with me that a truly great service is worth the time and effort put into searching for it. And if you do agree then the following paragraphs would certainly be of interest to you, that is of course, if you reside in the state of Ohio.

We are all aware of the fact that there are people out there who would take advantage of us if we are not careful, and while trusting your fellow man is all well and good, I’m sure you will agree that you we should all be a little wary of the posers and pretenders. As a former US president (the Late Ronald Reagan) once said, “…Trust but verify!” It was good advise in the context which he used it and it is good advise now. That having been said there are a few things we think you should watch out for in your search for Ohio tax attorneys.

Fraud

Yes, there are people who have gall enough to pose as actual lawyers. They can offer you fancy words in order to pay them a retainer’s fee. After a while, however, you will realize that the Ohio tax attorney you hired isn’t actually an attorney! Instead of helping you with your problems, frauds will only add to them.

Before making a deal or paying any money, make sure that you know enough reputable Ohio tax attorneys who have been practicing for a number of years. You should have information obtained from other sources. You should be able to verify the Ohio tax attorney’s authenticity before hiring him or her.

Overcharging

Some attorneys are authentic, but there is always the potential of charging you too high a fee for a certain service. There are a lot of sharks out there and you would do well to stay away from them. Some attorneys like to exaggerate the services they perform. They could turn your simple problem into a complicated one that would make them a lot of money at your expense.

Before looking for an Ohio tax attorney, try to make sure that you know enough about your problem. Ask around if there are people with similar cases and ask them how much they are paying for the services of their lawyers. You should be able to discern which charges are genuine and which are fake. By knowing this type of information, you won’t be fooled by lawyers who want to get rich instead of helping you.

Inexperience

There are attorneys who would try to pass themselves off as experienced only to get more clients. You should know that Ohio tax attorneys require quite a bit of experience in order to properly help you with tax laws.

In order to avoid getting inexperienced Ohio tax attorneys, you should try to consult with other people. Most of the time, those people around you can direct you to an excellent Ohio tax attorney who has provided services to them.

Hackers

This pitfall can be found if you are searching for Ohio tax attorneys on the internet. Many people will want to take advantage of your system and implant it with various programs so that they can benefit. Some hackers may present you with links to various websites that claim to contain the information about Ohio tax attorneys you want. By entering these sites, you often make yourself vulnerable to hacker attacks.

In order to avoid this pitfall, you should always be prepared and you should always use the right tools. You should try to screen different search results in order to find the information on Ohio tax attorneys you need without any problems.

Remember that in your search for Ohio tax attorneys, you should always be in control. By avoiding these pitfalls, you can make sure that your search for Ohio tax attorneys will yield the results that you want.