Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we get at VAT – from the best ways to communicate with your Virtual Assistant through to what type of tasks they can perform to benefit your organisation most.
Our VAs can do anything a Personal Assistant can do as long as the task doesn’t require them being in the same place as you. So if the task can be performed remotely then it can be done! The services could include anything from website development, copywriting, events planning, and the most popular VA tasks we have requests for – administrative work and bookkeeping.
Absolutely! You can take advantage of a 7-day Free Trial to test our services and see if they meet your needs. If you choose not to continue with us, all we ask is that you let us know in writing how we can improve.
Yes, our VAs are fluent in written and spoken English. Some do have different accents as they may not be Native English speakers, according to their region.
You can choose any from the list of tasks your chosen VA has been hired (based upon their abilities) to provide. Obviously if your VA has been hired as an Admin Assistant or Event Coordinator, asking them to perform website development or online marketing would not be feasible.
Your Virtual Assistant will be chosen to fit in with the nature of your business, the tasks you require them to perform, and as a match to your personality.
There are a number of ways you can communicate with your VA. We recommend using online tools such as Skype for daily conference calls or chats. Of course email is effective too – though the response may not be as quick as the chat box on Skype. For task delegation choose an online Project Management tool. You may already have one in place, if not then check out apps like Glip or ToDoist. If you need to share large documents (and as a place for cloud storage) Dropbox, OneDrive, or any cloud-based storage platform is useful. The idea is to make things as easy as possible for you to communicate and building a good working relationship between you and your VA.
Our VAs are trained and equipped with the skills needed for the tasks you specified, however, if you are not satisfied with your VAs performance, feel free to contact us so we can figure out how to improve the situation. We can also assign someone else if that is the best course of action.
Payments are made once each month. A Tax Invoice will be sent to you around the 17th of the month asking for payment by the 25th of the month. This allows transferral and re-transferral of monies across to the countries and regional banks where your VA may reside, so they can be paid on the final day of the month.
During December each year there will be an extra payment – it is a 13th month payment convention. The amount is calculated according to how long your VA has been working with you. For example if your VA has been with you for 12 months, your VA is paid the full amount twice, eg. 2 x $880 ($880 for the month of December and $880 for the 13th month). If your VA has been with you for 6 months, your VA is paid their normal monthly December wage plus half again, (eg. $880 for the month of December and $440 for the 13th month). This is the equivalence of ‘holiday pay’ throughout the year in Australia.
Australian based companies pay through EFT and payments from outside if Australia are paid through EFT or PayPal.
The good thing about working with a virtual assistant is that they work remotely. All you have to do is provide them with the necessary information and software (if needed) to complete a specific task. You can also set a deadline to make sure that your VA finishes the task in a timely manner. Remember, it’s best to lay out everything clearly and provide all of the information needed for you and your VA to keep moving forward and having a synchronised goal. It’s good to communicate regularly with your Virtual Assistant so you both get to ‘check in’ on where tasks are at. It also gives your VA the opportunity to ask questions or double-check they are on the right track with a task or project.
There are many reasons as to why a lot of people choose to have a Virtual Assistant, but it often boils down to two things: time and money.
Having someone to take care of aspects of your business that are time-consuming and sometimes, let’s admit… boring – frees you up to spend your time on more important things like strategising on how to grow your business, letting your creativity flow and developing new products, or even spending more time with your family and friends.
Having a remote assistant means you can have the workforce minus the headache of needing to set up a physical office that requires you to pay the rent, electricity, internet bills, as well as buy or lease office furniture and computers.
Our Virtual Assistants are experienced and highly trained individuals. Having said that, they may require special training, particularly if you have specifications on how you want things to be done. For instance, you may have custom-designed software that you use to run your business, or there is a methodology customised to your business that you need followed. Your VA might not be familiar with these processes and tools, so some training may be necessary.
Our VA’s are skilled professionals that have a great command of English, are intelligent, creative, trustworthy, independent, and fun to work with!
VAT’s experience with interviewing, screening, and hiring Virtual Assistants ensures you’ll be working with someone you can rely upon. Our VA’s are fully supported by a VAT Administration Team, and we treat our VA’s as family. To find out more about how we look after you and your Virtual Assistant please visit:
Most of our VAs are Filipinos and Indian.
The Filipinos are located in different parts of the Philippines, a country well known to have the most reliable remote workers because of their resilience, ability to provide exceptional customer service, and their ability to speak the English language well.
Our Indian VAs have a reputation for having an eye for detail, in depth knowledge of technology, and analytical minds… making them effective problem solvers.