About

The UK Association of Virtual Assistants (UKAVA) was originally formed as virtual assistants and virtual personal assistants were becoming more and more in demand as small businesses and sole traders began to flourish but there was no real association where prospective clients or existing and new virtual assistants could go for information, advice, recommendations and cost effective advertising. What the industry needed was a one-stop shop for both potential clients and virtual assistants alike. The UK Association of Virtual Assistants was born.

For potential clients looking for a part-time home based secretary, a virtual assistant, personal assistant or even a full blown virtual office, our DIRECTORY provides an online source of contacts listed by county. Each listing provides details of the services offered by each assistant, their contact details and links to their web site where appropriate. There is also the added assurance that each virtual assistant listed agrees to adhere to the associations CODE OF CONDUCT. To find a virtual assistant to suit your needs, visit our DIRECTORY OF UK VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS.

For virtual assistants, the Association gives the opportunity to become part of a virtual team and to advertise your services widely across the Internet using our DIRECTORY as our intensive marketing campaign ensures your details are well listed in the search engines. It also gives you the opportunity to be recognised as a professional in your field by becoming an accredited member of the Association and adhering to our CODE OF CONDUCT and also receive special discounts on a range of relevant products and services all negotiated on your behalf. If you would like to become a part of our professional team and have you details listed within our DIRECTORY why not JOIN US today?

What Is A Virtual Assistant?

Are you overwhelmed running your business? Are there not enough hours in the day? The more your business grows, the more administrative tasks you have; the more time you spend on administrative tasks, the less time you have to generate new business.

How much is your time really worth? YOUR time is most valuable because it is your responsibility to generate new revenue for your business. Doing small and often trivial administrative chores yourself does not really add value to your business and the sensible solution is to delegate those less profitable tasks by hiring someone more than capable of carrying them out, but whose hourly rate is somewhat less than your real financial worth. So what’s stopping you?

You may have a multitude of reasons that prevent you from hiring a full time personal assistant. You may not need a full time, or even part time employee but just require someone for occasional or limited secretarial services. Then there are the employers responsibilities, employees are entitled to sick pay, maternity leave and paid holiday and often seek generous benefits packages. It is estimated that the true cost of an employee is over double and often up to triple the cost of their annual salary in terms of benefits and liabilities.

Significant for some potential employers is also the loss of privacy and space – are you working from home or have limited office space? You may not want an employee working from your home or simply not have the room for an additional employee in your office or all the equipment they may need.

Wouldn’t it be perfect if you had a business assistant that was always ready to work for you, but only when you need them? Providing secretarial services from their own home or office, using their own equipment? Meet the Virtual Assistant (VA), an invaluable new work force that provides a practical solution for small businesses owners. A VA frees up your valuable time so you can concentrate on the important things that only you can do in your business.

There is no need to share office space or even for your VA to live in the same town or city. Work assignments are communicated through email; telephone, fax or post and web-based tools such as instant messengers and online calendars and planners are also often used as a means of keeping in touch.

Because your VA is self-employed, and invoices you only for the actual hours worked or by tasks completed, and is dependent on referrals and steady work flow from existing clients, s/he can be the perfect solution for a busy small business or entrepreneur. When you hire a VA you get all the benefits of outsourcing – no employer liabilities, tax and benefits issues, coupled with the loyalty and steadiness of a company executive PA.

With a VA, you have someone to whom you can delegate. Your VA can return telephone calls, answer e-mails, and draft letters for you. They can run your diary, deal with your post, run your marketing campaign, design your next presentation, book your doctors appointment and even remind you of your spouses birthday and source the perfect gift if necessary! VA’s are already computer trained, and can assist with your specific needs from traditional office support services to highly specialised areas including web site design. You can also equip your VA to go beyond traditional secretarial support to client development and marketing support.
You can easily justify a virtual assistant in terms of your greater productivity and your greater efficiency. You need to be the leader in your business and your VA will insure that you focus on what is important, rather than urgent. Your VA can also lend “size” to your company, which will impress potential clients.

As more and more businesses move their marketing and communications to the Internet, VA’s are becoming the obvious solution to staffing issues. For an hourly fee often less than the cost of temps or the real cost of employees, businesses can take advantage of professional assistance and a variety of skills at the click of a mouse.

Need a Virtual Assistant? Then you’ve come to the right place. We have details of all the best virtual assistants and PA’s in the business so click on the link and start delegating! DIRECTORY OF UK VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

Are you a Virtual Assistant? Do you want to establish your presence as a professional virtual assistant and become an accredited member of the UK Association of Virtual Assistants? For more information about membership criteria, our CODE OF CONDUCT and how to add yourself to our DIRECTORY OF UK VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS visit our JOIN US section.