Many small businesses have spent the last year just struggling to survive.
The economic climate has really made people realize that having a healthy cash flow and being able to run their business efficiently is the only way to stay alive.
One of the biggest problems these companies face is how to ensure that the back office is running smoothly whilst still being 'out there' running the business and increasing sales.
Admin functions start to slip and suffer and suddenly you realize that your cash flow is horrendous because not only have you not invoiced for the last month you haven't chased up out standing debts either, and when on earth are you going to get the time to do some marketing to attract new business.
You probably don't want to take on the commitment of additional staff with all of the costs that would incur - it isn't just their salary, it's National Insurance, holiday pay, running a payroll, and the additional overhead to your time of managing them too.
So this is an ideal time to look into the merits of outsourcing this kind of work to a virtual office assistant.
You pay an agreed amount and they do the work you want done.
They won't be off sick or expect to be paid when they don't work - the snow in the UK this week being a prime example - and it is just a single invoice for you to pay each month.
A virtual office assistant can provide all of these services and can do as much or as little as you need - virtual bookkeeping, creating your invoices and chasing payment so that your cash flow improves, and running a virtual marketing campaign to refill your sales funnel.
It's a new year and a new decade - a great time to review the way you are working and let someone else take over the tasks you don't have the time or desire to complete.