Small Business Owners Sustain Competitive Edge With Virtual Assistance

    /24-7PressRelease/ - Lethbridge, CANADA, May 27, 2005 - For the small business owner, the only thing more challenging than achieving success is sustaining it. Administration and planning activities can start to overwhelm the entrepreneur's ability to generate revenue from something that was once a passion. A virtual assistant, however, can end the downward spiral for those who feel victimized by their own success.

A virtual assistant, or "VA," is an independent contractor who provides administrative, technical, creative, or consulting services to other businesses, usually from a home office. VAs support their clients via the Internet, phone, fax and email. Most VAs effectively partner with clients from a distance, eliminating the need for onerous commutes and meetings.

In Canada, a VA may charge $35 per hour or more depending on his or her skill level, professional experience, and the client's specific needs. This is considerably cheaper than using conventional hired help. Benefits and overhead alone can increase employees' compensation by eighty-five per cent of their salary.

According to Industry Canada, thirty-three per cent of self-employed men and women work more than fifty hours per week. As a business grows, so do the demands on the entrepreneur's time, cash flow, and ability to manage stress. Not only does productivity suffer, but work-life balance also takes a hit. Outsourcing to a virtual assistant can help the small business owner restore a sense of normalcy and control within his or her personal and professional life.

Karri Flatla, Lethbridge business woman, wife, and mother, saw a need in the business community for skilled writing support and enterprise planning. Drawing on her university degree and breadth of work experience, she launched snap! virtual assistance inc. Already accustomed to working at home as the part-time business manager of her husband's consulting firm, Flatla knew she had something special to offer as a virtual assistant.

She also knew that asking business people to "go virtual" would not be an easy task. "Building relationships is what this business is all about," states Flatla. "Even the savviest entrepreneur will need and want outside support at some point. And a fresh perspective is simply invaluable in business."

To find out more about this cutting edge industry, or to find out how snap! virtual assistance inc. can help your own operation, visit snap!'s website at http://www.snap-va.com.

snap! virtual assistance inc. is a business and project support service firm that specializes in writing support, business planning and analysis, and Internet research. Editing, proofreading, spreadsheet design, and forecasting are a few of the services snap! can accomplish virtually. snap!'s mission is to facilitate high impact communications and enterprise planning that enables small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to meet or exceed performance targets. Please visit http://www.snap-va.com for more information.

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