| Little Susy is here for her lesson. John is on the phone | | | | A virtual office assistant (VOA) can be the solution to |
| about a great young thoroughbred for sale. One of the | | | | these paperwork nightmares for the equestrian |
| school horses needs stitches. Oh, and on the other line | | | | entrepreneur. You can hire a VOA to provide support |
| is Mary calling to find out why none of your student's | | | | in virtually any administrative area. There is a virtual |
| entry forms have come in for the show this weekend. | | | | assistant out there that can help you complete any |
| Equestrian businesses have all of the same issues as | | | | task you can imagine. |
| other small businesses with many additional variables. | | | | You can hire VOA's to complete single projects. They |
| Barn owners and managers are forever running. You | | | | can do a one-time newsletter, marketing brochure, |
| have so many hats to wear: trainer, teacher, on-call | | | | create a database of your clients, horses, vet records, |
| vet., sales expert, customer service manager and so | | | | etc. You can also hire virtual office assistants on a long |
| much more. First and foremost though, you are running | | | | term "retainer" basis to handle a specific area of your |
| a small business. | | | | business on an on-going basis. |
| The most successful people in the horse industry are | | | | Deciding to solve your administrative dilemmas in this |
| there because of their true love for the animals and | | | | manner is a very cost effective way to make your |
| the sport. However, like any other small business, to | | | | business more efficient. You do not have to worry |
| stay successful and frankly, to stay in business, | | | | about keeping track of any human resource |
| attention must be paid to the details. | | | | information, spending money on additional office |
| The day to day operations of your barn's office: | | | | equipment, or even dealing with the hiring process. |
| bookkeeping, marketing, and communications with | | | | Virtual assistants work as independent contractors or |
| customers, colleagues, vendors, etc. are vital to your | | | | vendors. You define the relationship with them as you |
| continued survival. | | | | see fit and can choose to continue or terminate your |
| Many larger facilities employ an office manager or | | | | partnership at anytime. |
| administrative assistant. For the newer or smaller | | | | The horse industry is an ever-growing, ever-changing |
| ventures, this is often impossible due to the huge | | | | industry which can sometimes leave your head |
| investment of hiring on another employee. For every | | | | spinning. Hiring a virtual assistant can give you more |
| actual employee, you must deal with taxes, insurance, | | | | time to focus on those things that made you enter the |
| training time, and all the other human resource issues. | | | | business in first place...the horses! |