The Internet has made working, collaborating and sharing down right simple. With it many businesses are living the dream of running multi-million dollar business without any permanent staff. This magic is done increasingly at the hands of a growing world of workers known as virtual assistants. A virtual assistant is someone who is set-up to complete tasks remotely for a fee.

Some folks rely on virtual assistants to do administrative tasks such as bill paying, but virtual assistants also handle marketing tasks such as writing, research and website maintenance.

I’ve recently started outsourcing some of my marketing tasks to Erin Blaskie, a self-professed techie who provides services more like a partner than a admin.

I thought it would be great to have Erin on an episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast so small business owners could learn more about the industry as a whole. VAs are a great way for small business owners to get things done so they can focus on the strategic work of the business.

I wrote about the idea of time management and focusing on work that is the highest payoff in a recent post. I think the idea of utilizing virtual assistants goes very nicely with that thread.

Are you utilizing virtual workers? I would love to hear how it has worked and what kind of work you find you can effectively delegate in this manner.