HOPLA Online

Good news for the small-to-medium-sized business enterprises: there is a smart strategic way to scale your company grow your market and retain your customers without breaking your budget. It’s called online customer service outsourcing for the little guys. This service demystifies one common perception: namely, that it is just suited for the multinational companies that employ hundreds of people. On the contrary, having online customer service representatives that are managed by a third party can become the small but growing firm’s secret weapon to become more agile and even compete with the so-called big guns. This can happen because online customer service outsourcing is itself more agile, and its structure and terms of payment more flexible. That means its services, processes, and even rates can be customized to fit the needs and requirements of its customers, which are small businesses. This flexibility is a far cry from the structured arrangement that clients have come to expect ...

Your to-do list stretches to a mile, your schedule’s a mess, and you have over 1000 emails in your Inbox. While these can be good indicators of a thriving business, doing everything on your own can be overwhelming. Being hands-on in your company has its advantages; however, trying to do it your way is not the best approach all the time. If you feel that your day-to-day tasks are taking your focus away , it might be time for you to hire a virtual personal assistant . Why hire a virtual personal assistant If you insist on doing everything on your own, chances are you’ll find yourself stressed out sooner or later. Fortunately, one of digital technology’s best gifts to humankind is the virtual assistant . Virtual personal assistants are remote workers who are hired by businesses to take on daily administrative tasks. They can sort your emails , field calls, arrange your schedule, and even deal with your payroll and accounting. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. There are virtual ...

Since the discovery of call center outsourcing, the industry has grown tremendously. All types of business from small to big have experienced the underlying benefits of delegating tasks to a third party provider. As the industry is transforming digitally, there are a couple of things businesses should be aware of to keep up with the very tight competition in the market. New Emerging Social Platforms The use of mobile phone has dominated the world, especially to the younger market. As more and more apps are emerging in the scene, more and more options for advertising are popping up as well. According to the research conducted by Trinity Digital Marketing, around 1.2 billion people are using their mobile phones to access the web. Tapping into available advertising options on apps made for mobile devices is definitely a must for marketing success.   Messaging Apps The use of messenger apps is also a trend that will soon take over the advertising industry. According to statista....

The world is constantly evolving and your business has to keep up . In this time where a simple social media post about your brand can become a crisis in a matter of seconds, you need to be quick in addressing your customers’ questions and feedback. Outsourced live chat agents could be of great help in times of needs, which is mostly every time. Despite the steady growth of chatbots in recent years, the need for outsourced live chat agents is still very much recognized especially when looking for a virtual assistant . Entrepreneurs, especially startups, need to focus more on the core areas of their business and leave the duties of responding to queries to a reliable live chat customer service representative. Not only do they function as a tool for communicating with your customers, they also help boost sales. Perks of hiring outsourced live chat agents As your business booms, there’s a high tendency of queries to flood your inbox. Never let your customers down, with hundreds even t...

When you hear a title like “Social Media Marketing Specialist”, do you think, “Is this someone that just spends all their time online?” That’s yes, and no. It’s actually a lot more nuanced than simply that. Many jobs require being online, working on the cloud , particularly if you’re a company that relies on the cloud and maintains a large brand presence to consumers online. But the social media specialist’s job is focused on one end goal: Making sure that the brand and the company’s brand equity becomes more prominent online, day by day. What does it mean to be a social media marketing specialist? There are different names and titles for it, with the most common of them being a social media specialist or a social media manager, but they both mean the same thing: this is a person upon whom the brand’s online identity is entrusted. They are, essentially the voice of the social media accounts peppered throughout the different platforms populated by a huge number of potential clientel...

Remote project management has helped me become a better content writer in several ways. The first is the constant collaboration with equally creative and hardworking colleagues who want everyone, including me, to constantly turn in good work. The second is a support system and infrastructure that points me in the right direction while giving me pointers for improvement. Finally, there is the culture of accountability that helps motivate you into meeting deadlines while maintaining the elevated standards of quality.   This kind of support system with a remote project management setup cannot be underestimated, especially if you are a remote content writer like myself. In that kind of flexible work arrangement, you are almost always working at home or in a remote working space, finishing your tasks independently, and enjoying a certain level of autonomy. The sense of freedom that you enjoy can be creatively liberating, which is important for a writer who is mandated to turn out creative...

Businesses can attest to how creatives greatly contribute to their success. From striking copies to enticing images and video presentations, creatives can be considered as the core of a power team. In a world where these content creators are aggressive in putting themselves out there, it can be overwhelming and confusing to identify those who can craft high-quality outputs from those who lack the right skills. This is where creative talent management comes in. With heaps of talents accessible at your fingertips, managing each one can be 1) time-consuming, 2) convoluted, and 3) erratic. Dealing with them is easy; dealing with them on a day-to-day basis is a different story. No worries, though. We’ve got a creative talent agency who knows the game of managing the virtual workforce in this ever-changing tech galaxy to give you some foolproof tips! Effective Talent Management Strategies Your people are your most important asset. Before establishing a company culture, sharing the compan...

If you have been in the real estate agency for a long time, you are probably used with doing things all by yourself. Same goes with those who are just starting. It’s hard to determine which areas to delegate to an individual and which tasks you can keep doing by yourself. To help you with this, we have compiled a list of tips from successful entrepreneurs in the real estate industry. Take a lesson from these top notchers in which areas you need assistance on and how you can further improve your business by hiring virtual assistants for realtors. Foster existing clients through Email Marketing “Have a weekly email that went out to these clients that I chose and attracted so that there would be consistent contact with the information they needed that they couldn’t get anywhere else.” -Jennifer Myers, Agent Gradschool According to the email statistics conducted by The Radicati Group, Inc., the number of active email users worldwide will increase to over 2.9 billion by the end of 20...

Hiring freelancers online are easier than ever. You can find them through the power of your very own fingertips. Some of the most famous freelance websites like Upwork, Craigslist, and Elance, among others let freelancers create and display their profile for clients and employers to see. You can assess each individual by the previous projects they’ve accomplished or the ratings they earned from previous clients. However, don’t be too complacent because numbers and reviews can be deceiving. False Understanding of the Remote-work Set Up If you are looking to hire a freelancer for your ongoing projects, it’s important to consider both soft skills and hard skills . Balance is everything. To be fair, freelancers have more edge compared to their office-based counterparts for most parts. However, freelancers especially those who are new in the scene can have unrealistic expectations of working from an independent location. There’s a possibility of incompetence when these expectations are no...

An online virtual assistant job is a trend that’s not going to go away anytime soon. It has become increasingly popular over recent years with both employers, and employees, and for good reason. Hiring an online assistant does more than just solve your numerous staffing problems. It provides the much-needed flexibility and increased productivity you require, especially in a healthcare services office. Diagnosing the need to hire a virtual assistant As a healthcare professional, you have a lot on your plate but not enough time on your hands. On top of your practice, there are various administrative tasks that you cannot perform on your own. Picture this: Your small private practice has just begun receiving and treating patients. Your 10 o’clock flu vaccination is now at your door, but you’ve pulled out the wrong patient record. Luckily, your file drawer is organized and you didn’t break a sweat in finding the right one. You’re now administering the flu shot when the laboratory tests...

Processing data is inevitable in any company, and managing it can be daunting without the right kind of help. Luckily, the digital age has presented businesses a perfect solution to handling data. The key to efficiently processing business information is by hiring a data entry virtual assistant. Data Entry Virtual Assistant plus Innovation Fast, innovative, and secure – there is no doubt how this era’s digital revolution is shaping today’s business landscape. According to research by McKinsey , 84% of executives say that innovation is essential to their growth strategy. If so, could there still be a need for a virtual assistant when algorithms can be programmed to process your data? The quick answer is yes. Machines, although reliable, do not have the same ability for rational thinking that humans have. A virtual assistant fills in the gaps that artificial intelligence is unable to reach. Therefore, a data entry virtual assistant will remain relevant in helping your business keep...

If you are an entrepreneur who is building your building all by yourself, with not even a skeleton crew to support you, then you are what is now commonly known as a solopreneur. You are the first to open the office door and the last to close it. You take on more than a dozen tasks each day, and chances are you do not have any staff to delegate it to . You are good in your job, and that’s the good news. The bad news is, you are exposing yourself to cardiovascular illnesses. And here’s where you forget the part about not delegating anything to anybody. Because it’s about time you learn how a remote administrative assistant can save a solopreneur like you from a heart attack. That is not an exaggeration. Solopreneurs are already prone to  burnout , but that’s not the worst of it. Heart illnesses like heart attacks come from the body’s inability to handle a lot of stress. You as a solopreneur are practically carrying the load of your entire office on your back. You have no one to bounce i...

Every business deals with employee turnover. This happens when an employee leaves and a new one takes their position. Employee turnover can benefit a company given the right circumstances. But often, it means wasted time and resources. Generally, companies that support remote work have lower turnover rates. But if your employees come and go, that means you are doing something wrong and you need to start learning how to manage high remote employee turnover. Top Causes of High Remote Employee Turnover To reduce employee turnover, you need to pinpoint what causes it in the first place.  The usual causes of high turnover rates in home-based companies include: Hiring mismatch Compensation is not enough for the workload Insufficient employee engagement efforts Lack of constant communication Ineffective training and management The key to effective employee retention is to address these issues. Manage High Remote Employee Turnover Immediately by Starting with Recruitment It’s quit...

Majority of social media users prefer visual content over text. No doubt, Instagram has gained popularity over the past years alongside other image-sharing apps such as Snapchat. Eventually, businesses followed where their audience is. But just like any other apps, Instagram is not isolated from a whirlpool of hate comments and disturbing content . Instagram moderator job is created to make Instagram a better place for all users. Showing your best face unscathed The term “Instagram-worthy” raised the bar among social media platforms for sharing eye-candy images and aesthetically-pretty video contents. As a business owner, how do you introduce your brand through images without overpromising? You can leave that up to your social media manager . But dealing with complaints and comments of dissatisfaction is a different story. Online businesses get only two kinds of audience: the pleased and the opposite. There’s no in-between. Showing your business’s best face is the only way to thriv...