Why Hire a Virtual Assistant?
The biggest challenge facing the small business owner is that the more business you do, the more administrative tasks you have.
Often, it plays out like this; you can’t keep up with the administrative tasks and still work, so you let the paperwork slide, marketing takes a backseat, or you don’t collect receivables - now you’re not making any money and your business is grinding to a halt.
Now you’re working nights just to catch up with the mind-numbing amount of paperwork stacked everywhere and beginning to resent your customers. You can’t afford to hire someone or take the time to train them or worse yet - baby-sit them to make sure they get the job done.
Virtual Assistants (VAs) are a perfect way to outsource your administrative tasks, marketing, and content management needs. About the only thing a virtual assistant can’t do is stir your coffee for you. With online calendars, fax services, and web based instant messengers you don’t even need someone living in the same city.
A VA may specialize in a specific industry or specific tasks. Just like any employee, you need to be concise and clearly communicate your needs to avoid Karri putting your head in a vice.
You also don’t have to make a big commitment when hiring a VA. Many VAs work on either a fee-per-project or an hourly basis. Even those requiring a retainer may allow for as little as five hours per month.
It may be tempting to hire someone from another country who may work for $5.00 an hour, or less. But again, there is the language barrier and will they perform up to the standards you require. A VA is not an employee - they do not have to do what you say. They are independent business owners just like you and more often than not - highly skilled and trained professionals.
Check out the VA before you hire them. VAs know they need to have impeccable references and may even need to work on a trial basis for you before they prove themselves. But it works both ways - you will need to prove that you can and will pay on time, and provide the information needed to complete the job (remember the messy torture devices - don’t make us use them).
Using the Pareto principle, 80% of your time should be spent in generating revenue. If like most small business owners you spend 40%-60% of your time on administrative tasks, do the math. You are losing money by paying yourself to do something a $25-$65 per hour VA could do in half the time with possibly better results.
A good virtual assistant is worth their weight in gold!
RESOURCES:
Inc. Technology - Why You Need to Hire a Virtual Assistant
Realty Times - Hire a Virtual Assistant
The Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce - How to Hire a Virtual Assistant
VirtualAssistantsGuide.com - Hiring a Virtual Assistant - Do You Need One?
