If you are considering hiring a Virtual Assistant or VA, it might be useful for you to read about what a client of mine has said about using my services in his business.
“My VA has been very effective in helping me to focus as she has freed my time to concentrate on other, more important, areas of my life and business.” He also gave a few pointers which may help you to decide whether hiring a VA is right for you.
Ask yourself whether you can afford a VA
“The first thing to consider is whether or not you can afford to hire a Virtual Assistant. Personally, I can’t afford not to hire one. As a small business owner, I have too much to do every day, and am a self-confessed workaholic who didn’t take enough time out for holidays, family and keeping fit. I charge my time out at £150 per hour, and before I took Sara on I was carrying out tasks which I now outsource for less than £50 an hour. I certainly wasn’t making the best use of my time. As long as you don’t spend more than half what you charge on a VA service, it will be money well-invested.”
How I have used my VA
“Sara helps a lot with lead generation activities, like blogging, publishing newsletters, submitting articles to directories and maintaining social network profiles (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). She also responds to client emails (some require a personal response in which case she will alert me and we work on the response together on the phone or by email), designs PowerPoint presentations and takes shorthand over the phone if I want to dictate letters and reports.
Naturally, not all tasks can be outsourced. There are certain things which are easier and faster to do yourself. For me, these are tasks which take too long to teach or have a history which is too complex and require too much oversight to justify the cost in time and money. However, this obviously depends on the level of experience of your VA. As business owners themselves some VAs are more than capable of taking on most tasks as long as you are prepared to explain details properly and invest time initially in communicating with them. On example I can think of where my VA has saved me inordinate amounts of time was by organising my household, business and car insurances – I freely admit that these alone would have taken me weeks to sort out!“
My aim in my business is to personally carry out only those tasks which most directly contribute to my income – I leave the rest to my VA.
Have realistic expectations
“Initially it’s a good idea to plan for a trial period and gradually work towards outsourcing over a longer period of time, say six to twelve months. Be prepared to be flexible and welcome suggested changes if your VA thinks there are better ways of doing things which will save you time – in my experience, good VAs are used to working in this way and a good VA will give you tips – it is after all in her own interests to do so. Probably the most important aspect is to communicate clearly and often with your VA, particularly at the beginning of the relationship when you are just getting to know each other.”
When you first sign up for the service, let the VA know what your goals are for your business and how you intend to utilise his or her expertise to best support your needs. My client also lets me know if his requirements will fluctuate from month to month so that we can both plan our calendars in advance.
This is what he says “When I decided to start delegating , I listed everything I needed to do each month and decided to outsource 50 percent of it, mostly my blog posts. I let Sara know the range of topics or subject areas to cover, how often to post, and the average length of each post. I also let her know that if I had ideas for topics, I would email her. Otherwise, she could use her discretion when it came to selecting topics.
Although it can seem really intimidating at first, you’ll soon discover how liberating it can be to solicit help when it comes to your business. You’ll start looking at your business in a new light and imagining the possibilities for growth (or at very least simply enjoy some well-earned and much-needed time off)!
A Virtual PA is an asset not just an expense
A VA should be considered a real asset to your business and not just as another expense. My client was talking with a colleague recently and his colleague asked her why he outsourced work to me. He said, “because she frees up my head space to think about my clients and their needs so I can be more effective and generate more income.” He’d rather be negotiating new deals with clients and be out networking and speaking at business events than designing his presentations, writing his blog, making his travel arrangements, answering his e-mail, updating his websites, and completing his tax return all of which are tasks I do for him.
I hope this article has helped those of you who are struggling to find enough hours in your day –check the links below to read more from the Virtually 24/7 blog:
The role of the Executive PA in 2010
How to ensure a smooth office move
A Virtual Assistant can save you time by organising important events
