Let’s Talk Virtual Assistants
3 years in and I still get asked regularly “what is a virtual assistant?” So here goes, a VA is an independent contractor, someone who provides administrative services to clients while operating outside of the client’s office. A virtual assistant typically works from a home office (however some clients do require the occasional site visit or event attendance). A VA will have remote access to all the necessary planning documents, such as shared calendars, spreadsheets or in-house systems (if required). Some VA’s specialise in one area perhaps event planning, social media or project management. Some VA’s are more traditional business support in an EA/PA sense. With today’s technology, a VA can do almost anything remotely.
One of the main reasons for a business to hire a virtual assistant is to reduce the cost of a regular or full-time employee. A virtual assistant costs less because the business owner does not pay benefits, provide office space or pay NI and PAYE. A virtual assistant is a sole proprietor of their or own business which covers those expenses.
The second reason is the workload. If a large part of your workday is consumed by phone calls, paperwork, and other time-sensitive tasks, then hiring a virtual assistant may be an ideal solution. Most, if not all VA’s have a particular skillset and are familiar and confident in using systems that maybe you’re not, like; Xero, Quickbooks, Sage, Canva, ContentCal, Mailchimp, Mindnode and so on. All of which can help streamline and focus your business. Giving you back your time to focus on high-value activities that will add more profit to your business. Spending more time on the important areas of your work and areas of your strength as well as preventing you from burning out.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is an important hire. Until you have someone on your team that you can delegate specific tasks to, you will continue to waste valuable time and energy on tasks that don’t actually contribute to the growth of your business.
If you feel like hiring a VA is important to your business, then I would suggest documenting the tasks you want to outsource over a period of a week or two and from there you can start tracking how long those tasks take you and the true cost to your business. I’m sure you will find a VA is a cost-effective way to help grow your business.
