Do you find that you’re always running out of time to get everything done? Or feel that less important tasks seem to keep side-tracking you? If you’re feeling that you are not growing your business as you would like, a Virtual Assistant can help.
It’s quite common for people to need the resources of a Virtual Assistant (VA) without actually knowing that they exist or what they do! The main role of a VA is to help busy people complete necessary but less important work or personal tasks that they don’t have the time, the knowledge or the desire to do themselves. With an increasing number of things to do competing for our time, it is impossible to get everything done. Outsourcing tasks is becoming an increasingly popular way to free up work and personal time.
If you need some help outsourcing or practical advice about how to work with a Virtual Assistant, I recommend your download a copy of my free guide: “How to outsource effectively and hassle-free”.
Here are some of the ways a virtual assistant can help grow your business.
1. Free up your time to get the important tasks done
If you are a small business owner or a sole trader you know that every minute of your working day either makes or loses you money. If you are spending your time doing a less value task, then you are losing money.
Write down a list of all the tasks you do on a daily basis. Write a monetary value against each one. Now, look at the tasks that you complete daily. Are you mainly completing those with high monetary value? All those tasks that bring you only small amounts or do not generate revenue at all could be outsourced to a Virtual Assistant. For example, a VA can sort your high from low priority emails so you know exactly what to focus on, update information on your website or find images or articles to share on social media to increase brand awareness.
2. Complete jobs you don’t have the skills to do
Your most important skill is that you know your customer and your business. You get the main job done. You make the money.
Take a look again at your to-do list. Are there tasks that have been there far too long? One of the reasons we procrastinate is because we don’t necessarily have all the skills to get the job done or don’t think we have enough of them. If there is a task which really needs to get done but you don’t have the know-how to do, why waste your time in learning if you can get someone else to do it in less time.
For example, setting up automated email marketing is a popular task that small businesses want to add to their marketing mix, but they may lack the knowledge to get it implemented.
3. Save you money
By using the services of a Virtual Assistant rather than contracting a full-time employee can save you money. You may only need to hire a VA for a few hours of work a week and you only need to pay a VA for those hours or projects they complete. By the nature of being virtual, the majority of Virtual Assistants work from home. This means you do not need to pay for additional equipment or office space. VAs are also highly skilled in their niche areas so a minimum level of training is typically required. Hiring a VA is a cost-effective way to assist you in many business areas including admin, customer service or in your sales and marketing plan.
4. Flexible support
You may have periods when you are busier than normal. For example when launching a new product or a new course. You may need just the odd hour support when you need to catch up on things or have fallen behind in your admin. The benefit of a Virtual Assistant is that they offer flexible working periods. You can pay for ad hoc hours, block buy hours per month which guarantees the Virtual Assistant will be available for you or have a VA work on a one-off project.
5. Let you focus on the things you want to do
We don’t all like the same things and we don’t all like doing every part of our job. I enjoy sorting emails, scheduling social media posts and researching content for a new blog post. Do you prefer to do something else?
Many of us would also like to have more free time to do non-work related things. For example, would you like to spend more time with your friends and family or on a hobby? Perhaps have more time in the evening to cook a new meal?
By delegating certain business tasks that you do not enjoy doing to a Virtual Assistant, you can focus on the things you enjoy most. As well to reclaim personal time.
6. Improve productivity & efficiency
The nature of a Virtual Assistant is that they are very organised and have a good knowledge of tools that facilitate productivity, automation and simplicity. A Virtual Assistant will be able to help streamline your processes and create efficient systems. This can help tremendously by eliminating or reducing the “busy” work.
Do you want to know what simple tech tools I use to help boost my productivity and save me time? Click here to get my mini-guide.
Can a Virtual Assistant help you?
Take a piece of paper and write down all the tasks you do every day. Highlight the ones only you can do in one colour. Highlight the things that maybe someone else can do in another colour. Then finally highlight all the ones that someone else can definitely do in another colour. All of those tasks can definitely be fulfilled by a VA.
Over the course of a working day, ask yourself before you start any task – is this a productive use of my time? Will it bring you more sales or offer a better service to your clients? Would the time you spent doing that task be better spent doing something else? For those tasks which are not the most productive use of your time, outsource them to a VA.
Take a step back and review your business in the big picture. What is the core of your business, where do you want it to be in 5 years time? Then think about what you do every day. Are you effectively working on the core business, are you working towards your future goals? If you aren’t then you can hire a virtual assistant to do those tasks that are sidetracking you.
To help you prepare before using a Virtual Assistant download my free Outsource Guide which includes a 4 step plan to make the outsourcing process smooth. Or if you are still unsure about whether or how a Virtual Assistant can help you, why not send me a message and we can schedule a chat to brainstorm together.
