Are you wondering if investing in a Virtual Assistant is the right thing for your business?
I can only imagine the doubts that might be holding you back but these are the usual suspects:
- Committing to trust a 3rd party to handle aspects of your business
- Investing a % of your hard-earned profits in a 3rd party service
- Deciding on what and how to delegate tasks to a 3rd party
- Being concerned about how to train-up a 3rd party on your systems
This is my opportunity to answer some of your doubts.
Trust:
I have had a long career working in Administration, Marketing and Customer Service. I have an excellent track record and have been described as highly reliable and responsible with a great attention to detail. I am diligent, completely trustworthy and will do a great job. Still unsure then check out what my Clients Say! You can also check out my CV on LinkedIn.
Investment:
The charges are very competitive and are agreed in advance with the client. They cover the actual time spent preparing client workloads, working on client tasks, dealing with client requests by phone or email, preparing client weekly or monthly reports. The time is recorded in Toggl which details each task and the time spent on that task. The client decides whether to work on an hourly basis or on a monthly retainer basis. Work can also be charged per project.
But you want to know how much value you get for your money? Right?
A major benefit is that you don’t have to cover my holiday pay or sick pay or any other additional costs that a waged employee would incur. You also have the flexibility to book whatever number of hours you require on a weekly or monthly basis, or per project. That means you can choose the amount of support you need during the busy or quiet periods of your business year. You can also postpone or cancel the working contract with just two weeks’ notice. The time you save by handing over everyday business tasks is extremely valuable because it’s time that you can spend on growing your business or just making up for lost time with family!
Delegation & Training:
So how do you get started? To really benefit from your investment, you do need to collaborate with your VA as you would any business partner and by that, I mean you have to take responsibility for ensuring that you communicate your expectations on a regular basis and that you delegate the tasks that actually allow you to focus on other key aspects of your business or life. This can actually be very difficult for business owners to manage, especially when they are so busy. The best approach is to allocate an hour or more to write down everything that you handle each day in order to run the business. For example; reading and answering emails, handling queries, creating orders or invoices, social media posts, calling suppliers, meeting clients, making product etc. Once that list is written and no doubt it will be a long list, go through it and highlight the tasks that could be delegated to a 3rd party (Tip! If the task can be handled online or by phone, it can be delegated).
During a consultation, I enquire about the various software packages being used to run the business to see if I am familiar with the package or would need some initial training. As an experienced VA, I will research the system myself and then plan a gradual induction on the platform to become proficient using the software.
Once you have a general outline of the work you want to outsource you will be ready to negotiate the number of hours of support you will need. This does need to be realistic in terms of how long certain tasks take to complete.
To sum up! If you have reached the stage in your business where you cannot manage the daily operations without losing precious personal time, then contracting a VA will be the first step in taking back control. If you are committed to investing a little time at the onset then your VA will be up and running within a few weeks and will be making a big difference by supporting you and your business.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Gillian B
gillianb.org 