When to Hire a Virtual Assistant

Do you ever get tired of your never-ending list of things to do? As entrepreneurs, each of us has to be somewhat of a generalist to stay tuned to what’s happening in our businesses and the markets that we serve. Sometimes that makes us think that we can do it all, that, Nobody can do this as well as me or It takes longer to show someone how to do it than to just do it.

And when we finally come to the conclusion that we would be better off getting help, it can seem like more trouble than it’s worth to find someone, prepare a new work station, set up a new phone line, and all of the other tasks that are involved in hiring an additional employee.

Virtual Assistants or “VAs” provide an alternative solution.   VAs work remotely, using technology such as email, phone, Skype, and the Internet, to communicate with their employers or clients.  Here’s when it might be a good idea to hire a VA:

Hiring an in-house employee is impractical.  Limited office space, variable work requirements, equipment and furniture expense can make hiring an employee unfeasible.  VAs already have everything in place that we need, except software in some cases.  VAs also tend to cost no more than in-house employees, and are usually much more flexible in their work hours.

The work becomes overwhelming.  When we are buried in too much administrative work, it is nearly impossible to focus on those talents of ours that are crucial to our companies, such as generating more business!  And the bottom line suffers. VAs thrive on admin work.

There is a desire to free up time.  The role of an entrepreneur includes as a priority, working on the business, not just in the business. That means letting go of time-consuming admin tasks to free up time to do that.  Or to spend more time with our families.  As far as I know, no one looks back at their lives and wishes they had done more paper work, email messaging, data entry, bookkeeping and a thousand other admin tasks. Except perhaps professional VAs who specialize in that kind of work. So why not free up that most precious of assets for yourself:  Time.

VAs specialize in work that does not require an on-site presence – work such as paper filing or stocking shelves. So it may take a bit of extra effort in the short term to create a system that works for the business and for the VA, but it can be well worth it down the road.