Enjoy this week’s guest post from Virtual Assistant, Naomi Latorre, and consider how you can get help and grow your business.
As a business owner, you face all kinds of challenges on a day-to-day basis. And every business has a different challenge. Yours might be social media, another one organization, another customer service and so on.
You have thought about getting help but you also know that you don’t feel ready to hire an employee. Have you heard of Virtual Assistants? Maybe you think that’s too expensive. But what if a Virtual Assistant helps you bring the biggest Return on Investment (ROI) and becomes a god-send for you and your business?
Here, I will help you determine if you need a VA and what steps you will need to finally free up your time so you can grow your business.
Let’s dive in!
First, let me explain what a Virtual Assistant (VA) is. A VA “can be any type of remote assistant who provides administrative, creative or technical support services for online or brick-and-mortar business owners”. Plain and simple, a VA will help you with YOUR business needs depending on what YOU specifically need.
If you feel comfortable with the work you are doing and your customers are happy with you, relax, you probably don’t need a VA. But, keep reading because you will continue growing your business and you WILL need help soon (trust me on this one). On the other hand, if you feel overwhelmed with all the tasks at your business or if your business is growing and your efforts are not enough, it’s time for you to get help.
So, you decided a VA might be a good investment for you and your business. What’s the next step?
A lot of people might think that the next step is establishing a budget, but no. You do need to think about budget, but before that, you must decide on the tasks that you need help with – this is CRITICAL and, in my opinion, the most important step for this relationship.
Let’s look at an example. You love your business and your customers, but you are at a point where you need to find more clients. You don’t have time to send proposals, take care of the onboarding process and take care of your actual customers. From those three important tasks, what is the one that you feel confident on delegating? Is it someone who takes great care of your customers so you can focus on growing your business? Or is it someone that can send proposals to new customers? BINGO! You just decided where you need help and what you are willing to delegate.
Make a list of all the tasks that you do in your business. From there, separate the ones that you feel comfortable delegating and the ones that you will NOT delegate at all. Share on XNow we can talk about money. On average, a VA will charge between $25 and $50 per hour. WHAT? “But I can’t afford that” you might say. Let’s get this clear. Remember that your VA is not an employee, so you will not be paying for benefits, time off, utilities, taxes etc. You will not be paying for someone in an office waiting for you to give him/her work. You will have someone available – as per contract – working on your specific needs.
Your VA will be responsible for paying taxes, insurance, and even internet and utilities (that’s a win for you). Also, remember that you will NOT need your VA 40 hours a week. For example, you already know that you need someone to take care of your customers, so you decide with your assistant how many hours you’ll need help and how many hours she/he has available to do this job.
You decided that for this task you have a monthly investment of $300. That will be 10 hours of work with a VA that charges $30. BINGO! Next step!
Where can you find a reliable VA? What about some referrals? What about Facebook groups? And, what about LinkedIn? There are groups dedicated to VA’s but I’m pretty sure that if you ask in some of the entrepreneur groups you are in, you will find great options. There are too many options available, but because you know EXACTLY what you need you can look specifically based on that.
Using the example above, you can look for “customer care VA” or “customer service specialist”. If you look for a general VA, there will be too many options for you, and you will spend too much of your precious time in this task. Maybe you can find a temporary VA that can help you with this. Open your mind and your heart. This is a great opportunity for your business to grow and flourish. It is a process, don’t worry.
Don’t let fear stop you – come on, you’re a business owner, you’ve stared fear in the eyes many times before.
Some things to remember (trust me on this one too):
- Don’t expect professional work with a cheap investment. Don’t take the chance of losing your clients instead of growing your business because you decided to go cheap on this.
- Give your VA a chance to learn and grow. He/she will need to get to know you, your voice and how you take care of your business. At first, please, be present as needed.
- Trust your gut… if you don’t feel it is right, it’s not. As everything else in life follow your instinct. Take your time, you will find the perfect match for you and your business.
And now, go, get help and grow your business! YOU GOT THIS!
Naomi Latorre is a mom of two, a wife, and a Virtual Assistant. She loves helping others to reach their goals, working behind the scenes to achieve success. You can find more about her on LinkedIn, at her website www.naomilatorre.com, or if you think she can help you with your questions or concerns, do not hesitate to email her at info@naomilatorre.com.