10 Best Reasons To Hire a Virtual Assistant
The virtual assistant industry has grown rapidly over the last several years. But why? What makes VAs such a valuable part of the business venture? And what exactly is a virtual assistant?
For the last year and a half, I have worked with a Virtual Assistant by my side. Well, we didn’t start that way with my first assistant as she was a friend of mine and was coming to my place for two-three days of the week (oh, the awesome coffee talks we had). However, with her expecting her second child, I had to hire someone else for the job.
She is, indeed, a VA, which means many Zoom calls and a properly set Notion working board.
However, I see myself as somewhat experienced in working with a virtual assistant, and today we’ll talk about why you should hire a VA too.
But before we start…
What is a Virtual Assistant (VA)?
A virtual assistant is an independent worker who assists with administrative, business development, social media, marketing, or other tasks. If you’re interested to know more about what type of tasks you can outsource to your VA, you might want to check out our article on the topic.
However, in this piece, we won’t focus on the different tasks that VAs can do. Instead, I’ll explore some of the best reasons to hire a virtual assistant and why I think VAs are key to business growth.
So if you’re a blogger or a regular business owner that needs help with handling shallow work but is unsure if a VA is the way to go, keep reading. The following paragraphs will help you determine if and why you should invest in a virtual assistant and how it can help your organization for the better.
Best Reasons To Hire a Virtual Assistant
1. Flexibility
The majority of business owners who decide to hire a virtual assistant do so because of flexibility.
Usually, VAs work from their homes. Since VAs don’t have a limited 9 to 5 schedule, they often work around your timetable. You can designate them to manage work hours that would be beneficial to your business. And therefore, you can expect them to be there when you need them.
This is especially true if your business offers 24-7 customer service. In that case, you can hire several virtual assistants from different parts of the world to fill in all the hours. The timezone differences provide you with greater flexibility in task management. At the same time, an adjustable work schedule can maximize your performance and increase output.
2. Saving money
One of the greater benefits of hiring a virtual assistant is that you save money. The reason is that you only pay for the production time and according to requirements. In fact, it has been estimated that VAs will save you 78% of operating costs per year.
Virtual assistants are self-employed, meaning that they’re accountable for their own expenses. You don’t have to pay for social benefits, rental space for work, utilities, and in some cases, even taxes. So instead of hiring a full-time employee and paying them those extra costs, you can hire a virtual assistant and save money.
Lastly, virtual assistants are beneficial in terms of money since you don’t have to invest in training. When you hire a full-time employee, you have to spend money and time guiding and instructing them to do the job. At the same time, VAs are trained professionals, and they can start directly with their tasks.
3. Choose the best talent
Finding the best staff for your business can be challenging. Sometimes even if you put effort into training your employees, they fail to meet your requirements. However, by hiring a VA, you can rest assured that they’ll do their job accordingly. There is a rich talent pool of virtual assistants in the market. So you can choose to hire the best candidate.
Also, keep in mind that VAs are easily replaceable. So even if it seems like your VA doesn’t meet your expectations, you can quickly hire another one. On top of that, your decision isn’t limited to a local client so that you can take advantage of the global talent pool.
4. Learn to outsource
Although hiring a virtual assistant has become popular in recent years, few businesses know how to outsource their tasks.
However, as a business owner, you need to adapt to the fast-paced digital environment and, more importantly, take advantage of the benefits. Delegating work to VAs and freelancers can be crucial for your organization’s success. And there’s no better time to start than now. So, by outsourcing the tasks, you would be able to drive your business growth.
5. Increase efficiency
By delegating some tasks to a virtual assistant, you let your business focus on the core competencies. So instead of giving your employees non-important tasks, you can let them concentrate on what’s important and outsource those tasks to your VA. That’s how you get more work done in less time.
Hiring a virtual assistant is one of the best ways to increase efficiency in your company. You also reduce your workload as a business owner yourself. If you don’t spend time and energy on mundane and shallow work, you’ll have the chance to focus on core operations. This brings us to our next point.
6. Free yourself from administrative work
As an entrepreneur, you need more time to focus on your core business functions. However, administrative work is inevitable. But remember that you can’t do everything.
And you shouldn’t.
Do you think that as a business owner, you can send emails, handle customer queries, schedule meetings, post content, create graphics, and handle social media on top of your managerial tasks? I don’t think so.
In that case, you can delegate all these to your VA. and don’t limit yourself to just one. The more your business grows, the more help you’re going to need. Find a virtual assistant with the right skill set for each one of these tasks. You’ll quickly notice the weight falling off your shoulders once you don’t have to deal with shallow work. And remember that time is your most important resource. So use it wisely.
7. Better work-life balance
Succeeding in business is time-consuming, and there’s tons of work involved. And naturally, as a leader, a lot of that work will fall on your shoulders. It won’t be surprising if you spend most of your days at the office, including the weekend. Many business owners work for more than 12 hours a day which eats into their work-life balance.
When was the last time you spent quality time with your family or on your hobbies? And don’t you think that this is harmful to your mental health?
Leaders and CEOs are the ones who experience burnout the most. And what if I told you there’s a solution to that problem? The answer is easier than you’d initially think. Just hire a VA to handle some of the work for you.
You need to allow yourself to have more leisure time. Focus on yourself, improve your emotional well being and try to live stress-free. Hiring a virtual assistant will do wonders for your mental health. And more importantly, it will help you to avoid burnout.
8. Bigger business growth
Business growth requires investment. And virtual assistants are designed for business growth.
Therefore, it’s only logical to conclude that investing in a VA will directly result in business growth. At the same time, by hiring a VA, you expand your operations without drastically increasing your overhead and time commitment. As an organization, you can move fast and build a customer base in your sleep. How? I think you know the answer.
While the VA takes care of repetitive jobs, you can prioritize the crucial areas of business – product/service design, customer relationships, enhancing competitiveness, and so on. Focus on long-term profitability and growth as your VA handles other tasks for you.
9. No micromanagement
As we already mentioned, VAs require little to no training. Therefore, once you explain how you want things done, your virtual assistant is responsible for fulfilling the responsibilities independently. Many business owners share that one of the best things about working with VAs is that they don’t have to look over their shoulders all the time.
As VAs are paid per project or requirement, they feel a greater sense of responsibility and therefore strive to deliver the best results quickly. So since their payment depends on the quality of their delivery, you can expect positive results without losing time on micro-management.
10. Fill gaps in your workforce
Let’s say you have a baking business, and in order to raise awareness about your products, you need to have a certain online presence. After all, that’s the best way to reach your customers. However, you spend the majority of your days elbow deep in flour and focused on improving your recipes. So how can you improve your social media presence? The first thing that comes to mind is to hire a marketing manager.
But is that profitable? Can you offer a full-time contract to a well-paid professional to handle these tasks for you? What if you can’t afford them? This is where virtual assistants come. So instead of going through the recruitment process each time you face resource gaps, quickly hire a VA to perform the service and get your business going.
Article Source: https://insideofhappiness.com/best-reasons-to-hire-a-virtual-assistant/
No comments:
Post a Comment