1. Grow Your Business
If you spend a large chunk of your day doing admin then how can your business thrive and move forward?
Imagine finding someone who can get inside your head (yes, scary I know, if your head is anything like mine)… someone who you can teach to think like you, respond to emails in your style… to make the smaller decisions just as you would make them, identify opportunities on your behalf and treat your business as if it were their own.
If you had that person looking after the day-to-day operations of your business, imagine the possibilities. Imagine what you could do with your time and expertise. Having a VA could be dangerous.
2. Enjoy Your Work
If you could ditch the jobs that you dislike and the jobs that you begrudge (‘there are so many more effective things I could be doing with my time’), the scope to enjoy your day-to-day work is even greater!
If I had to sum up in one word what having a VA means to me, that word is freedom. For me, freedom is at the heart of what I strive for (otherwise I’d just go and get a job). It creates enjoyment and happiness. It’s liberating.
So why not renew your vows with your business and fall back in love with what you do best.
3. Maintain Inbox Zero
As a nation we spend a vast amount of time checking various inboxes – email, WhatsApp, messenger, texts, Slack, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Todoist, Trello… all the places where things land for us to deal with.
A Virtual Assistant can monitor your inboxes, reply to messages (or delete them), arrange calls, be your gatekeeper and text you if there’s anything urgent. What’s not to like?
My VA checks emails a lot faster than I do. When my email ninja is in the virtual room, I sometimes relish watching my inbox disappear in front of my eyes. Just for fun!
The beauty of not being tied to an inbox is not only liberating but, in my opinion, necessary for our health as entrepreneurs. If you never had to check your inbox ever again, what would you do with that time?
4. Enjoy Family Time
I know from personal experience that sometimes we’re so wrapped up in work that we can, knowingly or otherwise, neglect those closest to us. It breaks my heart to see the look on my own children’s faces on the odd occasion when they ask ‘Are you working on a Saturday?“ and I answer yes.
As entrepreneurs, of course we are workaholics – we love our work! But when you do actually switch off, how good does that feel?
None of us want to have regrets. Having a VA can take those time-consuming tasks off your hands, freeing up your evenings and weekends and opening up new possibilities for spending time with family and friends.
5. Save On Employing Staff
If I told you that employing somebody at around £10-£12 per hour to do your admin would cost you the same as taking on a VA at £26 per hour, except for it’s much more rigid, it’s tying, and it’s also stressful and time-consuming if anything goes wrong, would you believe me?
It’s true. We’ve done our research.
Most businesses underestimate the amount it costs in holiday, sick and maternity pay, not to mention pensions and NI. And then there’s wasted time. The mentality of an employee can often be quite relaxed – after all they have a guaranteed salary and benefits.
By contrast, a VA will constantly strive to deliver a high level of quality, stopping the clock for Amazon deliveries and making coffee. They know that if they don’t deliver a great job for you at all times, you can switch to a new VA.
6. Grow Without Being Tied To An Office
Many of our clients have successful businesses and could have chosen to have a large office full of staff. But they didn’t. To achieve the flexible and fulfilling lifestyle they want, they outsource various functions of their business to experts.
The mentality of filling an office is becoming a thing of the past – especially for our entrepreneurial clients. Why pay overheads when you don’t need to? Why have the responsibility and cost of training people when you can find talent on tap that you can use on a flexible basis? More people are outsourcing marketing, IT support, social media and of course admin.
The increasing use of virtual assistance is another way of growing a hugely successful business without overheads all that being tied to an office environment. Food for thought.
7. Get It Done More Efficiently
And often to a better standard than you could do it yourself. Don’t underestimate the efficiency of a virtual assistant. They are creative, resourceful and driven to get things done for you. They find ways and means. A good VA will train up in their own time or expand their skill set so they can do things better for you… they will recommend efficiencies and suggest implementing new software to save time and money, making your business slicker.
Remember they do this day in day out. They work for other clients and they have a good level of experience on what works and what doesn’t. You’d be foolish not to listen to them.
Challenge: What do you think you can do better than your VA when it comes to admin? Why not test it out.
8. Increase Your Headspace
With the help of my business coach I’ve recognised that as an entrepreneur, headspace is not a luxury, it’s not something that should be low priority, or something to feel guilty about factoring into your day. In fact, it’s crucial to the success and growth of your business. But you already know this, right.
A VA will not only take admin tasks off your hand but will give you the peace of mind that if anything important comes in during your headspace time, they will deal with it just as you would, and if it was urgent (not a lot is) they will contact you.
Not only will you be thinking more clearly and have creativity flowing, you will also have an empty inbox and everything taken care off. How about that?
