For small businesses, every second counts. And in most cases, every penny counts too. Are you Managing Director, Marketing Manager, Finance Manager, Office Manager… and much more, all rolled into one? For many small business owners, the struggle of wearing so many hats on a day-to-day basis can feel completely overwhelming.
But I understand the reluctance. To justify spending money on support, you need to work out how this expense is going to help you, the team, the business….and the profits! How would hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) make your business more efficient, less stressful and less overwhelming?
Here are just some of the reasons why outsourcing tasks that you don’t have time to do, or that are slowing you down, would benefit your business.
Cost Savings
But how would spending money on a VA save me money, I hear you say? What return on your investment can you expect?
Think of how many minutes or hours a day or week you spend on tasks that could be passed to someone else…an hour? 2 hours? 3 hours? Then think about how this time could be spent on making money for your business, when you are freed up to focus on what you do best… the things that would be harder to outsource, and that bring the money in!
Administrative tasks can be extremely time consuming and often require keen attention to detail and dedicated time. The number of hours you think you need, might not be exact, but it will almost certainly be an eye opener working them out! Once you realise how many minutes of each day you are spending doing tasks that are essential to the business, you’ll realise how much they are slowing you down from the actual running of your business!
Flexibility, with no commitment
Unlike when you recruit someone to your payroll, the time and money spent in hiring a VA is comparatively small. There are no HR headaches like National insurance, pension and benefits. Plus, VA’s are only paid for the hours they work, so the time will be spent efficiently, purposefully and with impact. If you want more commitment, that’s fine too, most VA’s will offer a retainer package, which means they will guarantee to make themselves available for you, for a certain number of hours a month, and will often offer a price reduction in return for a monthly commitment.
But what would you outsource, and where to begin?
Most VA’s have a niche, whether it’s Marketing, Finance, Sales or Human Resources. So recognising the particular areas that you need support in, is the best place begin. Which areas would you then be happy to let go, and which would want you stay completely in control of? What causes you sleepless nights – which areas do you struggle with month on month? Outsourcing doesn’t need to be scary, it doesn’t have to mean relinquishing control, but it can make the world of difference to your business. Let someone carry the burden of the tasks you cannot do!
Not every VA is right for every business of course, personality and having a connection is so important, so having a call to suss each other out is a good starting point. Or perhaps you might feel more confident asking for testimonials or a reference before handing over an element of your business to someone else.
If Covid has taught us anything, it’s that the world (and your business) can change overnight. What is right for you today, might not be right for you tomorrow. Flexibility is everything and finding the right VA for you, both in personality and skills, is going to be key to a successful partnership.
Interested in how a VA can help you and your business? Drop me a line at polly@pollypeart.com.
Photos by Alexa Williams and kris on Unsplash