Most entrepreneurs face the dilemma of whether to hire a VA or not at some point in their career. While it might seem like hiring a virtual employee might bring more aggravation into your life than it will take away, this is rarely the case. The plain and simple fact is that the services offered by virtual assistants cost a lot less money to a growing or well-established business than a physical employee does, even if you have to cycle through a few to find the right fit for your company.
Here are 10 surefire signs you need to hire a VA straight away:
1. The day just isn’t long enough anymore to get everything done
It’s impossible to fit 25 hours of work into a 24 hour day. Not to mention that you need to sleep for at least 6 of those hours and maybe even have some downtime to help keep your blood pressure in the normal range! A virtual assistant will keep working while you sleep and help free up your day for other, more important tasks.
2. Your customer service is going downhill
You have plenty of work to do and not enough eyes and hands to do it. You’re spending time doing menial tasks or being a one-person army, and can’t return phone calls or emails from your customers who need updates, revisions, service quotes, etc. You can outsource your customer service to a VA, instructing them only to contact you for the most important inquiries.
3. You need help but don’t have the budget for a full-time employee
You know you need help, but state and provincial employment regulations and laws make the prospect of hiring someone look pretty expensive. Depending on your skill set and language requirements, some VA’s will work for as little as $1 per hour from certain countries!
4. Your desk is so full of back-dated paperwork you can’t find anything anymore
Or your smartphone is full of reminders for things that just didn’t – and may never – get done. You’re disorganized and hopelessly behind. Decide what needs doing and delegate them to your VA’s, instead of swimming in an endless sea of paperwork and to-dos.
5. You miss important meetings because you’re back-logged with administrative work
When you’re first starting your business, sometimes its necessary to deal with mundane administrative tasks like data entry, transcription, sorting invoices, accounting, etc. Again, well-trained and reliable VA’s can be so affordable that it doesn’t make sense to waste your time with such things.
6. Your Always reacting to problems rather than proactively preventing them
Your late delivering a project to one customer, another is waiting for a quote they can submit to accounting for approval, etc. You know you can’t get to them all, so you’re scrambling to get things done in your home or office. Essentially waiting for the next proverbial “wall” to come crashing down on you.
7. Your marketing plan for new customers is non-existant
Businesses don’t grow without more money. Money comes from more clients with money to spend on your product or service. Over-loaded entrepreneurs and managers spend most of their time trying to fulfill orders and customer service duties and not enough finding innovative ways to bring in more money.
8. You’re losing sleep because of worry about your business
Every business owner loses sleep at some point. If you can’t wind down into the pillow most nights of the week because you’re so overwhelmed, it’s time to get a VA on board to take some stress away.
9. You notice you’re forever forgetting tasks on your to-do list
There’s no excuse for forgetting do things constantly. If you were an employee, you’d probably fire yourself. A virtual assistant allows you to delegate the “forgettable” stuff.
10. You look at your son/daughter one night and don’t recognize them
They grow fast. If you suddenly notice your daughter is wearing makeup or your son’s shaving now, maybe you’re not spending enough quality time with them? VA’s free up your work time so you have more downtime.
Final thoughts: Labor Costs
Consider that when you hire a physical employee, it can be very hard to fire them if your personality’s clash or they just simply cannot do the work you’ve hired them for. Wrongful termination lawsuits are all the rage these days, and the legal expenses and potential fines levied by your state or province can make this process mega expensive for a business that’s trying to grow.
Even a low paid employee can cost close to $5000 (on top of their salary and benefits) in the first year of employment just for recruiting, hiring and training expenses (source). You’re also obliged to pay employees for state/provincial holidays and have to pay 1 ½ to 2 times their salary if you require them to work on those days.
You might spend some time training a VA, particularly if you’re looking for cheap, unskilled labor to save on costs. However, you pay them a flat hourly or per-project basis and that’s it. No holiday and vacation pay, sick pay, termination packages or legal ramifications if you decide to end their employment.
Alternatively, you can use the services provided by a trusted virtual assistant company like 24/7 Virtual Assistant to help you cut the resources to train a VA by hiring a professional VA.
The choice to hire a VA to help grow your business is a no-brainer!
