Having an assistant can be your reality or your virtual reality
Do you ever wish you could clone yourself? Who doesn't want and need more time? Maybe you have an assistant or even a full staff. Have you ever thought of hiring a virtual assistant? Being a one woman business owner I've always felt like I couldn't afford to have an assistant. Between raising twin six-year-old girls, running my business, and starting a new business, I definitely have my hands full. Recently I've felt overwhelmed and exhausted with all the tasks I have to do on a daily basis. As a small business owner I’m “wearing many hats” and am inundated with the variety of aspects of operating an office. I needed help. I wanted a solution. Although it never seemed feasible to hire a full time employee, I knew an assistant would relieve some stress, as well as help take my business to the next level. I heard about virtual assistants and decided to investigate that option as well as look into hiring a traditional assistant.
What is a virtual assistant? A virtual assistant (abbreviated to VA, also called a virtual office assistant or online administrative/personal assistant) is usually self-employed/a free-lancer. The VA provides personal/professional assistance to clients from an offsite business or home office. The services are mostly administrative, technical, or creative (social). “Because virtual assistants are independent contractors rather than employees, clients are not responsible for any employee-related taxes, insurance or benefits, except in the context that those indirect expenses are included in the VA's fees. Clients also avoid the logistical problem of providing extra office space, equipment or supplies. Clients pay for 100% productive work, and can work with Virtual Assistants, individually or with multiple VA firms, to meet their exact needs” says Brad Finkelstein in Broker Magazine’s article “Virtual Assistants a Reality”. Basically the VA’s work on an “as needed basis” and only when you have work for them. This saves you money.
Virtual assistants can be college students or stay-at-home moms that need extra income. One very popular site that helps stay at home mom VA’s is www.hiremymom.com Many of these ladies have Masters Degrees and come to the table with amazing skill sets. It's a win-win for all. You can even hire someone from oversees. They will be working while you are sleeping. Talk about maximizing your time!
VA’s come from a variety of backgrounds. Most VA’s have years of "real" business world experience. “With the number of virtual assistants growing, their expertise now runs the gamut, making it easier to find someone who fits well in your organization, says Jaleh Bisharat, Vice President of marketing at oDesk.com, one of the leading VA companies. "They become a team member who just happens to work remotely," Bisharat says. Elance.com just bought ODesk.com. AskSunday.com, and Uassistme.com are similar websites with thousands of listings for virtual assistants. If you need help sorting through the websites and finding someone, Amy Wright (http://amywright.biz/category/hire-a-va/) and Katie Gutierrez Miller at http://www.assistantmatch.com/ match business owners with VAs.
You might be asking: “How can a Virtual Assistant help me?” Using a virtual assistant can add needed hours to your workweek, but knowing which tasks to delegate can be tricky. Delegating is complicated, because the tasks can be as unique and diverse as the individual VAs themselves. There are many VA’s specializing in a certain field. They can be narrowed down by title; such as Virtual Marketing Assistant or Virtual Bookkeeping Assistant. Most people can do several things. To help identify the possibilities, here are some of the most popular things a VA can do for clients:
- Marketing/Advertising/PR: a VA can conduct marketing related tasks such as blogging, newsletters, social networking, et cetera, to increase your clientele. They also can handle publicity helping you spread the word about your services and/or products.
- Scheduling: Because many scheduling tools are available online, virtual assistants can manage the client calendar. This includes scheduling appointments with clients and dealing with invitations from other events.
- Website and SEO: Many Virtual Assistants specialize in web design and search engine optimization. Great website design and SEO is paramount in today’s technologically advanced society and it requires constant updating to be successful.
- Bookkeeping: “Keeping tabs on bills and other bookkeeping matters can be one of the easiest things to assign to a virtual assistant.” says Kathy Colaiacovo, marketing director for the International Virtual Assistants Association. "You will need to hand over some control [including] passwords and access to accounts," If you have employees the VA can take over payroll.
- Managing email: Email can be a time trap! The VA can scan, and categorize your most important emails. With guidance they can even respond to the messages on your behalf, sending you a copy before distributing responses to reduce the risk of errors.
- Event Planning: a VA can plan a party for new and existing customers. This removes the burden of planning the details and lets you enjoy the event. Once you work with a VA and they know your business, whom better to help you plan an event.
- Business communications: a Virtual Assistant can be advantageous for proofing, editing, and typing all your correspondence to the public. Having someone proficient in these skills will add a more professional edge to all your business communications. They can take on social tasks such as writing holiday cards or sending thank you notes, says Bisharat, who notes that social chores have become a very common assignment. Such tasks can become "all consuming" for business executives, she says, "but a good virtual assistant can take care of all of it."
Database entries: Anything from inputting new business cards picked up at a conference or updated information for existing contacts, keeping databases current is a suitable task for virtual assistants. Just fax or scan business cards to the VA and they can do the rest.
Can I afford a VA? Rates for VA’s range from $4/hour up to $75/hour. You will find most VA’s in the US charge $25 to $50 per hour. They are much less expensive in other countries. Going abroad isn't right for everyone, but it's certainly something to consider. For most small business professionals, using a VA will allow you to spend your core 'revenue generating hours' doing procedures, or on other high value tasks that will build your business. Contrary to popular belief, it is financially advantageous to hire or outsource administrative tasks that are a time, energy and money drain. “Justify it and plan this way - Based on your projected yearly revenue plan, break it down to an hourly rate (i.e. $100,000/2096 hours = $48.00/hr.) of income you need to generate in 40 hours/week to meet your yearly plan. Therefore, anything and everything you need to do that does NOT generate that hourly rate or costs less than that, you should hire, delegate or outsource. For each hour you are not generating that amount OR higher, you are not meeting your plan.” Once you develop a clear plan of what you need done, you will see how beneficial a VA will be to your business.
What should you look for in a virtual assistant? That really depends on your needs. Tim Ferriss gives a lot of helpful tips on how to interview / hire / communicate with VA's in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek. Be specific about your needs and expectations, and make sure the virtual assistant has done this type of work before so there's less room for errors. Always give clear instructions, along with user names and passwords so that the assistant can get access to specialty search tools or paid websites. There is a major trust factor that comes with this arrangement. There are some great interview questions for a virtual assistant: at https://s3.amazonaws.com/ellenfinkelstein.com/Virtual+Assistant+Hiring+Exam-edited.doc
In the end I decided to hire a traditional assistant to help me with tasks in the office as well as marketing. Her official title is “Customer Relationship Manager”, but to keep it simple I refer to her as my assistant. She does more than customer service. She is in charge of new client acquisition i.e. marketing and creative ways to get more clients. She only works on my busiest days. She arrives in the morning (15 minutes before me) to wipe down everything and set up for the first client. When the client arrives she greets them and starts the consultations. If it is a new client she will go through pictures to explain the Permanent Cosmetic process showing them pictures of the procedure as well as how it looks immediately after the procedure and how it looks fully healed. She might briefly talk about design but that part is usually done when I meet with the client. She takes pictures of the client from many angles. She takes alcohol swabs to the area and/or cleans the area that will be treated and applies a topical anesthetic to the eyebrows or lips but not for eyeliner. She hands the client the paperwork to fill out while numbing and takes their payment. My time with the client includes pigment selection, design process, and the permanent cosmetic procedure of course. While the client is looking in the mirror I briefly review the healing processes that were discussed earlier and do the cleanup. My assistant sees the client for the final pictures and aftercare review. My assistant does the set up for the next procedure while I do procedure report chart notes. Meanwhile the second client has already arrived 30 minutes before I finished my first client, and my assistant has started the process of consultation, pictures and paperwork with them. After I finish my chart notes of the first client, I start the second client. This is a description of my two busiest days set up with client’s back to back appointments. Of course the clients coming in for touch ups take less time, but the overlapping process is the same. This saves me about a half hour per client which allows me to schedule an extra client each day, which is cost-effective, justifying my assistant. My assistant will work on projects during the time I’m doing the permanent cosmetics with the client. Her projects include but are not limited to; confirming appointments, watermarking photos, uploading pictures to the cloud, social media, sending thank you notes, and other marketing activities. The outcome justifies the expense of hiring someone to help grow my business.
Once you develop a clear plan on what you need done, you will see how beneficial an assistant will be to your business. Neither a personal assistant nor a virtual assistant may be appropriate for you now. An internal resource that helps keep you organized, like software automation to confirm your appointments, might be the baby step you need at the moment. There are plenty of tools available that can remove day-to-day stressful tasks and help you achieve the elusive work life balance.
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