How to Know If You Are Ready to Hire a VA? Small Biz Owners, This One Is For You!
This post is a special one because it is actually for those of you who are small business owners and entrepreneurs who are wondering if it is time to hire a virtual assistant to support you in your business.
Hiring can be intimidating, even if it is just hiring a contractor like a virtual assistant and not someone who is a full-time employee. It is work to get that process going, finding the right fit, onboarding them into your business, etc. AND if you are already in a place where you feel like you need help in your business, it could feel like just another task that you need to complete. However, having a virtual assistant can dramatically change the way that your business runs. So in this blog post, I am going to go over 5 signs that you are ready to start looking for and hiring a VA, even if it is just a couple of hours a month!
It feels like you are working all the time
Now, I don’t know your situation specifically, however, what I do know is most entrepreneurs start their own businesses to have more freedom and flexibility in their life, right? But I think what some people don’t realize is that when you own and run your own business, it can be really easy to fall into the trap of working all the time. I have been there, and it is not a fun place to be! This is a recipe for burnout, especially when you are doing tasks that you don’t necessarily love, like answering support emails or scheduling social media posts for example, and aren’t able to spend that time doing what it is you actually love doing in your business, which is likey working with clients or customers, right?! But even more than that, there’s so much more to life than work.
Maybe you are craving more time with your family. Maybe you would love to fully take off the weekends to recharge and not think about business! Maybe you want more space in your day to go to a workout class or coffee days with your friends (or even solo, I love a good solo coffee date without my laptop). Maybe you want to make more time for your hobbies.. Heck, maybe you want to make more time to FIND a hobby! I know I have been there lol when people ask “what are some of your hobbies?” I literally can’t think of anything because all I was doing at the time was spending time with my family, and working. That was it.
Having a virtual assistant can and will give you your time back. Sure, in the beginning when you are showing your VA the ropes and what it is they will be working out, it will take a little more time. But that little time to show someone how they can help you, is going to free up SO much time, and energy, for you down the road.
You dread doing some of the tasks it takes to run your business
This is something I see A LOT of. Tasks that you “know” you “should” be doing or things that would help your business grow are getting pushed to the side because they are things that you really dread doing. And I think this is understandable because let’s say you are some sort of coach, business coach, life coach, productivity coach, etc. My bet is that you love working with your people. You love building those relationships and actually COACHING. It makes sense that you might not love scheduling your social media posts, sending emails, updating your website, checking up on failed payments or overdue invoices… because those are not WHY you got started with your business. And oftentimes, those things are not things you have to be doing anyway! They don’t require YOU to actually get done or run smoothly.
And here’s a point I want to make and something I hope you take away from this: just because you CAN do those tasks in your business, doesn’t mean you HAVE TO. I notice with a lot of entrepreneurs that sometimes it’s hard to release and delegate because “they can just do it themselves” which yes, I am sure that you can because if you are running a business you are likely a very intelligent and capable human being, however, and I say this lovingly because I have BEEN THERE (still am sometimes lol), it might be time to check that ego at the door and see that thought might be holding you back from your full potential.
So chances are as you are listening to this, you can already think of things that you are like “yeah I really don’t like doing XYZ” so do me a favor and start making a list. What are some things that you don’t like doing in your business, but either 1) have to get done to keep your business running or 2) are things you want to implement to grow and scale your business, such as sending weekly emails to your email list or something like that! This list is going to serve as a running task list for when you start looking for and hiring your VA.
You are spending too much time and energy IN your business vs ON your business
This is something I had a client say in her testimonial, that she wrote for myself and the agency and it really stuck with me. She said, “Within a few days of jumping on a call with her about her VA services, she swooped in and cleared a massive chunk from my to-do list, giving me back precious time and energy to work ON my business rather than IN my business.” And that really is a combo of the last two signs we talked about. She was spending so much of her time working in IN her business, like doing tasks that would keep it up and running, vs ON her business, like working with her clients and membership members, creating inspiring content, coming up with new offerings and products… things that she actually enjoyed doing and was really good at!
The point to having a virtual assistant, or even outsourcing other parts of your business, is so that you can stay in your zone of genius, otherwise known as what you are really good at, and then delegate the rest. And like this client mentioned, it’s not always TIME that is the issue… it is the amount of energy you are spending doing or even thinking about those tasks! Because that takes away from other areas of your business too.
You have so many ideas, but you have a hard time getting started because you are trying to keep up with the back end of your business
You are the visionary. You are the person that has the goals and dreams and VISION for where you want your business to go! You have ideas for products you want to create, services you want to offer, events you want to host, and more but you getting the ball rolling on those things feels nearly impossible because you are so busy doing the things in your business you already have. There’s no space to fully execute your new ideas and frankly, that could be holding you back from generating more revenue in your business, too. So while, yes it costs money to pay a VA for their services, I challenge you to think about how much MORE money your business could be bringing in if you have some space cleared up in your schedule.
You can’t take on any more clients or create and sell more products because you don’t have the time
You’re capped. You aren’t able to take on any more clients or sell any more products because you simply do not have any more time. This means that you are ALSO capping your business revenue and income. This was a big thing for me when I have hired virtual assistants, both in my previous business and in this business (and yes, I work as a VA and an OBM (which is online business manager) and I also have my own VA because of many of these reasons we have gone over!). I was doing a lot of things in my business that I didn’t need to be doing and someone could easily do and while those things were helping me in the back end of my business, they weren’t actually generating more revenue like working with clients or creating more digital products could!
So if you’re reading this and you are like YUP I CAN RELATE, I challenge you to think about what the next steps might look like to bring on a virtual assistant! The first step would be to start making that list of tasks you feel like you could outsource or delegate. To help get you started, ask yourself these questions:
What are some things I dread doing in my business?
What are some things I would like to implement in my business but haven't yet because of time or energy constraints?
What are some things I know I should be doing that I am not doing because I don’t have time or energy for them?
Out of those things, which ones do I HAVE to do because they require my touch on them, and what things can I delegate?
And one more thing, ask yourself this, “What could I do with the extra time that bringing on a virtual assistant would open up for me?”
I hope this blog post was helpful and got you thinking about what it would look like to bring on a virtual assistant, even if it is just for 5-10 hours a month! There are so many benefits and can truly be a game-changer for you and your business.
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