I know that many people wonder what a virtual assistant could do for their business. It’s a question I’ve asked myself a million times as I mulled over starting this business. And after interviewing several entrepreneurs, the answer I came up with is so. many. things. For instance:
Support with social media - A VA can schedule posts, respond to comments, source images, etc.
Support with blogging - Even if you still want to write all the content, VAs can format, edit, and schedule your posts, create Pinterest-friendly images, and moderate comments.
Email management - They don’t call them frequently asked questions for nothing! Your VA can easily respond to those for you (and create canned responses to make it less time-consuming for you to respond). She can also organize your inbox so you can easily find high priority items, ensuring important emails are addressed in a timely manner
Research - We all do lots of research, whether it’s on marketing, a new platform you’re thinking of trying out, or the company you’re making a pitch to next week. A good VA can sieve through the masses of information online and present you with a consolidated report of just the info you need, without you having to spend hours falling down the rabbit hole.
Supply ordering - If you provide a product, you need supplies. And if providing sustainably-sourced products is important to you, finding and ordering the supplies you need can take a serious amount of time. A VA could do all that legwork and only require a sign-off from you before getting products shipped to your door.
Making travel arrangements - Some businesses require a lot of travel, which means you can spend hours every month booking flights, cars, and hotels. What if you could accomplish all of it with one quick email listing when, where and what the budget is?
Support with podcasts and webinars - If you produce podcasts or webinars, your VA can write the show notes and type up the transcriptions. She can also troubleshoot and monitor the comments section for questions during any real-time events you do.
Once I decided that virtual assistance could definitely help business owners, the next question I asked myself was, “Do people actually need these services?” Starting a business of any sort requires intelligence and motivation, so couldn’t people just do tasks like this themselves? Of course! You are a totally capable person - that’s not at issue here. What is at issue is whether doing these tasks is the best use of your time. How much is it really costing you to do everything yourself?
I think about this all the time when it comes to random DIY projects (which I’m mildly obsessed with). Sure I could scour the thrift shops for the perfect funky dresser to refinish, then spend time going to the hardware store for everything I need, then actually do the refinishing work, which may end up being less expensive than the original dresser that I’m trying to imitate. But...if I factor in the cost of the time I spend doing all of that work, oftentimes it isn’t really any cheaper. This doesn’t mean that I don’t sometimes still DIY it - but only when it’s something I enjoy doing. Because, the truth is, I’m not actually saving myself anything by doing it.
The same principle applies to business tasks. We are all capable of stumbling through something like Facebook marketing and coming up a decent campaign. However, at least for me, it would take forever and I would never get the results that an expert in Facebook marketing would get. And all the time I spend fiddling around with that is time that I can’t spend on client work or coming up with new offerings or, you know, sleeping and stuff.
I have a challenge for you.
This week, try keeping track of all the time you spend doing tasks like those above. Then take a look at your income statement and figure out what you’re making hourly. Include ALL the time you spend working - not just client time, but also those stolen minutes you spend checking your email in bed or responding to comments on social media while you stand in line at the grocery store. If you removed all the time spent on the tasks that don’t have to be done personally by you, how much of an impact would it have on your hourly rate? And don’t forget, all the time you free up could be used to take on more clients or produce more products/courses, increasing your sales and likely earning you even more than you would spend on a VA. Hiring a VA could even give you more of that most elusive entrepreneur perk, FREE TIME.
