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Many small business owners—especially solopreneurs—end up wearing all the hats in their business when it comes to the day-to-day nuts and bolts of running things. Sometimes they end up in this situation because they believe they can’t afford to bring on extra help; sometimes it’s due to feeling that no one else could take care of things as well as they can.
Whatever the reason, sometimes you need to step back and really assess whether it is in the best interest of your business as a whole to continue to try and juggle everything alone. In terms of affordability, there are many reasonably priced virtual assistants out there who can take a lot of the administrative tasks off your plate so that you can focus on the activities that make you the most money instead.
If a virtual assistant charges $40.00 an hour and that frees up time for you to work with clients where you can make triple that amount in an hour, wouldn’t it be worth it?
Despite that, I know there can still be some real resistance to bringing on help. Even I still have to take my own advice sometimes, as I like to be in the thick of things in my business because I enjoy it so much! However, I’ve learned to delegate and let some things go. In fact, concentrating on your “genius work” and outsourcing the rest is absolutely necessary in order to get to the next level.
Even some social media activities can be delegated to an assistant, as long as those activities don’t require your personality or voice. Here are some examples of those types of tasks:
• Researching quality content for you to share via social media
• Finding ideal people to send friend requests to
• Uploading videos
• Creating events on LinkedIn and Facebook
• Pre-scheduling certain social media updates
Additionally, there are many different administrative-type activities that could easily be delegated as well (just think of all the time you’ll save!):
• Handling registration for events
• Bookkeeping
• Proofing written material
• Shipping products
• Managing your inbox
• Responding to inquiries
• Website/blog maintenance
• Creating graphics
• Submitting your articles to article sites
So remember, just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you should. There are lots of things an assistant can be doing instead of you—freeing you up to work on true, money-making activities. After all, isn’t that what we’re in business for? 
Photo Credit: Jordan Perez
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As a publicity virtual assistant, I often see how clients allow too much to pile up on their “virtual plates”, they then become frustrated and/or unorganized. I’m relieved to see that you are promoting the business solution of outsourcing, to small business owners who are trying to juggle everything themselves.
Great post!
Hi Stephanie, the work you and other VAs do is so important to entrepreneurs. You are so right about things piling up–I often tell my clients that it’s crucial to focus on our “genius work” and then outsource the rest. Thanks for stopping by to comment!
As a virtual assistant who specializes in social media and online marketing assistance, I couldn’t agree more. Lots of business owners look at that hourly rate, and think they just can’t afford it. But if you look at how much you bill out, think of how hiring a VA for any aspect of your business will actually help you make more money. Instead of spending time on those admin type of tasks, you could be taking that time and using it on tasks that actually bring in the money. Once someone hires a good VA (and that is key), they usually wonder how they ever did it without one.
Crystal Parrett´s last blog ..7 Great Reasons to Use WordPress to Create Your Website
Hi Crystal, glad you stopped by! Yes, exactly, that whole “time value of money” thing is something entrepreneurs often overlook. And once they see how much time and space they free up in their biz (with a GOOD VA as you mention), then they are amazed. I’m so glad there are people like you out there to help!
Great article on Virtual Assistants! It’s amazing how businesses can benefit from hiring a Virtual Assistant!
When looking make sure you have all the facts on that Virtual Assistant and that they fit in what you are seeking. Talk to them often before you make the decision on hiring them.
If you are searching check out VAnetworking at http://www.vanetworking.com. This organization has over 10,000 Virtual Assistants in addition to seminars to help business owners in how to search and submit an RFP to locate a Virtual Assistant for you.
Hi Leona, thanks for the link. I agree with you wholeheartedly–it’s one thing to decide that you are ready to hire help, but it is another thing entirely to find the RIGHT person. I often hear stories of disappointment when a biz owner doesn’t do their homework first—so it is crucial to take the time to cover all the bases and make sure the person is a good fit.
The best thing that can happen to a business or a company, is hiring a virtual assistant.why? In their effort to concentrate merely on task like dinner with a client or plan innovation, they sometimes forgot some other important task like accounting or data entry. This is where hiring a virtual assistant or outsourcing help can take place and can help businesses…I am a virtual assistant here in the Philippines, working for a BPO company(TryBPO.com – support companies abroad )and I was able to see how companies benefit from this. Check our blogs, we have more insights on how BPO or OUTSOURCING can help businesses.
Melissa´s last blog ..BPO Strategy to Effective Offshore Outsourcing
Awesome, Melissa! Thanks for stopping by.