Why the Time is NOW to Hire a Virtual Assistant
With over 70% of the economic experts expecting a last quarter uptick in the economy, now is the perfect time to start preparing for the extra business. I am a big fan of using virtual assistants to help build out my team during peak seasons. This is an especially useful business strategy in today’s market place. One of the best lessons a recession can teach us is that in many circumstances variable costs beat fixed costs any day. To survive the feast or famine rollercoaster of entrepreneurship, you need to make sure your expenses mimic those same ups and downs.
Benefits of Virtual Assistants
Adding virtual assistants to your workforce is a terrific way to turn a traditionally “fixed” expense, like payroll, into a more cash flow friendly variable expense. Let me explain how it would work. For example, most business advisers suggest that payroll expenses should average 20-30% of your sales. This would mean that when sales are flush at $250,000/month that translates into payroll expenses of $50-75,000. When sales hit a downturn at only $50,000/month, your payroll would then move back to a more manageable, $10-15,000. As a business owner, how closely you adhere to this ratio means the difference between bleeding red and staying in the black.
Additional Benefits Include:
- No payroll taxes or employee benefit expenses
- No “on site” office space requirements
- No costly training programs when hiring experienced VA’s
- No long term commitment
- No morale draining lay offs during slow seasons
Understanding the Relationship
When considering virtual assistants to help manage business tasks, there are a couple considerations to keep in mind. For starters, they are not your employee but independent contactors. This means they will most likely have other tasks and deadlines on their schedule while they are working for you. READ: They are on their clock- not yours. Make sure you are respectful of time constraints and provide as much advanced notice of tasks, deadlines, and special circumstances as possible. As with many business relationships, communication is critical. You can’t blame a virtual assistant for not living up to your expectations if you never made those expectations clear. In other words, don’t just say you need something “right away”, make sure you define “right away” as within two hours.
Getting Started
I also think it is wise to start slowly when building a new relationship with a virtual assistant. For example, instead of requesting that they create a new website for you, start by having them update your blog template first. As each task is completed satisfactorily, and communication strengthens, you can then proceed to larger and more complex tasks. Also, be sure to discuss with potential VA’s their strengths and weaknesses to ensure the best experience possible. If you are in the real estate field, consider searching for VA’s with backgrounds in real estate. If you an entrepreneur looking for marketing help, be sure to search for VA’s with a background in marketing or who are currently active in social media.
Tips from an Experienced VA
For more tips, I turned to Dawn Martinello of Monday Morning VA. As an experienced virtual assistant herself, she had some great insight to share. She can be found at MondayMorningVA.
- Be sure to have an exit strategy. Does your contract give you an out if you don’t mesh well? This is especially important for first time clients. For example, our services are non-refundable, but for first time clients we give a 7 day grace period in which they can bow out of the contract if they aren’t working well with their VA.
- When you’re considering outsourcing keep the price in mind. My rule of thumb is that an entrepreneur shouldn’t be doing anything in their business that doesn’t earn them at least 2/3 of their regular rate. That means if you’re a bookkeeper who charges $30.00 per hour, you should consider outsourcing anything that doesn’t earn you $20.00 per hour. The reasoning behind this is that business people need to spend their time and energy on what generates revenue for them. Spending 4 hours trying to update your website doesn’t earn a bookkeeper anything!
If you have never considered hiring a virtual assistant to build out your team, I strongly suggest taking a second look. As technology continues to advance and better networking platforms are built, virtual work relationships will only become even easier. A couple great places to start your search for virtual help include Guru.com, Freelance.com, RentACoder.com, or a simple “virtual assistant” search on Google.
Business Owners, feel free to leave any questions or experiences you would like to share in the comments. Virtual Assistants, be sure to leave any additional tips and your contact information including your area of expertise.
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June 29th, 2009 at 8:07 am
[...] Go read this great article by Heather Nolte where she lists 5 good reasons to hire a Virtual Assistant [...]
June 29th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I could not agree more! When you hire a virtual assistant you have more time to focus on other money making opportunities. I am a virtual assistant for http://www.sassva.com. I also blog for http://www.cassieboorn.com. Feel free to send me any questions you might have about Virtual Assistants!
June 29th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Thanks Cassie!!!
June 29th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Awesome article! So many great points about Virtual Assistants. I especially appreciate the tips provided, very important.
I do have my own Virtual Assistant/Virtual Outsourcing business, Outsource Made Simple (http://www.outsourcemadesimple.com). I absolutely love what I do and I’m actively looking for new clients. =) Please contact me if you are in need of a good reliable assistant/bookkeeper!
June 29th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Heya Heather and Cassie,
Great timing with this subject. I ran through the cost/benefit this weekend and I am looking to make my first support hire.
A couple of months ago I approached a local firm that specializes in VA’s and virtual bookkeeping to gather information. Spoke with the Owner a few times and even paid forward their information to other entrepreneurs that we’re better prepared to take the leap. When I revisited the firm, I was told by the owner that because of new (federal or state, I do not know) laws it made their business model obsolete/not worthwhile. Any ideas what if anything the owner was referencing?
And while I appreciate online solutions for procuring virtual help, some of the intangibles of the VA/entrepreneur relationship (like rapport, lifestyle, values, etc.) are not objective, and in some cases, prohibited in the discovery process when searching for the “perfect dynamic.”
Help?
Towards creative fidelity,
Jason
June 29th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
This is a great article on virtual assistants and how we can collaborate with other business owners.
During recessions, entrepreneurs pop up all over the place. We can help them ground their business with solid systems and practices. Also, this is the time to invest in yourself.
As a virtual assistant, my services are not for just everyone - I love my clients and we have great working relationships.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
This is article is really great it help me much and give me more knowledge. I really learn a lot. it will really help me to be more productive as a virtual assistants.
June 30th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Heather, thank you for highlighting the VA industry at large.
Working with a Virtual Assistant is still not a widely known resource available to struggling solopreneurs.
Best,
Mia Chambers
MY WEBSITE • TWITTER • FACEBOOK
June 30th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Great article.
I see this as a long-term trend of outsourcing pieces of business that need to be highly scalable (and variable) so that the business owner can focus on those parts of the business such as sales, marketing and strategy.
Virtual Assistants are clearly one modality.
If you are in online retail or e-commerce another type of “virtual assistant” is outsourced order fulfillment.
The right outsourced fulfillment should have:
- variable costs (pay for what you use)
- scale on demand/recede on demand
- No fixed costs
- No training or employee headaches
- No contracts or long-term commitments
- terminate on demand.
- Get up and running in 24 hours
- Automate with your business
Its an actual warehouse and pick pack / order fulfillment facility that operates much like a virtual warehouse.
Nate
Shipwire order fulfillment in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
http://www.shipwire.com/trial for a free trial
July 1st, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Heather, this is a very helpful article - especially for me. A coaching client recommended that I add a Virtual Assistant component to my business. Your article really put that into context. I think I will test it out in the near future.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Very interesting article, Heather, on a topic I had not previously considered. I’ve been a “real” assistant for my whole career. Your article initiated a BFO that I can provide exceptional services to other entrepreneurs and now have the opportunity to pick and choose my clients. Sounds like a win-win!
July 10th, 2009 at 12:46 am
Heather thank you so much.Your article really give more interesting.How about small company do I need a Virtual Assistant?
July 15th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
The updated link to the FDCPA is:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf
July 17th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Great article, Heather. As a VA in the first year of practice, I see so many business owners and entrepreneurs who desperately need help. Working with a VA with years of administrative experience is both helpful and fulfilling to clients all over the world.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
A virtual assistant seems like an interesting concept. I hadn’t really considered it as I like a face to face meeting but I can definitely see the advantages. Good article!
-Josh
September 2nd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
It’s a great idea for busy people
June 11th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
What an eye catchy article its explains well how virtual assistant works and its purpose..
Thanks a lot..
December 6th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
love this
July 12th, 2012 at 9:37 pm
The administration of Obama do not like Americans entrepreneur that outsource their business operation to foreign country. They think it will hurt the economy. So which should be the favor, the profit of the entrepreneur or the profit of the excess number of employees. If the entrepreneur goes down who will hire the employees?
August 1st, 2012 at 4:31 pm
the best thing to answer the question is simple, Virtual Assistant are one of the best and hottest now, to handle your business, we definitely help client to expand there businesses with minimal cost, thanks for sharing this blog to us.