While many business-owners have difficulty delegating work, at a certain point it becomes necessary to move the business forward. Hiring an assistant can help you run things more efficiently, letting you focus on the big picture as your assistant takes care of administrative tasks. Some companies hire admins to work on-site, but many others are using virtual assistants to take care of tasks like scheduling or invoicing remotely.
Here are five signs that you need an assistant.
1. You forget to perform tasks like updating your website or confirming appointments. Sure, the world keeps turning even if your website hasn't been updated or a few appointments get missed. But think how much better off your business could be if you didn't have to think about these tasks or feel guilty for forgetting them! An assistant can easily be trained to help with marketing or scheduling so that these business functions always happen when they should.
2. You waste time looking for lost documents or emails. In addition to your time spent performing menial tasks, losing an invoice or accidently deleting an email costs you even more time! If you're so frazzled that this happens on a regular basis, then it's time to hire help. An assistant will ensure that you stay on top of invoicing and filing so that you don't miss payments or make costly administrative mistakes.
3. You don't have time to see family or friends. Every entrepreneur needs some downtime to relax and recharge. Spending time with family and friends is a great way to do this, so if you find yourself skipping out on brunches or birthday parties in favor of work, then it's probably time to reprioritize. Hiring an assistant, even one who works just a few hours a week, frees you up to focus on what matters. And having time for yourself and the people you care about will also benefit your business, because you'll be refreshed and ready to tackle new challenges.
4. Your billable rate is higher than an assistant. Hopefully this is the case for most business-owners. Let's say that you bill client at $100/hour and an assistant bills you $20/hour. Rather than taking time away from your paying clients to send out invoices or book appointments, pay an assistant her $20/hour while you earn $100/hour from your clients. Even after you pay your assistant, you'll still bring in $80/hour that you otherwise wouldn't have time to earn. So when you think about it mathematically, hiring an assistant makes a lot of sense (and cents)!
5. You've been putting off tasks that you dislike. Most of us have tasks we dread doing, such as filing, following up on overdue invoices, or balancing the books. Imagine if *poof* all those ugly little tasks magically got done so you could spend time on more important tasks (because, let's face it, many of us waste time procrastinating on these sorts of tasks anyway).
It doesn't take a fairy godmother or a magic wand. All it takes is a little legwork to find someone you trust to get the job done.
Once you decide to hire an assistant, you can ask your colleagues for recommendations or log into websites such as IVAA.org (the International Virtual Assistants Association) to start your search.
© 2009 Ali International, LLC
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Self-made multimillionaire entrepreneur and Inc. 500 CEO Ali Brown is devoted to creating financial freedom for women globally through the power of entrepreneurship. To learn how to create wealth and live an extraordinary life now, register for her free weekly articles at www.AliBrown.com
You Can Even Hire a Virtual Assistant
Hi Ali, thank you for your input. A solopreneur or microbusiness owner may want to consider a virtual assistant. VAs are highly qualified independent contractors who work remotely. Therefore, you don't have worry about additional office space, equipment and employee benefits. Rates very depending on skill level and business requirements. I good place to start is http://www.ivaa.org/ and http://www.assistantmatch.com/
-Andrea Dwyer, Certified Virtual Assistant
Hiring an assistant
Very insightfull and true. We should do what we do best and hire others to do the rest
I'm one of those who tried to
I'm one of those who tried to do everything in my business myself. All it brought me is overwhelm! Now I have a team supporting me and it allows me to do so much more, be creative, implement and build relationships. In http://StopEntrepreneurOverwhelm.com we highly encourage clients to get support to get out of overwhelm and start making money. Having an assistant really does make a difference in growing our business.
Even if your VA billable rate is higher than yours
As a Virtual Assistant, I run into some microbusiness owners whereby my rate is higher than theirs. But if I can save you 4 hrs or 8 hours a week, then look at it this way. You are still getting a lot for your money. Lets do the math:
If your billable rate is $100 and the VA is $120. If I can save you 4 hours a week that equals $480 for my services - minus $400 (which is 4 hours of your time) means it cost you $80 to save time that you can now focus on marketing or building relationships with your customers. Now wouldn't you rather be in front of your client versus looking at paper work?
Additional way to find a great VA
Great points, Ali, for emphasizing that being well-supported is a crucial component of growing your business. Another excellent resource for finding a VA is the Registry at www.AssistU.com, where you can find the world's most highly-trained virtual assistants (but sorry, not for $20 per hour). There will also be several awesome virtual assistants in attendance at SHINE!
Assistant!
Ali!
This couldn't have come at a better time. I am so overwhelmed. I can identify with every single one of your examples and add a few more. I am looking to add an assistant to my team of one immediately.
I'll let you know how it goes!
Thanks for all of your words of wisdom.
Robin
http://www.springboardforsuccess.com
Yep - it's time!
Hiring a VA - A decision all entrepreneurs and small business owners need to take a look at eventually. For me, it's sooner rather than later...Thanks for the reminder Ali!
Krista Dunk
Koinonia Business Women
Women Entrepreneurs!
I've been contemplating this for quite awhile, and now that I have begun asking for assistance I feel a lot lighter! I even inspired a few of my entrepreneur friends to give up the tasks that were bogging them down and use the services of another entrepreneur in our group!
This is a great article and I plan on sharing it with the members of the Mohawk Valley Business Women's Network & Women TIES- we've got a lot of entrepreneurs to choose from - and keeping the money in local women's hands just makes sense!
Thanks!
Hiring an Assistant
Each of these are valid reasons for hiring an assistant. Before hiring my first VA, I thought that I had to do it all and I did. By doing it all myself, I was literally working two jobs. It took all my time as well as time away from my family on weekends. I found an assistant who complimented my personality and had similar business philosophy.
I gradually passed on tasks to her which needed to be done for operations of my business, but were not my areas of expertise. She was glad to do them for me. As a result, I have opened more time for doing my best work. It has turned out to be a win-win situation. I highly recommend making this move.
You Just Read My Mind!
Ali:
I just got through tellng my husband how I WISH I could hire an assistant! Now, that's sort of odd since I have a VA who does a lot for me, more on the internet/design side of things, and I have many others on my team who do things I hate to do or don't have the technical know-how for. Nevertheless, I aspire to have more taken off my plate by someone who is "right there" watching my back. My biz's focus has never been income-generation (it's a non-profit and has been more of a mission than a biz) and I'm looking to sharpen my focus on the biz side of things at SHINE to change that.
But I just wanted you to know that your timing for this article is pretty damn impeccable!
See you soon!
Tricia
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