How do I know that I need a Virtual Assistant?

Member feature: by Stephanie Wium of on demand VA

It’s TOUGH!

Identifying that you need help is often the toughest thing for an entrepreneur. Fortunately there are a few common signs that it is time to start delegating.

But what are the signs?

Let’s look at those signs:

You’re working extraordinarily long hours on a regular basis – Especially if a lot of your time is spent doing mundane / repetitive / tedious tasks. This could be on the replying of social media comments or customer service emails. Why are you doing this yourself?
You’re losing customers because your response time to their emails is slower than normal – Once you start losing money because you are slow in responding to emails, it’s time to get help. As a growing business you cannot afford to lose clients! I’m pretty sure you would prefer positive to negative growth.
Too much time is spent on lower-value tasks – You should be spending time on adding value to your business. Delegate the administrative tasks – it’s a skill set you don’t need to have. You would agree with me that the admin side of things do not add value in YOUR busy life!
You’re doing work you don’t like – If you enjoy mundane, by all means, stick to it. It may ignite a fire for something else in you. But, if you don’t like your work, it’s time to pass it along to somebody who does like the mundane. After all, by allowing a Virtual Assistant to take over this task, you would be helping him / her as well.

But what can a Virtual Assistant do?

A LOT! Nine times out of ten a Virtual Assistant comes from an administrative background in some form or another. They picked this calling because they are GOOD at it.

Examples of tasks you can delegate to a VA

Social media management – posting content you created. This could be on Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter
Writing blogs for YOUR website about subjects that you want to see there
Answering frequently asked questions by email, or even responding to your social media comments made by your followers
Scheduling appointments on your behalf. There is nothing more soul destroying than scheduling an appointment you thought was scheduled to end up being the only one pitching up
Getting quotes from suppliers / contractors. You know how you want at least 3 quotes to make an educated comparison? Yup, your Virtual Assistant can do this for you!
Proof-reading. It really does take a practiced eye to pick up on a grammar error or a punctuation error. Don’t get me wrong – your eye is practiced indeed, but sometimes a 3^rd party sees it quicker than you!
Speaking into a recording device to then pour hours into typing up the verbiage is incredibly time consuming. Five minutes of speaking sounds quick & easy, but what if those 5 minutes become 15 minutes or even half an hour? Do you really have the time to listen to your own voice & transcribe?

These are by no means the only tasks you can delegate, but it certainly gives you a starting point.

Discuss your requirements with your Virtual Assistant. I’m sure you’ll be surprised what they can do for you!

For more on Stephanie and how her business on demand VA can assist you, please do visit our members page.