I hear a lot of entrepreneurs say, “I need to talk to you about services when things slow down.” Or “I need to pull the trigger and get help soon.” My advice is you need to do it now while things are crazy or before they get out of control.
Is your business crazy right now? Have more work to do than can be accomplished in 24 hours a day? Congratulations, that is awesome! If you’re doing everything right, it’s only going to get crazier. Or, maybe you are planning an expansion, or program offerings, or other changes that will make your business explode in the next few months. Way to go!
An experienced, professional virtual assistant can guide you in how to get things under control and “take the reins” sooner and with less “training” than you think. Consider the following:
The average entrepreneur spends between 2 – 2.5 hours on email each day according to Inc.com. If you don’t believe this time yourself every time you read or answer an email tomorrow. A virtual assistant can reduce the time you spend on this task by:
- Sorting emails into appropriate folders so you know what must be handled now.
- Answering routine emails
- Taking care of customer service issues
How much time do you spend scheduling your clients, setting up meetings, sending call recordings and reminders. Depending on the number of clients you serve, this could equal several hours a day. Tasking this to your virtual assistant will provide better quality service and generate customer satisfaction because your customers needs are handled in a timely manner.
Social Media is another time sucking black hole. But it should also be an integral part of your total marketing plan. Dukeo.com reports business people spend an average of several hours per day on social media. A virtual assistant can write, post and monitor all your social media activities and notify you of any personal responses needed. That’s three hours a day you now have open to work your business – or take the afternoon off!
These are only 3 areas where a virtual assistant can save you time and that translates into more money and less stress for you.
Let’s add it up. Total time saved per day up to 6 hours. If the value of your time is $200 per hour and you outsource to a virtual assistant at $50 per hour, you are saving $150 per hour or $900 per day.
Ah, but now you say, I can’t pay a virtual assistant $300 a day! There’s more good news. Because these types of tasks are a virtual assistants “sweet spot” and their brilliance, they can do it more efficiently, quicker and better than you. So what takes you six hours a day will probably be accomplished in half that time.
Bonus number 2? Carefully choose the right, experienced virtual assistant for your field and she/he will already know standard operating procedures and the systems to effectively complete the tasks you need done. Next to no training necessary on your part. And she/he can probably teach you a few new tricks!
You can save money, time, stress and have your business running like a super charged Corvette NOW. Why would you wait until you’re “less busy” or “busy enough.” Start your engines!
