5 Reasons You Need a Virtual Assistant Blog

Do you feel overwhelmed?  

Do you feel like you are drowning under a mountain of paperwork? 

Do you feel like your to-do list is never ending?  

Do you feel like there is never enough hours in the day? 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are in need of a virtual assistant.  

For the first 5 years of my business, I didn't have a virtual assistant.  When I first started, I managed to get by.  However, as my business grew, I really started to drown in all the administration and paperwork that comes with a running a business.  

At that time, one of my friends,  Jodie, was a client and I mentioned to her of my need.  Jodie was a stay at home mum and had worked in a corporate head office before having children.  I asked if she would be interested in doing some work for me at home and she was.  

Fast forward a couple of years, and Jodie is now Vice President in my personal brand and she is working in partnership with me, developing products and programs.  She has made a high difference to my every day and taken a lot of pressure off my shoulders.  

5 Reasons You Need a Virtual Assistant

1)  To save you from drowning in your email - If your inbox resembled anything like mine, you would receive lots of emails a day, a lot of which aren't really important.  Jodie took this pressure off me but screening emails that came in and we also started directing people to email her instead of me.  I also made sure I unsubscribed from unnecessary emails to help alleviate the load too.  

2) To organise your appointments - something I found that was a big time killer for me was trying to connect with people to schedule appointments.  A lot of the time I was leaving messages and playing phone tag.  Jodie took this task from me and set up a booking system.  Jodie has access to my Google Calendar so she can see my available times and books people in.   

3) To help manage your social media - My 3 companies, including my personal brand have over 12 social media accounts and trying to keep on top of them can be tough.  Whilst I still get on there daily and interact, especially in my personal brand, Jodie helps me by prescheduling content such as blog posts, events, and quotes.  To make sure this runs effectively, we have a content calendar that we both have access to and I make sure I am putting the content together so Jodie has something to share.  

4) To help manage your team - Being a CEO, I have team meetings, internal communication and other team tasks.  Jodie helps me put together the meeting agendas, organise and send the weekly team email, takes minutes in each team meeting, organises their technical support, and helps them with managing their client bases.  These tasks, especially the last one, is a huge help to the team and myself.  

5) Reporting - Each week, Jodie puts together several reports so I have a snapshot of what is happening in each business.  One report is about leads, sales conversions and renewals.  Another is a social media report so I can measure the success of our social media accounts.  It takes time to gather the information and allows me a quick overview to see if we are on target to reach our goals.  

As you can see, even just these 5 tasks take a huge workload off my shoulders and help me to be more effective in the role that I need to play.  Jodie is an amazing help and I would be lost without her.  In fact, we are transitioning her role so she is moving out of these tasks and we are looking to have someone else come onboard to enable her to be involved on a higher level as the Vice President.  

How do you find a virtual assistant? 

These days, as long as you have a mobile and internet connection, you can utilise a virtual assistant.  Actually you almost don't even need a mobile phone with the use of Skype and Google Hangouts.  

There are many qualified mothers who are wanting to stay at home with their kids but also earn money from home to support their families.  With Jodie, we established how many hours she would do a week, and then she was able to create her own timetable to be able to get things done.  Jodie sometimes starts at 6am before the kids wake up.  She works some days more than others depending on when the kids are at school or in care.  

If you don't know of anyone who is suitable, ask around.  Even posting a request on your social media will allow you to find some great people. Always make sure you do your due diligence on their skills and capabilities.  Also set the framework around how you will work, what you will pay and what is required so there is less chance for any misunderstandings.  

If you still cannot find anyone, I would recommend using Virtual Staff Finder, where they will source three suitable virtual assistants for you that you can interview and decide who is the best fit for you and your business.  

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEBSITE?  You can as long as you include this blurb with it:  Social Media Expert and Award Winning Entrepreneur Mireille Ryan teaches you how to build a business that you love. Get her FREE audio, "The Secrets to Building a Business You Love" at www.mireilleryan.com