How Do I Know I Need a VA?

There is one question I get asked quite often, if not all the time, when I’m doing speaking engagements and networking events. I get this during prospective client calls and even in personal messages sent to our Facebook page.

How do I know if I need or if I'm ready for a virtual assistant (VA)?

And I’m sure you’ve thought of that one too many times, if you’re reading this article right now. This may have crossed your mind as you take on tackle your long list of tasks for the day, or when you finally turn off your laptop and call it a day during the wee hours of the morning.

Questions to ask yourself

If you’re still on the fence and you’re going back and forth between doing everything on your own and finally asking for outside help, then I have a few things you should be asking yourself:

• Are spending more time on non-money making admin tasks than you are on growing your business? How much is it costing you in a week, given your hourly rate?
  
• Are business operations dependent on you? Could you take a break if you needed to? 
  
• Are there important jobs not getting done because you simply don't have time? 
  
• Are there mistakes being made because you are doing things you are not good at?
  
• Are you doing what you love, the reason you started the business? 
  

If you answered yes to any of the questions, then a virtual assistant may be just what you and your business need right now.

Still not convinced?

When in doubt, I ask a business owner to do a simple exercise; which you can do on your own too.

Pick a simple admin task that you may find useful; it could be managing and sorting your email, or sending invoices. Then continuously do that for the entire week, taking note of just how much time you spend doing that particular repetitive task.

Be mindful of what you are doing in your business besides the admin tasks as well. Keep a log of which ones are repetitive and take up too much of your work day.

You may not feel it as the week goes on by, but once you see the total number of hours a particular task takes up, then you might be surprised at just how much time is taken away from you. Time that could have been spent in other productive, income-generating projects.

Making the decision to hire a VA is definitely a tough first step to take. I know because I’ve been there before. But once you take that big leap of faith, and begin to let go and delegate, you’ll wonder why you took so long to do so.

So, how do know if you need a VA? The moment you start thinking about it is the perfect time to give it a serious thought. Who knows, a VA might just be the missing piece to your business’ growth.