As I have mentioned in my posts before, when I am networking and people ask what I do I don’t always get a positive acknowledgement. They start to make a connection that I am either Siri or Alexa. Or I sometimes get a look that is slightly confused or glazed over. You can tell that the cogs are turning and they are trying to figure out what a VA is. A VA is basically a freelance PA who provides secretarial / admin support to clients from a remote location or on-site if required.
Some people I speak to state that they complete their own admin and that is ok. They have not reached the tipping point in their business at that time. That is not to say that this will not happen in the future. When clients reach the point where there are not enough hours in the day to complete everything and admin is becoming the task that is at the bottom of the list every day, that is the time that outsourcing needs to occur. To enable your company to grow, you will need to either outsource or hire an employee.
Hiring a full-time administrative employee can seem such a big step. You need to take into consideration all the employee overheads as well as training and equipment. Not only that, if you are someone who works from home, you will probably need to think of getting a working space for you both to work from. An extra cost and a big one! That is the beauty of hiring a VA. You are getting the support you need but only paying for the hours you use. Plus, VA’s have their own equipment – it’s a no brainer.
I know business owners who have hired VA’s as a stepping stone to help grow their business to the point where they are ready to employ staff. I also know business owners who have built their business to the point that they hire other people for jobs like PR, marketing or IT and keep using their VA. Either way is fine. You must think of what is best for your business.
By hiring a VA, you can get all the time consuming but essential tasks that your company needs completed whilst freeing up your valuable time to do other things. Such as compiling your business strategy, completing projects, networking & meeting clients or even to free up your personal time. It has happened to us all when you find yourself “just quickly finishing…” in the evenings or weekend.
Have a think and write down your admin tasks that you need completing. Do you want to complete it yourself or prefer to delegate to someone else? Do you not know how to complete it? Or is it simply that you just don’t have time to do it?
If you are reading this and feel that you are ready to take the next step in your business, feel free to contact me for a free consultation.
Zoe Marden set up ZVA in September 2017. ZVA specialises in transcription, minute taking and copy typing. For more information or to discuss your requirements further, please feel free to email info@zva.org.uk.