Why My Virtual Assistant Is Literally A Lifesaver

Why you need a virtual personal assistant

 

I think one of the biggest things I feared about becoming an adult was having to do admin. If I’ve got a boring form to fill in, or I need to ring a company up, I will wait until the last possible moment, if I do it at all that is. I. HATE. ADMIN. Screw admin, I just want to be writing and creating, or ya know, chilling and drinking G & T (rather than stressing about work). 

No, sadly I’m not one of those naturally organised people who gets a kick out of putting a spreadsheet together. My brain doesn’t do cartwheels when I try to put things in a logical order, it switches off. In fact, I actually have a bit of a habit of making life harder for myself. Sometimes I feel as though I almost do it on purpose.

Why oh why did I not invest in a personal assistant of some sort until now? I’m like the perfect candidate. I could have saved myself so much stress and hassle. I’m definitely driven and focussed when it comes to my business, but, if I’m honest (like many people), I’m not the best at admin. I will do the easiest thing possible initially, even if it means messing things up and making stuff harder in the long run.

To be fair, I shouldn’t beat myself up too much. After all, I have been successfully running my own business for nearly five years. Kudos to me. It’s certainly not easy. You often find you do the bare minimum when it comes to admin, because you’re far more concerned about earning as many £££ as possible. And does sorting your invoices directly make you money? Nope. So these little but very necessary tasks get ignored.

I think what a lot of people don’t realise is that VA’s don’t just help with simple admin tasks. No. They’re much savvier than that these days. They can help with things like email marketing, social media and branding.

My VA has got to work on tasks that have been gathering dust on my to do list for years. As well as sorting out all your admin heartaches, they can actually help drive your business forward. There’s over 1,600 VAs currently working in the UK, providing support to nearly 13,000 small businesses.

In case you are wondering what a ‘VA’ or virtual assistant is..

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is a highly-skilled, independent professional who remotely provides administrative, technical and/or creative business support services.

Take note of the phrase ‘creative business support services.’ If you find a good enough, experienced VA, they will be able to help you out with day to day marketing tasks and admin. Woopppee.

But I think probably the biggest pain point my VA has helped with is my accounts and tax admin (yawn). This is where she’s an absolute lifesaver. I just cannot do all this stuff properly myself. And if I did try and do it properly to the standard she does, it would take me forever and cost so much more in my time than what I actually pay her.

Because when you’re running your own business, time is everything. 1 in 4 small business owners in the U.S. believe that just one extra hour in the working day is worth more than $500! When you start your own business, you very quickly have to take on numerous roles, from admin and accounts to branding, marketing and sales. It’s pretty full on, and try as you might, you simply cannot do it all. Plus, trying to be a jack of all trades is exhausting, and you run the risk of burnout.

I’d urge anyone who is self-employed, freelancing or running a small business to consider a VA. I can’t thank Emma from EmblemVA for all her help. And I’m excited about how she can continue to help me run and grow my business. She’s super experienced and totally on it – get in touch with her if you need a hand with your business. 

 

1 Comment

  1. December 6, 2017 / 11:15 am

    Hiring a virtual assistant doesn’t means that you task has been completed, try to find whether VA can handle your task and try to hire assistant based on your business needs.

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