Benefits To Hiring A Virtual Assistant Or Freelancer

by Karen Petrauskas | Jan 18, 2018

Are you a business owner that could do with an extra pair of hands at certain points throughout a month? You’re aware that it wouldn’t necessarily make sense to hire a part-time assistant at this point in time, but an extra pair of hands is definitely needed in order to keen you sane and on top of your workload! Sound familiar?

Many business owners when they are starting out (or are not quite at the stage of hiring more team members), fall short because they don’t have enough time to get the vital and necessary things done in order to stay afloat. A lot of business owners when they first start out tend to work odd and ‘around-the-family’ hours just to get work completed. This is all well and good and of course complementary that there is commitment and hard work involved – however is it at the detriment of your health, or your family, or your social life?

This is where a freelancer worker or a Virtual Assistant (VA) comes in. A freelance worker is there to suit your business and will work the hours that you ask of them – when they are needed – and nothing more. You won’t be stuck with a huge salary to pay at the end of every month and you are able to stay on top of your finances in regards to paying for what work you need doing.

Here are 4 benefits to hiring a Virtual Assistant or freelancer (rather than hiring an employee)

You’re hiring an expert

Hiring an expert in a given field rather than an employee that may or may not know how to perform a particular task (and who could take a long time to complete that particular task) is a much more cost-effective way of getting a job done. Hiring an expert will give you peace of mind that they will complete a task for you, in a timeframe you specify and to a high standard. This is reassurance that your tasks are completed well and effectively.

A freelancer will have a wealth of knowledge in their given field and will provide a pool of resource for you and your business. One off tasks or on-going projects – you can hire one freelancer that can cover the lot or a selection of workers to complete individual tasks. The decision is yours. This is the way that freelancers and virtual assistants work and they expect to be used for one-off tasks.

You’re saving time and money

Hiring a full time or part time employee takes time and effort. Advertising a position, recruitment, interviewing, awaiting a start date – followed by being required to provide holiday and sick pay plus other benefits for employees. Let’s be honest, not everyone has the time to go through all that and especially if you are just starting out in business. Whilst is may be nice to have someone full time with you to build rapport with, recruiting an employee is not always the most cost-efficient way to spend your budget.

Hiring a virtual assistant has many cost benefits and a freelancer that works from home provides a great cost-saving expense to start with! No office space required. No equipment required. Simply hire your assistant, request the work and receive the work. You will only pay for the work that they are performing on your behalf.

You’re receiving a variety of skillsets

When you hire an employee, you are limited to their individual skill set. This can be great if they have every skill that you require and can be on hand to cover everything you need. However, how much more sense would it make to hire virtual assistants who performed the individual tasks for you. A selection of people, all with different expertise and willing to work together to bring your business together. You will end up with a pool of resources, contacts and connections that you know you can rely on anytime you need a task completed. If you choose to work with a bigger VA company, they will have team of assistants who can manage your workload and although you would be getting a variety of people working on your projects, you’d have one point of contact and one avenue of communication, making the process even more streamlined.

These freelancers could also bring ideas to the table that you had not even thought of, with the passion of growing your business and seeing potential in avenues that you may not have even gone down. It’s a case of a second pair of eyes that are focused on your business success.

You’re also getting flexibility

Most virtual assistants or freelancers are used to working with a variety of clients, all at the same time. They are highly organised people and manage their workloads well. Therefore, you have the ability to call on them whenever you need a task completing. Not working the usual 9-5 but need something completing in an evening? A freelancer will be there for you.

Working with a freelancer will give you way more flexibility than you could imagine and if you’re used to sticking to a 9-5 regime, it’s a great thing to realise that there is assistance for you 24/7.

It works both ways too as often a freelancer has chosen this career to work around other commitments or family circumstances and therefore is looking for a more flexible approach to working. You may be working on a project during an evening and send the required work over to your VA when you wrap for the night. Depending on your VA, you could wake up in the morning to the completed project in your inbox!

Flexibility is key to working with freelancers and as long as you are open with them and keep good lines of communication going, they will do their utmost to provide a loyal, outstanding level of service to you and your business.

Hiring a virtual assistant or freelancer is a sensible move for many small business owners and entrepreneurs who simply don’t have the time, funds or resources of a larger organisation when it comes to employing more team members. Building relationships with VA’s and knowing you can rely on them to complete your tasks at hand is a reassuring thought and a way to be able to let go of the mundane and daily repetitive tasks and go out and enjoy the parts of the business that you love to do.

Why did you start your business? What is it that you want to achieve? Go back to the basics of these questions and get motivated again to push yourself in the direction of your first passion, knowing that you will succeed if you have a good backing and a solid, reliable team behind you.

If you’d like to discuss the opportunity of hiring a virtual assistant, our team would love work with you. We offer a range of services that you can rely on, so get in touch for an initial free consultation.

5 Quick Tips To Be More Productive

by Karen Petrauskas | Dec 19, 2017

Everyone wants to accomplish as much as they can in the quickest time frame but often this comes at a price. Being quicker at something is not always the most effective way and can often lead to a negative result at the expense of your business.

Being productive at work, whether you are an employee in an office, a freelancer working from home or an entrepreneur starting a small business, it is an important aspect to learn if you want to be successful.

If this is you and you’re looking for tips on being more productive in the work place, then take a look at our short list of things to think about to achieve productivity.

Learn to say no

If you’re a small business owner or freelancer just starting out, you may feel that you have to accept and tackle every job that comes your way. But you don’t have to! How important is the quality of your work? This should be at the top of the list in terms of business objectives and if this is compromised at any time, it will have a knock-on effect in your business.

Learning to delegate or working with others could be a solution if you are finding that there is just not enough time in the day. Delegation is not a way of giving up or defeat – it’s a way of managing a growing situation that you know could be handled better.

Start with tasks that you know are time-consuming or you simply don’t have time for but you know they have to be done. Hire a Virtual Assistant for those small takes, just a few hours a week and be assured that they will be completed whilst you focus on other parts of your business.

Say no to other jobs that you simply cannot fit into the puzzle. It is better to say no than to do a bad job – word of mouth and reputation is extremely important for any business, especially a small business that is trying to grow. If it’s a job that you know fits with your business but you personally don’t have time – is it something that you could hire a freelancer / virtual assistant for?

It’s about working out a way of managing your time and workload and staying focused on what you enjoy in your business.

Prioritise

We all have a hundred and one things on our to-do list and as the above point, there are times that we have to say no. However there are also times that we need to prioritise what we are doing and put order into our days.

Prioritise the work that comes in, work through tasks in order of importance. Often a good tip is to complete the tasks that take the most amount of time first, knowing that once that is done, you’ll have more time to focus on the rest.

Use lists to help you with your workload. Wunderlist is a great app that you can use on the go and will sync with your laptop so wherever you are you’ll be able to see what needs doing and what you have completed. It may seem tedious to start with but when you get the hang of working with lists and prioritising the tasks on them, your working week will become more manageable and you’ll be able to see what comes next each step of the way.

Manage your time

It’s extremely easy to get side-tracked and start one thing and then start something else halfway through. Managing your time properly will enable you to know how much time you spend on each task (especially useful for freelancers or virtual assistants who charge per hour) and help you to work to deadlines more efficiently.

Using your lists, work through your workload in order. If you’re charging per hour, be sure to use a stop clock or online app that helps you track exactly what time you are using.

Using an online calendar is also a great way of ensuring that you stick to your timeframes and with reminders being set, you can be sure to get each task done as and when they are required. Don’t forget to schedule phone calls or meetings into your calendar as this is time away from your day that you have planned to complete other work. Along with this comes scheduling time to check emails and messages. This should all form part of your daily lists and be entered into your calendar. It may sound silly but actually managing your time effectively means you need to know where all your time is being spent – and this is a great way of keeping track.

If you work from home and have family commitments, have your desk ready for working when you come home from the school run and then you know that you’re ready for business from that point on. Discipline is very important when working away from an office and getting in to a routine takes practice but is definitely worth it.

Stop multitasking

May sound an odd thing to put on this list as multitasking is often taught to be a good thing. But multitasking can often lead to mistakes and work not being produced to a high standard.

Use your lists and your priorities to organise your work load and work on one thing at a time to produce great results that clients will be sure to recommend you for.

Less is more when it comes to your productivity in the workplace – get tasks done more effectively and efficiently by not multitasking at work.

Take breaks

Yes, you want to get more done and you have a ton of things on your to-do list … but being productive is about time management managing your workload well. If you schedule breaks into your working day, it will enable your mind to re-focus and re-charge.

Grab a snack or a coffee, perhaps go for a walk and get some fresh air and definitely step away from your screen! Allow your body to have a break, ready to come back refreshed and ready to start again. This will make you more effective in your work.

There are many more things we could add to this list but remember that your business is your livelihood, it is a part of you and in order for your business to grow and to be successful, you need to a good reputation and your recommendations matter. Staying on top of your workload and being more productive at work will bring great benefits to you, health wise and also to your business.

If you’d looking for a helping hand in achieving any of the above or are looking for a Virtual Assistant to be your pair of helping hands, then get in touch!