Most business owners hope to get to a point in their business where they are either wishing for advanced cloning technology, or they start thinking about bringing on another person to assist them in their day-to-day activities. When a business owner is considering additional help, many times these questions start swirling around in their head:
- Does the business have the current revenue to support another person?
- How many hours of work per day/week/month do I have to offer someone?
- What will I have the person do if I don’t have enough work for them to fill their hours?
- What happens if they don’t perform well enough?
- What if I don’t have a physical location for an assistant to go to?
Let me help answer these questions to show you how a Virtual Assistant may be a good fit for your business needs, especially if you’re hesitant on hiring a traditional employee.
Does the business have the current revenue to support an employee?
This is only a question you can answer, but if you are considering bringing on help of any kind, then it’s safe to assume your time as a business owner has been FILLED and the only way to grow your business at this point is to free up your time to focus on other parts of your business. A good rule of thumb when considering hiring is for the business to be bringing in three times the revenue it would take to pay your employee, which can be a salary of 25 hours per week or more.
How many hours of work per day/week/month do I have to offer someone?
If you are in a place where you can only offer very part-time work, this may greatly limit your pool of candidates who are looking for something more consistent with more hours. However, there are VAs out there that are more than happy to work a couple hours a week for you when you need them and steadily increase the amount of work as your business, revenue, and work grows.
What will I have the person do if I don’t have enough work for them to fill their hours?
That is one of the largest benefits of hiring a VA — VAs typically have multiple clients and are running their own business so you don’t have to worry about whether you’re providing them with enough hours like you would an employee. Whether the VA charges a flat rate or hourly rate for services, you will only be paying for the work they are doing.
What happens if they don’t perform well enough?
This is the beauty of hiring a VA. Because VAs are working as their own business and entity, they have a HUGE motivation to complete your work accurately and efficiently because it reflects on their personal business. When supporting and partnering with a business owner, we VAs are invested in their growth and success! If your VA is not measuring up to your standards, then you can let them go as you would a vendor for your company. Less mess, less paperwork, more amicable.
What if I don’t have a physical location for an employee to go to?
This is a fabulous opportunity for a VA then, as VAs don’t typically do work at their client’s location, unless you’re local and have made arrangements for that type of work with them. For the solopreneurs who have a growing online or home-based company, or perhaps your company just can’t house an extra body due to space, this won’t make any difference to a VA.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of reasons a business owner can benefit from VA work versus hiring an employee. When making changes within a business, there are always pros AND cons. Next blog post, I will be talking about some of the risk factors when working with VAs. Stay Tuned!