Do you feel overwhelmed and weighed down by daily mundane tasks? Freedom could be at your fingertips if you welcome a virtual assistant to your team. If you are contemplating hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) and still feel on the fence, let me help you by providing the benefits they can provide to increase productivity, efficiency, and ultimately profit for your business.
A few years ago, I found myself spending too much time on tasks that were not helping my business grow at the pace I wanted. That is when I decided it was time to make a change. Our business, Simple Wholesaling, has now been using virtual assistants for three years.
Over time, we have invested in eight virtual assistants who support administrative job duties throughout the company. Whether it be reviewing HUD statements, scheduling closings, managing calendars, or fielding in-coming client calls, virtual assistants are essential to the success of our business.
You may be asking yourself, “Can I trust someone remotely to manage certain areas of the business? Can I hand over control to free myself?” Once I made the decision to add a virtual assistant to the team, I was surprised to find it was not as complex as I thought. Bringing on a VA gave me more time in my day to focus on revenue-generating goals and growth initiatives. I wasn’t weighed down anymore by paperwork, email blasts, fielding calls or managing my calendar. I began to see the big picture of how virtual assistants could propel my business into long-term success. I was able to pivot my focus back to profit-generating tasks and goals rather than administrative, back-end activities.
Two major points to highlight in making a VA a success for your business are trust and communication.
Trust was the first concern I had when hiring a VA. How could I trust someone I have never met to manage areas of my business? We incorporated the following strategies for enlisting trust:
- Staffing. We have a partner that helps us with the legalities of hiring, onboarding, and compensating our VA’s. We don’t just send a check in the mail at the end of the month.
- Training. Start small. Don’t give too many tasks all at once. Slowly build on their duties rather than throwing everything on them at once. Ensure they know how to complete their job duties.
- Reporting. Ask your VA to provide an end-of-day report so you can look for trends and manage their job duties effectively.
Communication is key for success when hiring a VA. It is important to incorporate your VA into your team culture. Ensure that they know they bring value to you. The following are ways we successfully communicate with our virtual assistants:
- Build a relationship with your VA. They are people too! Not just someone behind a computer. Inquire about their family. What are their strengths in the business? By learning and getting to know your VA on a personal level, you can ensure they are a good fit for your business and understand what area they would be best utilized.
- Include them. We have weekly virtual town hall meetings where all our VA’s are encouraged to attend. Include them in department meetings and 1:1 initiatives to avoid isolation. Inclusion will excite, motivate, and instill the mission of the business.
- Communicate via multiple modes. Texts, phone calls, Zoom meetings, video instructions, and best of all email are all examples of how we communicate with our VA’s. Having multiple options for communication has allowed us to give fast results and to be more available for clients.
Investing in your business sometimes means giving up control to others. By bringing a VA on board, you can outsource your non-core tasks and do what you do best: increase revenue and long-term success for your business. Lean on others in the industry who have navigated this initiative by asking them about their experiences and outcomes. If you are ready to make sustainable changes in your business, hiring a virtual assistant is a game changer. Freedom to be the boss you want to be is in your reach.
Brian Snider graduated from Ohio Northern University with a Bachelor’s in Middle Childhood Education and spent 14 years teaching reading and math. After working on his Master’s degree to become a Principal, he decided that was not the path he wanted to take, so he took a job with Brett Snodgrass and Simple Wholesaling where he was Marketing Director, Dispositions Manager, then COO. He took over as the company’s CEO in June 2020.
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