Once you start an online business, and start meeting other online biz owners on social media, it won’t take long before you hear the term VA or Virtual Assistant.
VA stands for Virtual Assistant. A VA is someone who helps you with your business.
They can take on administrative, marketing, accounting – or any other task that you assign. They are called “virtual” because they work from their own home. Many businesses, both home based and non home based, hire VAs.
There are many reasons to hire a VA. For starters, it frees up your time and allows you to stay on top of the most important aspects of your biz. For example, let’s say that email takes up a huge chunk of your time. Well, give that task to a VA, and you can focus on creating your products. Do you hate marketing? Hire a VA to take care of that and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.
Giving the tasks that you do not enjoy to a VA can also make you more productive. It’s common for people to procrastinate on ALL of their business tasks when they know they have to do something they don’t enjoy, such as accounting. So, instead of taking care of other stuff, a person will just sit there frozen. When you hand your accounting to a VA, you’ll know it’s being taken care of and you’ll be able to get “un-stuck” and stop procrastinating on the stuff that needs to be done.
So how do you find a VA? Well, for starters, ask your business friends for recommendations. Whether they are people you know locally or via online, such as Twitter, chances are, they know a good VA, or can lead you to someone who does!
Other options include sites like UpWork.com, where you can post a job and people can “bid” for it. They will post the amount they are willing to be paid for it. Don’t just go for the lowest price. Really investigate the person and ask for the email addresses of former clients so that you can get a real opinion of their work.
You do not have to hire someone full time. You can start with just a few hours a month. You’d be amazed at how much a VA can get done in a short amount of time. And you’ll be even more amazed at how much work YOU can get done with a VA on your team!