4 Things You Can Start Outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant Today!
Have you ever heard the term “virtual assistant” and wondered
“What the heck is a virtual assistant, and why would I need one anyway?”
If you have, you’re definitely not alone! I mean, you’re doing just fine as it is in your business!
Let’s just take a minute though, and think about all the hours you spend on the tedious things like responding to your mountain of emails every morning, back and forth appointment setting, or interacting with your followers in social media (because we have to keep up that visible online presence to stay relevant right).
What would it feel like if you didn’t have to spend time on those tasks anymore? What would you do with those extra hours each day? Each week? Each month?
If you’re the hustler that I think you are (which, obviously you are if you’re here), I bet you’re already imagining all of the things you’d really like to be doing that are actually going to be scaling your business and pushing it forward.
But, if you are that hustler, you know that outsourcing is hard!
When you’ve built your business from the ground up, you’re used to doing ALL THE THINGS!
You’ve been the one-person show for so long that the thought of turning over ANYTHING to anyone who isn’t you can be well...terrifying.
But, as David Allen kindly reminds us,
“You can do anything, but not everything.”
We’ve all been faced with the problem of feeling like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything checked off our list without feeling exhausted and eventually burnt out.
But here’s the deal…
Separating your dollars from your hours is the first step towards growing and scaling your business in a sustainable way.
And if you are going to separate your dollars from your hours, taking a hard look at where your time is being spent is one of the best ways to achieve this.
Those tedious tasks are important, but outsourcing them will allow you to do the things that you really enjoy!
A virtual assistant is someone who specializes in these specific tasks, and their goal is to help you grow!
You can find virtual assistants (or VA’s) who specialize in all sorts of tasks from general admin, to bookkeeping, to social media management, ghostwriting, customer services...the list can go on and on!
But in this post, we’re going to chat about 4 things you can start outsourcing to a virtual assistant today:
Calendar Management
Email Management
Social Media Support
Research Projects
Let’s dive in!
Calendar Management
This is a big one. I don’t know about you, but I live entirely according to my calendar. I love being able to wake up and know that everything I need to do has already been planned out, and my only job is to follow that plan.
But how long does it take to create that meticulous weekly schedule? And what happens when changes need to be made?
We all know that things don’t just magically fall into place and flow from one day to the next-even though that would be AMAZING!
It takes some time and attention to make sure all of your goals are broken down into manageable steps and organized around your life.
If you’re someone who has a lot of meetings each week, this becomes even more of a challenge.
“I’m available Wednesday morning”
“Oh shoot, Wednesday morning doesn’t work for me.
What about Thursday afternoon?”
Only to finally land on Friday morning at 10:00...five emails later.
This back and forth conversation takes time and energy for each member of your team that you have to meet with.
What if someone was doing this for you?
Better yet, what if someone was able to implement ways to make this process more efficient?
Having a virtual assistant manage your calendar and appointments is so easy, and it can streamline your scheduling process so you can get the most out of your week!
This can also extend to your team as well! With project management systems, a virtual assistant can take the headache out of new or recurring projects.
Email Management
The dreaded email inbox...do we even want to know how many subscriptions are in there that never get read?
How far do you have to scroll each morning just to make sure you aren’t missing anything important or time-sensitive?
Having a virtual assistant manage your inbox is a great way to get organized and stay on top of things!
Delegating this task to a virtual assistant is so helpful because that person is ready to spend dedicated time going through your inbox, creating a filing system, flagging important emails that you actually need to read, and getting rid of the ones that you no longer want or need.
Email management can also extend to email marketing and customer service!
Social Media Support
This is another one that can be as simple or complex as you need it to be.
We all know that maintaining a social media presence is more than just posting occasional content here and there. If you are marketing on social media, content takes time and attention to detail. Having someone who is dedicating their time and energy to creating graphics and captions, engaging with your audience, posting regularly, and making sure you are seeing the page growth you’re looking for is incredibly valuable!
Once you and your virtual assistant come up with a plan, they can help foster that relationship with your followers in a way that is consistent with your brand and messaging!
Research Projects
If you’ve started a business, you know that there is SO MUCH research involved in almost every aspect of your operations!
While you still want to learn, you don’t need to spend hours and hours sorting through papers and doing market or SEO research.
A virtual assistant can spend the time to track down and sort through it all, and present you with the relevant information you need. Plus, when this is something they specialize in, they may be able to narrow it down in a fraction of the time it would take you while you’re trying to juggle everything else.
Now all you need to do is soak it all up!
Hopefully, this post has given you a few ideas for delegating and freeing up some of your valuable time!
If you’re ready to start outsourcing to a virtual assistant, let’s chat! I’d love to figure out the best way to help you hit your goals!
