VA TIPS - Is my business ready for a Virtual Assistant?
Posted on 20th February 2020 at 17:54
Is my business ready for a Virtual Assistant?
Working with a professional Virtual Assistant has multiple benefits. The three most poignant we’ve covered in a previous post - three powerful ways a Virtual Assistant can help you grow your business.
There are many variables and things to consider when delegating or outsourcing in any capacity.
As we don’t know each other that well yet, it’s hard for us to give you a definitive ‘yes, you’d benefit from having a Virtual Assistant’ right now.
But, let us introduce you to Claire*...
Her story might offer some comfort and further insights for you to form your own conclusions...
Claire is not your average business owner, far from it. She’s been through hell and poured every fiber of her being into building her people centered business to what it is today.
She has experienced life in all its devastating and euphoric glory. She’s seen the best and worst of herself and those around her.
She’s eloquent, competent and more highly skilled than she realises. Her professional and personal experience is utterly priceless.
But, Claire is humble. She’s quietly courageous and gently rebellious. Claire also gets in her own way a LOT!
Claire was only just starting to realise the extent of her self sabotage. It was easy to quash in the beginning as the quiet voice in her head is only heard by her...
“You’re not good enough...”
“You’ll get found out, you’re a fraud...”
“You should be spending more time with your children/family/friends instead...”
“It’ll never work, you’re an idiot for trying so hard...”
Claire is a smart woman, she knows the quiet loop of negative mental chatter is just her mind trying to protect her. But that doesn’t make it any easier to stop it.
Claire’s business could have easily been in the 50% of new small businesses that fail within the first five years of starting.
But she slowly started to accept the help that was so openly offered to her. The support that aloud her (and her business) to flourish and thrive.
The bravest word Claire has ever said was ‘yes’...
YES to the friend who offered their ear, fresh coffee and homemade cake.
YES to the mindset coach who promised to help her re-frame her self-limiting beliefs.
Slowly and steadily, Claire started to let go...
Claire worked closely with her Virtual Assistant to identify exactly what tasks were slowing her down, what was simply not getting done and the jobs she just didn’t enjoy.
First she delegated the creation of a PowerPoint for an upcoming training session. A job that she didn’t enjoy or have the skills to do well. A job that wasn’t too time sensitive. A straightforward job she could check and refine before anyone else saw it. Quality and consistency is very important to Claire.
From scraps of notes and scribbled drawings, her Virtual Assistant created a branded, polished and professional looking presentation.Next came the accompanying handouts...
Then, a slick electronic delegate feedback survey. By now Claire was feeling a bit giddy - she had a right hand woman who just ‘go it’ and could create things in the perfect style quicker than she could herself!
It took a bit of courage and time but Claire and her Virtual Assistant had built up great trust and rapport. So, next Claire entrusted her VA to send out the feedback survey on her behalf and collate the results, as well as adding the contacts to her mailing list. Claire’s Virtual Assistant understands GDPR and has built the survey in a way that ensured complete transparency and compliance.
It was working!
As time went on Claire felt confident handing over more and more jobs to her Virtual Assistant. Some tasks were reoccurring and planned, other were more spontaneous requests like researching a new idea or options for the online element of her business.
Claire was always greeted with enthusiasm and ideas from her Virtual Assistant. Claire wondered if her VA was actually a robot! How did she get things done so quickly and so well? Never any procrastinating or creating any ‘blocks’. Her VA diligently and happily kept driving things forward, always offering helpful suggestions and ideas along the way.
The return on investment when working with a professional Virtual Assistant isn’t always immediately clear but, it is tangible. When she first contacted Alchemy VA, Claire didn’t feel ready to work with a Virtual Assistant but she knew she needed help, support and accountability.
She needed someone who proactively had her back.
Claire committed and trusted the process. As a result, she’s working in a much more healthy and productive way ON her business. She has the time and head-space for her family and most significantly, she’s fallen back in love with her business!
Perhaps you know Claire or you see yourself in her? If you do, what is really stopping you from accepting the help you so deeply deserve?
Don’t you owe it to your business?
There are so many tasks you can entrust a Virtual Assistant with, we’ve rounded up a list of some of them which you can take a look at here.
In our experience, there’s no such thing as the ‘right’ time to engage with a professional Virtual Assistant but, if any element of this story has spoken to you, please reach out. We’ll gladly lend our ears and we always have fresh coffee and cake.
01604 312195
hello@alchemyva.co.uk
* Please note Claire is a made up client. This story is purely fictional to demonstrate what the journey of starting to work with a Virtual Assistant could look like. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.
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