“I’d love to hire a Virtual Assistant… if only I could afford it”.
This is quite a common statement but the truth of the matter is, that most of the people who will make the above statement, don’t actually know how much it would cost to hire a Virtual Assistant and they also don’t know how much money they could save (or make!) by hiring a VA. There are multiple benefits to hiring a Virtual Assistant. They can give you time and energy back into your day by taking care of the tasks you hate doing and allowing you to get on with the more important tasks which will add value to your business. But can you afford to hire a VA? Let’s start by looking at some of the basics:
Which tasks would you like to delegate?
You may want to consider the jobs that you dislike the most, those that you’re not so good at and the tasks that are the most time-consuming. Alongside each of them, write down your best guess of how much time you spend on them each month. To get you started, here are some of the most unpopular tasks for small business owners that are regularly undertaken by Virtual Assistants:
Updating your website 6 hours
Preparing and sending invoices 6 hours
Chasing payments 4 hours
Updating contact records 2 hours
Writing copy for marketing collateral 4 hours
Preparing presentations / documents 2 hour
Proofreading / checking contracts 2 hours
Client correspondence 5 hours
Social Media uploads 4 hours
Writing and uploading blog articles 4 hours
Renewing insurance policies 1 hour
TOTAL 40 hours per month
Listing out the tasks that you would happily delegate and the amount of time they take you, will give you an idea as to how much time you may need from a Virtual Assistant. It’s also worth remembering that a Virtual Assistant may well be quicker at completing these tasks, especially if they’re things that you don’t enjoy or have the right skills for.
Do some VA research.
First off, you need to do some research on possible Virtual Assistants who may be able to help you. Google is a great place to start but you might also want to check out the Society of Virtual Assistants (https://www.societyofvirtualassistants.co.uk) They have a list of approved members who adhere to a strict list of criteria in order to become accredited members including having appropriate public / professional insurance and Data Controller registration. The SVA Approved Members list gives you full details of their specific service offering so you can easily see which Virtual Assistant may be the best fit for your business.
Check out the approved list here: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=52d796d61fde48a7a2de6cc08fcba99c
Once you have narrowed down a list of possible Virtual Assistants, you need to ascertain their rates. VAs usually charge between £20 -£50 per hour depending on their particular skill set and many will offer a package price for regular weekly/monthly work. Virtual Assistants are normally very transparent when it comes to their rates so you should be able to check out the detail from their websites.
Work out how much it will cost to hire a Virtual Assistant.
Using the information you have compiled so far, you know how much it would cost you to delegate your unwanted, time-consuming tasks to a Virtual Assistant (the number of hours assistance you require multiplied by the hourly rate of your chosen VA). Working on 40 hours of delegated tasks per month @ £25 per hour, your VA would cost £1000 per month. If you are already running for the hills with your head in your hands, don’t start panicking yet! Chances are that you don’t really have that amount going spare every month just to give yourself an easier life, so keep reading.
Work out how much it will cost to NOT hire a Virtual Assistant.
Now let’s look at YOUR hourly rate and multiply this number by the hours of tasks you would like to delegate to a Virtual Assistant. For the sake of the example, we’re going to use a sole trader with an hourly rate £100 per hour. If you continue to undertake those mundane, time-consuming administration tasks every month, this equates to £4,000 - effectively costing you four times as much as hiring a Virtual Assistant.
Just think of what you could achieve with an extra 40 hours per month; money-generating activities such as networking, launching new products, additional marketing, lead generation to name but a few. If you were to be able to concentrate on the tasks that could increase sales and put more money in the bank, then you’ll soon be wondering why it took you so long to hire that Virtual Assistant.
Girl Friday is proud to be a member of the Society of Virtual Assistants so if you need an extra pair of hands, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.