Is It The Right Time To Hire A Va? 5 Signs You Might Need Help
As women, we’re often conditioned to hustle hustle hustle and make sure the ball keeps rolling without stopping to think about whether what you’re doing is taking you closer to where you want to be: You just want it to be done.
You want to do it all, your business to grow and succeed, and your family to feel nurtured and loved.
But are you truly being your best self by doing all the things all the time? Or are you limiting how far you can go by stopping yourself with small daily busywork?
Are you constantly dreaming of having more time?
Most CEOs and entrepreneurs realize they need help when they’re already overwhelmed. Maybe the thought of adding yet another thing to your list is more than you can handle right now.
Are you trying to grow your business? You probably need help and haven’t realized it yet. Maybe you’re used to doing it all. All the time. Or you think you can’t afford to hire anyone yet.
If you don’t feel ready to make a huge change or are not aware of your options, it’s ok to start small: A Virtual Assistant (or VA) is a professional that can help you outsource all the tasks in your day that are keeping you from your “real work:” They can help you with social media, email management, bookkeeping, setting appointments and reminders, research, and much more.
You’d be surprised by how much you can do with a VA and how valuable they are to your team.
Related: 7 Surprising Places To Find Your Next Virtual Assistant.
Here are 5 signs you may be stretching yourself too thin and need to start delegating:
You’re busy all the time. But can’t quite point to what you did (and your to-dos keep piling up!)
The first sign you need to let go, in life and work, is that you’re constantly busy. But can’t remember what you did.
I get it: Sometimes it’s easier to do the work exactly how you want, no matter what it’s keeping you away from than to let go and have someone else do it.
But when your day seems to fade away in a blink, life happens between taking calls, and yet your client work is undone at the end of the day, you need to start delegating.
You find more and more of your time going to repetitive tasks
In any business, there are tasks that need to be taken care of on a regular basis. The first step to increase your efficiency is to set up the systems and tools you need to make repetitive tasks as quick and painless as possible each time.
Document templates, regular invoicing, an organized calendar, and even marketing collateral (social media graphics, outreach efforts, and more) are all things a VA can do to help you move forward when life and work get busy.
You’re doing a lot, but don’t seem to be getting ahead
When you feel like you’ve been working nonstop but your business is at a standstill, it’s probably because a lot of what you’re doing is basic maintenance like bookkeeping, cleaning your inbox, and filtering inquiries.
All of these are extremely important to your business in the long run. But are they the money-making pieces? Nope.
Hiring a VA helps you make sure everything in your business is tidy while giving you time to dream up new ways to grow your business, work with your dream clients, and enjoy the freedom you were hoping for when you became an entrepreneur.
You’re trying to tackle all.the.things on your own
When business is starting out, it’s common to find yourself bootstrapping it and trying to DIY everything you can. After all, you may have more time and fewer clients, which often means less money.
But once you’ve hit a certain point in your expertise, clients are steady, and your work has grown, it’s ok — great! — to start focusing on doing the things you’re great at and delegating the smaller daily to-dos that don’t make money come in.
You’re stressed and overwhelmed all the time
There’s no denying the emotional toll of having your own business. The highs are high and the lows are low. And you’re in it for real. You’ve given your business 100% and invested everything you’ve got into making it work.
But doing it on your own can be taxing.
When you’re constantly busy with mundane tasks, feel like you’re filled to the brim, and everything seems to pile up, you’re doing yourself, your family, and your customers a disservice.
It’s easy to feel frustrated like you’re wasting time, and hitting a growth wall because there’s only so much you can do after all.
If you found yourself nodding away as you read, I have news for you.
Now’s the time for you to hire a VA
I’ve felt it too: You may be scared of delegating. After all, your business is like your child: You’ve worked hard for it and are deeply invested in it. It may be hard to let go of the tasks that have been filling up your day.
A small first step you can take is to make a quick list (no overthinking!) of the things that are draining your energy, and what you’d like to be doing instead.
This simple exercise lets you see how you’ve been spending your precious time. And you’ll probably find that it doesn’t align with your true expertise.
When you hire a virtual assistant, you’re basically buying free time to focus on the things that matter to you, both in your business and personal life. Hiring a VA, you gain back control of your time and the way you want to live.
Are You Ready To Grow Your Business With A VA?
Building your business was up to you. But growing your business is a team effort.
When you hire the support a VA can provide you with, you’ll find that, on one hand, your business runs more efficiently because you have the bandwidth to perform better and, on the other hand, there is someone who’s great at handling all those small, time-sucking tasks that were slowing you down.
This shift allows you to scale and take on more of your dream work instead of keeping your growth tied to your own time and capacities.