How Do I Know if I’m Ready for a Virtual Assistant?
Wondering if you’re ready for a virtual assistant?
I hear this question a lot. The tve never asked for help before, hiring a virtu’ hiring a virtual assistant can seem intimidating.
You don’t want to give up your business. You’re afraid of letting go of the reins. How do you know if you can trust this person you don’t know?
It’s completely understandable, too. No one wants to put all that effort in only to [have some stranger completely mess everything up in 5 seconds. But don’t let that stop you!
A virtual assistant can help you gain more mental space to work on your business.
You’ll also have more time to work on projects you’ve put off for a while.
If you’ve been feeling ready for a virtual assistant to join your team, you're probably getting close!
To help you decide, I’m sharing 5 ways to know if you’re ready to hire a virtual assistant.
This way you can focus on getting the help you need – without worrying about if they’ll mess up your business.
(And if you’re not ready yet, you’ll know what you need to do!)
Let’s dig in.
5 Ways You Know You’re Ready for Hiring a Virtual Assistant
Only you can say whether you’re ready for a virtual assistant. As I mentioned above, if it’s been heavy on your mind lately, you’re probably in a good place to start researching your options, at the very least. You may even find you're more prepared than you thought.
To help you decide, here are a few tell-tale signs that show you're more than ready to hire a virtual assistant.
Click here to download your free list of 24 Tasks to Delegate to a Virtual Assistant now >>
Readiness Sign #1: Someone Else Has Suggested You Hire a VA
Has someone suggested you try hiring a virtual assistant?
This is why it's so helpful to have mentors and business friends. They know you best and know when you need to take the next step.
When I first started using a virtual assistant, I didn't feel I was ready for it, but I was overwhelmed and working extremely long hours. I was beginning to feel burnout doing all of the things in my business by myself, and I knew I couldn’t do it all by myself.
Look at me now, crushing my goals faster than I ever imagined and taking weekends off again.
If you don’t have a support system or network of people to give you feedback, try asking a friend or family member if you seem overwhelmed or need a break. You can even try thinking about everything you must do on a given day. Can you get it all done by yourself? Do you still have time to scale your business if you do all those things alone? Given the circumstances (and keeping all emotions and fear aside), would you say you’re ready?
Always consider how valuable your time is to you and if there is enough time to do everything that needs to get done.
Readiness Sign #2: You Are So Incredibly Overwhelmed All The Time
You may not feel it now, but your intuition about hiring a virtual assistant will certainly steer you in the right direction.
So, if you think you’re ready to hire a virtual assistant but struggle with the fear of letting go of some of your business tasks, it can be hard to admit that you really need the help.
I, too, was used to doing everything myself and not getting any help in my business. I know firsthand how hard it is to hand over the pieces of a business that you spent so much time and effort building over to someone who isn’t you. But you can’t clone yourself (unfortunately), so you have to be willing to trust someone else. I became so overwhelmed with running my business that I had to ask for help from someone else.
It has been amazing and freeing. Having someone else help me in my business has enabled me to continue growing and providing the fantastic services that I am providing to people all across the country.
But if you’re still not convinced…
Here are a few ways to push past it:
First, picture yourself with a virtual assistant. How much less overwhelmed would you be?
Next, imagine the worst-case scenario. What would you do to handle this situation?
Finally, picture a time in your business when you were scared something bad would happen, and it did. What happened? How did you overcome it?
Now, chances are none of your worst-case scenarios will happen, but if they do, you can overcome it. More than likely, though, you’ll decrease that overwhelm you’re feeling and start seeing more things get done in your business without an increase in stress and negative emotions.
In the words of Gary Vaynerchuk, “way too many people have made decisions without ever trying.” Don’t be that guy!
Readiness Sign #3: There’s No Other Way to Scale Your Business
Sometimes big decisions come easily because we don’t have many other choices.
That can feel frustrating at the moment, but many times, it’s a blessing in disguise.
So when that happens, go with it. Forces are out there larger than us, and the universe is showing you the way.
When I hired my VA, I knew it was time because I had no other choice. If I wanted to continue taking on new clients and growing my business, I had to hire someone to help me. It worked out so well that I decided to continue growing my business and giving my VA more work so that it could scale.
Other decisions don’t necessarily fall in your lap like magic; they’re more of an “all roads lead to yes” situation.
If you’ve tried project management, time management, asking family and friends, and trying to do it all yourself, and all fingers point to hiring a virtual assistant, it could mean it’s just time.
For example:
If you ask your family and friends to help you do things in your business but aren’t paying them, they don’t have the time, and they don’t know how to use the tools you are using. You end up spending more time teaching them how to do things than you are saving.
In either case, if there’s no other way to reach business success and reduce the time you spend in your business, it may be time to hire a virtual assistant.
Readiness Sign #4: You Have Already Put Systems in Place
Now that we’ve covered some of the mindset signs that will help you determine if you’re ready to hire a virtual assistant, it’s time to cover some practical reasons.
Before you hire a virtual assistant, there are some things you’ll need to do to prepare. It makes little sense to hire a virtual assistant without knowing exactly how you want the tasks that you wish your virtual assistant to do.
Having systems and ways of doing things already done ensures that they get done the right way when your virtual assistant takes over a task.
Without these systems in place, your virtual assistant may have a larger learning curve or not get things done correctly.
Here’s how you’ll know that hiring a virtual assistant will be a huge success:
#1. You Have SOPs in Place
SOPs are standard operating procedures for your business that tell how your business runs. You should have SOPs for everything you do. They are step-by-step guides on how to replicate the processes you have in your business.
These are important to have so a VA can come in and follow what you have. There’s no need to worry about whether or not your VA will know how to do something because it is all written out for them clear as day.
With SOPs, your VA may know what to expect and what to do. You may have to spend more time than you want showing them exactly what and how to do each task.
Here’s what I mean:
When I hired a VA, I tried to skip this. I knew writing out SOPs took a while, and I really didn’t want to do it. So I didn’t, and when I hired a VA, I spent WAY too much time trying to explain everything to her. If I had just made those SOPs, she would have known exactly what to do without help from me.
If you want to know how to create SOPs, I cover it in detail in this post.
#2. You Know Exactly What You Want Your VA to Do
You have a list of tasks a VA could do instead of you. These are things that do not need YOU to be done like bookkeeping or social media.
This is important so that you do not waste time once you hire a VA. You already know what you want your VA to do each week and how and why.
Without a list of tasks for your VA, you will be unorganized and constantly changing things up for your VA which can get confusing.
If you’re not quite there yet, here are a few things you can do:
#1 Get a project management tool.
Here’s a link to a blog post about some great options.#2 Rank the tasks you do in the project management tool from highest to lowest priority.
#3 List all the things you love to do, tolerate, and hate to do.
#4 Circle the things that can ONLY be done by you.
#5 Anything on the tolerate and hate list that is uncircled is what you can give to a VA.
#3. You Use a Project Management Tool
See the blog post from the list above for good project management tools. You need one to keep you organized before you ever hire a virtual assistant.
Having a project management tool means you know what needs to be done.
Without a project management tool, you’ll be highly unorganized and less able to delegate tasks because you won’t know what needs to be done and by when.
Readiness Sign #5: You Have a Plan for What to Do if a VA is Taking Too Much Time for a Task
Now, I can hear you saying, “You just told me not to worry about that and hire someone anyway.”
And that’s absolutely true. Having said that, every online business owner has to have a plan for what to do if something takes your VA longer than expected because it’s going to happen!
Nothing comes easy, right?
I had my VA help me with a project that she wasn’t really ready to take on. It ended up taking her way longer than it would have me because she had to research the process and I didn’t have a good SOP layed out.
It wasn’t until I checked our time clock that I noticed.
That’s when I realized that I needed to plan for this. My VA isn’t going to know everything and this is just going to happen every once in a while.
Here’s what you can do to prepare so you’re ready for it:
First, always pay attention to how long your VA is taking to do tasks.
Get in the habit of using a time-tracking tool.
Remember that it’s okay to have to take some time to train your virtual assistant in some things. I will still make your life easier in the long run.
Be ready to set up a meeting with your virtual assistant when you think something is taking them longer than it should so you can train them appropriately.
Having a plan like this, even if it’s only in your head at this point, will help you get your VA on track and keep your business moving in the right direction.
In addition to this list, I also created a free checklist to help you get clear on whether hiring a VA is for you.
Click here to download your free 100+ Ways to Get Back More Time as a Service-Based Business Owner now >>
Standing in Between You and Hiring a Virtual Assistant: The Doubt Edition
Usually, the biggest thing standing in the way of your wildest dreams isn’t something external. It’s actually fear of letting things go in your business.
Some common concerns I hear from my clients are:
Will the VA track time fairly?
What happens if the VA doesn’t know how to do something?
Will this really grow my business?
Does any of that sound familiar?
The best way to address those concerns is to avoid forcing your decision and get clear on your “why.” Why do you want to hire a virtual assistant in the first place?
What problems do you think a virtual assistant will solve for you? What could you life be like if you had the help of a virtual assistant?
Standing in Between You and Hiring a Virtual Assistant: Real-Life Obstacles
Real-life obstacles are some of the most obvious challenges you’re going to face with hiring a virtual assistant.
We’ve already covered common obstacles in this post, but you likely will have some challenges that are unique to your situation, resources, and budget.
The good news is, hiring a virtual assistant is an investment in your business that can help you grow and earn more income.
So in addition to what I shared above, I recommend reflecting on where you want to be 6 months from now, or a year from now. Can you achieve that without the help of a VA?
And remember, when you’re ready, you’re ready.
If you find that you can’t give up your tasks or trust someone to get things done, you know that you’re not quite ready to hire a virtual assistant. And that’s okay, just keep setting the stage for it and you’ll get there.
Want some help in your online business? My team and I are available to talk about options with you. Just book your discovery call here.
Bonus! Extra ways to get ready for hiring a virtual assistant.
How to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Your Business
Smart Move for Your Home Business: Hiring a Virtual Assistant
That’s a wrap!
I hope this post has helped clarify whether or not you are ready to hire a virtual assistant.
If you're feeling nervous, remember that when I first started trying to find a virtual assistant, everyone told me it wasn’t the right time.
Now look at me. I’ve hired four VAs, and most importantly, I have time to grow and scale my business.
Have a question about anything I covered today? My friendly team and I are available here, and we also love Instagram, where we’re always sharing content to keep you up-to-date on everything happening in the virtual assistant and online business spaces.
