One of the most important decisions you would ever make for your business is integrating a virtual assistant. The very reason is simple: you have to have someone where you can delegate several tasks that need to be performed. Tasks that you certainly know how to execute, but would be time-consuming on your part.

Solopreneur vs Business Owner

There is only a single difference between a solopreneur (a person who works and executes all the tasks in his/her business) and a business owner, and that is called a team. 

Building a scalable business means hiring people that would help you do business things.

A solopreneur, on the other hand, tries to complete different tasks on his own. This leads to stress and sometimes, an unfulfilled task beyond its deadline.

Hiring a virtual staff to work for those time-consuming tasks is a relief. It also means that you’re embracing the transition from being a solopreneur to becoming a business owner.

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant

Hiring a virtual assistant may seem as easy as you think it is. However, there are certain factors that you should consider if you want your virtual staff to perform effectively. But first, you should be able to communicate clearly what sort of tasks your soon-to-be virtual assistant will be doing for you. And later on, you can identify more tasks that you want your virtual assistant to work on.

For now, let’s focus on how to get your first virtual staff.

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant

It is worthy to tackle the benefits of having a virtual assistant in your business, whether a single individual or a team of virtual employees. Once you integrate a virtual staff to your business, you’ll find it as an effective way of organizing your job. You’ll be able to manage your time efficiently as well.

When Should You Hire a Virtual Assistant?

There are certain situations that hiring a virtual assistant becomes a necessity, and not wants. The following situations should be considered if:

• You are spending too much time working on repetitive tasks such as email management, answering your customers’ calls, and the like.
• You have no expertise in a particular task. Let’s say you need to write an article for your website. Unfortunately, you are having a hard time constructing even a simple sentence. So the best thing that you should do is hire an article/content writer to do the task.
• You are too overwhelmed by your tasks. This means that your focus is divided by the various tasks in front of you that you can’t even decide on what to prioritize. Hiring a virtual assistant will surely help you complete all those works for you.

How should you get started when hiring a Virtual Assistant?

If you have already decided that it is the right time to hire a virtual assistant, then you should be aware of the tasks on your plate. Let’s say you have 3 tasks to complete within a week, the best thing you should do is assess which one should be prioritized.

To determine which is first, close your computer, find a quiet place away from distraction, and bring a pen and paper with you.

This might take 30 minutes of your life, but believe me, you’ll be going back to your computer with certainty with that first task, and the second and finally the third.

Where Should You Find your First Virtual Assistant Online?

And now that you have already decided that you want to hire a virtual assistant, the next thing you should do is find the “right place” to find the “right fit”.

Even the day before the Internet becomes a daily part of every business owner’s life, virtual assistants have been roaming already.

As the emergence of technology continues, online freelancers and virtual staff have become a larger part of our world economy.

To make it more precise, we refer to this part as the ‘gig economy’. The word ‘gig’ means short tasks or projects, the same with bands that would get at music venues and bars.

Nowadays, there are hundreds of marketplaces across the world that caters to all types of niches that would help a business grow.

However, there are pros and cons to all of these marketplaces. So it is your responsibility to assess and determine which the right one is. Also, it would depend on the task that you want your virtual staff to perform.

The U.S. compared to non-U.S. Virtual Assistants

Virtual assistants have almost the same skills and talents regardless of their locations. However, the difference lies in the hourly rate or project-based pay.

Let’s say you want to hire a virtual assistant to run your Facebook ads. It would be more expensive to hire a US-based virtual assistant than a Philippine-based virtual staff.

This only means that hiring non-US virtual staff is considerably less expensive compared to US-based virtual assistants.

Set Your Expectations Clearly

Most business owners tend to overlook this critical step. Avoid making a crucial mistake by not setting up your expectations directly as well as the communication that you want to implement with your virtual assistant.

The Right Choice

If finding the right virtual assistant company seems overwhelming to you, well, don’t worry, because there is no need to look further. GoVirtuals is at your service!

If you think you don’t have enough time to fulfill all those repetitive and annoying tasks, then don’t hesitate to delegate those tasks to us. Just determine which tasks on your to-do-list that you need to be outsourced and let us handle them.

In this way, you can focus your quality time on growing your business.

At GoVirtuals, we are proud to say that we are 100% Filipinos. Book your discovery call with us and let us help you in accomplishing your tasks, while you shift your focus on what matters most in your business and in your personal life!

by Deanna Visperas of GoVirtuals.com