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How To Ask For Help

You have a mountain of paperwork on your desk. You have a to-do list a mile long. You realize that you really need someone to help, but you don’t need them all the time. Maybe this is just your busy season and you need some temporary help. What should you do? Call a virtual administrative assistant. The simplest form of help you could ask for.

You might be thinking that a virtual assistant might not be a good fit. They don’t know your business or how your office runs, so how can they possibly help without you spending even more time away from what you need to do to train them? Where would you even begin to know how they could help you? Well…. you would know because I am going to explain it to you. Since I am a virtual office assistant I’m helpful like that. Now you’re thinking maybe you should hire me…. but you should finish reading my blog first… but you should contact me right after your done…. what a great idea! You are making use of my advice already!

The biggest question that you need to ask yourself is out of your entire to-do list what things can only you do? Then see how much of your list is left. There is still probably a lot left on it. These are the things that a virtual office assistant can do. They can create forms that could make your business run smoother and save time. They can create presentations, keep the information in your database updated. If you find one that is truly experienced you can simply tell them everything that you, yourself do, what things aren’t getting done that should, and what you would like to see done, and they can come up with a plan to make that happen. A good executive assistant …. as Capitan Picard would say…. would “Make it so”.

The next biggest question you should ask yourself is what would I like to be doing but can’t because I just don’t have the time or the knowhow. Many people have told me when I’m consulting with them that they know there are lots of things they need to be doing like social media management or email marketing to engage both their existing customers and new ones. Some of them either don’t have the time to keep up with it or don’t have a single clue how to post material their customers will find interesting. These things…. things that would grow your business… are very important and are definitely worth hiring someone to help with.

Your virtual assistant knows what they do best just like your know what you do best. The easiest way to come up with a plan is after going over what your situation is, ask how they can best help you. If you like what they say and they seem to make sense then give it a try. You might find that you can be so much more productive with your newly hired assistant. As time goes by and you start using them more each month you might just wonder how you did anything without them.

Do what is right for you and your business…. ASK FOR HELP!

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How much is your time worth?

How much is your time worth? It’s hard to put a dollar figure on it. If you’re a parent every minute you can spend with your kids is priceless. Some severely lack in having that luxury. They might have to travel a lot, have a work schedule that is very demanding, or have too many responsibilities. Sadly this makes seeing your family a rare occasion.

If you are a business owner your time is usually best spent growing your business. You might be the one that does the work yourself, such as a handyman. You might have employees to do the work but you are the one that goes out and gets all the new business. Without that you have no future business growth. Most business owners are also responsible for making sure their existing customers stay happy. Keeping a customer is just as important as getting new ones. All of these things are critical in keeping you in business.

With that being said it is obvious that your time is invaluable. If you sat down and made  a list of everything you had to do to keep it all going, then prioritized it, you would see that there are certain things only you can do and those things are usually at the top of the list. Then there are the things that are further down the list. Things you could delegate or maybe hire someone else to do. Things that still have to get done but not things that you have to do. This is where a virtual assistant comes in handy.

A virtual assistant can do all of the administrative work your business needs. They can provide the much-needed assistance you need to keep your business running smoothly so you can keep going. You might not need a full-time or even part-time employee to take care of things. They will cost a guaranteed amount every week and possibly even more if you have a full-time employee entitled to company benefits, vacation pay, sick pay, etc… You might not even have an actual office for someone to work out of. A virtual assistant can take care of what you need done, as you need it done, saving you both time and money. You might need some invoicing done, someone to make sure your customers are paying. You might just be crazy busy one day and need someone to return some phone calls or emails for you. Maybe you want to keep in touch with your existing customers and want some email marketing blasts to go out. There is no job too small… or to big when properly managed… that a virtual assistant can’t help with.

With the right person helping, you might just find the time to make that little league game, dance recital, or just plain sit down and realize how good that feels. So how much is your time worth? Hire a virtual assistant, focus on the important things, and your will see just how valuable their time is to you, and how invaluable yours is.