How to Double Your Virtual Assistant Income (Without a Single New Client)

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Want to double your virtual assistant income without signing on new clients? I get it.

Finding clients all the time is not fun for anyone. Time you should spend building your career or upgrading your skills can be spent chasing clients and doing everything everyone swears has helped them gain clients.

Don’t do it. You’ll burnt out.

I have never had to find clients for my VA business. They have always come to me through word of the mouth referrals. I do my best to maintain a 70% client retention rate because I understand that it is more difficult to sell your services to a new client than an old one.

Having 3 to 4 clients in a month means I am fully booked. That means 150K-400K per month and this is my side hustle. That’s just how it is for me.

So even if I have only two clients in a month, I can still meet my income goal.

How I do it?                        

Strategies, baby, strategies.

That’s what I’ll share with you in this post.

I’d say I’m lucky to have discovered this early on in my virtual assistant career. It has made me proactive when it comes to business and I don’t just sit back and wait for instructions.

I’ve had a client go from calling for a 10k service to hiring me for 100k just because I played my cards right.

Let’s dive right into it.

5 Ways To Double Your Virtual Assistant Income Without A Single New Client

Using these strategies, I get to choose who I work with and what type I work I want to do. Because not every job appeals to me (even if I can do it and someone is willing to pay me for it). Don’t worry you’ll understand why at the end of this post.

1.) Target Clients Who Stand To Gain A Lot From Your Services In The Long Run

It’s like wanting a long term relationship. If you read my blog or emails consistently, you already know I’m head over heels in love with retainers.

If you are a fan of retainers, then you should seriously consider only signing on long term clients. When I see that a brand has a lot of aspects they need help with, I know there’s room for an upsell. Even if they aren’t contacting me about all the aspects they need help with.

For example, if a brand has a website, I know that spells a lot. I can design their landing pages, write blog posts, do on-page SEO, redesign their website, create lead magnets, do their email marketing etc.

Sometimes they don’t know they need to do some of the things in the example above. So that’s where my subtle upsell pitch comes in.

And if they don’t have a website, then are they ready to?

I’m always ready to build one for clients. When I build a website, there’s potential for all of the above services I mentioned above. See where I’m going with this?

This means finding clients that I could provide more solutions to after the initial project and potentially keep working with for months/years. And rather than waiting for them to come to me for these solutions, I proactively propose my services to them.

Why?

Because most times a client may contact you and not know they need a service that works in synergy with what they called you for. And even if they do, they may not know the huge difference it will make for their business if they let you handle it.

It is in your place to let them know how much better the solution will be if they could get the add-on. Now this add-on AKA upsell never ends.

As you learn more about their business, there’ll always be something you can do to help.

I always have a brilliant idea for my clients’ business because I take time to study them.

If you want to double your virtual assistant income, you must go out of your way to find the clients who will gain a lot from working with you for the long haul, and turn down or refer the clients that will not.

Read also: How To Onboard Clients As A Virtual Assistant

2.) Make It A Habit To Learn About Your Client’s Business and Goals

If you have the employee mindset, you’ll be stuck here even if you get number one right.

I had this mindset early on in my business and it didn’t work out well. A virtual assistant with the mindset of an employee almost never takes initiative. They just sit and wait for instructions to be dished out to them by their boss.

I was this way because I was placed on a monthly salary regardless of how much work I did or didn’t do. I was complacent because I felt I would still get paid at the end of the month. It took a lot of growing to realize I was making myself become useless.

If you are really serious about doubling your virtual assistant income, be prepared to bring your best ideas to the table.

I’ve had clients ask me my opinion about a lot of things they wanted to do in their business. Because I built a relationship that brings results. Initially, I felt like my ideas were sacred and since they weren’t paying for my ideas, they couldn’t milk me for free.

I couldn’t be more wrong. When you help a client gain clarity and give advice that actually brings the results they want, you become like a sacred cow. They know you and your ideas are an essential part of their business and it is essentially a win-win.

Look at it from this angle. If you allow you clients make all the wrong business decisions while you hoard your killer ideas, you’ll go out of business too!

That’s why I take time to learn about every business I work with because I want it to grow. I read up, ask questions, search for ideas and even pray for them. Because anything that affects their business positively or negatively also affects me indirectly.

As you build trust with your client, you will soon be discussing their strategic plans, marketing goals, and other information relevant to how the projects you work on affect their business.

I’ll tell you for free, once you understand what a client is actually trying to achieve, you can now move from simply following what they think the solution is, to proposing a solution that may actually serve them a lot better!

Granted, some clients may be strong headed. I’ve had one like that. I kept telling her what needed to be done and she kept telling me what her friend did and why it was important to do exactly what her friend did. Even if it wasn’t going to bring in the results she needed. We did it her way and oh well, she realized I was right when she had spent too much time, money and energy on the wrong things.

Take the time to really listen to what the client responds with. Find out what their goals are.

Is it to increase sales?

Save money?

Deliver an amazing new product to their customers?

This does take practice. You might not have really thought too much about how specifically your services drive business results. But the great news is that you can learn just by asking the right questions and letting the client do the talking.

Some clients might claim they are too be busy to give you the information you need to get your job done.

That sucks.

I always ask for a brand fact sheet. If they don’t have one, I ask for a voice note on WhatsApp. This way it takes little time and effort to have it done and I can listen to it multiple times.

Whatever you do, be sure to make things easy for them.

3.) Proactively Use Your Skills to Help Your Clients Reach Their Goals

By understanding of your clients’ goals, you can continuously determine how your skills can help them reach their goals. Not just on the initial project, but with future projects. By practicing points one and two above.

These results aren’t impossible or something only “gurus” can pull off.  Providing real value doesn’t mean you have to spend weeks/months making it happen.

I can use one hour or less to complete some tasks because of practice/experience. They aren’t paying for one hour, they are paying for the time I spent perfecting my skills so I can solve their problems in little or no time.

So don’t let the idea of being an expert cause you to freak out.

Don’t forget that the basic skills you have now will seem almost magical to anyone.

Most people can’t use canva, design websites, or write copy.

Things that may seem embarrassingly basic for you can actually be mind-blowing for your clients.

For example, I could tell a client they desperately need to have a welcome email autoresponder and that would sound like a very huge task to them.

But it is something that takes me an hour or less to set up and earn 5 figures per month. In return, it saves them the stress of doing everything manually and helps them connect with their customers which ultimately increases conversion.

When their investment in working with you generates a return on investment for their business, it makes retaining your services a no-brainer.

4.) Raise Your Rates

If you’re doing points 1-3 above and are still struggling to get by financially, then maybe you need to raise your rates. This one way to easily double your virtual assistant income without getting a single new client.

I can hear you saying “But Rose, no one will pay more”.

Honestly, I have made peace with the fact that not everyone can afford to hire me.

You see, pricing has been a major problem since I started my business. Impostor syndrome made me price myself so low I had to constantly think about getting clients to keep up with my income targets in my business.

Needlessly to say, I was burnt out from over working myself in my 8-5job and VA business. This went on until I realized something had to give.

I was growing resentful about the work I was doing and felt cheated all the time. At a point I almost quit.

After I had a long chat with my husband, I raised my rates, I doubled my virtual assistant income and got job satisfaction.

Since making that decision, I have not had to worry about getting more clients to meet up with my income goals.

See, pricing your services is a tricky thing. While some people will not hire you because you are too expensive, others won’t hire you because you are too cheap and they feel cheap equals substandard.

A client that might have been fine with paying you 100K for a job will pay the 35K you asked for but pay another VA the full price.

It’s largely a mindset thing and I won’t bore you with the details in this post.

Want my advice?

Charge your happy price!

5.) Offer High Value Services

The kind of services you offer as a VA affects your earning potential. Sometimes you need to specialize in offering high-end services to earn more. For example, a VA who offers website design services will earn more than a VA offering data entry services. This is why I encourage VAs to constantly upgrade their skills to stay relevant. If you’d like to expand your suit of skills or learn other skills like website design, course creation etc. check out my courses.

How To Remain Top Of Mind If A Client Eventually Leaves

You might do everything in the book and the client will still move on from you. Be sure to stay in touch and maintain an open dialogue with your client about their goals. These follow-ups might be as simple as bringing information or ideas that the client might find valuable to them. That way you’ll be the first to come to mind when something comes up. Or perhaps when their friend is hiring.

I told you I have never had to find clients, right? Because I get referrals from clients all the time. At least 85% of all the brands I’ve worked with came via past and current client referrals.

Final Words

You can easily double your virtual assistant income just by targeting clients that need your services for the long haul, learning about their business and goals, connecting their business goals with the skills you have to offer. If  you do that as well as offering high-end services and then increasing your rates. So you don’t end up trading hours for naira.  As the client relationship grows, the work done can grow to many times the size of that initial project you were hired for.

Over To You

Do you use any of the strategies I shared above to double your virtual assistant income? Are there any strategies you use that I don’t know about? Kind share with me in the comment section below and I would be happy to try them out and upgrade the information in this post.

How To Overcome Impostor Syndrome As A Virtual Assistant

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Learning how to overcome impostor syndrome as a virtual assistant is key to a successful business. Feel free to call it what you’re familiar with- self-doubt, fear of putting yourself out there, etc.

A huge percentage of virtual assistants in Nigeria have had to deal with this feeling in the early stages of their business.

It’s not a nice feeling.

The constant self-doubt.

You are always second guessing yourself and your ability to build your own business and feel like virtual assistants in the diaspora are more qualified

Worrying that you aren’t good enough or skilled enough to charge in dollars or be trusted with responsibility.

So you charge very low and accept whatever you are offered because you feel you don’t deserve better.

I know this because I used to feel this way.

I still second guess myself sometimes. Up until now I still worry about every new product or service I put out. If people are going to sign up for it. If it is worth it or just another crappy piece of content on the web.

But what I’ve realized is that it doesn’t really matter what you feel.

What matters is how you overcome impostor syndrome.

You can’t let it ruin your life and business. You have to move forward regardless. In this post, I share ways I overcome impostor syndrome as a virtual assistant all the time and how you can too.

5 Ways To Overcome Imposter Syndrome As A Virtual Assistant in Nigeria

1.) Stop Comparing Yourself

You know what they say, comparison is a thief of joy. While it is natural to compare yourself to others you have to be sure that it is done in a healthy way.

We live in an era when everyone shows the cool and exciting parts of their businesses. More like the highlights of their lives.

So constantly comparing someone’s carefully edited and curated content to your reality is bad. It always ends badly.

Bear in mind that some VAs are making more money than you and they’ve been doing this for a shorter amount of time. Some are making way less than you and have been doing it for longer than you.

Spending your time worrying about what every other VA is doing isn’t going to help you grow your business. People lie. People over hype things.

Instead, stay focused on your own business and look for ways to grow. The only time comparison is advisable is when you’re doing a SWOT analysis.

2.) Talk About It

Sharing my feeling and concerns with my partner is really helpful. On days when I felt really low and undeserving of the success I was getting, he was there to listen and advice.

Sometimes all we need is someone to talk to. Someone to cheer us on and tell us we’ll be alright. That’s why I say talk to your friends, family and other VAs that support you. I receive emails and calls from BAs in my network all the time and we just talk about dealing with business.

If you’d like to jump on one of these calls you can apply for a free consultation.

From talking to hundreds of virtual assistants and small business owners, I’ve realized one thing. A lot of times we’re all going through the same difficulties and you can learn how other people overcame.

It’s great to know that you’re not alone and to have people to talk to. They’ll be there to encourage you and lift you up as you step out of your comfort zone and face your fears.

3.) Remember Why You Started

You started your virtual assistant business to help your clients’ complete tasks. You are actually offering them value in exchange for a fee. You’re not just going around asking people for money without giving anything in return.

Think about how helpful what you do is/will be to your client.

You are making their lives easier and should be proud of that! Now remember that a skill you learned in 5minutes and don’t think is worth much might be invaluable to your client.

In your lowest of times when you’re experiencing self-doubt and feel like you should give up and retreat to safety, remembering why you started is what will keep you pushing through.

4.) Admit What You’re Feeling

You can’t overcome imposter syndrome by ignoring your feelings and acting like everything is okay. It’s okay to acknowledge your emotions

Even very established entrepreneurs feel this way when they venture into something new. You have to be honest with yourself about how you’re feeling.

Then ask yourself this simple question- What’s the worst that could happen?

Let’s imagine for a moment.  

Seriously, what is the absolute worst thing that can happen if you faced your fears?

Are you afraid some people will laugh at you? Or That you’ll make a fool of yourself and never get a client?

Once you’ve gotten your worst case scenario, think about what you’d do if that actually happened.

Now let’s be realistic. What are the chances of your worst case scenario actually happening?

Most likely, the chances aren’t very high. Even if it did happen, it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world. Would it?

I remember when I wanted to teach my first WhatsApp class. I had feelings of self-doubt and constantly worried that people would scoff at the thought of me teaching something.

Then I thought; what’s the worst that could happen?

I quickly realized that when you really think about it, the worst is not that bad.

So what if no one hired you three months after you launched your business? There are many things you could do to still get attention and attract the right clients in your fourth month.

Yes, you don’t feel great about it. Things could be better. But you’re moving on and doing your best to make sure you position yourself for success.

Read also: How to Onboard Clients as a Virtual Assistant (in 6 easy steps).

5.) Work Through It (Baby Steps)

Getting your VA business off the ground can feel overwhelming. But you need to stay focused and get the job done. It might not be pretty at first, but every little task you complete will add up.

My advice is that you break the big tasks down into smaller and smaller steps until your to-do list becomes doable.

Commit to taking one baby step or two each day and you’ll be amazed how quickly you’ll find success.

Your self-doubt will blur away as you constantly take baby steps to achieve your goals.

Your Turn

I hope you found this post helpful and the information makes you feel less alone as you try to overcome impostor syndrome as a virtual assistant. Have you ever dealt with impostor syndrome aka self-doubt? How did you overcome it?

How to Onboard Clients as a Virtual Assistant In 6 Easy Steps

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Knowing how to properly onboard clients as a virtual assistant is a very important aspect of structuring your business. Sadly, many virtual assistants in Nigeria make this mistake and there’s no organized flow of things.

What is a “client onboarding process”?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

It is simply everything you do immediately after a prospective client inquires about working with you.

You don’t have to wait till this happens before get organized.

Steps You Need To Take To Onboard Clients As A Virtual Assistant

By taking the steps I’ll discuss in this post, you’ll start displaying your professionalism from the start. This is makes a good impression of you to your client. And ensures you take necessary steps to protect your business while working for others.

Step 1: Set Up A Discovery Call

A discovery call is important to get clear on what your potential client needs. It provides an avenue for you to get to know your client’s core frustrations. And how to match your services to give them the solutions they desire.

However, it is important to have an idea about what the client needs before scheduling a call. For my business, I have a quick and easy to fill form that collects basic information about the client; what they need help with; and their budget. This helps me prepare for the call beforehand.

When I receive their completed form, I immediately review and send them an email. The email contains a link to my booking system on tidycal (you can use other alternatives like calendly).

Using an automated booking system is important because it allows you to set your availability ahead of time.

This ensures your potential client views, and confirms a time that works for them without the need for the back and forth emails about picking a time that works for the two of you.

As soon as you get the booking out of the way, be sure to schedule a reminder for your prospect. The location of your meeting may be Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype etc. Whatever you choose, your booking system will display this on your booking page and your client will get the info in an automated email immediately their book the call.

Step 2: Prepare And Show Up For The Call

Once your client picks a time, you’ll get an email from your preferred appointment booking system (in my case, tidycal). When you get this confirmation email, it is important that you set aside time to do your homework.

Remember the form they filled in step one above? Use the details they provided to do background work like, check out their website, social media etc.  And be sure to jot down important notes because these will be your talking points during the call.

Carrying out this simple task will take 20-30 minutes of your time but it is worth it. Why? Because when you are finally on the call with your potential client, you’d know exactly what to say; what questions to ask and how to advise them.

Before you end the call let them know you’ll be sending them a proposal based on your call. This is when some clients would want to put you on a spot and ask for a quote. It is best to take your time and craft your proposal. This is because that’s when you’ll truly know the workload and price correctly. You can however give a price range.

Never leave them guessing what the next step is. 

My client discovery call workbook does a good job of walking you through what to do before, during and after your discovery calls including templates I use in my business. The discovery call workbook is part of my client onboarding kit which is a must have for every serious virtual assistant.

Step 3: Send In Your Proposal

Take out time to craft your proposal. For this I have a proposal template I use. It will get pretty tiring to craft a new proposal from scratch every time you have a new client. So, have one template so that you can easily edit based on the client’s needs.

What will your proposal contain?

I’m glad you asked.

Two must haves for every proposal include; the tasks included in your service (based on what you discussed in the discovery call), and pricing.

Need a copy of the proposal template I use to win clients? It’s one of the resources available in the client onboarding kit.

Step 4: Follow Up (Just In Case)

After sending your proposal, be sure to follow up if you don’t receive a reply after 2-3 business days. I made this mistake early in my career. I sent in a proposal to a client and didn’t follow up because I felt like I’d come off as desperate.

That couldn’t be more wrong!

Following up actually tells your client you are ready to work and are proactive about working with them. You are aiming to impress. Right?

Not to mention, your proposal email might have gone directly to spam or gotten lost in your potential clients’ inbox. So it is your duty to stay top of mind. Most times the client may not contact you again and feel like you’re not interested in working with them.

Step 5: Send In Your Contract, Invoice And Welcome Packet

  • Contract: Your virtual assistant contract is an essential part of your onboarding process. This is what protects you and your business. A good virtual assistant contract must contain a confidentiality agreement (also known as a non-disclosure agreement); an independent contractor agreement, payment terms, etc. This must be duely signed by the client before any other steps are taken. I use small PDF  or Signwell to sign my contracts.
  • Invoice: Use free platforms like Paystack or zoho invoice to send your client an invoice. Of course this will be based on the amount agreed on in your proposal.
  • Welcome Packet: In my business, I send a welcome email that contains the welcome packet in PDF format. A welcome packet typically contains basic information about your work processes. How you will be contacted, business days, how you will receive payments and what you require to start work. Requirements usually include things like Client Logos, fonts, login details, photos etc. Requirement may also be collected with the help of a form.

PRO TIP: Never send an invoice to a prospective client before your contract/agreement is signed. 

Related: How to Create a Welcome Packet for your business.

Be sure to follow up with your client to ensure your client sends in the details you need to start work. 

Over time I’ve found that some clients delay this step because they either have no idea what basic things their brand colors, fonts are or they are too busy to gather all the information you need. Be patient, reasonable and help them make your work easier.

Side note: Get a copy of my client onboarding checklist, onboarding toolkit etc. inside the client onboarding kit. 

Step 6: Schedule A Kick Off Call

You’re almost done now. This call is necessary to confirm all the final details, timelines etc that weren’t clear. You can ask each other questions to get on the same page and even make a plan of action.

Your Turn

Taking these 6 simple steps to onboard clients as a virtual assistant is all you need to look professional, be organized, confident and get only the right kind of clients.

I hope this information will help you structure your virtual assistant business better.

Do you already take these steps to onboard clients? Reply in the comments and let me know.

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire A Virtual Assistant

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

This is weird. I’m giving you reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. For obvious reasons, it is bad for business. In fact, I should be writing about why you should hire a virtual assistant or burn in hell. That would make more sense, right?

Chill. I’m going somewhere

I love being a virtual assistant and may have toyed with the idea of quitting my 8-4 and working from home full time. So the business is good. And you really should consider it as your side hustle if you are looking to make more money.

However, I don’t think some people should hire virtual assistants for a couple of reasons. I’ll tell you why in a minute.

Recently, I had an experience with a prospect that led me to recommend they just hire someone full time. Why? Because sometimes what you need isn’t a virtual assistant. But a personal assistant that shows up nose to nose every day and picks up your dry cleaning after work.

My Top 4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire A Virtual Assistant.

I think it’s really important for you to know this. It’ll save you time and money so please, don’t hire me or any virtual assistant out there if you:

  1. Don’t know what you need
  2. Are a dinosaur
  3. You love breathing down people’s necks
  4. Can’t afford one right now

I’ll take each point I’ve mentioned one after the other and explain to you using my experiences why you really shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant.

#1.) You Don’t Know What You Need:

I’ve worked with a client that made me re-do an eBook 12 times. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to become an author and basically tripled my work.

Time equals money in the virtual business world and there’s no time to waste. You need to be sure of what you need before hiring a virtual assistant, if not you’ll pay for time not spent.

A lot of virtual assistants are more than willing to brainstorm and find out ways they can help you grow your business and solve your problems. However, it is your duty to recognize your problems and present them to your virtual assistant.

You might need to hire someone full time if you’re going to be stabbing in the dark until something sticks. If you don’t know what you need, you might end up hiring a virtual assistant with a wrong expertise that can’t help you.

#2.) You’re A Dinosaur:

It is 2020 and the world is going digital. However, not everyone has been able to catch up. A virtual assistant works online and this is clearly spelled out. But some clients would rather have the virtual assistant come in every day. Thereby removing the ‘virtual’ from the virtual assistant. If this is you, then you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. What you need is an assistant.

This is why I tell people looking to start their virtual assistant business to decide if they’d want to commute back and forth. How often they will. And who’ll pay for it. This is very important because I lost a social media management gig some months ago just because the prospect wanted to sit out with me and talk about his brand before hiring me. I just didn’t have the time to meet him.

But I get it.

Some people would like to have a face to face discussion with a VA before entrusting their business to them. But that’s not always possible. So if you are stuck on a face-to-face meeting then maybe you shouldn’t be hiring a virtual assistant in the first place! A full-time employee will have more face-to-face time with you so that seems like a better deal.

#3.) You Love Breathing Down People’s Necks:

I’ve had clients sending me messages at 3:00Am on Sunday morning and others calling at 11:00Pm on a work week. A virtual assistant that only speaks with you a couple of times a week or month might not be what you need. This is if you like monitoring your workers. A virtual assistant can decide to quit and leave you hanging just because you are being too domineering and breathing down their necks. That’s just the way it is.

They have their business and you have yours.

They aren’t working for you. They are working with you. Believe it or not, there’s a difference. They probably became virtual assistants because they didn’t like their boss breathing down their necks.

Every serious virtual assistant has something called a welcome packet. In this document, they tell you their business hours and how you can contact them. It is rude to call outside business hours and throw fit if they don’t answer. If you have a rush-job, I’m sure they’d do their best to help you out with an additional fee.

Side note: I make an exception with my monthly retainer clients. I give them my personal phone number and have them send me WhatsApp messages at 2pm or 2am and they know I’ll reply ASAP.

They know not to voice or video call me without scheduling a call. That’s just how it works. But if you need someone to be there for you 24/7, then you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant.

#4.) Your Business Can’t Bear The Expense:

Virtual assistants deserve to not only get paid, but get paid on time. Please dear, if you can’t pay, you shouldn’t hire a Virtual Assistant. This isn’t rocket science. Working for you takes time, energy and money (because we pay subscription fees outside mobile data).

I’m giving this advice because I have been owed by a lot of people and some of them never paid. Usually because I couldn’t ask for my pay and was sympathetic when they complained about how their business wasn’t yielding as much income as they expected and needed me to take a chance on them and ‘invest in their business’. I did this in my early days forgetting that my own VA business needed investing too. Phew!

The great thing about hiring a virtual assistant is that you can do it for a limited time. You can hire a VA for a year, month, week or even a project and when that is completed, you go your separate ways. So if you know your revenue isn’t consistent and can’t afford to pay a virtual assistant, please don’t hire a virtual assistant.

A laborer deserves his wages.

Is It Getting Clearer?

I’ve given you key reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. But I am a virtual assistant and I know how important VAs are to entrepreneurs. So if none of the reasons I shared above applies to you, then by all means necessary- YOU SHOULD HIRE A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Here Are Some Of The Reasons Why You Should Hire A Virtual Assistant Right Now

#1.) You Want To Save Money:

Hiring a virtual assistant saves you money. You don’t have to pay them when they are on maternity or terminal leave. You are not going to organize/pay for any employee development courses or hire someone full-time when you only need them for a limited time. Their health care insurance isn’t also your responsibility. You can finally be stingy in peace.

Lastly, your secret fear that someone is downloading movies with your office Wifi will be put to rest because you won’t be responsible for data costs.

#2.) You Don’t Have Office Space:

A lot of small business owners don’t have a lot of space for employees. Instead of getting a larger space, you could hire someone to work remotely and not have to pay a higher rent for a bigger space. Remember that with office space comes furniture and electronics and they cost money.

#3.) You Need Someone To Work Weird Hours:

It is common for people to have a full time job during the day, and work on their side hustle at night. You can’t employ someone to come in at that time for obvious reasons.

Instead, you should hire a virtual assistant to help out because they have flexible work hours. They can hold a meeting at 1am just because it is in their schedule and they don’t have to get out of bed and hurry to work at 7am.

#4.) You Need Flexibility:

You may decide to launch a business at any point. A virtual assistant can be ready with all the skills you need. There’ll be no need to train someone which will delay you. Instead hire someone who’s already an expert.

One of the key reasons I’m considering working as a virtual assistant full-time is- flexibility. Whenever I visit my husband, Cee, I don’t get as much work as I’d have liked done. So I work in advance. I do a marathon and complete weeks’ worth of work in the days leading to when I’d travel. That way, I can clear my schedule and actually enjoy the time I spend in his company. My clients don’t need to know I had a baecation/vacation. Everyone is happy.

#5.) You Need Someone With The Latest Skills:

Like I said earlier, virtual assistants are business owners. They invest in their education a lot. Take me for instance, I have gathered over 15 certificates on health and digital marketing so I am not only building myself as a Medical Laboratory Scientist but as a virtual assistant.

Asides constantly upgrading my knowledge, I also have experience working with a variety of clients that I can use to improve your business if required.

But don’t take my word for it, according to a study by upwork, freelancers are much more likely to update their skills than full-time employees

So Should You Hire A Virtual Assistant or Not?

I don’t know. It depends on you- your needs, experiences, type of business etc. Although I’d want to sign up another client and would love to tell Cee I just sent my welcome packet and estimate to you, I have to let you make this decision.

It’s really not something you want to rush into.

Full-time employees are great especially when you are a dinosaur, need to see your work done in real time. Virtual assistants are perfect when you need more flexibility, updated skills and want to save money.

It’s really your decision. I’ve told you reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant and reasons why you may want to hire one.

Now the ball is in your court.

Next Steps                                

If you are looking for an experienced Virtual assistant to work with, I’m still taking clients. You can see some of the services I provide here.

If you want to start or grow your virtual assistant business and make money from home, Go here and get help