We have previously discussed the disadvantages of employing the services of a virtual assistant, but those certainly do not eclipse the benefits of hiring one. A VA is, in fact, a great asset to one\’s growing business, especially when one does not need to invest on full-time office staff at present. The caveat here, however, is that one needs to be prepared to work with a distant and highly autonomous VA.
That said, when should one really hire a virtual assistant? There are a variety of situations when one needs a virtual assistant, and then there are conditions that need to be met for one to say that they are ready to accept a VA to their business fold. First, let us discuss when one should be needing the services of a virtual assistant.
A business will need to hire a virtual assistant when:
- It is short on staff. Well, duh, is what you are probably saying at this point. If a business needs more people, getting a VA is one of its options.
- It needs more people but needs to save money on operational costs. As we all know, VAs are contractors that pay for their own expenses and benefits, and in that regard, they are a less costly alternative to full-time office staff.
- It needs a specialist that can work on a single project, or one that can be called for duty on-demand. Virtual assistants do not necessarily sign up exclusively for long-term contracts. They\’d also be happy to work on short-term projects and would appreciate repeat customers that would simply call them up whenever they are needed.
Now when can you say that you are ready to work with a virtual assistant? Consider the following:
- You are ready to let go of a great amount of control and trust your VA to get the job done. Remember, while VAs answer to you, they are autonomous and most would like to keep it that way if they are to keep their end of the contract.
- You are able to be around while your VA is, and thus, be able to coordinate with them as needed. You can\’t be sure that your VA is around and working at all time, but it really helps that you are present while they work from the other end of the line so they can help work things out with you whenever your attention is needed.
- You are ready to let go of micromanagement. As we have mentioned before, virtual assistants can be very difficult to control and micromanage, and you best learn to cope with that fact if you are to work well with your VA.
- You understand the nature of your VAs profession, and have learned how to use them properly. There are certain things that you can outsource to your virtual assistant, and then there are some tasks that you best do on your own or hand over to your office staff. This would be a different story for a different day, and we will be tackling what these tasks are in a future post.
