Outsourcing

Are you struggling to delegate? Do you find it hard to let go of control because you like everything to be perfect and worry that someone else might not be able to get it quite right? You’re not alone! Many business owners face these issues. But by not letting go, you’re restricting how much your business can move forward. We get it. Your business is your baby, and it can be hard trusting someone else with it, especially after working so hard to build it up to where it is today. But it doesn’t have to be hard. And you’re not the only one who has to do your job. It’s time to buy yourself some time back, free up time and headspace, and focus on the more important aspects of your business instead of juggling absolutely everything yourself. Put your trust in an experienced Virtual Assistant who’s as invested in your business as you are. A great Virtual Assistant has the business acumen and experience to understand what it takes to run a business. Your VA should have an exceptional work ethic and be dedicated to helping you succeed. If you need help finding your ideal assistant, reach out today!

When you are considering hiring an assistant, there are two main types to consider: an employed assistant and a virtual assistant. But should you employ an in-house assistant, or should you outsource to a virtual assistant? Let’s take a look at the differences between each type. Employed Assistant Employed assistants are direct employees of a business. They are given a salary and benefits, as well as being expected to be in the office during set business hours. Employed assistants are often not allowed to work other jobs that might be considered a conflict of interest to their primary employment. Here are some things you should consider before committing to hiring an in-house assistant: ✖️You’ll have employer responsibilities✖️Hiring can be expensive✖️You’ll need to provide equipment and office space✖️Employees are difficult to cancel – you’ll need to follow HR procedures Virtual Assistant Virtual Assistants are independent contractors and enter a business-to-business agreement with the company or person hiring them. They are hired to perform specific tasks or duties, which can change from one project to the next. Unlike Employees, Virtual Assistants do not become part of their company’s payroll system or benefits plan. Instead, they are paid for their services based on how much time they spend on each client’s job or project and what kind of work is done in return. Outsourcing to a UK-based Virtual Assistant gives you all the benefits of an in-house assistant, without the overheads and employer responsibilities of hiring an employee. Say goodbye to holiday and sick pay, national insurance, pension contributions, and tax and training costs. Say hello to more time, fewer headaches, and more tasks ticked off your to-do list! Here are some of the benefits of outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant: ✔️ No employer responsibilities to worry about✔️ Outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant is a cost-efficient way of hiring✔️ VA’s provide their own equipment and space, saving you the overheads✔️ You can easily change assistant or stop outsourcing without a lengthy HR process Conclusion So, what’s the difference between employing an assistant directly, and outsourcing to a virtual assistant? The main difference is that an employed assistant works physically in your office (unless you employ them on a remote or hybrid basis) while virtual assistants provide remote business support. In terms of administrative responsibilities, both can do similar tasks. However, there are some tasks like managing physical inventory or attending in-person meetings on your behalf where an employed assistant can be more effective than a virtual one. Virtual assistants are often a better choice for small businesses because they cost less and can work from anywhere in the world via online communication or calls, saving you time searching for someone local to hire, and giving you access to a much larger talent pool. If you want to discover what type of support Virtual Assistants can help you with, you might find this article useful.

Running a business can be tough, especially for a solopreneur, small business or startup. It’s not uncommon to feel like you’re on your own. But the good news is that you don’t have to be. A Virtual Assistant can help you with your most time-consuming tasks, or the aspects of your business that you just find difficult to do by yourself. A great Virtual Assistant will take care of the important things that keep your business running, such as marketing, sales administration, responding to customer enquiries, and scheduling appointments. By outsourcing these tasks to a Virtual Assistant, you can free up headspace knowing that the important aspects of your business are being handled on your behalf and not piling up, allowing you to focus on growing your business. Your VA will take initiative and o the extra mile to meet your expectations, so you can focus your attention on other aspects of your business. Outsourcing offers a cost-effective staffing solution; giving you a dedicated virtual PA without the expense, hassle and commitment of hiring an in-house assistant. Grow and scale your business with a Virtual Assistant When trying to grow a business, there will come a time when you’ll need to start thinking about outsourcing. After all, not even the most skilled multi-taskers can do it all by themselves, right? But when cash flow is tight, it can be difficult to find and hire the right people to work in your business at an affordable cost. Virtual Assistants are a great solution for this because they are highly skilled professionals who can do the work that you need to be done without having to invest in hiring a full-time person. Outsourcing to a VA is a flexible and economical way to expand your team without having to commit to hiring a full-time employee. By outsourcing, you can get real experts to help expand your business, who will take care of all your important and time-consuming tasks, freeing you to focus on the big picture. You don’t have to hire full-time employees. Instead, simply outsource what you need to be done without making a commitment to hiring in-house staff, which can be costly and inflexible. Expand your team without the commitment Virtual Assistants are often cheaper than salaried, in-house employees and can be hired for short-term projects or on an ad hoc basis as and when need it. They can also be hired for long-term projects where you need someone with expertise in the field to maintain your business processes or provide specific services over time. Virtual Assistants do not need their own office space or equipment, so they offer a flexible and cost-effective hiring solution. Virtual Assistants are an ideal solution for entrepreneurs who want to save time and money. As an entrepreneur, you’re busy running your business and growing your client base. You want to grow your business but don’t have enough time in a day to do everything that needs doing. You may think having an executive assistant would help relieve some of this stress, but you may have other priorities with your capital or they aren’t available on short notice when you need them most. Virtual Assistants can help with many of the same tasks as traditional executive assistants but often at a lower hourly rate because they work remotely. It’s also easier to access great Virtual Assistants than it is an in-person assistant because you have access to an international talent pool. With a Virtual Assistant by your side, you’ll be able to save yourself time and money so you can focus on growing your business and giving it the attention it deserves. Is a Virtual Assistant right for me? Hiring a VA can be a great option if you want to prioritise cash flow and flexibility, especially if you’re not quite ready to employ a member of staff. Hire a Virtual Assistant as and when you need one or on a long-term basis. Good Virtual Assistants are experts in their field, so their time is well spent on client projects instead of learning the business basics or catching up with what’s going on in the industry. With a VA taking care of things like administrative duties and research and development, you’re free to focus on what matters most – growing your business.

Are you wondering how can a Virtual Assistant help you with your business? Virtual Assistants specialise in a wide variety of skills that can help you outsource your business tasks so you can focus on growing your business. Hiring a Virtual Assistant is a cost-effective way to outsource, saving you time and money, by completing tasks that would otherwise require hiring full-time employees or paying contractors. Because Virtual Assistants are not bound by geographical limitations like a traditional employee might be, you can access a pool of talent without being restricted to hiring someone in your local area. Let’s take a look at some examples of the type of tasks a Virtual Assistant can help you with. Admin Tasks Many business owners (especially solo entrepreneurs and sole traders) get caught up with basic business admin which is absolutely necessary, but also super time-consuming! Outsourcing your day-to-day admin tasks is a great way of getting started with a Virtual Assistant. Data entry Spreadsheet creation and editing Basic bookkeeping Answering emails/responding to customer enquiries/responding to client enquiries/basic customer service tasks (answering emails from customers who have questions about their orders or returning phone calls from existing clients) Answering emails/responding to client enquiries/basic administrative tasks (answering emails from clients requesting additional information about a product or service offered by your company) Research tasks Newsletter/Email Marketing Email marketing is a great way to build brand loyalty and keep your customers engaged. A virtual assistant can help with email list management, design and send emails, and analyse the results. Email list management Newsletter creation Campaign research Content creation (including graphics for newsletters) Analysing data Social Media Social media is quickly becoming a necessity for business owners to grow their presence, build their brand and gain more customers. Social media can help businesses to build rapport and connect with more people. Social media management is the process of growing your audience on social platforms and keeping them engaged. A Virtual Assistant can help businesses with scheduling posts, finding new followers, responding to comments and messages from customers, analysing performance metrics, and much more. A Virtual Assistant can help you with managing your profiles on platforms such as: Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedIn TikTok YouTube Blogging and Online Writing One of the greatest benefits that a Virtual Assistant brings to your business is their ability to help you create content – an aspect that many business owners find the most time-consuming. This could be blog posts or articles, social media captions, copy for online material (such as courses) or copy for websites, submissions and presentations, to name a few. Content marketing is an important aspect of any business. It can help you to reach potential customers, rank better with search engines, and develop better relationships. Your Virtual Assistant can help you with… Blog and article writing Writing social media captions Writing copy for your online profiles, or LinkedIn profile Writing copy for your business social media profiles Writing copy for your online courses or presentations Writing copy for pitches Writing copy for your website … and more Sales and Customer Support Customer support is a key part of sales for any business, but it can also be of the most time-consuming aspects of running a business. If you’re still managing all customer support yourself, you might wish to consider outsourcing these tasks to an experienced and trustworthy Virtual Assistant. Some examples of what a Virtual Assistant can handle for you include: Managing and responding to social media messages Moderating online comments Managing and responding to customer emails Raising support tickets Live chat support … and more PR and Marketing Virtual Assistants can help you to grow your business by taking care of the time-consuming PR and marketing tasks you don’t have the time for, so you can focus on the aspects of your business that you do best. Here are some examples of what your Virtual Assistant can do for you: Outreach to potential clients Writing press releases Conducting research on marketing trends Writing marketing emails, newsletters or other copy that will convert readers into paying customers Creating infographics that help to explain complicated ideas in an easy-to-understand way Creating social media posts that get people talking about your business Creating website landing pages … and more If you found this article insightful, you might also enjoy reading 50 Tasks Your Virtual Assistant Can Do To Save You Time.

The COVID-19 pandemic shaped the way in which we work. Around the world, businesses big and small suddenly had to adapt to a new way of working. Since then, remote work has been on the rise, and as businesses have been forced to adapt their working processes and cut costs at the same time, Virtual Assistants have become more popular and more in demand than ever. However, the WFH model has actually been used by many businesses since long before the pandemic! Virtual Assistants have been helping to grow and scale businesses for many, many years. Pandemic-proof your business The pandemic has caused a shift in many industries around the world and has drastically changed the way in which we work. Despite this, small businesses have continued to scale. Business owners have pandemic-proofed their businesses and enlisted the help of a Virtual Assistant to help them thrive, even in uncertain times. How a Virtual Assistant can help you to scale Outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant is not only cost-effective but also highly flexible. It gives small business owners the flexibility of hiring support as and when they need it, and without the headache of employing someone in-house, which is particularly helpful during uncertain times! Rather than making a long-term commitment to hiring a new staff member, many small business owners are choosing to outsource to reliable sub-contractors (aka. Virtual Assistants), who specialise in their particular industry or niche. Since Virtual Assistants work remotely, there are no equipment or overhead costs for the small business owner. They can simply hire support when they need it, on an ad hoc basis, without any long-term commitments. There are no financial burdens, employee salaries, or employer taxes and contributions to consider. The WFH model became particularly useful during the pandemic, as it offered a safe way of working without hindering a businesses’ ability to trade. Virtual Assistants have helped small business owners to grow, and are quickly becoming the norm for many businesses in the U.K. and beyond. Scale your business with a VA By outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant, small business owners are able to offload their mundane, tedious, and time-consuming tasks in order to focus on what they do best. By having an extra pair of hands on your team, you can dedicate more of your valuable time to the important aspects of your business that produce the most growth. Tasks such as admin, email management, responding to customer enquiries, social media posting, diary management, research, outreach, data entry, and much more, can be outsourced straight away to your new VA. For more ideas, read our blog post ’50 tasks your Virtual Assistant can do to save you time’. A Virtual Assistant can take off some of the pressure that running a small business comes with – giving you back the work-life balance you desire. The question you need to be asking yourself going forward is, what will you do with all the free time? Ready to start scaling your small business? Book a discovery call with us today and together we’ll help you get the ball rolling!

Are you thinking of hiring a Virtual Assistant? If your routine tasks are becoming overwhelming, or are simply just taking up too much of your valuable time, outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant might be the solution. In our other posts, we discuss the many benefits of outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant and how a VA can help to grow your business. Whether or not you should work with a Virtual Assistant is entirely your decision to make, but should you choose to, here are some important ‘do’s and don’ts’ to consider! DO your research Before hiring a new Virtual Assistant, do your own due diligence. Check examples of their previous work, client testimonials, and make sure they have all the relevant insurances and policies in place. DON’T think you’re the only one who needs to do your job Many of us have been there – starting a business by ourselves, with no help from investors or partners, trying to juggle absolutely everything yourself. In many cases, you’re the admin person, marketing team, accounts manager and sales director. Entrepreneurs can wear many hats. But as you grow your business, it will become very difficult to scale if you continue to juggle everything on your own. The solution? Outsourcing! Letting go of your fundamental business tasks can be daunting, and for business owners who like to remain in control, it can be particularly difficult handing over responsibility to an assistant. However, try to remember that experienced Virtual Assistants are very competent, and spend most of their working day helping to manage other people’s businesses. They have the knowledge, experience and expertise to help you grow your business and free up your valuable time so that you can focus on the things you do best. DO establish your communication preferences When you begin working with a VA, it’s important to make them aware of how and when you like to communicate. With everything technology offers us, there are many ways to communicate with your Virtual Assistant – email, phone, WhatsApp, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, project management tools, to name a few! As Virtual Assistants, it’s our job to work with our clients in a way that works for them. A great assistant will be flexible in accommodating your preferences, where possible, but it is important that you establish what these preferences are during the onboarding period in order to set your working relationship up for success. It will also help your assistant to manage expectations and organise their schedule accordingly. DON’T underestimate the time it takes… … for a highly-skilled, experienced VA to complete certain tasks. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to communicate. You might think that a particular task will take an hour, but in reality, it may take three times that. If you are working to a budget, when delegating tasks to your assistant, give them an estimation of how long you expect them to spend on that task. Your VA will soon be able to let you know whether your estimation is accurate, or whether they will need more time. If they know you have expectations in terms of how long you think a task might take, they can work with you and be mindful of your budget. If you don’t communicate this to them, they might assume that you want them to just get the job done, no matter how long it takes. That said, some tasks do take time and can be tricky to estimate (graphic and web design, for example). Communicate with your VA and understand that sometimes, in order to produce a high standard of work, it might take longer than you expect. Also bear in mind that some tasks can be done very quickly, whereas others will take much longer, depending on the nature of the task. DO be realistic with your expectations Try to understand that your Virtual Assistant will usually work with multiple clients. They will try to make themselves available to you as much as possible during their working day, however, there may be times when they are on a call with another client, or concentrating on an important task. If you cannot get hold of them straight away, leave them a message and follow up with an email, asking them to contact you as soon as possible. Also check your assistant’s terms of business, which should indicate their response times and when you can expect their reply. DON’T think you’re the only one who CAN do your job Although you’re an expert in your field and have no doubt put in a lot of time and effort to get there, you will always be able to find an assistant with the same skills and experience. Outsourcing gives you access to the best assistants on a national scale (and even international). Rather than trying to find an in-person assistant, where you’re usually restricted to people in your area only, outsourcing offers a pool of talent from a much wider range of highly skilled assistants who will often exceed your expectations. In addition to this, there are Virtual Assistants skilled in a vast array of industries. Some assistants specialise in certain job types or industries, for example, property VA’s, or graphic design VA’s. You can find assistants specialising in IT support, web design, marketing, lead generation, and so much more. Some have hands-on experience working with lawyers, doctors, or in the construction industry, for example. Many have excelled in a former career before becoming a Virtual Assistant. Whatever it is you’re looking for, you can be confident that you’ll be able to find a VA who is a great match for you, your business and your needs. DO always check with your VA what other skills they might offer Your assistant might have always supported you with your day-to-day admin, emails and diary management, and you may not even consider what other areas they are skilled in. Say you have great admin support from your assistant, and

If you want to stand out as the go-to VA in your niche and be successful at what you do, you’ll want to go the extra mile for your clients.

“Should I start outsourcing?” If you’re asking yourself this question, chances are your business has reached the stage where you are ready to begin outsourcing in order to grow and scale. Think about those tasks that are vital for the success of your business, but that don’t require your personal expertise. The tasks that could easily be outsourced to another pair of hands. By outsourcing these tasks, you’ll be able to free up time to focus on the areas of the business that require your time and attention. Outsourcing your business tasks to a Virtual Assistant can be a fantastic way of freeing up your time and taking a load off your plate so that you can focus on growing your business. Now we’ve established why a Virtual Assistant can be a valuable asset to your business, let’s take a look at the type of tasks they can help with. General admin Admin is an important aspect of any business, but it can be time-consuming. Why not let a Virtual Assistant take care of some of your day-to-day admin? Here are some examples of admin tasks that a VA could handle for you… 1. Calendar/diary management – have your VA manage your calendar and help get your organised. 2. Setting up meetings – your VA can help to set up meetings, Zoom calls and send calendar invites. 3. CRM management – have your VA tidy up your CRM by updating names, contact details, and adding and removing contacts where necessary. 4. Research tasks – need to carry out some research? Have your VA do this for you. 5. Book travel – need to book flights, tickets or hotels? Have your VA do this for you, and even have them organise the entire trip. 6. Event planning – whether it’s organising a personal or business event, your VA can help. 7. Minute-taking – have your VA take notes from your meetings. 8. Document formatting – need to format a document? Delegate this to your VA, or have them create document templates and slide deck designs. 9. Personal to-do list – your VA can help you with personal tasks too! Let them help you organise travel, the family calendar, parties, holidays and more. Website support Your website is the digital shopfront for your business. It’s often the first time a prospective client finds you, so leaving a great first impression is important. It’s therefore important to ensure your website is regularly updated, which helps with SEO too! Your VA can help with updating and maintaining your website. Here are some examples of some tasks your Virtual Assistant can take care of for you… 10. Content updates – have your VA update your website as and when necessary. 11. Blog writing – a Virtual Assistant can write, edit and publish blog posts to your website. 12. Content writing – need to update your website’s copy? Have your VA write effective copy for your website. 13. Design and maintenance – specialist VA’s can help with the design and maintenance of your website. Content creation Content is an important element of social media posts, blogs, and other marketing materials for your business. Save time and outsource content creation to your Virtual Assistant. Here are some examples of what they can help with… 14. Blogging – a VA can not only write blog posts for you, they can also help with researching trending topics, and outreaching to third parties for collaboration opportunities in terms of link building. 15. Social media content – specialised VA’s can design on-brand graphics for your business to use on social media and other platforms. They can also write the content for your social media posts. 16. Engagement and blog commenting – your VA can help to give your website an SEO boost by leaving comments on relevant blog posts with a link back to your site. They can also engage on social media with target clients and relevant accounts to give your social profiles a boost too. 17. Newsletters – do you send a regular newsletter to your email list (or need to start)? Have your VA write the content for the newsletter, and even organise the entire campaign, from designing the newsletter to sending it out and tracking the statistics. Marketing support Marketing is an important aspect of any business. If you don’t have a dedicated in-house marketing team, why not outsource your marketing tasks to your Virtual Assistant? Here are some examples of the type of marketing tasks they can support you with… 18. Social media outreach – your VA can find and contact potential clients for you to build relationships and generate leads. 19. Forum discussion – have your VA take part in discussions on forums that are relevant to your industry and niche. This can help to increase reach and brand awareness. 20. Social media group discussion – like forum discussion, your VA can also engage in conversations in relevant groups on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, to increase brand awareness and reach. 21. Lead generation – have your VA find and contact potential customers. 22. Moderating comments – moderating comments on your blog and social media can take time. Have your VA handle this for you. 23. Proofreading – have your VA proofread content before it’s published. 24. Presentations and slide decks – have your VA design, create, edit, proofread or write content for your presentations. Design Creating professional graphics and marketing materials requires certain expertise. A VA specialising in graphic design can help to create professional, on-brand graphics for your business. Here are some examples of what a Virtual Assistant can help with… 25. Graphic design – a specialist VA can create professional graphics for your brand. 26. Logo design – as with graphics, a VA specialising in graphic design can help with logo design too. 27. Social media graphics – specialised VA’s can design on-brand graphics for your business to use on social media and other platforms. 28. Web design – a