You’ve probably heard of them, they get talked about a lot, and there are some misconceptions about what a Virtual Assistant is.
Later on, in this week's newsletter, I will give you the five questions you must ask yourself before deciding if hiring a Virtual Assistant is worth it.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
Many people lump all overseas workers, usually those in the Philippines, in this Virtual Assistant category.
If they don’t cost the same as the USA, UK, Australia, etc., and they live in the Philippines, they’re all VAs or Virtual Assistants.
Never mind that the person is a skilled accountant with 7 years of experience or a video editor with an extensive portfolio.
I'm afraid that's wrong and can cause you to miss out on real outsourcing opportunities to the Philippines that come with hiring talented staff in various job roles.
There are a lot of VAs and Virtual Assistants in the Philippines. In fact, on VirtualStaff.ph you can choose from thousands of skilled and talented Virtual Assistants.
However, please know exactly what Virtual Assistants are and what they are not.
If you’re looking for a specialist like a highly experienced video editor, an accountant, or something like this, then hiring a Virtual Assistant is not the best thing to do.
You can, of course, find Virtual Assistants who can do bookkeeping, basic video editing, etc.
I know this. I've hired people like that myself.
However, if you need someone dedicated and specializing in a particular thing, like video editing.
Then you're better off hiring a Video Editor or Video Editing Specialist or a job position like that.
You can find incredibly talented video editors in the Philippines, and you will save a lot of money on employee costs.
But, to hire this type of person, you need to post jobs with job titles like the ones mentioned above. Video Editor, not Virtual Assistant.
For many businesses, you’d be better off hiring talent or Virtual Staff based in the Philippines in dedicated positions such as “video editor,” “bookkeeper,” “accountant,” “customer support specialist,” etc.
A logistics client we partner with they have hired 50-60 staff through our Enterprise Solution.
They've never hired a Virtual Assistant before.
For their business, it does not make sense.
Instead, they hire billing specialists, customer support reps, and accounting staff.
Think about it this way.
What would the job position be called if you were to hire somebody locally in an office in your home country?
So, what is a virtual assistant? Is it a myth, or is it some legend passed down by the outsourcing gods…
No, it’s an admin assistant/personal assistant on steroids.
Let’s say you’re an online business person and need someone to help you with a few different things.
Say you’re a coach or a realtor or something like that. This would be a good example of someone who can benefit big time by hiring a Virtual Assistant.
You don’t have the work available to hire a specialist in one particular position, but you need to be able to get off your plate a load of stuff so you can maximize your time or get more time back.
A virtual assistant is perfect for you.
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You can hire someone in the Philippines for a fraction of what it costs you somewhere, like the States, UK, Australia, Canada, etc.
If you hire a good Virtual Assistant, they’ll be able to do various things for you.
Think of stuff like posting on social media, replying to customers, admin stuff, follow-ups, scheduling, basic graphic stuff on Canva, or something similar.
Your VA will be a godsend. You’ll free up time, get more stuff done, and give yourself more options on what you want to do with your day.
If, however, you’re a business looking to hire dedicated positions. Then a Virtual Assistant is probably not the best fit.
Instead, go hire part-time, or better still, full-time staff in the Philippines to work for you.
Is hiring a Virtual Assistant worth the money?
Well, it depends on how much your time is worth and what you’d do with the time you get back.
I always tell people this.
You have a monetary cost to your time. Yes, you want to maximize that. It’s important.
However, you also have a time cost that often gets forgotten by these “10x megalomaniacs”, and this is the fact that every hour you get a little older, your limited time gets depleted.
Is there a monetary value in people being able to free up time to go have mini breaks or holidays with their family?
What about going to the kids' sports games because you no longer need to spend silly hours?
Leverage is the word you’ll here get thrown about in books and the online world, and It’s true. Leverage is crucial.
But the key to leveraging time is delegating things, and the key to earning more for your time is increasing the value your business delivers to its customers.
Of course, to get more customers, you need them to notice you.
In today's day and age, you need to post online, create how-to’s, and do stuff that not long ago was like something out of cuckoo land.
I hired my first virtual assistant because I hated doing much of the stuff I knew I needed to do.
I avoid social media as much as I can.
The nature of my business and what I do, I need to have some exposure, and that’s why I do some specialist content like these newsletters, the odd blog, and the occasional podcast appearance.
However, I try my best to avoid social media feeds.
I used to get involved in politics and all that stuff. I realized it’s a waste of energy and time to argue with strangers over stuff that won't impact my life.
So to get away from those distractions or things that would get me riled up and annoyed, I outsourced them to a Virtual Assistant.
I try to keep these newsletters short and sweet, and as promised, here are my five crucial questions test that any business owner must ask themselves before deciding if hiring a virtual assistant is worth it for them.
You must ask yourself five questions to decide if hiring a Virtual Assistant is worth the money!
Ask those questions, consume a bit more content, and decide whether hiring a virtual assistant is worth the money.
I’d suggest the next content you check out is the Ultimate Salary Guide for Hiring Virtual Staff in the Philippines. We update this every year, so it’s always up to date.
In this free downloadable guide, you’ll be able to see how much it costs to hire a virtual assistant, plus some top tips based on my in-the-trenches experience.
