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Why thousands of entrepreneurs are switching to Virtual Assistants in 2021

Barnaby

Barnaby Lashbrooke

Founder and CEO of Time etc, author of The Hard Work Myth

2 minute read

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Not enough hours in the day to get everything done, the way you want it done? Here’s why hiring a Virtual Assistant could save you time and allow your business to grow.

Entrepreneurs and business owners are notorious for investing every ounce of time and energy into their enterprises.

There's no team picking up the slack so if you want it done you have to do it yourself right?

How's that working for you?

Imagine if Liam Neeson's character in the movie Taken had to put aside his "unique set of skills" to take care of his travel arrangements or post content on Facebook? That movie would have bombed at the box office.

That's why thousands of entrepreneurs are switching to Virtual Assistants in 2021 and spending their precious time doing what they excel at and love.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is an experienced executive assistant but instead of having to pay someone full-time, you only pay when you need them.

Compared to hiring, using a VA is a fraction of the cost and you won't have to find them a desk or cover employee costs.

They are based in the USA, work remotely from home, and have flexible hours to suit themselves and their clients.

VAs come from a wide range of backgrounds and a wide field of expertise, so whatever a business or entrepreneur needs, there's a VA who can do it.

Businesses that hire VAs can have a dedicated assistant or a small team of VAs if the work takes in more than one discipline

A Virtual Assistant lets you work smarter, not harder.

Why use a Virtual Assistant?

Ultimately, hiring a VA means you can stop working 'in' your business and start working 'on' it instead.

When you're mired in the tiny details that a small business requires, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture.

Did you start your business so you could do paperwork and manage appointments or did want to change lives or create a global business?

Are you getting to use your unique set of skills?

Virtual Assistants use theirs so you can use yours, freeing up not only time, but often the mental space to think and plan growth for the future.

When you’re not stressed out about the details you can focus on the heart of your business, on your creativity, and on your clients.

Can you imagine feeling truly organized for the first time in months? Maybe it's been years since you last felt that way.

A Virtual Assistant can take the pressure off by completing the day-to-day tasks that need to be done, they just don't need to be done by you.

See: Virtual Assistant Vs. Freelancer: The Best Ways To Outsource

Who are Virtual Assistants for?

Did you know that the average business owner loses 30% of every week to time-wasting tasks that don't push their business forward?

What would you do if you got 30% of your week back?

  • Spend time with your family?
  • Spend more time with clients?
  • Take time to think and plan?
  • Take time out to spend on the things you enjoy?

Sounds like heaven, right?

It's a reality for more and more entrepreneurs and small business owners, and it could be yours.

Entrepreneurs can focus on growing their business, coaches and consultants can maximize billable time and executives can focus on delivering on goals and targets.

If you're part of a team think how much more could be achieved if a Virtual Assistant could take over essential but repetitive tasks that eat into your working day.

Virtual Assistants are for any business owner who wants to offload tasks and get some time back.

See: Virtual Assistant Vs. Personal Assistant: The Best Support for Business Owners

How can a Virtual Assistant free up your time?

Everyone has tasks they hate doing, or worse, have no clue how to do. They're important, so they sit on your to-do list staring at you until you finally sit down and try to check them off.

Are those tasks a good use of your time? No. Are they essential? Yes.

Virtual Assistants solve that problem.

A Virtual Assistant can tackle the parts of your to-do list that never seem to get crossed off or reappear regularly so you can't ignore them but they take up so much of your time.

For instance, are your email notifications driving you to distraction?

A VA can take over for you, sifting out the spam and the general information requests so you only have to deal with the emails that really require your time.

If your business requires appointments, is it really a good use of your time setting them up instead of seeing clients? What if the time you saved using a VA to deal with your schedule meant you could see more clients? Isn't that what you love to do?

Keeping on top of your social media eats up time like nothing else. You have to create the content, post it, and multiply that by the number of platforms you have...

...and yet, you can't take your foot off the gas when it comes to social media marketing.

As soon as you do, your followers drift off, and the competition steps in. A VA could take that load off your shoulders, writing content, and posting consistently.

Probably the least favorite task for most people are the dreaded expenses and finances.

It’s a love-hate thing.

Do you have a stack of receipts clogging up your inbox? Or maybe a backlog of invoices that need to be sent out but you just haven't had the time. Almost certainly you have sent invoices that haven't been paid and haven't found the time to chase them up.

You work hard to build a business but then it takes so much time trying to keep track of the money you're making.

If you hire a Virtual Assistant they can submit your expenses, send out invoices, and chase the outstanding ones. Then you can get on with tasks that actually generate money.

Here are more ideas of what a VA can do for you:

  • Transcribe audio
  • Edit and format documents
  • Data entry
  • Help with marketing
  • Writing and blog posts
  • Respond to emails
  • Research
  • Find products and services
  • Book accommodation and travel

As you can see, a Virtual Assistant can support you personally and professionally, to get more done in less time, each of you focussed on your own area of expertise.

How much does a Virtual Assistant cost?

You're probably loving the idea of a VA by now but think that you probably can't afford one. Well, a VA costs up to 90% less than an experienced full-time assistant.

Bet that surprised you.

See, with a VA you're only paying for the assistance you need rather than a full-time salary.

If you’re a small business or an entrepreneur, you're unlikely to need a full-time member of staff because you run the business, or perhaps your personal brand is the business. Much of it can only be done by you.

So hiring a VA to cover the 30% of time-wasting tasks we talked about earlier on, is much more efficient and much more affordable.

Let's look at the differences between a full-time assistant and a Virtual Assistant:

Requirements

Virtual Assistant

Full-time Assistant

Time to get started

Instantly

6-8 weeks with hiring costs and salary

Need 3+ years experience

Available

Need to pay more

Need to cancel

No problem

Committed to a contract

Overhead costs

None

Desk, computer, utilities

Cover for sickness or vacations

Easy

Hard

Need additional skills on tap

No problem

Need to hire more help

Work the specific hours you need

Name the day and time

9-5

Fuss-free Management

Easy

Management & HR headaches

The beauty of Virtual Assistants is they are experts in their field so they could probably do the work much faster than you can, so you get your 30% of time back and only need to pay for 10% of it.

Let's give you a tangible example.

Here at Time etc, our prices start at $270 which will give you a bundle of 10 hours. So for $270, you could probably get your time-wasting work up to date and feel a huge sense of relief.

From there, you can buy additional bundles to keep on top of the administrative side of your business so you can actually put your energy into seeing paying clients, growing your product range, and making money.

The more hours you buy, the cheaper the hourly cost becomes so you can control exactly how much you are paying and plan ahead for your business.

How flexible are Virtual Assistants?

The reason so many entrepreneurs are switching to VAs is because of their flexibility.

If you get your best ideas at night and need someone to do some fast research a VA will be there to do that for you.

Maybe you like to get up at dawn on a Monday to plan the week ahead. You can talk to a VA as the sun is coming up and pass on your to-do list.

If you are constantly on the go and need to fire off tasks as they occur to you, at Time etc you can use text or an app to communicate with your VA so you don't even have to be in the office to get work done.

If you love email because it's how you organize your thinking, a VA will be there to receive it. Of course, some people do their best work talking on the phone and pacing around so you can call a VA if that works better for you.

VAs are so flexible they fit in with you, not the other way around.

Beyond flexibility, Virtual Assistants are responsive.

Virtual Assistants know that if you have a task, you probably need it done pretty quickly so they work fast but accurately and if a task is really urgent, there’s no extra charge to get it done.

How can you try a Virtual Assistant for free?

As one of the leading Virtual Assistant companies, Time etc has supported over 16,000 entrepreneurs and helped them save almost 1 million hours!

You could be one of them.

Time etc will let you try a real Virtual Assistant for free, with no credit card needed.

Got a task that's been hanging around and you just can't get it done? Or just want to test the service?

Here's how:

  1. Go to the Time etc website and Click 'Free trial' on the menu
  2. Enter your details and type in a task you'd like to get done (this can be a real task or just something to test the service out - like some research)
  3. Click Submit - That's it! Getting a free Time etc trial is as easy as having a VA.

Within 24 hours a real Virtual Assistant will start work on your task and you'll be able to see for yourself how it feels for someone else to do the tasks that waste your time!

There's really nothing to lose and everything to gain:

  • More time
  • More headspace
  • More business

Small businesses and entrepreneurs can have exactly the support they need, for the amount of time they need without any of the hassles of hiring, interviewing, managing, and contracting.

Time etc makes working with a VA totally transparent so you can check your dashboard at any time to see the progress of tasks and see when you are running low on purchased hours.

Isn't it time you got to spend time on your business doing what you love and let someone else do the rest?

Find out what thousands of entrepreneurs just like you already know: Having a Virtual Assistant can give you your life back, so you can spend it doing whatever you want, knowing you have expert support behind you.

Achieve your best, every day

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Do more, earn more and achieve more by delegating the tasks that waste your time to a Virtual Assistant.

A Virtual Assistant acts just like an executive assistant but at a fraction of the cost.

Join more than 22,000 entrepreneurs who have discovered that a Virtual Assistant can help free their time, focus on what matters and grow their businesses.

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About the author

Barnaby
Barnaby Lashbrooke is the founder and CEO of Virtual Assistant service Time etc as well as the author of The Hard Work Myth, recently recommended by Sir Richard Branson. Barnaby is a Forbes Columnist on productivity and is also an accomplished entrepreneur, selling more than $35 million worth of services.

Psssst...want a free copy of my book The Hard Work Myth?

Share this article now for your instant download:

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