What is a VA - Virtual assistant anyway?
I figured as I continued my blog [3 months later] that I would go ahead and start with a little bit of background information on what exactly a Virtual Assistant is and what they do! I am excited to get into more specifics of what Virtual Assistants can do and how they can help you find joy in your life [in or out of your business].
So first, a Virtual Assistant is someone who can be contracted to do tasks in your business for you. I have my own business [as a Virtual Assistant] and set up my contracts through it, but a VA (Virtual Assistant) can also just be a freelancer. Think of a VA as an extra set of eyes or hands to go over or support you in whichever area of your business you need the most help in.
For instance, if you need a proofreader because you have been staring at all of your marketing materials for days and cannot tell if everything is correct or you are going cross-eyed? A VA could be the support you need to look over your materials and confirm everything is correct or even catch a few one offs! Maybe you want to get into social media for marketing but have no idea where to begin because it is overwhelming or just something that you aren’t comfortable with. A VA could be the right support for you to get you started and trend on the algorithms on various social media platforms! Any tasks, big or small can be outsourced through a Virtual Assistant.
A Virtual Assistant picks up any tasks that you assign like tasks you don’t enjoy, have time for, or even something new you want to add to your business! There are Virtual Assistants for specific tasks even if you are interested in only outsourcing one thing from your business. For instance, I am a VA, but I also offer specific packages for Pinterest services. My VA packages are for really anything my clients need me to work on, whereas if I am hired for my Pinterest, that is all I am working on for that client. Many VA’s do this for Pinterest too, but also blogging, social media, copyrighting, proofreading, customer service, or even graphic creation.
So now that you know what a Virtual Assistant is and all the possibilities they can take on, why would you get one?
Well, I truly believe that if you have a VA, you get your own time back as a business owner. You can focus on why you created your business, whether that is taking photos, graphic design or web design, creating art, planning events, or creating products, and not all the other tasks that come with having and owning a business. These tasks sometimes tend to take away our focus and a lot of time from our actual act of working for our own clients and can dull the joy of working for ourselves.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant can also give us peace of mind that even if we are not working on things for the business someone else is. We can get our time back to rest, vacation, see family or friends, and/or create. A Virtual Assistant can similarly be someone you bounce ideas off and help you with any new visions for your business. Being a solopreneur can sometimes be tough and talking to others who you work with and that have a business can be helpful and make you feel seen and heard.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is sometimes the key to getting everything you need done. It’s always important, however, to make sure we are all being for real when assigning tasks and not the impossible. I mean, make sure you know how many hours you are hiring your Virtual Assistant and communicate if you have due dates or set parameters on what you need done. I will discuss more on how to work with a Virtual Assistant in another blog soon.
I hope this helps!