At one point or another, we all have to face one simple, hard truth: you can’t do all of the things, all of the time. After experiencing this for myself firsthand, what I’ve come to learn is that time is undoubtedly the most valuable resource we have in life, yet many of us spend it in the wrong places or waste it away, without truly realising its worth.

In this blogpost, I’m going to be sharing the importance of time management in business, and why hiring virtual assistants is absolutely KEY in taking your online business to the next level. If you want to know more, keep reading!

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:

(Watch The Video On YouTube) 

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST BELOW:

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What is a virtual assistant?

You might laugh when I tell you that once upon a time I had no idea what a virtual assistant (VA) actually was, but it’s the truth! We all have to start somewhere, right?

A virtual assistant is basically a person who provides support to another business from a remote location; this can be anywhere in the world (but obviously somewhere with a decent internet connection!). The VA is hired to help you and your business in any area that you might need support in. This can be anything from admin and customer support through to marketing; from legal nitty-gritties through to accounting and finances.

Back in August 2015, just two months after starting out in the world of online arbitrage, I hired my first ever VA. To tell you that I was MIND-BLOWN at the concept, and then the reality, of there being someone pretty much on the other side of the world who could assist me in the day-to-day running of my business, is an understatement. For me, it was the most incredible thing and hand on heart, without my (now numerous!) VAs, Life Success Engineer would in no way be experiencing the level of success it is today.

My VA changed my life!

The experience of hiring my first ever VA was truly life-changing, as this was the first stepping stone for massive growth in my business. My first virtual assistant was a sourcing assistant who would spend her time sourcing products for our online arbitrage business, and then send these lists across to me on a regular basis – taking a whole load of work off my hands, while simultaneously giving me back the valuable gift of time to spend elsewhere, as I developed and grew my business.

Of course, as with anything new, there was a learning curve, and both the VA and I were learning together on this new journey as we went along. However, now I look back, I wouldn’t change anything because of the massive value that this one simple move has brought to my life and my businesses.

Why do you need a VA?

So why should you hire a VA?

The simple answer is: TO HELP YOU BUILD AND GROW YOUR OPERATIONS.

Whether your business is very new or whether you’re at a point now where you know you need to take it to the next level, taking your money and investing it into a resource that is going to give you more time, is so, so valuable. Investing money into a team member that is going to help your business grow is absolutely KEY, which is why employing virtual assistants is an absolute game-changer.

The most crucial thing for me when it came to hiring a VA, was looking at those areas where I was spending way too much time and outsourcing these time-consuming tasks elsewhere, to give me more time to focus on other areas which would further grow my business.

TAKE MY SENIOR VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS ONLINE COURSE HERE.

Other benefits of VAs

I can’t do a blogpost on virtual assistants without mentioning some of the other amazing benefits of bringing VAs into your team. So from personal experience, a few of these other benefits include:

• The time difference – more often than not, you’ll end up hiring someone who is in a different country to you. For me, my first VA was in a different time zone meaning that while I was sleeping at night, she was working on sourcing lists during her day time. I’d wake up in the morning to sourcing spreadsheets already in my inbox – a truly amazing experience!
• Wages – of course, living costs and wages differ all around the world, and when you’re newly starting out on your business journey, you usually can’t afford to spend huge amounts of money on outsourcing. With there being highly-skilled virtual assistants in so many countries around the world, you’ll find that you’re able to pay much less than what you’d pay someone here in the UK, while still getting a stellar level of performance. Win-win!

• The vast range of expertise and skills – honestly, the perfect person for your business and for your team is out there. Whatever you need to help your business grow, is OUT THERE 

My top tips on what to do before hiring a virtual assistant

Finally, I just wanted to share some of the things that I have learnt on my virtual assistant journey, and some of the actions I think are crucial to take before actually hiring someone…

1. Look at your strengths and your weaknesses. List those areas that you’re not so competent in and put them on your list of tasks to outsource

2. Look at the areas in your business that take the most time, that you specifically, don’t need to do. Put them on that list, too!

3. Develop your mission statement, what you’re trying to achieve and how your virtual assistant will fit into that

4. Figure out the logistics and tools that will make your working relationship with your VA as smooth and easy as possible. Set up tools such as Slack, Google Drive and Asana

5. Keep an open mind, be flexible and know that your perfect virtual team is out there waiting for you!

Next steps

So now you’ve read all you need to know about why you should have a VA or a few in your life, it’s time to take that MASSIVE ACTION that we always speak of here at Life Success Engineer.

WATCH THE BELOW VIDEO TO LEARN HOW TO HIRE YOUR FIRST VA ON UPWORK:

(Watch the video on Youtube.)

AND THEN, WATCH THE BELOW VIDEO FOR MY TOP TIPS ON HIRING AND MANAGING VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS:

(Watch the video on Youtube.)

Finally, if you’d like extra support in hiring virtual assistants and all the information you will ever need in recruiting, training and handing everything over to your VAs, check out my Senior Virtual Assistants online course.

In this course, 5 easy-to-follow modules will teach you how to manage your team effectively and  control performance, to ensure that whenever you have time off, everything continues to run like clockwork. 

PURCHASE HERE TODAY.

Thank you so much for reading, and here’s to your massive success (with the aid of your VAs!),

Kev