If your business is growing, then you probably have been pondering hiring someone to help.   If you are looking at hiring, have you planned out what your company needs and how you can you best spend your resources to get the most benefit.

What do you need?  Administrative help, or are you thinking, or dreaming, about hiring another “you“, an associate.   Think for a moment… what brings in your revenue; the work you do, or the admin work needed to run your business.

The work you, the business owner does, tends to be the backbone of your income, not the filing, bookkeeping or even writing your monthly newsletter.  Yes, these tasks support your business and help it grow, but you are its driving force.

In most cases, the first step will be with the admin help … if you can’t get the paperwork done, things can backlog and work against your success – you miss out on sales because you were at the bank paying your monthly tax bill. Not the best use of your time.

Hiring an office clerk to come in and do the tasks, requires having the space, equipment and extra time to manage this employee.  Generally,  you  would also have to hire someone for at least 20 hours a week, which can be costly when you factor in benefits, vacation & sick days and equipment and space. Resources that could be better spent hiring an associate.

Is there a solution?

A cost effective alternative is outsourcing your administrative needs.   If the admin work is getting done then you have more time to dedicate to the tasks that generate your business revenue.

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is great for this type of work.  They are small business owners like yourself and have the skills and dedication to give your business what it needs – that is how they sustain and grow their own business.  When you hire a VA, you decide what you require them to do and how much time you will hire them for.  Imagine… a customized employee, that doesn’t take coffee breaks!

With a VA, if you only need 10 hours of admin work each week, that is all you pay for.  Compared to a 20 hour a week employee at $17 per hour, hiring a VA to do the work can save you almost $10,000 per year.

How do you go about finding a VA for your business?  Check back here soon for Part 2 of “Is your business growing?” We’ll give you some tips on finding the help your business needs.

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