051: Five Misconceptions Around Hiring A Virtual Assistant

Why haven’t you hired a virtual assistant or extra support in your business yet? Far too many business owners will hesitate hiring because they believe they need to make money first or it’s just too much to think about and they’re better off doing everything themselves for the time being. Well, this kind of thinking doesn’t get you very far.

By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:

• Common misconceptions that come up when thinking about hiring a VA
• How to know what tasks are great to delegate to a VA
• How you can actually grow your business with the support of a VA

Enjoy!

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Transcript

Shannon Stone: 0:41

Hey guys. Welcome to the podcast. Super excited to jump into this episode today.

Shannon Stone: 0:53

Today, we will be talking about five misconceptions around hiring a virtual assistant. Now, I've had a lot of experience with hiring virtual assistants for my own business and then also with my clients as well. Some of you might know I did run an agency for over five years. Virtual assistants did grow the business in the beginning and I utilized a range essentially full-time virtual assistants, so not your ad hoc extra set of hands type of people, but I've helped many businesses to hire VAs as they go by in a range of different capacities. So it really depends on what is it that that person needs or that business needs, and there's a VA for you. So what I want to talk through today is some misconceptions that come up around hiring a virtual assistant, because I think this is one of the big reasons that slow people down. It is the idea of thinking that they should do everything themselves and if you are a solopreneur, you're the only one in your business. I cannot beat this drum any louder as to my reasoning behind why more businesses, especially small and micro businesses, should hire a set of extra hands, even if it's three or five hours a week. Some people might think that is so small and insignificant, but once you get a taste of it, you are going to go all in with it, and I will share a little bit about my experience with that, because I went through the same thing, thinking I wouldn't have enough things to give them and, you know, maybe I should just do it myself. So I'm going to be covering some misconceptions and addressing each of them and just lastly, before we jump into these five misconceptions, probably my biggest reasoning for hiring your team, whether it is a team in whatever capacity, or a virtual assistant, I see businesses grow not just because they commit to growing their sales, and that's what so many people think it's just.

Shannon Stone: 2:45

I need to just get more sales. I just commit to growing their sales, and that's what so many people think it's just. I need to just get more sales. I just need to focus on sales and marketing, and that's how my business grows. It's definitely a big piece, but it's only one piece of what needs to grow, and so I find the more successful or the faster growing businesses are the ones that commit to growing their whole business, not just their sales. So when I say your whole business, it's looking at everything, but your team is definitely a big part of that. That's why I say it's never just one thing that grows someone's business, and it's not just sales and marketing. It's looking at your systems, it's looking at your team, it's looking at your service suite and how you're servicing people. It's looking at everything holistically and when you grow all of it collectively, some at different priorities based on time and all sorts of different factors but we have to grow the whole business, not just the sales, and I wanted to share that at the start, because people will often think I just need to make sales and that's all it's about. But it's about growing your whole whole business, not just the sales and marketing, a number of clients that you're working with or how much you're charging.

Shannon Stone: 3:49

So let's get into the five misconceptions now. Number one it's got to be the most common, but it is around the cost and it's about this idea that in order to invest in a VA or invest in a team member, I need to make that money first. And I always understand everyone's in different situations, but it really is one of these scenarios where it's like the chicken or the egg Do you make money first or do you spend money first? And this is why I love the, I guess, the virtual assistant economy, because it allows you to invest in an extra set of hands around your budget or what you're able to spend. You know you can actually get someone for three, five, 10, 20 hours a week, rather than going all in and committing, you know, 30, 40 hours with someone. So the number one misconception is around the cost. But if you keep looking at it as delaying it because of the cost involved, you are probably going to stay here forever and you're always going to have this, I guess, this mindset to hiring and mindset to growing your business, that in order to invest in anything or the things that your business actually needs to grow. It's going to cost you, and yes, it's going to cost you, but what something's got to give? Essentially, it's either your time it's either your money, and I think hiring a virtual assistant. It is one of those where, if we could just suck it up for a little bit, and even if cashflow is a little bit leaner than how you would normally like it, you're going to see it pay off. And I can do multiple episodes around virtual assistants, but this one today.

Shannon Stone: 5:25

We have to start with some of the misconceptions first. So the cost involved yes, it's a chicken or an egg situation, but if you don't invest that money and those resources and your time as well, because it takes time to train that person to organize the tasks they're going to be working on, if you don't almost suck that up a little bit, you're going to be staying in the place you're at for much longer than you would like. And if you think about your history in business so far, like something's got to change if you want things to change, and maybe this is what it is for you. So that's misconception number one. Misconception number two is around what tasks you have to give them. So people think it's like, oh, I wouldn't even know where to start. Like, what do I even give to them? This is so common.

Shannon Stone: 6:11

It's not just for solo and micro small businesses. It can be for other businesses with teams as well. I love when teams and more established businesses will hire a virtual assistant Just extra set of hands doing some consistent, regular tasks. That takes the load off the team. It is like night and day difference when you get a little bit extra help there. But this misconception number two is around. I guess what are the tasks that you even need to give to them? And my best advice here is to Get tasks together that you want done on a recurring basis and you want those tasks done consistently.

Shannon Stone: 6:48

Now, for so many businesses, it's their marketing. If you just think about their marketing, it's like the number one area that people are inconsistent with. It's like getting content out on their socials, emailing their database, even following up with leads. Like, what are the regular tasks and activities that you want done on a recurring basis and you want them done consistently? And even if you just think about social media content, for example, or even just scheduling content some people are great at creating the content and then they never schedule it. So that would be an excellent task or area of activities that you can give to a VA to do on a consistent basis and on a recurring basis, which I can do.

Shannon Stone: 7:28

So much of this on virtual assistants, but whether they're local or offshore, I've utilized both. I recommend both. But giving any team member recurring and consistent tasks, it's always going to train them up to be very skilled at that task and it's going to get done better. It's going to get done quicker the more time that goes on. So misconception number two is, I guess, busting the myth around you not knowing what tasks to even give to them. There's plenty you could definitely give them. Just do a Google or a chat GPT search on what that could be. But my best advice is give them the tasks that are recurring and give them the tasks that you want done consistently. Give them the tasks that are recurring and give them the tasks that you want done consistently, okay. Misconception number three, similar to number two, but this one is around not having enough tasks to give them to keep them busy.

Shannon Stone: 8:17

Now I'll share a quick story. My first, actually my second, virtual assistant that I hired. The first person I hired was a uni student locally to help me out, but my first online remote virtual assistant, I hired her for 20 hours a week, which to me like was astronomical. Like the uni student was helping me. Maybe, I don't know, it could have been that five hour mark every single week, but I knew I needed a little bit more help. And when you hire a VA for more time, they're more focused on you because essentially, you're a client of theirs. It depends. It depends how they run their life or their business if they're treating this as a business or as a job or whatever it might be. There's a lot of different dynamics around the VA economy.

Shannon Stone: 9:02

But I hired someone for 20 hours a week and I thought that was going to be a big stretch. I'm never going to find enough tasks to be able to give her and it would have been in the first two weeks. I bumped her up to 40 hours a week because I found plenty of things that I could give to my virtual assistant and what this does. I understand the thinking because I was completely there as well, thinking I'm never going to have enough tasks to give them, but what it does. It helps you. It forces you actually to find things to give to a virtual assistant to do, because you are paying this person. You don't want them sitting around waiting for you to send things across. It forces you to figure out what can I give this person to do and also prepare some backup tasks as well. So if they finish those things they can go on to the next thing. But you will definitely find, as soon as you commit to even if it's five hours a week, you'll get organized, you'll prepare some tasks for that person and you'll probably start to exceed the time limit that you've engaged them for.

Shannon Stone: 10:02

So in that case, for me it was 20 hours a week. I filled that up very, very quickly and then I bit the bullet and I went to the 40 hours a week and there's a lot of reason to that rhyme. It's 40 hours a week. Is that typical full-time work? I wanted someone who didn't have to make up their income with other clients. I wanted them to be fully focused on my business and set it up almost like an employee structure, and it worked well in the end. And then I've worked with at the same time in my business about four or five virtual assistants at once. But, yeah, it kind of gives you a glimpse into what you can do there and I guess to remove the misconception that you're not going to have enough tasks to give them. Trust me, I am sure you find yourself busy every single day with endless things to do and you will definitely be able to find plenty of tasks to give to that person.

Shannon Stone: 10:55

Okay, misconception number four is around the work required to manage someone. So to manage a virtual assistant as well as manage yourself. Because now it's like often I find people who hire virtual assistants, especially in the beginning, are trying to get tasks off their plate that they have been doing themselves. And when those tasks you've been doing yourself, that's all in your head. You know exactly what to do. It's very easy to pick up and do that, but then to even think about giving that to someone else, it's like now you're not just thinking about managing you know a virtual assistant, you're thinking about better managing yourself.

Shannon Stone: 11:33

If you think about how your workflow is in your business or maybe how you create your marketing, for example, you know, are you just kind of coming up with it on the spot of like, oh, I didn't get a post out today or oh, we've got to get together the monthly newsletter campaign, like things are probably happening, maybe on a consistent basis, but maybe they're still a little bit ad hoc as far as how you're kind of coming up with it. But what I would say to this is that these are just the growing pains, and I always ask people like what kind of business do you want? You say you want to grow, but you won't make the, I guess, the moves in order to grow. Your business and people will just stay stagnant. It's like it's just easier for me if I just did this myself.

Shannon Stone: 12:14

So this misconception is around, I guess, understanding that, yes, you are going to have to manage someone. It's not that you can just like flick tasks over to them and expect them to know exactly what to do. There's going to be training involved and then also, on your end of things, you're going to have to better manage yourself. So if area of tasks that you're giving to your VA or your virtual assistant is social media, I'm sure there's going to be some part of what you do that's required in that social media. So maybe your VA only schedules the content, which means you still have to create the content, and maybe up until now you've been very inconsistent at creating that content, so you're going to have to become really good at managing yourself so you could create that content, say on a weekly basis. So your VA has actually has content to even schedule. So what I love about this is it it sounds counterintuitive, but it's like a little trick to get you to get the job done. It's like it's crazy, but up until now you may have been inconsistent with creating content, but the second you've got someone there on standby waiting to schedule it. Every single week you're going to be putting together your three, five, seven posts, whatever it is that you're doing, whatever frequency it is. So, yes, there's work to manage someone else, but there's also work to manage yourself. But I love that it's a secret little hack or a little trick to help you to almost create the business that you say you actually want.

Shannon Stone: 13:41

And coming back to what I said in the beginning, it's not just about the sales. We're not just about growing your sales, your marketing, your number of clients, what you're charging. It's about growing your whole business. And so for people to understand and recognize that part of this is growing all these other bits and pieces, it's your team, it's the training required, it's the systems around it and it's growing yourself. It's like flexing those consistency muscles and helping you to really be that real boss, business owner that you want to be and that you probably see yourself in the future as well. These are just the tactical things that help you to step into that. So that is a misconception.

Shannon Stone: 14:22

Number four, around the work required to manage yourself and someone else. And the final one, similar to number four, but there's a huge misconception that people think it's just easier if I do all of this by myself. You know, right now maybe, even if I'm not doing it consistently, but it's just better for me if I just do it yourself. Now, I 100% believe that a solopreneur business or the solopreneur stage is the hardest stage of business, and even this still shows up. This doing everything by myself shows up in the established businesses that I work with as well. It's like you know they're doing things that are not the highest and best use of their time and sometimes it just takes an outsider to say, hey, we need to get all these things off your plate, because these are the things that are slowing you down. So we have to really get over the fact that it's not easier to do everything yourself.

Shannon Stone: 15:21

What happens when you delegate tasks to someone? You prepare the task Depending on their skills. You might train them up in the task and they might have questions. There might be some growing pains around getting them up to speed, but once they're up to speed, you never have to take that task back again. So while it will be harder in the beginning to give that task off to someone and to just deal with the mistakes they make and they're going to be slower at it than you in the beginning, all these kinds of things Once you overcome that it's going to save you for the rest of your life, your business, your whatever timeframe it's on. So it is not easier to do things by yourself.

Shannon Stone: 16:03

And if you think that you're always going to be thinking that, I guess a common thread through this podcast episode is, I guess, the perspective at which we look at things. And if you think it's always going to be easier to do it yourself, if you think that it's too much work to manage someone, I'll just do it myself. Or you know what comes first the chicken or the egg. Do I invest first or do I wait for the money to come in. You know it's so much about your perspective. So I hope these have helped you to shift some of those misconceptions around hiring a virtual assistant.

Shannon Stone: 16:34

Now action steps for you here. So wherever you're at in business, I would even just entertain the idea for you to hire a virtual assistant, even if it's for five hours a week. So what I want to do with this action step it's almost an activity is to prepare yourself to hire, even if you've hired before. But this is what I want you to do. Number one say you are hiring a VA for five hours a week. Number one what are the tasks you would give them? So think about your business. What are those recurring tasks you would like done? That's a great place to start. That you would like done consistently. So write out what those tasks are that you would like to give to someone. You would just love to get those off your plate, and so many people tell me it's always marketing. So that's number one.

Shannon Stone: 17:20

Then number two what task will you need to do regularly in order to ensure your virtual assistant has their tasks ready to go? So say you delegate social media marketing or scheduling social media content or creating graphics, for example. That's your VA's task. Now, what are the tasks? You need to prepare yourself so they have what they need, so they can go off and do the tasks you've assigned to them. Maybe it's you need to write the captions. Maybe it's you need to write the captions. Maybe it's you need to give instructions on certain things. Maybe you've delegated to them to do your email marketing. Maybe on your task it's you know what is actually just an outline of what goes into that email, for example.

Shannon Stone: 18:04

So number two is looking at what are the tasks that you need to do regularly so that your VA has the tasks ready to go for them. And then number three and I think this is really the juice this is where things start to pay off. It's what tasks does all of this free you up to do? So you hire a virtual assistant. You get them organized with tasks to do. You get yourself organized with things that are in relation to the tasks that you've given to them.

Shannon Stone: 18:33

And finally, because you're going to save more time with this and, yes, it'll take a bit of time to get it up and running, but once you do, what does all of this free you up to do to grow your business? Is it focusing on sales? Is it focusing on marketing? Is it focusing on servicing your clients so you can get incredible case studies and reviews and testimonials? Is it doing more networking?

Shannon Stone: 18:57

Work out what does, by having this extra set of hands in your business, where they're focusing on recurring tasks that you want done consistently, what does this free you up to do in your business so your business can keep moving forward? Because what we don't want to happen is that you're just paying someone to help you in your business and you're not moving any more further forward. So you need to work out what does this free you up to do even more so your business does grow. So that is the plan that I give to you for helping you to hire a virtual assistant. Even if it is for five hours a week, that little bit will make a huge dent in any business, any business. So that's what I have for you today.

Shannon Stone: 19:40

I hope you found this useful. If you have any questions around hiring a virtual assistant, making them really productive, optimizing them, optimizing yourself with using a VA, feel free to reach out. We could definitely chat about this topic until the end of time. There's a lot of things that we could discuss around this, but I find hiring a virtual assistant or getting the business owner less on the tools and more onto their highest and best use activities is one of those big giant needle movers. And, like I said right at the start, it's not just about growing your sales, it's about growing your whole business. It's about growing your team, your systems, everything in between, not just your sales and marketing. So I hope you found this useful and I'll chat to you very soon.