Hiring a Virtual Assistant - What Do They Do & How Much is it?
So you’ve heard about “virtual assistants” and are curious about how it works.
Let me guess - you’ve started to feel the burden of day-to-day admin in your business and starting to wonder how you’re going to be able to keep up with all the work to just keep your business afloat?
We’re here to give you the 411 on all the things to think about when hiring a virtual assistant.
Let’s start with the basics: What does a Virtual Assistant do?
A virtual assistant is an admin who supports your business from afar, handling any work that a traditional administrative assistant would do. These tasks can range widely, including scheduling and calendar management, invoicing, data entry, email inbox management, and more.
What To Consider When Hiring a Virtual Assistant
There are a few things to consider when choosing your virtual assistant company. Below we’ll break down the most important things to think about before teaming up with your VA.
How Much Is a Virtual Assistant?
What Do You Need to Look For in a Virtual Assistant?
How Do You Use a Virtual Assistant in Your Business?
Should You Consider Your Virtual Assistant’s Personality?
How Much Is a Virtual Assistant?
You can get virtual assistant services at quite a wide range of prices, usually ranging from around $5-$75. The price will usually also vary depending on if the task is something more administrative (like inputting data and fielding emails) or something more advanced (like making social media posts & writing email copy).
Typically, agencies offering services at $5-15/hour are hiring virtual assistants across the world and with a less strict vetting process.
The price you’re willing to pay for your freelance virtual assistant directs correlates to the quality of the service.
The lower prices are tempting, but be careful. Every client we’ve talked to who has tried this route has mentioned the need for constant monitoring and often redoing the work, making it more expensive than the initial low price.
What Do You Need to Look For in a Virtual Assistant?
Many factors are often overlooked when looking for a virtual assistant to hire. One important factor is being in a similar time zone or being able to work on weekends. Having your virtual assistant working when you’re working can boost your productivity and familiarity in ways of working together.
When hiring a virtual assistant, talk to their references and ask for examples of the work they have done.
Ask about the ease of working with them; are they reachable during business hours? How long does it take to hear back from them?
Don’t be afraid to ask specific questions - rather know now than after you make your investment and feel like you’re too far gone.
How Do You Use a Virtual Assistant in Your Business?
Knowing how you can best work with a virtual assistant helps to identify the breadth and depth of the skillset offered by them and their company.
Ideally, you want a virtual assistant who can stick with you over a long period, meaning they should be educated, experienced, and able to adapt with you over time.
Ask about the variety of projects they’ve worked on and the successes that came out of those projects. Reading reviews on Google or Facebook can also help get a sense of the type of work the company has done.
Your virtual assistant doesn’t need to have done every single project you need before, but seeing that they’ve done a wide variety and have succeeded can indicate that they’re someone you’ll be able to trust and grow with over time.
Should You Consider Your Virtual Assistant’s Personality?
Absolutely! It’s crucial to choose someone who you want to represent your company.
Your company is essential to you as an entrepreneur, and bringing on someone—anyone, really—to your business can be scary.
Given that this person will be writing emails on your behalf, interacting with potential and current customers, and simply working with you day-in and day-out, you have to like them!
Trust us - it makes the experience much better to go with the virtual assistant who you can relate to the most.
Does working with a virtual assistant sound like it’s right for you?
If hiring a virtual office assistant sounds like the right move for you to begin saving you time and some major headaches, we’d love to have the chance to chat with you.
The Boutique COO has vast experience working with many different types of industries and worked on projects that go beyond just admin work.
Schedule your free strategy chat with us or read through some case studies of how we’ve supported businesses like yours.
