Business Launch Day 4: Interview/Hire a virtual assistant. Build a team for success

If you want to grow your business, you need a virtual assistant, and by “grow”, what I really mean is “make more money”.

You maybe thinking you do not have enough money to hire an assistant but a virtual assistant doesn’t have to be expensive. You can have someone work in your office or on their computer from somewhere across the country for a fraction of hiring someone full time. You can even hire a part-time college student.

Virtual assistant charge you for the actual time worked. Which mean, if they only worked 65 minutes on your project, you only pay the hourly rate for that 65 minutes.

Some virtual assistant usually have two payment options: Pay-As-You-Go (hourly) rate or a Prepaid Retainer (at a reduced rate) usually 10 hours per month, which is my preference

I have been working with a virtual assistant for one year and I have a fantastic relationship with her. Her name is Liz and she lives in Boston. I started with a 5-hour Retainer, additional hours are billed at the same retainer rate.

The 5-hour Retainer Rate is $55 an hour, billed in one-minute increments, with a five hour minimum rate of $275 paid in advance every month. BONUS: HTML newsletter maintenance at five-hour retainer rate.

Then I upgraded to a 10-hour Retainer hourly rate for a long-term partnership. Additional hours are billed at the same retainer rate; however, unused time does not roll over to the next month. The 10-hour Retainer Rate is $50 an hour, billed in one-minute increments, with a ten hour minimum ($500) paid in advance every month. BONUS: HTML newsletter maintenance at 10-hour retainer rate.

Here are a few tasks I was able to delegate out:

• Confirm client Condensed 2-hours Business Growth Marketing Programappointments
• Enter business cards/contact information into ACT
• Planning business and personal travel- planes, car, hotels, vacations
• Sign me to other teleclasses and workshops
• Internet research and fact checking
• Editing and proofreading
• Maintaining ezine and clients mailing
• Formatting and sending ezine
• Submitting my articles to other publications and articles sites
• Placing ad in other publications and websites
• Designing PowerPoint presentation
• Mail thank you notes

Here are the things I did to get my virtual assistant

• I visited www.AssistU.com and filled out a form detailing what things I need delegated and what my business goals are.
• I also did a search on Google for “Virtual Assistant” and got several leads and organizations.
• I was recommended a few VA’s. I also found a few VA’s from some VA organisations.
• Did a few interviews with the one’s I found interesting and made a few selections
• I worked with different VA’s for 4/5 months before I decide on the VA I work with now.


If you can not quite see how an assistant could help you deal with all the time-suckers in your business, keep a log of your business activities for a week, including how long each task takes for you to complete, then review it. Circle all the tasks that an assistant can help you with (there should be quite a few!). Consider the numbers of hours those things has taken you to accomplish, and decide if the £25-£50 an hour for the assistant would be worth the investment. If you think you can't afford it right now why not ask around in your network for someone who would be interested in an exchange of service.

Here is a list of recommended virtual assistant service I know:

www.teamdoubleclick.com

www.virtualassistantnetworking.com

Donna Toothaker
www.1stca.com

LauraLee Sparks, The Simple Solutions ~ Virtual Assistance
www.TheSimpleSolutionVa.com

Michelle Murphy
www.Murphyassistants.com


You want to look for Va’s that are well-versed in helping entrepreneurs grow their business. Start small and add hours as you feel comfortable and for what you find necessary. You’ll never regret it.

Love and success

Joyce

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Online entrepreneur Joyce Oladipo, "Business Growth Queen," is creator of the winning Attractive Marketing E-zine to Jumpstart Your Business offline and online. To learn to Grow You Business In Less Time wth Ease sign up for FREE how-to articles and FREE audio class, at www.BeAWealthyEntrepreneur.com.