How Hiring a VA Can Actually Make You Money!

Your Dream Business

English - August 17, 2020 00:00 - 30 minutes - 56.3 MB - ★★★★★ - 34 ratings
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Previous Episode: 5 Ways to Make Your Marketing More Inclusive with Sonia Thompson

Next Episode: 5 Steps to Converting Prospects to Customers via your Website with Ben Bellamy

In this week’s episode I want to talk to you about outsourcing and bringing on a virtual assistant. I’m going to tell you all the benefits of bringing on a virtual assistant, and how it will actually make you more money.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCASTIf you are doing a task in your business more than twice, you shouldn’t be doing it.Every time you are doing a task that you don’t have to do in your business, you are paying your hourly rate.If a task is not your zone of genius or it is a process, you don’t have to do it!You do not have to do everything in your business.In the UK, you can expect to pay anything from £25-£40 per hour for a VA depending on experience. In the Philippines, you can expect to pay between $5-$15 per hour.You don’t have to have a full time VA, they can do as many hours as you need.VAs can get things done so much quicker than you can.Different people can do different things, no one can do absolutely everything.You have to make sure you are managing your team and giving them enough work to do.
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…You do not have to do EVERYTHING in your business, you can outsource it. Whilst they are doing those tasks, you can focus on the things that only you can do.HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISSWhat is a virtual assistant? 05:00You do not have to do everything! 05:35My VA experience 12:00Hiring a Filipino VA 13:42The cost of hiring a VA 19:20Working with a VA 23:56
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAYS EPISODE

Ben Bellamy

Katie Podcast Episode

Philippines Online Jobs

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Loom

Transcript below

Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? So I just want you to pitch it for a second. I'm sat in my office, windows open. I've got a fan that blaring at my feet. I'm hoping you can't hear that too much.

And I'm slowly melting. Now I am really not one to complain about the weather, but I just really struggle when it's humid. I love the heat. I don't like sitting in my office melting and slowly my makeup falling off my face because it's so warm. So that's where I am today. Recording this podcast episode.

And I'm recording it late again. The team are so very kind and gracious to me because obviously these last few weeks have been somewhat crazy and hectic, and I am still only just getting back into the swing of things. But the other thing that's happened is obviously when mum was poorly and died and obviously I'm seeing my dad an awful lot, make sure he's okay.

I was basically putting everything on hold. So there was calls. I should have done interviews. I should have done me being interviewed and all these various things. And now of course, I've pushed them all back and they're all in my diary at once. So my days, are crazy busy as well as I've literally just come back from seeing my dad just to make sure he's all good.

So it has been a little bit of a busy few weeks, but I'm hoping now to get ahead, which would be good. However, during this crazy time, something kind of cool has finished. A project has finished for us here. And that is my new website. Now I am a huge advocate of you still having a website it's still really, really important.

And next week, we've got an interview where we talk about websites and we talk about some of the things...

Ben Bellamy

Katie Podcast Episode

Philippines Online Jobs

Slack

Loom

Transcript below

And next week, we've got an interview where we talk about websites and we talk about some of the things that you want to do to ensure, to convert people when they're on your site. But I'm a huge advocate for it. And I've always had someone do my website for me, because as you will know, I am not that techie.

So a website is definitely not something I would do for fun. So I've been working with the very lovely Ben Bellamy and he has created me a beautiful site, which I love, and I've done lots of different things to this site. So for instance, my speaker page goes into loads of detail of my, about page is my story now.

Um, so if you didn't know my story, then you'll get to hear that. And there's lots of, kind of, um. There's lots of like little features and things that I didn't have before. So I'm really pleased with it. I love it. Please do go check it out. I'd love to hear what you think. So that would be fab. Okay. So that's pretty cool.

We got that done. Cause it didn't feel like I was going to get that done that while everything else was going on. And actually this is kind of like a good, a good time to talk about today's topic. Because as I said, I got someone else to do my site. Because I do not have the skills and yes, I could learn them because we're in a world where we have Google and it can teach us anything.

However, I don't have the time or the inclination to do either of those things. So it made perfect sense for me to outsource that. To pay someone who does know what they're talking about. Do know what they're doing and get them to do the work that I would take forever to do, and it probably would have been dreadful.

And that's what I want to talk to you about today. I want to talk to you about outsourcing and in particular, talk to you about bringing on a virtual assistants. And I'm going to be real teachery today, and I'm going to like go a really firm hardline with you because I see obviously businesses all the time.

I speak to entrepreneurs all the time and I see that basically. They are nervous or they have a load of reasons why they can't bring on a virtual assistant. Mostly down to "I can't afford it". But today I want to talk to you about how not only bringing on a virtual assitant will be amazing, but also how it will actually help you make more money.

So this episode is very, very much in praise to my amazing assistants that work with me and almost like an odd to them. And both of them have dealings with the podcast. So both of them will listen to this. And I want them to know that they are a massive, massive support in my world. And my business would not be the business is today without having my systems that I've had.

So let's get started with this. So let's just talk about what a virtual assistant is just in case you didn't know. So virtual assistant is basically someone that works with you in your business from a virtual place, obviously. So they don't have to be in the same room in the same town or even the same country.

And they work alongside you to do specific tasks and things. Now. There is a saying out there that basically says, I think James Wedmore originally said it to me that "If you are doing something in your business, more than twice the same task, you shouldn't be doing it". And I want you just to, I'm jumping around here a bit, but actually it's something just coming to my head.

I want you to think about what's your hourly rates. Okay. So I don't know whether you've given that any thoughts since you have your own business and no one is actually paying you by the hour. And if they are paying you by the hour, it's when you're specifically doing something for that person. And therefore you might not be getting a full time salary being paid by the hour.

But I want you to think about what you actually charging at your time outs. And then I want you to think what if you had to pay that every time you sat and did a task that you didn't need to do? What if I had to pay someone my rate, every time I wanted to mess around in Canva for a few hours now I do love messing around in Canva.

So the thing is, I don't even give that to anybody. I like to do it, but I do it in an evening while I'm half watching the telly and having a glass of wine. And therefore, I don't feel too guilty about that. But, I want you to think of it that way. I want you to think about every time you are doing a task that you do not have to do in your business.

What if you had to pay yourself your hourly rate and I mean, your good hourly rate. I don't mean the hourly rate that you like, "Well, you know, and probably there's", I mean, this is what I should be charging hourly rate. So that's the first thing I want you to think about. Like I said, if you have to pay it for it, that would be a lot of money for you to mess around on Canva, if that's your thing.

Okay. The next thing I want you to think about is when you went into business, you went into business because you, you are really good at a particular thing. The thing that you sell, the thing, that's your service. You are really good at that thing. And that's why you went into business. So I went into business for myself because I kick butt up marketing. Okay. And I'm feeling really empowered cause I've just finished reading the Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. And basically we need to like be our own biggest cheerleader. So I am going to be blazing and say, I am amazing at marketing. I've spent my entire career. Doing marketing, talking about marketing, helping businesses with marketing, making huge mistakes in marketing.

So I am really good at what I do. I know I am. So I get into this business and I think brilliant. How hard can this be? I'm an expert in marketing and that's then my business. I'm going to help people with marketing. Yeah. But that doesn't mean I can run a business that doesn't mean I need to do admin. That doesn't mean I need to do finance hate finance.

It doesn't mean I know how to do all those other bits of my business. And not only, even if I do know it, even if I do know how to complete a process for the podcast or do something else that is, you know, something that isn't doing marketing, that's not my zone of genius. That's not where I am best spent.

It's like having a whole team of people and giving, I don't know, the chef and getting the chef to go and plaster your walls or, you know, getting a marketing person to go and do some HR. It's just not our bag. It's not our thing. So we are not the most efficient and effective people to do this. So that's the other thing I want you to think about that you, this is not your job.

You shouldn't be doing this. This should be someone else. And again, I know you're saying, but I can't afford this. I can't afford this. Bear with me on that. Okay. So, like I said, first thing, your hourly rate, if you had to pay yourself, that would be a very expensive member of staff. Secondly, this isn't your zone of genius.

This isn't what you should be doing. And thirdly, if it's a process, you don't have to do it. So if it's a process, anybody can follow that process as long as you make it clear enough. And that's what I want you to think about because the other thing that people often think when they talk about getting a virtual assistant is, "Well, what would I get them to do?"

And you're kind of in your head think, "Well, I'm not sure what I'd get him to do. So I don't know that I need one." Oh, believe me, the minute you get one, and then you start realizing actually you could do this. And actually you could do that. It suddenly takes a whole host of work off your desk. Which in turn, this is where the, it will make you more money.

You get time free to do what you're brilliant at doing, or do the things in your business that really moves the needle. So for instance, creating the podcast, I can't get anybody else to do that. It has to be my voice. It has to be me and therefore I have no choice, but okay. This week is different because things have been up in the air, but normally I'm way ahead on this. You know?

I don't want to be trying to like scramble around on a Thursday, which I'm doing today in order to get it out for Monday. I want to make sure I've got more than enough time to create really well crafted podcast episodes. I want to make sure that I've got the time to reach out, to flipping amazing people that you will love to listen to.

And honestly, only I can do that. That's got to be me. So therefore I need to have the time to do that. I don't need to edit the podcast. I don't need to write the show notes, I'd be horrendous at both of those jobs, to be honest. Uh, so you'd have a terrible experience. If I did it, I don't need to schedule the social media posts or create the social media posts. Because some of those things are one, not my zone of genius and two a process. And once we've worked out the process, I don't need to do it. What I should be doing is focusing on creating more amazing content for the Academy or doing a coaching call with the Academy or marketing my 90 day program, which is coming up starting September.

And I'd like you to come and join me. And I'll tell you more about that at some point. But that's where I excelled. That's where I'm good in my business. And you are good at the particular thing that you do. So for instance, you might be a personal trainer. You are good at personal training that does not mean you are brilliant at scheduling social media posts.

You might be a jewelry maker. You are brilliant at that. That does not mean that you are perfect at putting your regular content out there and turning it into a blog. You know what I mean? It's you don't know, need to feel like you have to do everything. So as if I haven't convinced you enough, let me talk some of the details.

So I want to tell you about my VA experience because I've had a few, not that as in, I go through them as, and they still work for me, I've just added to them. So my first VA it was Katie. Who's been on the podcast. We'll link up to that. So you can go listen to her. And she turned out to be way more than a VA in the sense of, she initially marketed herself as a VA, but this woman had got the most amazing experience. She've got lots of different stuff that she could support me with that actually got to the point where Katie became more of like an online business strategist. So she would help me, almost be my light, you know, right arm. And we would talk about where the business was going and what we were doing and building the team and that sort of thing.

So Katie very much and very quickly became not what I would call a traditional VA and Katie charged a fair bit because of that fact, because Katie is based in the UK, Katie has a huge amount of different experiences and she was doing tasks that were very kind of, I'm trying to choose my words really careful.

Cause I don't want it to sound like the other VA tasks aren't important. Cause they're crazy important. But she was doing more strategic stuff. Okay. So that was Katie. That's why I initially bought on. And I worked the Katie for years and years and years, and it was wonderful. She's great. And she did obviously do some of the more process type tasks, some of the more helping me out type tasks.

So Katie would reply to emails for me. She would organize interviews. She would almost travel if I wanted that. But to be honest, sometimes like things like that, because I would be so picky about what time I wanted to go and what seat the I wanted. And so I would just do those things myself. So then we had the podcast and we worked at the process of the podcast and I knew that it would be really helpful if someone could do it.

And I knew that wasn't Katie, because I didn't want to pay Katie to do the podcast because it would have been very expensive. And I didn't need someone at her level because like I said, she really is now of more consultant type level. So I started looking for a VA and I used a company, which I will link up to here in the show notes.

I'm going to have to check what it's called. I think it's Filipino online, I think. But check in the show notes, I'll put the link. And I use that company and basically I went on and posted a job. Now you have to pay to post a job, but to pay, to post a job, I think it was like $60 a month. And I only had it up for a month and then I removed it and I stopped paying.

So I only paid them $60 to advertise this, this role. So. I put the role up there. And I thought about prior to putting the roll up there, I started writing down, well, one, I knew how to process that one, but I would say to you to do is write down when you are doing something more than once. So are you constantly doing the same sort of thing?

So if you do a blog, you obviously need to upload the blog. You need to choose a picture. You need to maybe do the SEO bit. You are you doing that on a regular basis? Cause if you are, should you really be doing that? Does it need your input to do that every time? But, like I said, I've got a process for the podcast.

I knew that's what we wanted to work on. So I put an advert out there and I actually said, I want some for social media and VA skills and what I did. And it was a great tip that I picked up again from James Wedmore. Cause he's a big advocate of using Filipino VAs and you don't specifically have to use a Filipino VA.

I'm just talking about my experience. Like I said, I've got Katie in the UK and then I've got now two from the Philippines. But basically his suggestion was that when you put your posts stop, because you're going to get a lot of applications, put something in the middle of the post, that's a little bit different.

So for instance, in the middle of my advert, I put "When you apply for this role, I'd like you to tell me, what's your favorite quote or share your favorite meme? Or your funny joke." Or something like that? Because what happened was when I'm then inundated, which I was because there is lots of amazing skillful people who are looking for roles.

When I was inundated, I basically looked at the application if they didn't include that thing. I immediately dismissed them. Because you get loads. So you've got to find a way of immediately reducing those numbers down. And in all honesty. If they can't read the application and do what I ask in the first point, then it's not going to be great from there.

So once I had a few people to look at, I went and looked at their profiles. I went and looked at what they were charging in terms of hourly rate, because I let them give me their hourly rate. I looked at their skills. On this website it gives you their level of written and verbal English. So I obviously wanted high levels of them.

So communication would be good. And basically I, I went and had look at some people and I found sort of two or three people that I thought you looked really good. Contacted them and asked them. No, I think actually, sorry. Before two or three people, I emailed probably about 15 people, some questions. So the reason behind this was one, I wanted to know things like, "What would you do if you couldn't get something back to me time? How do you manage?" You know, "When you're a bit stressed", what is, Oh, what else did I put on there?

Um, "What do you like on weekend? What do you love doing? What do you hate doing?" Just so I can get an idea of like the person they were and again, so I could see their written English, see how well they understood me. So all those people came back. It was all perfect. Understood, absolutely fine. Not a problem.

And I ended up picking it up two or three and then I gave them a paid task. So I said to them, "Regardless of what happens? I will pay you five hours." So they knew that they weren't just giving me or doing a task and I...