Your schedule is busy and hectic. Not only is it busy, but it is starting to become extremely stressful. You may have fifty things to do in one day, however most of the time, these are interrupted by speaking on the phone, meeting with clients or potential clients, and the day to day minutiae of dealing with your growing business. Pleased with having this problem (rather than its opposite!) you decide it’s time to expand.
With your expansion, you decide to look at hiring an administrative assistant. However, this takes the time to find the right person, paperwork, the necessity of having a workspace and office equipment available for this person (not so convenient if you work primarily from home), and all of the factors associated with payroll. Another, much more practical solution is to hire an Administrative Consultant or Virtual Assistant. By doing this, you will give yourself the gift of having all of your administrative tasks taken care of without having to deal with the stress and cost of hiring a full time employee.
The ability to work with an Administrative Consultant is as simple as ensuring that there is an understanding of your business and your precise needs of the person in that role. Once you and your Administrative Consultant have had a phone consultation and agreed that you would like to work together, he or she can dramatically reduce the tasks that use up much of your time during the day. These can include, but aren’t limited to: responding to client email inquiries and other correspondence, helping set-up seminars or client retreats, dealing with your vendors, invoicing or sending out payments, scheduling, managing your social media posts and updates, syndicating blog posts, Internet research, updating databases, helping with email marketing initiatives, formatting and sending out email newsletters, formatting documents or forms…the list goes on and on, and is really only limited by what the Administrative Consultant covers in his or her business, and what you are comfortable handing over. Maybe it’s just those jobs that you dread and let pile up on your desk every week!
One essential component to keep in mind when working with an Administrative Consultant is that there will likely be an expectation to create a partnership. This differs from working with a regular employee in that the Administrative Consultant is a business owner, who will likely have other clients and policies that they have in place to keep their business running smoothly. However, once you are comfortable with each other and your working styles, it will be a huge relief that you have someone you can rely on to brainstorm with you and take on those tasks that bog you down. The benefit to you of course is more time, less stress, and the ability to focus on the parts of your business that only you can do and that make you more money.
If you want to free your time up, then taking the small stuff out of your day-to-day schedule is key. This will enable you and your business to take a step up without the issue of being scattered due to a shortage of time. If you’d like someone to give you the very best benefits of having an employee, without the overhead and need to hire someone full time, then an Administrative Consultant is for you!
Do you currently work with an Administrative Consultant or Virtual Assistant? How is it working out? Is it something you’re considering, but have not yet looked into? I’d love to hear from you!
Molly