Timing is everything.

So, when you’re looking to bring additional support into your business with a Virtual Assistant (VA) or Personal Assistant (PA), you want to make sure that you’re hiring the right person at the right time to have the biggest impact on your business.

Bring a VA on too early and you might not have enough work available to hand over to them, making their support unsustainable in the long run.

Bring a VA on too late in your business development and you’re not going to have enough time to onboard them so you’re effectively going to have to drop them in the deep end and hope they can catch up.

Finding that sweet spot when your timing is just right to get the most from your VA from the start can be a challenge, especially if this is your first time working with a VA. So, we had a chat with our clients and pulled out the 4 most common signs they were seeing in their businesses that meant they knew they were ready to reach out to a VA.

Here’s what we found…

Signs it’s the right time to hire a VA

1. You’re starting to notice that your to do list keeps rolling over to the next week.

It’s unrealistic to expect to be able to consistently tick off every single task on your to-do list every day. In any business, urgent tasks are going to pop up which can send your plan out of the window – and that’s ok.

But, if you’re finding that there’s some tasks on your list that have been there for a few days or weeks (or even months) then it’s important to take a minute to pause and look at why these tasks keep being pushed back. Is it because they just aren’t as important as you originally thought? Or maybe you just don’t have the time and your time is better spent on other things. If this is the case, then it might be time to talk to a VA before it gets to a point where things are being dropped and deadlines missed.

2. You’re missing key opportunities for growth.

As your business grows, so do the demands and opportunities that are required to maintain that level of growth. If you find yourself turning down new projects, delaying important tasks or struggling to scale because you’re too busy juggling everything else going on inside the business, hiring a VA can be a game-changer. A VA can help you to take advantage of more of the opportunities coming your way by taking care of any admin tasks so that you can focus on the job that you actually went into business to do!

3. Your work life balance has gone out the window.

We’re all guilty of doing these things from one time or another;

Catching up on work out of hours
Putting quotes together over the weekend
Sending invoices in the evening
Taking your laptop on holiday with you

But, if you’re finding that your work is regularly starting to creep into your home life then it’s worth looking into whether you could hand over any of these tasks to a VA (or anyone else who’s there to support your business).

4. You’re spending more time teaching yourself how to do certain tasks in your business rather than doing them.

When you’re running a business, it’s common to come across tasks that require a specialist set of skills or knowledge to get done. Instead of spending time trying to learn these skills or making costly mistakes, hiring a VA with the expertise you need can save you masses of time and money in the long run. Whether it’s social media management, graphic design, content creation, telemarketing or bookkeeping, a VA with the right skills can handle these tasks efficiently, delivering professional results and saving you valuable time and resources.

These are just a couple of the scenarios our clients have shared with us when they knew that it was the right time to bring a VA onto the team. If you’re not sure if the time is right yet in your business, get in touch. We’ll always say if there’s an alternative option that might suit you better.