Often potential clients considering a VA’s services have a hard time justifying the cost of this necessary business expense. If you can educate them by sharing some of the content within this post, you will have presented yourself and your services to be a wholly worthwhile investment for the growth of their business. Every business owner needs to have more time in their day to make more money in their business. So it’s incumbent upon you to show your value by offering specific ways you can be of value to them, not only in handling their assigned tasks but in helping them to attract more clients, grow their business and ultimately help them to make more money. If you can ‘show’ THEM the money, they will show YOU the money!
DEFINITIONS FROM WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY:
Expense – financial burden or outlay
Investment – the outlay of money usually for income or profit
Many small business owners do not truly differentiate in their thinking between expense and investment but tend to view the overall picture of how much they are spending and where costs can be saved or reduced. Let’s look at the expense as the financial outlay essential to conduct your business, such as Telephone, Office Supplies, Power, the Internet etc., and investment, as the financial outlay that is strictly focused on acquiring income/profit, such as Advertising, Public Relations, Networking, Social Media etc.
Do you have anyone working for you? If not, you are spending your own time on administrative tasks. These tasks are essential to conducting your business. You could hire someone, but you probably and justifiably feel that is too costly an expense. Having an employee not only involves a salary as well as other benefits, but there is inevitably downtime you are paying for, plus the added expense of the space and equipment an employee would require.
How does all this relate to the growth of your business and your profits? Let’s say (hypothetically) that your fee is $200 an hour. If you spend 20 hours of your time checking, sorting and responding to emails, updating your database, creating forms, scheduling appointments, writing your newsletter, maintaining your Social Media, and other administrative tasks, that is 20 hours you are not available to clients. In this example, not only are you losing time, you are potentially losing $4,000 of income you may have earned had you been able to spend those 20 hours on client work.
So, what’s the solution? Many entrepreneurs come to realize that they need more hours in their day for income producing activities. That’s where a Virtual Assistant can help them. Since investment in Virtual Assistant services is well below the fees clients charge their customers and has the added advantage that Virtual Assistants are often more proficient at administrative tasks and streamlining procedures, many solo entrepreneurs now consider hiring a Virtual Assistant not only a necessity, but a proven investment strategy for the continued growth of their business. A Virtual Assistant provides his or her own office equipment and software as well as office space. In addition, he or she pays their own taxes, health insurance, and vacation time. Unlike with an employee, who may have downtime, you pay only for the services they provide and the projects they undertake.
In conclusion, having extra available hours of real productivity in your work day can help you secure greater income for your business. When viewed this way, a Virtual Assistant is not an expense, but a smart investment—one which will ultimately lead you to greater prosperity. Remember, an investment in a Virtual Assistant pays dividends to you…far beyond what you pay for a Virtual Assistant’s services.
In essence, you are paying to have more time to make more money; I would imagine that would make you happy and gain your accountant’s approval too.
If you feel that you are ready to step up to the next level in your Virtual Assistant business, stop trying to figure it all out on your own.
I invite you to take advantage of a FREE special “VA Business Breakthrough” coaching session where we’ll work together to…
=> Create a crystal clear vision for your “ultimate VA business success” and the “perfect lifestyle” you’d like your business to provide.
=> Uncover hidden challenges that may be sabotaging the growth of your VA business and keeping you working too many hours for too little pay.
Just click the link below, let me know a couple of things about your VA business, and then we’ll have a strategy session.
Click to Apply for a FREE VA Business Breakthrough Session
I’m always in agreement with post like this. A virtual assistant is always a good investment and especially an experienced virtual assistant who has done this before.
Often business owners will only hire VA’s when they are busy and need the help but a virtual assistant could be twice as handy when a person is filling their sales funnel and wants to focus on driving new business in.
It’s like advertising, good advertising should never be seen as an expense but as an investment. Few things beat a vehicle wrap for effective ROI. The same can be said about a good virtual assistant. They can help tie up all the loose jobs, leaving the crucial account closing upto the business owner.
If only I could get more hours in my day. I have tried going to bed later and getting up earlier which works for a while, but it exhausting. Having a virtual assistant does sound like the way to go.
Another remarkable tip from you, Jaimie! There are many business owners out there who hire a virtual assistant to gain more on their income. Hiring a virtual assistant can really help us spend less than if we hire an employee. I do believe it’s important to check the VA’s background and reviews from previous clients before we hire so we can verify the quality of their work.