The Value Of A Virtual Assistant

At Freedom Makers Virtual services, we are fortunate that many new clients find their way to us through referral. Often during sales calls, we discover that a small business owner has heard about our business model and the excellent military spouse virtual assistants in our agency through a friend or business colleague. The referring acquaintance is usually a loyal and long-term client who has benefited from their relationship with their Freedom Maker for years. But sometimes, the referring peer will be a client who is newer to our roster and already seeing the benefits of outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant.  They are eager to share their good fortune with others.

It only takes a few weeks to begin experiencing and understanding the true benefit and value a virtual assistant can bring. 

Many prospective clients reach out to us because they are already intrigued! Motivated by the success their friend is having with their virtual assistant, they are excited about the possibility of freeing up a few hours in their schedule each day.  They are enticed by the thought of handing off some of the repetitive administrative tasks plaguing them. 

They are ready to learn more about what kind of value our virtual assistants could bring to them. 

But even though they've taken the first step to explore our business and learn about our military spouse virtual assistants, some small business owners are hesitant. They’re not immediately convinced they should pay for a virtual assistant to do the work they have been doing themselves. 

Small business owners are universally reticent about parting with their earnings. And for good reason! They typically operate with slim margins and they want to be confident that the investment in a virtual assistant will add value both in the short term, and the long run.

We feel this.

Because Freedom Makers Virtual Services is a small company, we deeply understand the need entrepreneurs have to watch costs and guard assets. Even though we are seven years old and have notched many successes in growth and scaling over the years, we still examine even the most minor expenditures. For example, at FMVS, we take stock and regularly audit our monthly subscriptions to ensure we extract the maximum value from each expense. 

That frugality is why we don't require any clients (old or new) to sign contracts that commit them to a minimum amount of hours or payment. They are free to use their Freedom Maker for as many hours or as few hours as they feel comfortable with -- even if that amount varies weekly. Doing away with contracts or minimums is one way we honor the challenges small business owners face. Fluctuating cash flows characterize the small business landscape! We believe there is inherent value in not being locked into an expenditure if circumstances change. 

The Value of a Virtual Assistant

Simply put, a virtual assistant is an independent professional who provides critical support services to businesses and entrepreneurs from a remote environment. Virtual assistants are highly-skilled contractors who can help you with various tasks, from administrative and technical to marketing and creative work. 

Many of the tasks a virtual assistant does are the ones you as a small business owner have to do but tend to put off until the last minute.  They are the things that feel overwhelming week after week. They are the monotonous administrative to-do items that must be completed consistently and accurately. They are the ever-present tasks that are simultaneously super important but not of the utmost urgency. They are the agenda items with multiple, repeated steps that need following or a system that needs to be executed. They involve a workflow or are a critical part in the completion of one. 

Ask yourself: what is it in your business that takes up your time, is essential to your business running smoothly, but you pretty much loathe doing week after week?

Consider these tasks when you run through all the things you take care of on a daily or weekly basis:

• Blog writing
• Travel arrangements
• Email follow up 
• Making/receiving phone calls
• Calendar management
• Appointment setting
• Researching new market niches
• Bookkeeping
• Customer intake
• Customer contact
• Social media engagement and scheduling
• Graphic design
• Marketing events follow up
• Building document templates
• Form management
• Creating monthly flyers
• Website updates 
• Customer Relations Management (CRM) / Database support

Virtual assistants are skilled and talented at the exact things you do not enjoy doing. They specialize in the very things that tax your passion and eat your time, and because of this, they add immeasurable value to your business and life.

How?

Virtual assistants can improve your day-to-day work-life balance, which will help you reconsider your mentality around the equation of money versus time and energy. Small business owners HAVE to focus heavily on the money aspect, but they often sacrifice too much of their energy and time thinking they are saving money. Time and time again, this is proven to be a falsehood.

Those happy small business owners that send their friends our way? 

They've learned an elusive small business secret: spending a little money to save their time actually protects their energy! And they experience a secondary win. They've discovered that when they outsource the daily admin work that drains them to a virtual assistant, they are reinvigorated. They wind up making the most of the way they spend the time they've saved.

By delegating specific tasks, you will have more time for your business's mission. You can have the energy to grow your business without being slowed down. Your workday can actually end at 5 pm rather than 10:00 because you will have handed off those time-intensive administrative tasks that are a hindrance to getting home to your family or just getting out of the office. 

Still not convinced? Take a look at this simple math:

If you figure your time, energy and expertise are worth approximately $150/hour, spending 2 hours on administrative tasks will "cost" you $300.

An experienced, versatile military spouse virtual assistant -- like the Freedom Makers we have onboarded -- will charge an hourly rate between $38 and $46 per hour. 

For the same $300, you could afford nearly 6 hours of outsourced work! That is three times the amount of work accomplished. With the addition of a virtual assistant, your business has the potential to be three times more productive. 

Instead of getting one blog written for $300, your virtual assistant could bank three!

The value - both monetary and intangible - becomes apparent quickly.

Your Freedom Maker is an efficient, independent professional. When your virtual assistant takes on the responsibilities that are "beneath" your paygrade, their work IN your business will free up your time to spend however you choose. 

To bring more value to your time and your business, contact Freedom Makers Virtual Services today for a free consultation. We are experts at helping you find the right virtual workforce member to complete your team and bring actual value -- both in the short term AND in the long run -- to your business.