Why A Small Business Owner Should Outsource Work To A Virtual Assistant

Outsourcing is a popular, high-frequency term in our industry, but what is it really? How does it apply to a small business owner?

The concept of outsourcing has been around for a while and is pretty easy to understand: lighten your workload - both figuratively and literally - by shifting the burden of some of your daily tasks to someone outside of your company. Once mainly used as a cost-cutting measure that only large corporations could consider, today, the practice of outsourcing is being utilized by more and more small business owners. 

Advances in technology and cloud computing have made it possible to outsource a wide variety of tasks and work to virtual assistants.    Even if you are a business owner with a staff of one, outsourcing is a fantastic strategy that allows you to focus on the client-facing aspects of growing your business. 

Here’s why: 

Handing off simple or redundant tasks can free up your time, permitting you to handle higher-level tasks more appropriate for your skillset. Outsourcing small, tedious, time-consuming, and repetitive tasks to a skilled, professional virtual assistant can also help your company run more smoothly.

In today’s technologically enhanced work environment, you can outsource just about any business function: marketing, calendar management, bookkeeping, customer service and database management, etc. And while there is no catch-all formula for what a business owner should outsource, there are tools you can use to help yourself determine which tasks would be best handed off to a virtual assistant.

For example, Freedom Maker’s free task audit can help you decide what tasks to outsource. It works by asking you to separate specific tasks into columns of what things only you can do and what jobs you don’t want or need to do yourself. By envisioning the impact streamlining the work in those areas would have on your business in 6 months, the task audit reminds you that your time is a precious, valuable commodity, especially within your business environment. 

Outsourcing tasks to a virtual assistant can equate to a long-term win for the company.

So why you should outsource is clear. But when? And can you afford it?

Yes!

Consider the following scenario: you RSVP “yes” and attend a networking event in your area for two hours. You enthusiastically “sell” your business and services to three new, interested clients who schedule calls with you. Your personality and infectious energy for your product make a huge impact, and the connections you made during the event convert two of those potential clients into customers. Win! And not only do they become loyal customers, but they love your company so much, they begin sharing your contact information with their network affiliates, colleagues, and friends. They sing your praises and provide glowing testimonials about your business, and the client referrals keep rolling in for months and years to come.

Amazing, right!? Two hours of your time and a financial windfall!

Now consider the alternative scenario: your inbox is flooded with customer service inquiries that have come in from your website. You’ve gotten so far behind in your responses because you spent three hours yesterday hammering out a blog for your website and formatting your newsletter. Some of your emails bounce, so you have to dig into your CRM and figure out if there is an input error, if those leads were bots, or if they were potential customers that decided to unsubscribe because you hadn’t responded to their initial inquiry on your website’s landing page.

Today you also realize you’ve also gotten behind tracking your invoices and are missing a few critical payments from customers. You have to follow up with them to solicit payment, or you won’t be able to execute payroll.

There is no way you have the time or energy for the networking event later today. Even though you RSVP’d “yes,” you are a no-show. 

In the second scenario, you have spent hours of your week frustrated by tasks you find tedious. More to the point, they are also tasks below your pay grade and skillset. You’ve lost new revenue and an unknown number of future clients because of the missed opportunity to network.

What happened?

You spent your week working IN your business when you could have - and should have - spent your week working ON your business. 

How do you avoid scenario two? Consider investing in a virtual assistant. The missed opportunity cost of not attending the networking event is super high. In contrast, the price of a virtual assistant is practically negligible. 

Virtual assistants are skilled and talented at the exact things you do not enjoy doing. Many specialize in the areas that tax your passion and eat your time. Virtual assistants are efficient and effective at executing the tasks you choose to delegate! They can quickly improve your day-to-day work-life balance, and you can return your focus to the drivers that encouraged you to create the business in the first place.

Still not convinced? Let’s break down the numbers:

If you bill $150/hour, the two hours you spend at the networking event would “cost” you $300.

Should you really spend those hours doing administrative tasks at this point in your business? If you chose to outsource some office tasks, you could spend your hours at the rate you are worth pursuing sales and growth.

An experienced, versatile military spouse virtual assistant will charge an hourly rate of somewhere between $38 and $46 per hour. For the same $300, you could afford nearly 6 hours of outsourced work!

Your Freedom Maker is an efficient, independent professional. She could easily write your blog, manage your newsletter, handle your inbox, and chase down your unpaid invoices. Her work IN your business will free up your time to spend however you choose.

(Pssst… choose to attend the networking event!)

Once your business is up and running, a million tasks need to be done daily to keep it functional. Many of these tasks are administrative in nature: answering calls, responding to emails, creating spreadsheets, designing graphics in Canva, writing blogs, tracking down invoices, posting on social media and managing comments, formatting newsletters, reconciling CRM entries, etc. All these tasks are critical to the viability of every small business, but they do not directly generate any revenue.

As a business owner, you know that time is your most valuable resource. When you try to do all the things, all the time, all by yourself, you quickly realize that time is precious, finite, and often feels insufficient. The hours in each day, the days in each week, all feel like sand running through your fingers. For a small investment, a virtual assistant can handle the tasks that steal your time so you can redistribute your energy to the things that add value to your business. Get started outsourcing the administrative support work today by contacting Freedom Makers. We can help you get hours back into your workweek… so you can make it to that all-important networking event!