As a small-business owner, you may be considering whether or not to hire a remote assistant or simply to continue down the path most travelled. When you consider the elements of having an assistant, you might begin with the standard procedural elements, such as the ability to use various software (particularly the ones relevant to your business), then you weigh the difference in added costs associated with having an in-house assistant versus hiring someone who works remotely. These include the benefits, pensions, insurance costs, productivity and so on. Yet often one of the most important elements is often overlooked during this process of consideration. If you were to hire an ambitious virtual assistant who is also highly entrepreneurial, they would bring in much more of an advantage.
The Entrepreneurial VA
If you visit my About Page, you’ll notice the first thing I say is that I’m a Solopreneur. Basically, I am an entrepreneur who works alone. In essence, any VA who has the knowledge and dedication required to establish and maintain their own business is by definition a self-starter, proactive and visionary. When a VA is ambitious and entrepreneurial they are interested in improving the quality of their individual operations and brand and this can only be of benefit to the client. When a VA takes pride in their brand and their own business, it carries over to their work and reflects well on their clients.
[bctt tweet=”When a VA takes pride in their brand and their own business, it reflects well on their clients.” username=”mirandamerten”]
Why would you hire a Remote Assistant?
Let’s consider why you would want to employ the services of a virtual assistant. You may not have the time or expertise required to keep up to date with the world of social media. You may know that it is very important for your organization to have a presence on social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but you may not know where to start. Maybe, you have a good idea where to start, but know that your time is better served on other matters.
Social media is a good example as it is a very dynamic field. You need to allocate quite a lot of time to make sure that you are up to speed with developments, but you can rest assure that the entrepreneurial, ambitious VA is going to take time out of their own schedule to make sure that they are on top of all things social media for your company. Entrepreneurial VAs tend to be proactive as well, meaning they like to get ahead of problems and scenarios in order to minimize future challenges.
How to find an Entrepreneurial VA
Hiring remote assistants is growing in popularity, but they are not all created equal. Some are in it just to make spare change, others may have their eggs in more than one basket and they may be thinning out their services too much. In order to find a quality VA, stay away from the large companies that seem to have a farm of people working for cheap. Remote workers in other countries may be cheap as well, but they are not proactive or concerned about your business. These VAs are good for taking direction and completing small tasks. When you come across a VA that has their own business or brand, that might be a good one to contact. Still, make sure you do your research and check references or testimonials. Make sure the services offered are clearly laid out before you contract with them as well – if you know you’ll want web design services down the road, mention it. You’ll want to know upfront what they are capable of. Need a good remote EA? I know of one!
