A lot has changed since I last posted. COVID-19. The shutdown. You may have noticed I shifted my focus here? It doesn’t make sense concentrate on the part of my life that requires touching other people when we’re all social-distancing. I will always be grateful to the Alexander Technique for improving my life and allowing me to help others and one day, I hope to teach again. 

In the meantime, let me tell you about something else I love: being a virtual assistant. It combines some of my favorite activities like writing, researching, and organizing information. When I’m with my family, they get annoyed when I try to organize their stuff, but other people will pay me to organize their information! Now I bother my family less because I’m getting my jollies elsewhere and bonus--my efforts are appreciated!

 People sometimes ask: What does a virtual assistant do? Well, all kinds of things! Some focus on administrative work while others prefer to specialize in skills like social media content or management, bookkeeping, or audio and video editing. If there is a task that is holding you back from growing your business, there’s probably a virtual assistant who would love to do it for you. At some point, you or someone you know has joked about “needing a secretary.” Have you considered that maybe you really do? And that it’s possible?

Where can you find a virtual assistant? They are everywhere. Believe me, if you place an ad in LinkedIn or Indeed.com for someone to work remotely, you will quickly get a response. If you want to find a virtual assistant even faster, try Upwork.com, a freelancer platform. Another interesting way to find a virtual assistant would be to ask people you know. At least one of them knows someone who freelances and can probably vet the person for you. 

Think about it, you might be struggling today to keep all the plates spinning, but within a week, you could have someone supporting you. You could have an extra hour or two a day. Doesn’t that sound fantastic? How would you spend an extra couple hours a day? Reading? Spending time with your children? Napping? Growing your business? 

Maybe you’ve considered hiring a virtual assistant, but you were concerned about the expense. Paying for peace of mind might be less pricey than you think. If you own a small business, money is probably tight--especially these days, but paying a virtual assistant is less expensive than hiring an employee and providing benefits. “But Stef, I would just pay hourly,” you say. Well, you still may not come out ahead. Let’s say you hired an hourly employee. It’s true that you’re not paying for vacation, or sick leave, but you’re paying for down time. When I say this, I mean no disrespect to hourly wage-earners. However, as a small business owner, you likely cannot afford this. You are paying your employee when the network goes down, on slow work days, and any other time they are at your physical business but work isn’t being done. When you pay a virtual assistant, you are only paying for the time it takes the VA to complete a specific task. You can’t get more efficient than that.

So take some time to consider what tasks you’ve been doing regularly that are draining your energy. Could you show someone else how to do them? Would you be comfortable letting another person take them on? If so, give yourself the gift of time and hire a virtual assistant. In a couple weeks, swing back here and tell me how you’re doing!