If you’ve ever heard of Girl Math, you’ll be familiar with the many invented ways that people try to justify impulse spending. Like, for example, if you pay for something with cash – it’s free.
If something is on sale, it’s actually profitable, and if you buy something in advance, by the time you need it, there’s technically no price tag to it anymore.
While we love to have a giggle at those examples, the theory obviously doesn’t stack up in practice. What does, though, is the maths behind outsourcing virtual assistant services.
Let’s look at how.
Your outsourcing starts at home
Personally, as a fast-paced professional team of busy working mothers, many of us here at the Virtual Assistant Lead Network have visited the idea of hiring in-home support for our homes (such as a cleaner) countless times.
Normally, the justification is this: we’re simply too busy to do it ourselves.
This isn’t untrue, but when we really unpacked it further, we realised that it’s actually deeper than that. To put it simply: it’s not as cost-effective, and respectful of our time, to do it ourselves.
So, ask yourself this: ‘what is the best use of my time?’
When we get asked about the benefits of outsourcing to a virtual assistant, we focus on the why, and the reality is this: when you start a business (and begin generating an income), you’ll quickly be working on things that aren’t the best use of your time.
Admin, process improvement, customer research, data entry and maintenance, day-to-day operations – these are all things that you can do (and perhaps even well), but they are a time sucker.
They’re the must-haves to running a successful business… the cogs that turn behind-the-scenes.
But they aren’t the best use of your time.
So, really think about what is.
Are you sales-focused? Is your expertise in the technical prowess you offer? Are you great at negotiation? Strategic thinking or big-picture planning? Even being out and about on tools?
This thing – whatever it is – is the best use of your time, because it’s the thing that brings in the money.
Everything else is the support act. So now that you know it, you need to put some dollar signs up against it.
Put an hourly rate on your expertise
Denise Duffield-Thomas is self-proclaimed “lazy millionaire” who speaks widely about the types of paid support she gets at home which allows her to focus on her business and family. She’s on the money with this theory.
Let’s say that the same cleaner mentioned up above charges $40 an hour. When we actually put a price tag on our own most high-value work – it’d be closer to $100 an hour.
That means you’d only have to do two hours of chargeable work to earn enough for a cleaner to help you for 4 hours. But here’s the kicker: if you cleaned your house yourself, it’d take you six hours.
When your cleaner is in your home, that’s their only job, and they’re motivated to show up and do well. You might get distracted, tired and move onto something else.
When you understand this, you realise that by outsourcing, you actually get back significantly more than what you paid – not only because the real cost is less than what you would charge working, but also because it would take you longer.
In this example, we could get back six hours a fortnight, choosing to either turn that into income, additional time with our families… or a combination of both where the cost of outsourcing is covered!
Your budget for outsourcing virtual assistant services
You may think you are not busy enough to justify virtual assistant outsourcing because there is not enough work coming through the door – so, perhaps think of it like this: if a VA worked for just 3 hours a week to give you back 5 hours, how much more chargeable work could you bring in the door?
It’s this logic that will help you to work out what your budget is for a virtual assistant.
Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what you are willing to spend more of – your time or your money – but always remember to think of your time as an hourly rate.
Some things to keep in mind
When it comes to virtual assistant outsourcing, the less you’re willing to pay, the more likely you are to find yourself spoon-feeding tasks, repeating instructions and fixing mistakes.
Likewise, the more you’re willing to pay, the more likely you’ll find someone experienced and highly efficient who you can delegate responsibility (and not just individual tasks) to.That’s also why we always recommend writing a scope for the virtual assistant role you want to fill to ensure you make the hiring process as quick as possible, and as a general rule, factor in an extra 5-10 hours for on-boarding time. If this sounds too high, when you are interviewing VAs, make sure you ask them how long they think this will take, and see if there’s any room to negotiate. The more you prepare for them, the easier it’ll be for them to get up to speed.
💡📈 If you suspect outsourcing virtual assistant services could take your business to the next level, tap into the VA Lead Network now. You can create your virtual role brief or book a free 15-minute call to discuss your needs.
