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Owning a business is not an easy thing. Whether you want it to or not, your business will grow and change over time. As opportunities come, you will find yourself realizing that to grow you need to add personnel, even if at the time that looks to mean that profits may decrease for a while. Remember that every person only has a certain capacity and can only put in so many hours in a day. Than means if you want your business to grow, you need to add to your staff. But what if you don’t need a full time person? How do you know if you can afford to add help?

Think about it this way; how much do you charge for your time? How long does it take you to do those things that are not your “forte”? By hiring someone who specializes in the tasks you need done you will get those tasks done in a timely manner and pay out a small percentage of what you charge for your services. Also, by hiring someone to do those tasks you are opening up your time for you to grow your business. How do you know the kind of person you need? How do you know what tasks you can hand off?

Inc. Magazine published an article written by an entrepreneur that did a great job of outlining the top reasons to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA). We are going to follow those reasons and expand them using the knowledge we have gained.

1. Delegation

You started your business. You laid the groundwork. You had the sleepless nights and 23 hour days. You invested the money. This is your baby. The hardest thing to do is to let any piece of it go and have someone else take care of it. However, lack of delegation leads to burnout among over 50% of entrepreneurs. With our experience in a wide variety of administrative tasks, we can help you with pretty much anything your company may need.

2. Reduce labor costs

By using a virtual assistant, you save on having to bear the tax and healthcare expense of an employee. You also save by not having to provide a work space, equipment, and any other incidentals that would accompany having an in office full or part time employee. This allows you to put your money back into your business. VA on the Spot uses professional services and equipment to provide the best service to you and your company.

3. Support sudden needs

As your business grows and changes, tasks may suddenly and randomly come to the surface. Tasks that need to be addressed asap and you don’t have time or the need to hire a new employee to cover this task. By establishing a relationship with the virtual assistants at VA on the Spot, we will able to assist with any sudden need that arises as your business grows.

4. Improve organization

Sometimes business growth is slow, but other times its all you can do to keep up with day to day tasks. As your business grows, you will need to bring on more people, but what happens if everything is so disorganized that no one understands what needs done or maybe even what your company does? We have VA’s specialized in creating and writing policies and procedures. Allow us to come in and help you get organized for growth.

You may be in a position where you don’t even know what you need but know you need help. Give us a call for a consultation where we meet with you, learn about you and your company, and work with you to figure out where you are, where you want to be, and how we can help you get there, one task at a time. Call us at 317-288-5748 or visit our website at VAontheSpot.com

Article referenced: https://www.inc.com/amy-vetter/why-hiring-a-virtual-assistant-is-best-move-entrepreneurs- can-make.html

I was recently asked to make a list of all of my skills. When my list was complete, I almost fell over as I realized the size and diversity of it. I say this not to brag on myself but to brag on all those who have granted me opportunities throughout my life to establish and develop so many skills.

I have always loved helping people. I feel fulfilled when I see others succeed because of me working in the background. Throughout my life, things that I have done have always followed that track.

When I was growing up, my mother worked in administrative assisting roles and I always loved helping her do mailings, type, and enter data into spreadsheets. My grandfather had his own business and hated “all the technology” so whenever he needed data entered, letters typed, or really anything computer related, he asked my mom, sister, or me to help him. When I was a teenager my mother worked in Marketing at Delta Faucet Company and I was honored to do 2 internships there and learn from some amazing professionals.

However, through high school, I felt a pull to counseling so I pursued my education in Human Services, then Marriage & Family Therapy. After walking that road, due to my son being born and other changes in my life, I left that field and returned to what I knew, and was good at, administrative work.

At that point, I really wanted something I could do and be able to be at home to homeschool my son (and eventually my daughter who I was pregnant with at the time). I was blessed to find a virtual assistant position that was titled Rockstar Administrative Assistant. I walked into this role just wanting to help this small business owner with administrative tasks that he didn’t have time for, but over time I was given more and more responsibility and eventually became VP of Operations. That is just a fancy catch all name that means I did a bit of everything for the company.

Last year, I was approached by my mother who said she was going to be retiring early but wasn’t ready to be “done” and would I be interested in going into business with her. It took less than 1/100th of a second for me to say yes and the rest is history.

Then I decided to go back to school. I remembered, from working in my grandfather’s tax business, I have always enjoyed accounting and so last year I decided to do something about it. This summer I will receive my Professional Certificate in Bookkeeping and a year after that receive my degree in Accounting.

At first glance, all of these skills seem to be all over the place, right? Well, that’s me. I love learning, I love challenges and I know I can do anything I set my mind to. So going back to what I said about loving to help others, I am excited to work with other businesses to help them succeed, one task at a time in any way I can.

In a day and age when companies seem to be looking to discard all the wisdom, knowledge and loyalty of today’s Baby Boomers many are asking themselves, “what do I do now?” I recently found myself faced with this very question. While I’m a Baby Boomer, I am one of the younger ones and much too young to stop working altogether. I put in over 40 years developing my skills, gaining knowledge, and spent the first 20 years trying to find a company where I could grow and advance in my field. Through my career, first having to prove myself, but then earning the respect of those around me, I became a person that was depended upon for information, sought after for the skills I had and the knowledge I could share. Now faced with early retirement and leaving that security? What now? Where do I go from here?

First, I need to take you back to the beginning of 2019 to give you a little background. I started feeling unsettled when this year started. I couldn’t put my finger on it but also couldn’t shake the feeling. Then early in the year I was reminded of the stage in life that was rapidly coming, retirement! The company I was working for offered a two-day session on “Preparing for Retirement”. I found that I was mentally a lot closer to the possibilities of retiring than I had thought, but I hadn’t really considered what I would do after. As I thought about it, I decided why not share the skills, knowledge and experiences I worked so hard to develop through the years to help others! I’m all about helping others achieve and look good! After all that’s what I’ve done all my life as an Administrative Assistant, Executive Assistant, Personal Assistant, Administrative Coordinator and RD/IP Administrator. But how? What could that look like?

One day as I was talking with someone on the phone, assisting them with a computer program issues, and it came to me! I could keep on utilizing the years of knowledge, skills and experiences by continuing to use that skill set to help small companies, start-up companies, entrepreneurs, etc. by offering Administrative Services at a reasonable cost. They are the very people who need help so they can grow their business, but they can’t always justify or afford a full or even part time assistant. Today with computers, internet and telecommunication I could virtually support these companies as a Virtual Assistant, take on the number of clients that would keep me as busy as I wanted to be, and bring in an income for at least a few more years!

As I talked with my daughters telling them what I thought I wanted to do after I retired, they were both very excited and said they wanted in on this adventure as well. I have two daughters that have followed very closely to their mother’s footsteps by honing administrative skills as well. The great thing is all three of us have our own strengths and specialties, a great recipe to be able to offer companies everything they would need in the way of support. My thinking suddenly became much broader than a “one (wo)man show”! Great! In another 5 years or so I would retire, start a new company with the help of the girls and then hand it all over to them to run one day! Little did I know things would happen a bit faster than that!

Mid-year this year the company I was working for offered early retirement! Was this a tragedy or an opportunity? It seemed that many things had happened up to this point to mentally prepare me for this decision. Was I, I mean I was ready for this! I was ready to start over! Or was I? Starting over is a scary thought! But then I realized I wasn’t really “starting over” but just beginning a New Chapter. One that could give me the opportunity to continue to do what I love to do now, help those I work for shine, and give me an opportunity to create a business, a legacy for my girls and their future. Now I am excited!

So, after 20 years working for a major manufacturer, and at the very start of my “Golden Years”, I am starting a Virtual Assistant business, VA On The Spot LLC! I am ready for this New Chapter and since I have many more years to offer my expertise to make others SHINE I am very excited to get this going! Ready, set, GO! GO! GO! I’ll meet you at https://www.vaonthespot.com! 

When you established your company, you had a reason. You wanted to do something. To achieve something. This can be called a vision. Vision is what gives you direction. What gives you drive. What motivates you. Vision is what causes you to do better and to be better when all seems lost. Without vision, it is impossible to see a path to success. Success is something we all strive for – and with success comes growth. Succeeding while growing is where many companies struggle. That is where casting a vision becomes vital. How do you do that? You share your vision with others; and the simplest way to do that is with a vision statement. Creating a vision statement is actually easier than you would think.

1. Keep it short.

A vision statement should be no longer than one or two sentences. It sets the big picture for your business and what you hope to accomplish long term. It is what one would see if the mission was accomplished.

2. Look at your competitors.

Why reinvent the wheel? Find someone in your field who is successful and read over their vision.

3. Ask yourself the essential questions.

Ask questions like: What is the ultimate impact I want my business to have on the world? How will my company interact with customers? What will my company culture look like?

4. Make it passionate and inspiring.

This statement will represent your company for the foreseeable future. Make sure it is something that will inspire and electrify potential customers to ultimately increase your business.

5. Keep it focused.

Just like goals, make sure your vision is S.M.A.R.T. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and has a time frame.

If you are still having trouble developing a vision for your business, you can try something called a vision board. Visualization is a tool used by athletes, artists, performers, and many others to get them focused and prepared for their game, performance, etc. It has been proven time and again to work. A vision board is a collage of words and pictures that represent your goals and dreams. For some, making a visual example of one’s thoughts helps inspire them to write a specific vision statement. There are many free tools on the internet you can use to help develop your vision board.

Remember, this is the reason for your company – and even if by the end of this paragraph you have developed a quality vision statement – keep rewording and reworking it until it sounds just right. It should be something easy enough to remember that people don’t need to write it down but can pull it out when need to remember why they are doing this. A well-cast vision will bring business and growth to your company. Getting it right is key.

Once you have your vision, you can move forward making action plans to achieve your vision for the year. This is where we at VA on the Spot come in. We are here to help you be successful by taking the administrative work off your hands. Our 80 years of experience equips us to be able to handle pretty much any administrative task you might have. Call us today to see how we can help you achieve your vision for 2020.