Is making money and living the lifestyle you want to, one of your key objectives for this year?

I became self-employed in 2014 because I wanted to have creativity in the type of work I was doing, have more flexibility but most importantly I wanted a better work-life balance. I wanted to work according to my own body clock, to go for a walk outside if I wanted at 10am, to work until midnight or not work at all! but I would wager that for 9 out of 10 of you one of your main goals every year is to make more money to afford the lifestyle you want. The reasoning behind this is as unique as each of us. Maybe you want to:

• Have more financial security for your family
• Build a bigger house
• Be mortgage free
• Work nomadically wherever the spirit takes you
• Work only when you want so you can dedicate time to your family
• Work less hours so you can dedicate time to voluntary projects which are close to your heart
• Buy a ___ Ferrari/high end bicycle/ a second home/Death Star adult Lego set (you fill in the blank as appropriate).

Whatever your reason, outsourcing time-consuming administrative tasks to a Virtual Assistant (VA) can help you make more money and here are 10 reasons why:

1. A VA can complete an administrative task in probably a third of the time it would take you and at a fraction of the cost.

2. A VA has typically 10 years+ varied administrative experience which means he/she may have a more efficient/streamlined solution to how you are doing something.

3. A VA concentrates on the administrative/marketing/HR tasks which you may find very time consuming and frustrating, freeing up much more time for you to reflect and work ON your business rather than being stuck in the trenches working in it.

4. Being a business owner can be very lonely so a VA you also act as a sounding board for new business ideas and helps you break them down into manageable steps which means you are not paralysed by indecision.

5. A VA typically has a breadth of experience across different sectors so may bring new business ideas to you.

6. A VA typically has a wide network so may be able to bring new contacts and ideas for partnership to you.

7. A VA can help you set up new systems, so your end customer is happier, and you get more repeat business.

8. A VA can help you streamline business processes or make some obsolete which means you get more work done faster.

9. A VA frees you up to work on your strengths whereas administrative tasks may be your weakness and if you ever go to sell a business, those interested will see that you have a strong administrative system in place!

10. The fact of trusting the process and delegating work to a VA means you may be more comfortable outsourcing other tasks such as marketing/HR/finance which may also help you grow your business or take it in other direction.

Benefit of all the above=you have more brain space, more energy and hopefully generate more income as you are concentrating on your strengths and higher income generating tasks (coaching/teaching/producing videos/dog-training/matchmaking etc.).

As I have years of experience as a VA I also know lots of other VAs in the industry who specialise in certain areas which may be of more benefit to you (social media content creation and planning, bookkeeping etc) . I also work with associates so don’t hesitate to reach out to me if what I offer maybe doesn’t at first seem the best fit (email: alison@virtuali.uk)