Guest post by: VAA Philippines
In the ultra competitive and fast-paced world of eCommerce, it’s hard to thrive without a virtual assistant.
Many business executives are stuck with the Superman Syndrome—they try to do everything on their own, thinking no one can do it better than them.
Don’t fall victim into this trap. What you thought was best for you is actually what’s going to drag your whole business down. CEOs and business owners shouldn’t be wearing too many hats. Check yourself. Is your schedule dominated by non-executive and non-strategic tasks? If so, then you’re doing it wrong.
Here’s a simple yet underrated solution for work overload—task delegation. Because how can you actually scale if you don’t have the time to focus on it? Hire a VA to help you!
What is a VA?
A virtual assistant or VA is someone who works remotely to provide you with professional support in your administrative, operational, and highly technical tasks. Depending on which area in your business you need most help with, a VA can devote all their skills and talent to ensure efficiency. For example, you can hire an Amazon VA to help with your Amazon Seller operations and an Amazon PPC Specialist to manage your campaigns. Or, you can engage the services of an Executive Assistant VA to do high-level and confidential tasks to make your day-to-day activities run smoothly.
Pros and Cons of Hiring a VA
While a VA can totally change how your business will go, there are some important things to consider before getting one. Is it really practical to hire a virtual assistant? Or is it unnecessary? Here are some advantages and disadvantages of hiring a VA.
Pros
- Specialized Skills
- Cost & Time Efficient
- Flexible
- Productive
- Allows You to Focus on Scaling
Cons
- Time Zone Difference
- Limited Control
- Possibility of Sub-Contracting
- Security Risk in Sharing Account Credentials
4 Questions to Ask Yourself
It’s undeniable that VAs have earned their own spotlight as significant movers in eCommerce platforms. But if you’re planning to hire one just to jump on the bandwagon, you might want to reconsider. Remember, when you hire a VA, you are also investing financially. Asking the following guide questions might help you make an informed decision:
1. What skills and expertise are you looking for?
VAs are professionals at what they do. But you need to note that a single VA cannot do everything in your business. It’s for your best interest that you hire them to do what they’re trained to do.
There are different types of VAs, depending on their areas of expertise. Among them are the following:
- Amazon Expert VA
- PPC (Pay Per Click) Specialist VA
- Social Media Expert VA
- Creatives Expert VA
- Wholesale Expert VA
- Executive Assistant VA
2. When do you need the services?
In business, most of the time, it’s all about timing. The good thing about hiring a VA is that you can do it immediately. But you need to make sure that it’s the right time for you to do that. There’s no hard-and-fast rule on when to hire a VA. But one thing is for sure—do it before it’s too late.
VAs should not be your last resort when things get out of hand in your business. On the contrary, VAs should be part of your planning.
3. Are you willing to train your VAs?
When it comes to their areas of expertise, VAs can definitely do the job better than you. However, you must not construe this to mean that they are already plug-and-play the moment you hire them. Their efficiency is still context dependent. You need to tailor-fit their skills to your company’s specific needs. Thus, you will have to give them the appropriate training they need in order to fully immerse in your system.
4. Do you prefer a freelancer with experience?
Each of us is a beginner at one thing or another. Are you the type of leader who believes in the capabilities of a newbie? Or does your business desperately need support from experienced workers?
Hiring a VA is also dependent on the state of your business. If you want an immediate solution to your operational problems, then you better hire someone with proven credibility and experience. But if you’re looking for a long-term engagement that allows you to mold the VA according to your standards, then there’s no problem hiring a neophyte in the freelancing field.
Matching Your Needs
VAs nowadays are focusing on certain niches which they think they excel at. This is the result of the increasing demand for their services, making the market more and more competitive.
Your chosen VAs may be the best at what they do, but are they the best for you?
The right VA should match your needs because that’s the very reason why you hired them in the first place. Thus, it’s not enough that they are great at their job. It’s equally necessary that they are giving you exactly what your business needs. But sometimes, you may not be sure of what that is in the first place. As a result, you end up hiring the wrong VA.
To address this situation, most entrepreneurs now opt for hiring from an agency.
Hiring From an Agency
If you plan to ride along the quick-changing tides of eCommerce, you wouldn’t have all the time and resources in the world to conduct a thorough hiring process. That’s why CEOs and business owners are now preferring to hire VAs from an agency because it’s the agency that does all the ground work—from selecting VAs for their skill sets and comprehensively training them on specialized areas to become experts, to matching them to your needs.
Virtual Assistant Academy Philippines (VAA) for one gives their clients the convenience they need with the main purpose of allowing them to focus on scaling their business. They maintain an intensive screening process for their VAs and offer ongoing free training to keep them abreast with the latest developments in the eCommerce world, especially in Amazon and Walmart. At VAA, you pay as you go and only for what you need.
Conclusion
As an entrepreneur, it should be the least of your worries to do the repetitive, time-consuming, and highly technical tasks in your business. These are delegable tasks which suggest one thing—to delegate them to more capable persons. Virtual assistants emerged and rapidly dominated the online business world to do exactly that. By following this guide in choosing the right VA for your eCommerce business, (who knows) maybe you could be an 8-figure earner in no time!