Hey y’all.

When It Makes Sense to Hire an Assistant

If you’re drowning in tasks and work/life balance seems far-fetched, it might be time to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA). A VA is a freelancer that often specializes in administrative tasks, like repurposing content, making calls, managing emails, bookkeeping, social media, and more.

At an average rate of $3 to $5 USD per hour, hiring a VA can be a cost-effective way to save time. (If you prefer to hire someone within the US, it’ll cost around $19 an hour). By outsourcing repetitive tasks (or the things you just hate doing), you can free up time to focus on the tasks that really move the needle (or just take a break…that’s good too).

Here’s a few other signs it’s time to hire a VA (or another team member in general):

1. You Find Yourself Saying No to Projects You Actually Want

If your schedule is packed and you’re finding yourself having to decline projects you’d love to take on, it’s time to hire a VA. For example, if you’re a graphic designer that presents final designs in a slideshow, you might delegate creating the slides to a VA.

2. You Find Yourself Spending a Lot of Time on Admin Tasks

Admin tasks that don’t require business of industry context — like bookkeeping, emailing, and posting online — are required in most businesses. But if they prevent you from being able to take on more clients or enjoy more down time, outsource the tasks to a VA.

3. Customer Service Experience is Slipping Through the Cracks

The small details matter — like personalizing proposals and forming genuine connections with your potential clients online. If you notice that you’re slipping up on following through with the customer service end of things, that’s a sign you’ve got too much on your plate.

4. You’re Ready to Work on Different Work or Larger Projects

You’ve got a good thing going, and the money is coming in (Aye! We love to see it!). Now what? You’re ready for the next project, or maybe you want to expand into another service. Bring someone in, train them on how to keep the initial service running, then spend more time on the new project.

5. You’re Experiencing Burnout

Burnout is real, and it’ll knock you off course so fast. It’s usually an indicator that too much is going on or you’re not doing enough of the things you enjoy. Both are signs it’s time to hire a VA to take on the overflow.

6. You’ve Hit a Growth Plateau

If you know you’re doing the right things, but you just don’t have enough time to invest into growing your business, hiring a VA may help. For example, if you know social media is key to bringing in new clients, hire a VA to help create content and schedule it for posting. It’ll allow you to spend more time on the client work directly (a.k.a. the tasks that generate real revenue).

Helpful Resources

If you’re like me (a numbers person) and doing the math really helps, break the decision down like this:

I value my time at $50 per hour. I spend 5 hours per week on admin tasks that I could outsource to someone for $10 per hour. I’d pay $200 per month for an assistant, but I’d save $1,000 worth of my time. That’s a net profit of $800 per month — time I can invest back into growing my business or taking on revenue generating work.

When it comes time to hire a VA, look at places like Shepherd, Upwork, OnlineJobs, and Oceans. Shepherd is best for getting matches with a full-time VA, Upwork and OnlineJobs are best for viewing individual VA profiles and hiring independently, and Oceans is best for getting matched with a part-time VA without having to sift through profiles.

Featured Opportunities

We’ve got 5 new gig opportunities this week! 👀

✍️ Freelance Writer for Babbel Magazine

Articles about language learning and linguistics. Fun topics, no pitching required. SEO writers and bilinguals “to the front of the line ⭐️.”

🎨 Freelance Product Designer

Junior or mid-level. 10-20 hours per week. Remote, but need to overlap with ET and PT time.

👩‍💻 Freelance Graphic Designer for an F1 Clothing Company

Motorsports merch company looking for someone to help create “fun F1 themed merch that lets fans express their love for the sport without looking like a walking billboard.“ 😀 $500 to $1,000 budget.

🗣️ Paid Interview

Research company is looking to interview people on their thoughts about their wireless cellphone plans. 1.5 hours, pays $125.

🏠 Side Hustle: Neighbor

If you’ve got a spare room, parking space, or empty garage, you can rent the space to local people that might need it. Some people make up to $600 per month for a garage rental.

Want to see a specific type of work? Just let us know.

What I’m Thinking About

The comparison game in the financial world is heavy…especially as an entrepreneur. This year, we’ve seen companies like ChatGPT take off in what seemed like an overnight success. Yet, the company was founded in 2015. It took 8 years of trial and error to have their “overnight success” moment.

A few months ago, I polled my network of entrepreneurs and asked how much they made in their first year of entrepreneurship, and the results shocked me. Next week, I’ll share those results with you, and we’ll chat more about how we construct our idea of success on the financial side of things.

See ya next week,

Grace