Solo VA or…? Why Hiring a Virtual Assistant Team is Best

Solo VA or…? Why Hiring a Virtual Assistant Team is Best

by | Apr 22, 2021 | Blog

Has your company thought of hiring a virtual assistant for a while now? If so, you may wonder whether to add one full-time virtual assistant or a team of VAs. Especially if you’re dipping your toes into virtual assistant services for the first time, questions like these can seem complex. While every business has different needs, hiring a virtual team holds plenty of advantages over onboarding one virtual assistant.

In his entrpreneur.com article entitled Hiring Virtual Assistants is the ‘New Normal,’ Jeff J Hunter shares his post-pandemic discovery of how indispensable a virtual team can be:

“Last year, building a “virtual team” sounded cool, but today, it’s a necessity for businesses to survive the current economic conditions. Yes, a virtual team is the “new normal” of work. It is about time you hire one.”

Why should you consider hiring a virtual team instead of a single VA? What follows are some compelling reasons to give it serious thought!

A VA Team’s Diverse Skillset Gives You Better Results

A winning sports team needs a variety of strengths from teammates to win games consistently. Similarly, a multitude of unique strengths from three or more VAs leads to better overall results than a solo VA can provide.

With a VA team, you can hire individuals who are passionate about their specific work (and darn good at it). If you hire one virtual assistant, you’ll see results but not of the same magnitude you would with a virtual team. A team’s results are greater than the sum total of people involved. Those results multiply as each virtual team member plays off of the strengths of another.

The Team Leader Option

A solid VA team doesn’t randomly crank out a bunch of substandard work from an unorganized group. Instead, a virtual team has order with someone overseeing the work and ensuring that completed tasks are of high quality and turned in on time. Sometimes businesses opt to do this in-house, but that isn’t the only option you have.

The best virtual assistant companies provide the online manager option, also known as an online business manager. An OBM works hard to ensure all tasks accomplish your company’s big-picture goals. There’s just more unity and quality results with this approach. OBMs also are able to do much more than lead a virtual team.

Another significant advantage of hiring a remote team leader from a VA company is their experience in overseeing virtual teams from day one. After all, leading a VA team is quite different from doing so in a traditional face-to-face office setting. Because of this, hiring someone already skilled in this area is a valuable consideration.

Hiring a Virtual Team Means Fewer Delays

One significant advantage of hiring a VA team is that you have more availability from your VAs. Even the most dedicated solo virtual assistant gets sick (all the more evident after 2020) and needs time off for rest or personal reasons. If you hire just one VA to cover all your tasks, this could slow down your productivity.

However, a VA team allows you to fill in the gaps when a specific remote team member needs to step away for a little while. This also enables you to cover more tasks than you could reasonably expect one VA to complete.

It’s true that VA team members each have unique skill sets they excel at. Still, the best VA teams are cross-trained so they can cover work for another team member while they are away from their desk.

Delegation During Your Non-Work Hours

Because a VA team is made up of team members from different time zones, you can sometimes find help with pressing tasks before or after your typical business hours. That way, you can accomplish your goals more quickly when deadlines matter most.

Cost and Convenience Perks

Not having to free up physical office space for one full-time virtual assistant is a big plus. However, with a virtual team, this is all the truer. This is convenient, but also saves some businesses money since the overhead of physical offices can be quite high, especially in the largest cities.

You Can Customize Your Team Size as Needed

When you hire a virtual team, it needn’t have the permanency of hiring as a traditional full-time team does. You can add or subtract to your remote team without all the inherent inflexibilities regular employment brings.

Hiring a Virtual Assistant Team: Would You Like to Chat Sometime?

Are you interested in hiring a virtual assistant, or would you like to see how a VA team can help you grow? If so, our virtual assistant company can help make those dreams a reality.

At Smart to Finish, we can offer support whether you need a social media virtual assistant, a virtual personal assistant, online business manager or remote team.

If you’d like to learn more, please reach out to us for a free 30-minute consultation. We’ll discuss which delegation plan would work best for your business. We can also chat about ways to keep your remote team intact even during uncertain economic times.

Adapting to Keep Your Teams Intact

Adapting to Keep Your Teams Intact

by | Apr 7, 2021 | Blog

If your small business falls on hard economic times, you may be faced with sudden and dramatic changes like making cuts to your workforce, considering new markets and business models, or even closing the doors. During disruption, it’s critical for businesses to be agile and adaptive. So instead of calling it quits, try one of these approaches to pivot your business and take advantage of different opportunities to keep your team intact.

Get a PPP Loan

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on payroll. If you have not received a PPP loan before, First Draw PPP loans may be available to you. These loans can be used to help fund payroll costs, including benefits, and may also be used to pay for mortgage interest, rent, utilities, worker protection costs related to COVID-19, uninsured property damage costs caused by looting or vandalism during 2020, and certain supplier costs and expenses for operations. The SBA can forgive loans if all employee retention criteria are met, and the funds are used for eligible expenses.

The SBA offers free counseling and training events to help you with the Paycheck Protection Program. Learn more here.

*The PPP ends on May 31, 2021.

Temporarily Cut Back on Hours

Another way a small business can save money on business expenses during tough times is by reducing their teams hours. Rather than closing the doors on business or letting talent go, this option is better for small businesses because they can focus on just a few things that are necessary to keep their business going.

In terms of business, you have to also think long term. Once conditions do improve, you have not lost expertise and you will not incur costs to train a new team. We call that a win-win.

Focus on Income Generating Things

With COVID-19 forcing many businesses to modify operations or shut down altogether, leaders and teams have had to get creative with bringing in capital. Finding new and/or honing in on existing revenue streams can be a great way to keep your business afloat in difficult times such as these.

You must ask yourself: Why do you do what you do?

Look at what you do now—your main income producer. How can you do it better and faster and offer a unique solution to the problem presenting itself? Can you decrease price and increase quantity for a short period of time?

Perhaps you tweak the product, target a new audience, use a new marketing channel, develop key partnerships or improve your customer relationships with this main income generator.

During this time, also turn to your team and get their input. They are a great source of knowledge on the day-to-day and behind the scenes, and will more than likely be able to provide you with ideas. Consider turning this into a workplace challenge!

Crisis is the time for businesses to shine. When things are going well in a booming economy, “everyone” seems to be doing well. During an economic downturn is when real leaders stand out.

Are You Finally Fed Up Enough to Hire a Business Virtual Assistant?

Are You Finally Fed Up Enough to Hire a Business Virtual Assistant?

by | Mar 18, 2021 | Blog, Virtual Assisting

Have you recently considered hiring a business virtual assistant because you’re “fed up” with falling behind on tasks each day? Although feeling fed up is one of the worst feelings ever, it’s also a meaningful way we grow as people and in our businesses. How so?

There’s a saying that goes something like this:

“We don’t change until the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain of changing.”

Considering and implementing significant changes in your business can be incredibly exhausting and even painful. So much so that it’s easy to stay locked into the normal day-to-day operations without following through on decisions that could improve your company’s long-term performance. But staying where you are in your business can become even more painful.

One day, you just become too tired of being too tired. You reach the end of your rope and can’t take it anymore. You pick up the phone or write an email. You need help with delegating ASAP and so you go for it.

What are some common indicators that you’re on the verge of being fed up and that it could be time to reach out to a virtual assistant agency? Here are some good indicators.

A Lack of Passion for Your Business

You’ve gotten to the point where you consistently feel unhappy when engaged at your company. At times, your lack of excitement nags at you. This business is your dream come to fruition. Your passion and vision propelled you to the place you are now. Without that energy, nothing would’ve ever happened.

But now, you find yourself feeling drained of that vital energy and passion. You wonder how to get back to the time you felt more fully alive as an entrepreneur instead of the opposite. If this is how you’ve felt lately, this is one of the many potential indicators that it could be time to hire a virtual office assistant, virtual team or online business manager.

You Feel Burned Out

Burnout as an entrepreneur can be devastating but doesn’t have to stay that way. You can improve or prevent burnout by making strategic decisions today. Some of the most critical choices involve delegating so you can heal.

Virtual assistant services are a great way to gain quick relief from perpetually feeling stressed out and being unable to meet your daily business needs.

You Can’t Find the “Off Switch”

You became an entrepreneur to own a business and make a difference in the world. But somewhere along the way, that business started owning you, and it became increasingly difficult to notice the positive difference you set out to make.

If you were honest, you feel negatively controlled by your entrepreneurial pursuits, and you resent it. Even when you aren’t “at work,” you find it challenging to unwind with your family and friends. Your hobbies and extracurricular activities have gone down the drain too.

During the rare moments you get away, you think about everything you need to get done. Even your sleep is regularly disrupted. Too often, you lie awake fretting about your business instead of feeling energized by it. It’s like you can no longer find the “off switch,” and you don’t know what to do to make things better. If that’s how you’ve felt lately, a remote office assistant can help you to begin feeling more like yourself again.

You Have More Money than Time

A good indicator that you’re fed up enough to need an online virtual assistant is you have money but struggle to find time for the aspects of life that matter most. You increasingly realize without more time, your life slips by without the kind of positive impact you wanted.

Financial success at the expense of adequate time is definitely a good indicator that it’s time to put aside feeling fed up and hire a VA. But there are also times when hiring a virtual assistant makes sense, even if it hasn’t exactly been a bumper year.

People Are Starting to Notice

In his Inc.com article entitled What Nobody Tells You About Being an Entrepreneur, Lolly Daskal shares the following:

“In the popular imagination, entrepreneurship is just about having an idea. But successful businesses–even those with just a single employee–have great leadership. And the best leaders know, above all, how to manage themselves.”

A critical aspect of learning to manage yourself better as an entrepreneur involves delegating. When you feel overloaded in your tasks for too long, it puts a lot of strain on other people too. Your staff, clients and customers pick up on that stress after a while. And, yes, that can eventually affect your bottom line. But more importantly, it likely goes against your values. Ultimately, if your business doesn’t positively impact people, what’s the point?

Hiring a virtual business assistant means less pressure on everyone you interact with. That way, you build more than a company. You grow a legacy of treating others how you would want to be treated while also accomplishing some big-time goals.

Is It Time to Hire a Business Virtual Assistant?

At Smart to Finish, we can create an individualized plan that provides the best virtual assistant services for your company. We help with a wide variety of virtual assistant tasks, whether you need a virtual marketing assistant, product launch support or much more.

Maybe you set some business goals for 2021, but now you’re lagging behind. There’s still plenty of time left to improve your results. If you’d like to learn more about how to find a VA for your business, please get in touch with us. You can schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us at your convenience.

Have Business Owner Burnout? Why You Should Hire a Virtual Assistant

Have Business Owner Burnout? Why You Should Hire a Virtual Assistant

by | Feb 24, 2021 | Blog

Did you know that hiring a virtual assistant can help with entrepreneur burnout? Company problem-solving can often feel nearly impossible to turn off. Even when you aren’t ‘on the clock,’ you often find yourself troubleshooting and brainstorming. The potential for mental exhaustion is real, but that’s only part of the equation.

On top of the ongoing mental toil of owning a business, you face the logistics side. That to-do list can seem a mile long, which can lead to persistent feelings of inadequacy. If the stress of too many tasks weighs heavily on you for long, that can lead to business owner burnout and overwhelm.

In her “Entrepreneur” article entitled Understanding Entrepreneurial Burnout (And How to Deal with It), Genny Ghanimeh shares the following:

“It is worth pointing out that burnout doesn’t only occur when things aren’t going well. Many entrepreneurs running very successful businesses can be, and are, just as susceptible to burnout.”

Burnout also consists of more than simply being busy. At its core, entrepreneur burnout becomes far more insidious than merely feeling like you have too much to get done. After all, when you believe in what you’re doing and why, that can help you skate through many exhausting days without serious concern.

But with business burnout, it becomes challenging to hobble or even crawl through your day due to unresolved stress or anxiety. Some have said that the root of burnout is resentment. That resentment can lead to a debilitating lack of energy, purpose and vision for your business. You find yourself loathing even the tasks you once loved.

That’s a scary place to be. How do you move your business forward feeling that way? The answer is you can’t…Not without help anyway. But the good news is that hiring a virtual assistant can better allow you to overcome your burnout. Here are some specific ways that can happen.

Self-Defeating Burnout Patterns Get Broken with a Virtual Assistant

What’s the greatest temptation as a business owner when your productivity drastically declines due to burnout? The first thing often is that you stack all the tasks you think you should’ve completed today onto your to-do list for tomorrow.

That added pressure only makes each new day feel all the more impossible. You become paralyzed. You place so much pressure on yourself to get ‘everything’ done that you get little to nothing accomplished the next day…and the next. The defeat you experience gradually worsens as your high expectations are followed by what you perceive as an epic failure.

Business owners can rarely break out of this cycle alone. Although various strategies can help you escape this self-defeating cycle, one of the best is hiring a virtual assistant, virtual team or online business manager to assist with your tasks.

Once some of those responsibilities are accomplished, you won’t have to place so much pressure on yourself. As a result, your productivity will drastically increase due to consistently lower stress levels.

Delegating to a VA Can Help You Get Additional Rest During Burnout

When you face entrepreneur burnout, the thing you most need is what you feel you can least afford—rest. Because you operate in a constant productivity deficit, you feel guilty about taking a break. You hope that if you keep trying harder, things will eventually be different. The sad news is that, without adequate rest, life won’t get better—It’ll just keep getting worse.

You need more sleep. More family time. More exercise. You need to push the business concerns aside for a while to answer your deeper life concerns. The ones you were in touch with better before your business began consuming you so entirely that you now struggle to know who you are, why you do what you do or what you should do next.

Stepping back is the only way to heal, as scary as that may initially seem. It may feel like taking your hands off the steering wheel during rush hour traffic. Still, it’s critical.

Virtual assistant services can help you accomplish tasks that keep you from the rest you so desperately need. That way, you can step away for a while and become the best version of yourself.

A Virtual Assistant Can Guard Against Future Business Burnout

The best burnout care is preventative. You get to the root problems before they become destructive to your personal wellness, business and family. If you’re recovering from burnout or don’t currently consider yourself burned out, now is a great time to consider how remote assistants can help with tasks.

Instead of looking at burnout as something we have or don’t, it’s best to view it as a spectrum we all fall somewhere on. That fact is all the clearer given the additional pandemic stress nearly all business owners faced during the past year. Each day, we make choices that take us closer to burnout’s ‘danger zone’ or further away from it.

As you work at preventing burnout, stay aware of its signs. Also, be especially careful if you’ve experienced significant burnout in the past, so you don’t develop a chronic and long-lasting form of burnout.

Want to Learn More About How a VA Can Help Your Business?

Have you struggled with business owner overwhelm or burnout lately? If so, you certainly aren’t alone. Smart to Finish exists to help you with complex problems like these. We well understand that business overwhelm can happen at any stage, from startup burnout to feeling burnt out even after your business is established and thriving.

Whether you’re looking for the best virtual assistant for your business, remote managing or a virtual assistant team, we’re here for you.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can significantly ease your stress through delegating to a virtual assistant, feel free to reach out. You can schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us to determine the next best steps!

Meet Amber Miller, Founder and Chief Delegation Diva at Smart to Finish Office Solutions

Meet Amber Miller, Founder and Chief Delegation Diva at Smart to Finish Office Solutions

by | Feb 17, 2021 | Blog

Meet Amber Miller… the founder and Chief Delegation Diva at Smart to Finish Office Solutions.

Amber is a Mom to 3 kids (23, 18, and 12), and a Mom to several 4-legged animals (6 dogs, a cat, a mini horse, and a mini donkey), and 40 chickens.  Managing this zoo/household has brought out Amber’s nurturing nature, super organization skills, and incredible ability to multi-task. It’s these same skills that make her clients breathe a huge sigh of relief. Amber is like a breath of fresh air and a steady wind at your back all at once. 

When she’s not loving on her clients, you’ll more than likely find Amber outside camping, boating, or hitting the trails on her Polaris. 

 

Amber’s Background

 

With a background in technology and marketing and a dream of starting her own company, Amber did just that in 2005. It was at this time that she began working as a virtual assistant. Word traveled fast and Amber’s business quickly grew. 

By 2008, Amber saw the benefit of hiring a virtual assistant herself. And she began hiring other women who shared the same passions and dreams as her. And that is how she built Smart to Finish Office Solutions, cloning herself with each new hire. 

 

Amber Cares About Her Clients

 

Amber’s special gift is her heart and her genuine desire to see her clients succeed. She cares about their business as much as her own. 

Here’s what some of Amber’s long-time clients have to say about working with her:

 

“The easiest techie girl I’ve ever worked with and she knows how to make things pleasing to the eye. Plus, I love knowing if I’m in a pinch or my website has a glitch, she will find a solution fast! Amber ROCKS!”
~ Jeanna Gabellini, MasterPeace Coaching

 

“In the 21 years I’ve owned and operated my business I have hired a number of people to support my vision. By far, Amber of Smart to Finish, is in the top percentile of outstanding vendors I’ve worked with. She, and her entire team, is conscientious, committed to the success of her clients, delivers above and beyond and a true delight to work with. I have recommended Amber to many of my clients and will continue to do so. It is with complete confidence you can hire Smart to Finish for many of your company needs.”
~ Kathleen Gage, Power Up for Profits

 

“Amber is a rockstar. Not only does she have years of experience as a VA and knows more than many others in our industry, she also has something that can’t be taught – dedication. Once Amber commits to something she is in 100% and will do whatever it takes to deliver. I highly recommend Amber and her team for the brilliance and knowledge.” 
~ Tina Forsyth, Online Business Manager

 

Stop Hesitating, and Start Delegating

 

Amber’s #1 tip for clients who are looking to grow their business is to stop hesitating and start delegating! You have to start somewhere. Hiring an assistant and building her team was the smartest move Amber made for her business, and she’d like to help you make this step for yours. 

If you’d like to find out if Smart to Finish is the right team for you, click here to schedule a free 30-minute consultation.

Setting New Year’s Business Goals? A Virtual Team or VA Can Help

Setting New Year’s Business Goals? A Virtual Team or VA Can Help

by | Dec 16, 2020 | Blog

Have you ever considered hiring a virtual team, virtual assistant or online manager to help with your New Year’s business goals? Traditionally, setting individual goals for the new year meant putting all the pressure to change or achieve on yourself. Like most of us, you probably had your share of disappointment after some of those goals fell by the wayside.

Perhaps if you’d had some people come alongside you to encourage you with those individual goals, you would’ve experienced greater success. The same could be said of your business goals for 2021. Sure, you’re an essential part of your company, but you can’t do it all alone.

In his “Entrepreneur” article entitled, 4 New Year’s Resolutions Your Business Should Make, Syed Balkhi shares the following:

“By making New Year’s resolutions for your business—and following through with them—your business can reach new heights this coming year.”

As the New Year approaches, here are some possible goals setting ideas to consider as you weigh the option of working with a virtual assistant company.

Re-Explore Your Long-Term Vision

Whew! If ever there was a years’ end to go back and look at your long-term strategy again, this was it. With all the pressing matters businesses had to juggle, it was easy to fall into survival mode and stay there.

For that reason, it’s crucial after a year like 202o to revisit what you’ve wanted to implement but struggled to accomplish. To do that, you’ll need time to think outside of the ‘hamster wheel schedule’ this year may have become for you.

Intentionally clearing your schedule will be a must. Otherwise, you’ll risk starting 2021 on the same track. That’s where hiring a virtual assistant company can help to quickly give you some much needed time to plan your next moves. Without time for strategizing, your business could miss out on some of the best 2021 has to offer.

Review Customer or Client Complaints

None of us like to think about disappointing our clients or customers. It’s a painful thought but happens at times despite our best efforts. When setting smart business goals, think about any reoccurring themes you found in your complaints.

Once you identify aspects of your business you can improve on in 2021, think about whether a VA team, VA or OBM could help. A virtual assistant team will likely be able to help you make your customers happier in 2021.

Envision a Post-Pandemic Approach

It may be difficult to imagine at the moment, but a 2021 vaccine could lead to a post-pandemic scenario which will likely require a different business approach than your current one.

How will you change your business strategy post-pandemic? Tentatively setting business goals for this transition will help you to prepare better for the road ahead. It will also help you to rapidly implement a strategy change when the moment arrives.

Perhaps you’ll want to ramp up your hiring process or will have some aspects of your business that need delegated immediately. This transition and beyond could be a great time to consider what a virtual assistant company can do for you after the pandemic calms down. As you plan, it wouldn’t hurt to speak with a VA company at least a few months before you expect demand for their services.

Virtual Team or Remote Assistant: Could 2021 Be the Year?

At Smart to Finish, we can help you achieve more in 2021 through delegation. You don’t have to let the new year slip by without accomplishing business goals that are important to you. Our team is ready to assist you.

Is it possible you’ll need a virtual assistant, remote team or online business manager during the upcoming year? If so, now is the perfect time to schedule a 30-minute free consultation with us.

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