When you’re first launching your business, there are a lot of emotions around EVERYTHING!

• Do I need a coach?
• Should I spend money to go to this conference?
• Should I spend money on ads?
• Do I hire someone to do those ads or do I learn to do them myself?
• What should I spend my time doing in my business?
• Should I do one on one services or group services?
• Should I have online programs?
• How do I launch a new program?

And probably the BIGGEST question of all? Should I hire my first assistant?

Most of my clients are women who have had a tremendous amount of success in their lives – often in corporate America. They’re typically used to large, consistent paychecks. Their decisions don’t typically mean that they may not get paid this month, because they checks come regularly, and they aren’t typically responsible for the bills of the business.

But when they go out on their own and launch their first business, there is a lot of fear over whether or not they are good enough, if they’ll generate sales, and how to spend the money. But for so many, the idea of hiring help just stops them dead in their tracks, and paralyzes them from making other decisions.

So let’s talk about this. Here are a few ways to know that you are ready for an assistant:

• You don’t have enough time to handle all of the things happening in your business.
• You are not able to properly serve your clients because you are spending so much time in the administration of your business.
• You are doing things in your business that you HATE and it is draining your energy for the things that you LOVE!
• You are overwhelmed by “all the things” and not taking action because of the overwhelm.
• You are missing vacations, dinners, weekends, and time with family because you are working 24/7.
• You are spending a lot of time learning tasks that you have no desire to do.

I get it! It’s scary to take on a big, new expense. It’s scary to take on a new responsibility – both in the financial outlay and the time to train your assistant. But you can’t make six or seven figures a year doing $10/hour jobs! If you worked 24 hours a day, all 365 days a year doing $10/hour jobs – you would only make $87,600 for the year.

For me, the entire trajectory of my business changed when I hired my first virtual assistant. She took things off my plate and allowed me to spend more time serving clients and marketing my business, which are the things that make the MONEY in my business.

Also, I happened to find a FABULOUS person who was super technically savvy – and was able to not only do many of the administrative elements of my business, but also able to run my Infusionsoft, create landing pages and sales pages, and create my graphics! I can’t imagine how much easier my life would have been had I hired sooner!

Now let’s talk salaries!

If you’re looking for someone experienced in the US, UK, or Australia, to help you run social media, create graphics, handle customer service; you’ll likely be paying between $30 and $50 an hour.

If you’re looking for someone in the Philippines or India with experience, you’ll likely be paying between $5 and $15/hour.

Also, many of the international (and some local) VA’s are working for multiple people at a time, so you don’t have to commit to full time – you could commit to just 5-10 hours a week to determine how well you work together! This allows you to start with less time and less commitment, and start working up to more hours with this assistant or another as your income increases!

Some of the least expensive ways to hire a virtual assistant are on:

• Upwork
• Outsourcely
• Fiver

So, if you’re feeling like it may be time to hire an assistant and get help in your business, give it a try. If you’d like more information about hiring help in your business, check our blog post category Operations for more great information about growing your business and hiring your team!