Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire A Virtual Assistant

This is weird. I’m giving you reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. For obvious reasons, it is bad for business. In fact, I should be writing about why you should hire a virtual assistant or burn in hell. That would make more sense, right?

Chill. I’m going somewhere

I love being a virtual assistant and may have toyed with the idea of quitting my 8-4 and working from home full time. So the business is good. And you really should consider it as your side hustle if you are looking to make more money.

However, I don’t think some people should hire virtual assistants for a couple of reasons. I’ll tell you why in a minute.

Recently, I had an experience with a prospect that led me to recommend they just hire someone full time. Why? Because sometimes what you need isn’t a virtual assistant. But a personal assistant that shows up nose to nose every day and picks up your dry cleaning after work.

My Top 4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire A Virtual Assistant.

I think it’s really important for you to know this. It’ll save you time and money so please, don’t hire me or any virtual assistant out there if you:

1. Don’t know what you need
2. Are a dinosaur
3. You love breathing down people’s necks
4. Can’t afford one right now

I’ll take each point I’ve mentioned one after the other and explain to you using my experiences why you really shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant.

#1.) You Don’t Know What You Need:

I’ve worked with a client that made me re-do an eBook 12 times. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to become an author and basically tripled my work.

Time equals money in the virtual business world and there’s no time to waste. You need to be sure of what you need before hiring a virtual assistant, if not you’ll pay for time not spent.

A lot of virtual assistants are more than willing to brainstorm and find out ways they can help you grow your business and solve your problems. However, it is your duty to recognize your problems and present them to your virtual assistant.

You might need to hire someone full time if you’re going to be stabbing in the dark until something sticks. If you don’t know what you need, you might end up hiring a virtual assistant with a wrong expertise that can’t help you.

#2.) You’re A Dinosaur:

It is 2020 and the world is going digital. However, not everyone has been able to catch up. A virtual assistant works online and this is clearly spelled out. But some clients would rather have the virtual assistant come in every day. Thereby removing the ‘virtual’ from the virtual assistant. If this is you, then you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. What you need is an assistant.

This is why I tell people looking to start their virtual assistant business to decide if they’d want to commute back and forth. How often they will. And who’ll pay for it. This is very important because I lost a social media management gig some months ago just because the prospect wanted to sit out with me and talk about his brand before hiring me. I just didn’t have the time to meet him.

But I get it.

Some people would like to have a face to face discussion with a VA before entrusting their business to them. But that’s not always possible. So if you are stuck on a face-to-face meeting then maybe you shouldn’t be hiring a virtual assistant in the first place! A full-time employee will have more face-to-face time with you so that seems like a better deal.

#3.) You Love Breathing Down People’s Necks:

I’ve had clients sending me messages at 3:00Am on Sunday morning and others calling at 11:00Pm on a work week. A virtual assistant that only speaks with you a couple of times a week or month might not be what you need. This is if you like monitoring your workers. A virtual assistant can decide to quit and leave you hanging just because you are being too domineering and breathing down their necks. That’s just the way it is.

They have their business and you have yours.

They aren’t working for you. They are working with you. Believe it or not, there’s a difference. They probably became virtual assistants because they didn’t like their boss breathing down their necks.

Every serious virtual assistant has something called a welcome packet. In this document, they tell you their business hours and how you can contact them. It is rude to call outside business hours and throw fit if they don’t answer. If you have a rush-job, I’m sure they’d do their best to help you out with an additional fee.

Side note: I make an exception with my monthly retainer clients. I give them my personal phone number and have them send me WhatsApp messages at 2pm or 2am and they know I’ll reply ASAP.

They know not to voice or video call me without scheduling a call. That’s just how it works. But if you need someone to be there for you 24/7, then you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant.

#4.) Your Business Can’t Bear The Expense:

Virtual assistants deserve to not only get paid, but get paid on time. Please dear, if you can’t pay, you shouldn’t hire a Virtual Assistant. This isn’t rocket science. Working for you takes time, energy and money (because we pay subscription fees outside mobile data).

I’m giving this advice because I have been owed by a lot of people and some of them never paid. Usually because I couldn’t ask for my pay and was sympathetic when they complained about how their business wasn’t yielding as much income as they expected and needed me to take a chance on them and ‘invest in their business’. I did this in my early days forgetting that my own VA business needed investing too. Phew!

The great thing about hiring a virtual assistant is that you can do it for a limited time. You can hire a VA for a year, month, week or even a project and when that is completed, you go your separate ways. So if you know your revenue isn’t consistent and can’t afford to pay a virtual assistant, please don’t hire a virtual assistant.

A laborer deserves his wages.

Is It Getting Clearer?

I’ve given you key reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant. But I am a virtual assistant and I know how important VAs are to entrepreneurs. So if none of the reasons I shared above applies to you, then by all means necessary- YOU SHOULD HIRE A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Here Are Some Of The Reasons Why You Should Hire A Virtual Assistant Right Now

#1.) You Want To Save Money:

Hiring a virtual assistant saves you money. You don’t have to pay them when they are on maternity or terminal leave. You are not going to organize/pay for any employee development courses or hire someone full-time when you only need them for a limited time. Their health care insurance isn’t also your responsibility. You can finally be stingy in peace.

Lastly, your secret fear that someone is downloading movies with your office Wifi will be put to rest because you won’t be responsible for data costs.

#2.) You Don’t Have Office Space:

A lot of small business owners don’t have a lot of space for employees. Instead of getting a larger space, you could hire someone to work remotely and not have to pay a higher rent for a bigger space. Remember that with office space comes furniture and electronics and they cost money.

#3.) You Need Someone To Work Weird Hours:

It is common for people to have a full time job during the day, and work on their side hustle at night. You can’t employ someone to come in at that time for obvious reasons.

Instead, you should hire a virtual assistant to help out because they have flexible work hours. They can hold a meeting at 1am just because it is in their schedule and they don’t have to get out of bed and hurry to work at 7am.

#4.) You Need Flexibility:

You may decide to launch a business at any point. A virtual assistant can be ready with all the skills you need. There’ll be no need to train someone which will delay you. Instead hire someone who’s already an expert.

One of the key reasons I’m considering working as a virtual assistant full-time is- flexibility. Whenever I visit my husband, Cee, I don’t get as much work as I’d have liked done. So I work in advance. I do a marathon and complete weeks’ worth of work in the days leading to when I’d travel. That way, I can clear my schedule and actually enjoy the time I spend in his company. My clients don’t need to know I had a baecation/vacation. Everyone is happy.

#5.) You Need Someone With The Latest Skills:

Like I said earlier, virtual assistants are business owners. They invest in their education a lot. Take me for instance, I have gathered over 15 certificates on health and digital marketing so I am not only building myself as a Medical Laboratory Scientist but as a virtual assistant.

Asides constantly upgrading my knowledge, I also have experience working with a variety of clients that I can use to improve your business if required.

But don’t take my word for it, according to a study by upwork, freelancers are much more likely to update their skills than full-time employees

So Should You Hire A Virtual Assistant or Not?

I don’t know. It depends on you- your needs, experiences, type of business etc. Although I’d want to sign up another client and would love to tell Cee I just sent my welcome packet and estimate to you, I have to let you make this decision.

It’s really not something you want to rush into.

Full-time employees are great especially when you are a dinosaur, need to see your work done in real time. Virtual assistants are perfect when you need more flexibility, updated skills and want to save money.

It’s really your decision. I’ve told you reasons why you shouldn’t hire a virtual assistant and reasons why you may want to hire one.

Now the ball is in your court.

Next Steps                                

If you are looking for an experienced Virtual assistant to work with, I’m still taking clients. You can see some of the services I provide here.

If you want to start or grow your virtual assistant business and make money from home, Go here and get help