Business owners are busy. But what if they could hire the best personal assistants (PAs) to relieve their workload?
The benefits of having a personal assistant are compelling. It is well worth looking into if you’re concerned about burnout or find it hard to stay on top of all your admin tasks.
A personal assistant is an excellent resource. PAs can improve operational efficiency and keep your stress levels in check. Plus, it’s always nice to have someone help pick up any dropped balls.
Today we’ll explore some of the advantages of taking on a virtual personal assistant. We’ll also consider the necessary skills of a PA to ensure your business runs well.
Hiring a Personal Assistant to Free Up Time
Most people hire a personal assistant to gain time. We can all agree time is a limited resource, and we never seem to have enough!
General assistants will manage all manner of day-to-day duties, such as:
- Scheduling meetings
- Filing paperwork
- Sending emails
- Running errands
Taking the admin tasks out of your day will free up a considerable amount of time. As a result, you can concentrate on your core responsibilities. It will also help you avoid working all hours to get through your task list.
You can hire a massive range of assistants, each offering different specializations, depending on the tasks you want to delegate.
Skilled professional assistants can manage almost everything. For example, organizing events and handling your social media is very doable.
Delegating to a PA Develops Management Skills
A personal assistant is often one of the first hires a growing business makes. And if you don’t have an existing workforce, it’s a great way to grow as a manager.
Working with an assistant means becoming efficient at delegating, training, and communicating. Improving these skills will help you become a better leader.
Flexible Personal Assistant Availability
Most businesses don’t need full-time, permanent admin support. Yet, they will need someone to fill a few extra hours when things get busy during peak periods.
Virtual assistants are highly flexible and can work on any basis that suits your needs.
For example:
- Working set days per week, aligned with your office hours.
- Taking on ad hoc projects as the need arises.
- Offering a fixed number of hours a week, to use as you wish.
- Taking over responsibility for an area of work where hours required depends on volume.
You can define your expectations from the outset or discuss availability at the start of each month. Either way, it is vital to ensure your assistant sets aside the required hours you book them for.
Access to a Broad Range of Skills and Experience
Personal assistants can come in many forms. Choose from entry-level admin workers to accomplished digital marketing assistants or qualified bookkeepers.
Bringing in a personal assistant means you have access to their experience, which often leads to identifying new ways to improve efficiency.
For example, if your assistant spots a gap, they might have suggestions. They may see opportunities to release a custom blog or speed up customer response times.
Improved Admin Capacity
All businesses have essential admin tasks, and there is a lot to say about having an extra pair of hands (and a set of eyes and ears!) on your side.
You might consult your assistant for a second opinion, request research and fact-checking, or delegate editing and proofreading to ensure all your correspondence is error-free.
Having a trusted personal assistant ensures you have peace of mind that your work will always be consistent, high quality, and completed on time.
Delegating Everyday Tasks
Delegation of tasks is an indispensable tool for managers.
While it can take a bit of adjustment to get used to relying on an assistant, once you’re comfortable with the quality of their work, your day will undoubtedly get easier to manage.
It’s natural to feel like you need to be in control of everything.
Still, micromanaging can add an excruciating amount of hours to the working week and make it scarily easy to forget something important.
General admin tasks can be tedious and drain your resources, but an efficient assistant will take them over with ease, especially as small tasks can be a huge time-waster, and detract from your key goals.
That’s why delegating general duties such as answering the phone, data entry, and filing system management has enormous benefits.
An assistant can also ensure organization by highlighting where you might have conflicting meetings or overlap in your schedule and streamlining your calendar.
Balancing Your Work and Personal Life
Of all the things a business mentor might recommend, maintaining a good work/life balance is one of the most vital.
Growing a business and developing your market presence takes substantial time and effort, and if you can streamline your energy into this, you’ll have a far greater chance of success.
Relaxation, family time, and holidays provide a mental reset so that you return to work refreshed, energized, and focused.
Personal assistants help entrepreneurs and business managers keep their life in balance, removing a great deal of pressure and ensuring you never forget a birthday or important family event. The cost of a personal assistant may be well worth it.
Developing a Business With Personal Assistant Support
Finally, an added benefit to hiring a talented personal assistant is that they can often contribute significantly to developing your business.
An outstanding assistant will bring skills and knowledge to the table, identify ways to work better, and help you focus on your big-picture goals to keep your company moving forward.
