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What kind of budget or monthly investment am I willing and able to make? Allocate an amount for your project that you are willing or able to invest. If you do not have a budget, think about what you can allocate towards a budget and then let this be the starting point when pitching your project for assistance. You may find that you are right on target with your budget, need to consider more for your budget, or are able to negotiate what tasks can get done with the budget you have. What do I need help with? Take time to write down all the tasks you’d like to complete for the project. Look for tasks that you can allocate to a virtual assistant. If you find that many of your tasks are related to several projects, group them together for each project. Then, assign each project a number of importance order. Whatever project or tasks make it to your top 3 or 5 is where you could start with assistance. How long do I need assistance? This may be a difficult one to determine, especially when you are just getting started, however keep in mind that there is a difference between a one-time task service need and an ongoing service need , usually connected with a more detailed project. If you are simply needing some assistance with getting some proofreading done for an article or needing someone to help you archive and organize your inbox, or the tasks seem sporadic and not necessarily related to each other, this could be a one-time service task. You’ll want to see if whomever you decide to assist can offer that kind of service as stand-alone or perhaps have a package for general tasks that you could consider. One-time service tasks could take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days, or a few weeks. If you have a project with a deadline and it has ongoing needs, like preparing for a launch of a new book or preparing for an event, these kinds of projects will need more ongoing follow-up and potentially a project plan. A great rule is to look at your needs in terms of a one-time, 30, 60 and 90 days. If you foresee needing assistance longer than 90 days, it’s most likely a more detailed project that needs a project plan and more assistance. How many hours a week or month am I needing assistance? Think through how many hours a week or month you would ask someone to devote time to assisting you. Even if you are not sure, it is best to always start with what you know your budget can afford. Think back to your master list of tasks and/or projects, do a little research on what the virtual assistant can offer, what their specialties are, and their rates. Take your monthly amount and break it down into weekly. If you budget is $300 a month, when you break that down into 4 weeks, you’ll have $75 a week. Hourly rates for a virtual assistant will ultimately depend on the project and task needs. But let’s say the virtual assistant rate averages about $20 an hour, you can assume that 3-4 hours a week or 12-16 hours a month will likely be the amount of hours dedicated to your project. Do I have enough web based online tools or systems to allocate tasks or projects to a virtual assistant? Another important thing to do is also list out what current web based, online tools you currently use to manage these tasks or projects. These will likely be the platforms that you will be giving a virtual assistant access to and these are the platforms you would want your virtual assistant to be familiar with. If you are lacking web-based tools to help manage your business, you may not be ready for a virtual assistant just yet, here is a great resource to help you make your business more virtual ready! If you are ready to hire a virtual assistant here is an article I wrote about what to look or in a virtual assistant! If you need help determining if your project or tasks are ready for assistance, I have put together a short Project Help Assessment that you can fill out and I will contact you and offer a complimentary session to help steer you in the right direction!
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AuthorNherie is a creative freelancer who enjoys creativity, teaching & writing about best administrative or business practices and virtual assisting. Archives
January 2022
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