If you’ve been in the online world for any time whatsoever you know the general recommendation for a business looking to scale is to hire a Virtual Assistant. Many times businesses are pointed toward a Virtual Assistance Agency, but is that the right choice for you?
First, let’s talk about exactly how most Virtual Agencies work. Virtual Assistant Agencies generally find assistants from a pool of candidates and place them with your company. The company finds the hire, trains them and then you pay the company for their services month to month.
Now, this seems like a dream come true for businesses. You get someone to complete your tasks without the responsibility of hiring or worrying about payments such as training and logistics.
However, there are a couple of massive things to consider before using a Virtual Assistant Agency.
First, agency hires are not custom to your business.
There’s often a brief intake questionnaire or maybe a meeting to get a general overview of your business, but there’s no deep dive into what your company goals are your values or even your personality. Hires generally come from a pool of pre-selected, beginner candidates.
This can inhibit the long-term growth of your business. The team member is simply a current moment, a band-aid fix for your business. Growth opportunities are not addressed. You also risk having team members who don’t align with your values or believe in your mission. These are two key factors in ensuring your team members stick around for longer than a few months.
Next agency hires are usually beginners who are “trained” on general programs, not your specific business.
Because of the typical fee structure in an agency, it’s a well-known fact that beginners gravitate towards agencies. In fact, my assistants both tell me that an experienced assistant would never think of staying with an agency. The fee structure is often highly skewed until the agency makes much more money than the actual assistant. For example, an agency may charge you $10/hour and only pay the assistant $2/hour. This is barely a living wage for offshore hires.
The training programs are also designed to be general and are never specific to your business. Hires have a much higher success rate and a much lower disappointment rate for owners when they are trained with a custom plan that is specific to your business.
Finally, the agency hires feel replaceable.
This is the double-edged sword of the agency. If an assistant doesn’t work out, most agencies have a swift replacement policy. However, the assistant knows this as well and can feel like they are merely a cog in a wheel and never really part of the team. Because of this, they will often continue to search for better opportunities which will lead to increased team turnover for you.
So if an agency isn’t the answer, then what is?
Thanks for asking! The answer to your capacity problem is a fully-leveraged, completely bought-in assistant. In our world, we call these amazing individuals Growth Sidekicks. These are assistants who have the sole mission of helping you grow your business. They are hired specifically for your short-term and long-term goals, trained with a plan that is custom to your business, and work in an environment that lets them fully utilize their skill sets.
They are the answer to increasing your capacity without increasing overwhelm.
Want to know exactly how they can help you? Contact us and let’s find you your dedicated Executive Assistant!
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