Are You Ready for a Virtual Assistant? [part one]

As a photographer, I bet you have asked yourself the question: are you ready for a virtual assistant?

As your business is whirring forward, and things are blowing+going… it can be really hard to determine if that’s the best investment for your business or not. And then, if so: how do you find someone that you trust?

After all, you’ve built this business from scratch. It’s your baby. You want to put your money into something that is going to provide a good ROI and make your life easier.

I’ve been on both sides. I was a photographer off/on for over 10 years (and still dabble for fun!), but I now I run The Focus Collective, and we help women find sustainability in their photography businesses. I have seen the virtual assistant relationship go super well, and some of our clients we’ve worked with for years. And I’ve also seen photographers leap into something before they were ready & then flounder. I don’t want that for you!

I know there are a lot of things vying for your attention (cough, investment) as a small business owner, and I promise I don’t want you to invest in something that isn’t going to make your life better. I’m not here to sell you on having a VA. But I do want to help inform you, so you’ll know when the time is right.

👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻 So you can feel like this

And actually experience a change in your business. But what does that look like?

This is a 3-part series exploring if you are ready for a virtual assistant. I want you to think of outsourcing to a VA like a staircase.

On the first step, there is a level of access to start with. And as you step up, so does the support.

So let’s get into it ⤵️

The first step in the VA staircase is outsourcing ONE project.

Something that has a clear beginning, middle, and end - a project that you just need help clearing the hurdle, and then you can keep going on your own.

Examples of this would be:

- a client system set up
- a Flodesk welcome nurture drip
- scheduling a batch of Instagram posts with captions
- creating a branded welcome guide

etc.

I want you to think of the first step on the staircase as hiring a handyman to come fix something in your house. Maybe a sink is broken, or you need an A/C repair. You hire them to fix that issue, and then continue on with the regular duties of keeping a house.

That’s what it’s like when you hire us to come into your business and help resolve a certain pain point.

Let’s say you really want to gather email addresses and have an idea for a really targeted lead generating Freebie, but just cannot find the time or desire to create it yourself. You hire us to come in, hear your brain dump of ideas, and then mold it into a kickass PDF for your warm leads to download.

Then you can go install it on your website pop up and create a welcome sequence in Flodesk to nurture those leads.

That is the first level of outsourcing I associate with virtual assistants for photographers. So are you ready for a virtual assistant? Maybe! Most photographers have these kinds of projects, that would just give them a little UMPH to move forward. You can always hire someone to knock these off your to-do list, so your mental load is not weighed down by the “undone”.

It’s also a really good way to see if you vibe with a virtual assistant before jumping in to more extensive work. Sometimes there is just a personality difference, and it can be nice to see it in a smaller setting before jumping into a more extensive ongoing working relationship. In reverse, you might adore working with this person and feel a huge sense of relief. Then you’ll feel so confident going to the next step on the staircase.

Part 2 coming soon!