Running your own business can sometimes be overwhelming and stressful as you you’re usually carrying the weight all yourself. It might also feel like you have to do everything by yourself and asking for help will mean you’re a failure. Trust me, you’re not and you don’t have to do it all on your own, working stupid hours and canceling plans, because you have a deadline to meet or admin to finish. Being your own boss and having your own business shouldn’t come at a cost to your personal life or mental health.

This is why I recently made the decision to hire a VA (Virtual Assistant) to support me in areas that I struggle with or tasks that I’ve been meaning to do for ages, but never had the time or motivation to tackle. It was something I’d been thinking about for quite some time and as much as everyone tells you to outsource as much as you can, it’s still a big leap when you’ve been doing everything by yourself for so long to introduce someone else into your business. In addition to the emotional aspect it will depend on what your budget allows you, so you need to make sure they’re able to give value to your business.

As I spent such a long time debating on this, I thought it would be good to share my pros and cons list and my thought process with you…

CONS OF HIRING A VA

• The cost, they’re around £25-30p/h in the UK so it’s not a small amount.

• Having to start writing things down instead of having all my lists and ideas in my head.

• Finding someone can take a some time, you have to find the right person and shouldn’t rush into it.

• Trust, the Virtual Assistant is going to have access to a lot of things, I need to be able to trust them.

PROS OF HIRING A VA

• More time to spend doing the things that I enjoy doing in my business.

• Someone I can delegate tasks to if I’m ill or on holiday.

• Having someone as a sounding board to bounce ideas off, who understands my business.

• Bringing in expertise in the areas I’m not an expert in.

• Not having to do the really boring or annoying bits anymore!

• A better work-life balance, being able to take more actual time off instead of having to do admin or other time consuming tasks.

• Having help from a VA can free up time that I can use to grow your business.

As you can see, the pros list outweighs the cons list, so I tentatively began my search. Luckily it didn’t take too long and now the amazing Rachel Luke is my Virtual Assistant, helping me out as and where I need it, and I can confidently say that she’s already making my life a lot easier, just a 1 month in!

If you have any questions about hiring a VA, leave me a comment or send me a message, I think everyone should have one, they’re great and will help you and your business in many ways.