10 ways I use Virtual Assistants to build my Startup

Let’s get specific.

I’m going to show you exactly how much I trust my collective of Virtual Assistants, by letting you in on a little secret.

I hire them to help me grow and run my own business! 

Of course, they say you should ‘practice what you preach’, and part of my marketing strategy is to showcase examples of their work and abilities. So what better way than to show you exactly how they have helped me to grow my business model so far.

Here are 10 specific tasks I have outsourced to my Virtual Assistants:

1. Logo design

 When I started my business I had no ideas as to what my branding should be.

One of the VAs and I had a 30 minute call to brainstorm my tone of voice for marketing and copy.  This unlocked some ideas for how I wanted my brand to look and feel. 

The brief I gave to the Virtual Assistant who designed my logo was to use lots of colour, with bright tones that grab attention.  I didn’t want it to be too fun…we are providing a professional service after all!  But I still wanted to be friendly and approachable. 

She presented a range of ideas which I narrowed down to one to explore further.  We then played around in that style and settled on something really simple.  The Virtual Assistant then created several versions of the same logo that I could use for different formats.  

2. Website design

After having consulted with a VA on the copy and tone of voice, we came up with a structure for the website.  

TIP: To get the best result from your Copywriter, be laser specific about the tone of voice you want to use to reach your target audience.  Give them as much information as possible. 

The copy document gave a really strong brief in terms of content.  And with my direction of wanting lots of bright colours, including my main branding colour from the logo (yellow), my web designer Virtual Assistant then developed this further. 

I personally would never have been as bold as she was!  I’m so grateful for her creativity as I absolutely love what she produced. 

My website took 8 days to build.  Even though I already had a website, it was very much a case of starting from scratch and giving it a complete re-vamp. 

Once it was ready, I hired my super-duper proofreading VA!  She worked her magic and identified any mistakes or improvements we could make.  I absolutely LOVE proofreading, so I could have done this work myself….  

But I find if you are too close to the work, you can’t see it as clearly. 

Then I used another one of my Virtual Assistants to set up the SEO for the site.

So that was 4 different Virtual Assistants that I used to build the website.  All the VA’s I use have a brilliant range of skills.  And I was in the fortunate position to be able to pick and choose the best people for each task.

3. Social Media Content Production

Content production, whilst it can be a fun task to do, also takes a lot of time, research and planning. It was hard enough with just one platform!  

But creating, editing and optimising content for several, including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, can be very time consuming.  And as we all know, consistency is key.  Setting aside time for this myself would seriously eat into my time spent with clients.

For that reason I outsource it to one of my Social Media savvy Virtual Assistants.  She designed an Instagram grid to suit our aesthetics, writes copy to align with our tone of voice, and adjusts each post to suit the relevant audience.

4. Social Media Management and Engagement

An ongoing task, managing your social media on the go can be very distracting at times and tends to pull your focus.  I wanted fast response times to comments and DM’s, consistent engagement with my followers posts and to keep up with the constantly changing trends. Therefore I did exactly what I would advise you to do as my client.  Hired one of my Virtual Assistants! 

5. Blog Writing and SEO

I like to write some of my own blogs (such as this one!).  But with our target to try and produce one blog per week for the company, sometimes this just isn’t possible for me to do.  

Outsourcing your blog writing is an absolute must if it’s not something you enjoy.  It will take you 5 times as long to produce, edit and then optimise it for SEO, than a Virtual Assistant who specialises in writing.  

6. Newsletter Writing

If you have a subscriber list as I do, you will want to prepare a newsletter to keep your potential and current clients updated on company news at least once a month. Similar to blog writing, if it’s not something you specialise in, outsource it! 

7. LinkedIn Outreach

Never underestimate the power of LinkedIn!  If you can consistently post relevant content for your target audience and try to organically grow your network, this can be a truly powerful tool to finding your ideal clients. 

But once again, this takes time and patience, and a lot of engagement.  I hire one of my Virtual Assistants for a couple of hours a week for this.  She helps with my LinkedIn outreach and monitor any messages from potential clients to make sure I can respond ASAP and not lose the lead!  

8. General Admin 

There are so many general admin tasks that come with running a business. 

At the beginning I just booked a Virtual Assistant on an ad hoc basis.  However I soon learnt that it was much more effective to book the VA for one hour per week, split over 2 x 30 minute sessions.  Most weeks it ends up being more work than this, but knowing I have that support is so important. 

9. Bookkeeping

I have a strange love for spreadsheets and finance analysis/planning!  

However I feel like finance is actually one of my weak points in terms of skills.  As much as I enjoy it, I know my maths skills may not be as evolved as someone else’s.  So handing over my bookkeeping is such a relief! 

I use my Bookkeeping Virtual Assistant for 2 sessions a month.  One session just before we invoice clients, to make sure everything is up to date on the system.  And one session after I have paid all the VAs, to tidy up so I can see a clear vision of our monthly revenue. 

10. Recruitment

I have been so excited and overwhelmed at how fast this business has grown!  

Demand for Virtual Assistants is high, and I am absolutely loving the service we are providing and the difference we are making to people’s work. 

I soon got to a point where I needed a wider range of VAs in terms of availability and skill.  One of my Virtual Assistants also runs her own business, and had recently had her own recruitment day.  She was so passionate about how much she enjoyed the process of hiring and interviewing, so I knew she would be a great person to help me. 

The VA spent an hour writing and posting the job application, followed by a couple of hours going through applications and selecting those she wanted to interview.

She then took 15 minute interviews with each candidate, which were recorded for me to review.  I was presented with a pack with a write up on each Virtual Assistant, a screenshot of their initial application, and a link to the video of the call.  This gave me a really clear overview of what each person could offer, and gave me a good idea of who I wanted to take to the next stage and speak to myself.

Using my own Virtual Assistants has helped my business in more ways than one. 

Return of Investment: 

Being able to launch much quicker than if I had taken on all these tasks myself, has enabled me to gain clients much faster. Consequently paying back my personal financial investment well ahead of schedule! 

Stress Levels:

Starting a business is scary and can leave you with a daily bout of anxiety! Don’t get me wrong – there will always be a level of stress, some days more than others! But when you have a trusted team you can outsource to, it’s far more manageable and can help you feel less alone.

Tried and Tested!

What better way to be able to recommend my virtual assistants than by showing clients that I trust them enough with my own admin support!  The best sales are made when you wholeheartedly believe in your product, and in this case my product is my Virtual Assistants, and I wholeheartedly believe in them.  

I can’t express enough how helpful I personally found it to hand over these tasks.  I’ve worked as a Virtual Assistant myself and have a wide range of skills, so I could have done all of the work.  However it would have taken me a lot longer!  And I also feel that by having someone else’s creative mind involved, it takes it to another level.

Book a free call with me to discuss how our Virtual Assistants could help you, or visit our Services page for an overview of what else we provide.