274. How Hiring a Virtual Assistant Can Make Your Life Easier

Today I’ll be explaining how I use a virtual assistant to make my life easier and how you can go about it too. Upfront, I really want to emphasize that this is more of a seasoned artist tool, unless you’re planning to do a lot of outreach.I didn’t hire a VA until I decided to add another stream of revenue into my business (coaching). I already had a bread-and-butter system working and generating money for me before I started hiring. So, if you’re wondering if you’re ready to hire just yet, I’m going to guess that the majority of you are not quite there yet. BUT I think it’s still a good listen for those who want to get to the point of delegating someday.The idea of hiring and trading money for services outside of our own art businesses takes a while to get used to. We are scrappy in the beginning with doing everything ourselves: social media, emails, invoicing, editing, and everything else piled on to painting. But it doesn’t have to be like that forever. Things a VA can do for you:Invoices/ContractsSharing your content across other social mediaHelp manage your inboxEdit VideosSpellcheckAdd products/photos to your websiteAnything repetitive When you’re ready, my best pieces of advice for hiring a VA are:Make your very first hire be a low hourly rate so mistakes don’t cost youHire a VA who speaks English real good ;)A VA can’t do things for your art business that you don’t know how to do yourselfGive clear (video) instructions on how to do every single taskOrganize tasks into daily/weekly/monthly lists Expect there to be a learning curve and correct as neededListen to this week’s episode to hear all about my experiences hiring a VA for the past 3 years. Learn from my mistakes and hear how I’m continually making progress on how to best utilize this service. Links mentioned: Lastpass.com Iworker.coUpwork.com www.ArtistAcademy.co