[Ep 16] Scaling your Business with a Virtual Assistant

Superhost Unveiled

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is any freelancer who can help take tasks off of your to-do list so that you, as the business owner, can focus on the money-generating tasks. A VA is a 1099 subcontractor position so hiring one can allow you to get the help that you need without having to pay hefty employment taxes or for benefits. VAs can assist in a wide variety of tasks from general admin support to developing your website. Whatever you need help with, there's a VA who can provide support.

Is a VA a full-time employee?

One of the best things about hiring a VA from a financial standpoint is that they are not technically an employee. As mentioned above, they are a 1099 subcontractor which means they pay self-employment taxes as well as other expenses such as insurance. This means that even if they have a higher hourly rate, you will still save money in the long-term.

Virtual Assistants are running their own business. Most VAs will have multiple clients that they work with. Working with one yourself can look like a few different scenarios:

- Hourly, the VA tracks their hours and each week sends you an invoice

- Package, the VA gives you a few packages of set tasks that you can choose from. For example, they may cover 100 messages from guests per month. This is typically charged upfront or with a pay schedule, but expect to make an initial deposit as it protects the VA from scams.

- Retainer, you decide how many hours you need assistance with per month and you pay for those hours upfront. This can also be done without tracking hours.

However your work relationship will look like, a good Virtual Assistant will have this all prepared for you, all you need to do is choose the option that works best for you.

How can a VA help me manage my vacation rental?

There is a Virtual Assistant for literally any role. A good exercise to do before searching for your first VA is something called a time audit. For a week or two, track everything you do each half-hour, including watching Netflix and family time! At the end of the exercise, categorize every task that you did into family time (or some other value), self-care, tasks that keep the business going, tasks that directly bring in more income.

Take a look at your two business task categories. Tasks that keep the business going do not necessarily require you, the business owner, to do them while tasks that directly bring in more income likely do. A task that keeps the business going maybe updating the rental listing or responding to FAQs while a task that brings in more income may be acquiring a new client.

Tasks that keep the business going are vital but anyone can do them, these are perfect tasks to outsource to a Virtual Assistant. Start going through these tasks and set aside ones that you often skip or have a hard time getting done. The tasks that you don't like doing are the best to hire someone to do.

Some examples of tasks that a Virtual Assistant can cover are:

- Creating new vacation rental listings following a template

- Marketing (on social media, or paid ads)

- Building a website for direct bookings

- Communicating with guests via messaging

- Managing your emails

- Managing your calendar (cleanings, bookings, required maintenance appointments, etc)

- Editing

- And much more!

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