Growing your online business can feel like a never-ending money pit. Some days you are excited by the forecasts, and others you are overwhelmed by the numbers, whether good or bad. Beginning an online business requires the right amount of capital upfront and the proper foresight into costs attributed to scaling that business. Too often, we don’t look at the whole picture when doing our cost analysis, and not only does this consume a lot of our time, but it also leaves our business in a possible “capital lurch.”
The assistance of outside help is often required, but we feel cautious about making those spending decisions. Perhaps we have already spent a significant amount of money on consulting agencies and are no farther ahead due to a lack of real expertise. If you think a virtual assistant is a luxury you can’t afford in your own eCommerce game, you may be looking at things from an inaccurate perspective.
Let’s break down how a virtual assistant can save you money.
1) Time is Money
It’s no surprise that your entire focus shifts when you open an online business, whether large scale or small. You dedicate an enormous amount of time to that business, and commonly you have your hands in all aspects from CEO to social media manager. Maybe not for everyone, but many of us learn to manage ALL tasks from the outset. It can be confusing and overwhelming, and at times it causes mental and physical exhaustion.
The problem is, spread too thin, and the tasks you excel at become less of a priority. Your interest and passion can quickly turn to burn out, and the result is that you are left scrambling to pick up the pieces. You’ve lost money and time trying to do it all.
You have to recognize your strengths in business, hone in on those, and delegate the tasks that aren’t your forte. By reducing your load, increasing your productivity, and reducing your total spending by only hiring once to get these tasks accomplished, a virtual assistant becomes a feasible financial option in all your hiring needs.
A VA can take on many behind the scenes roles on an affordable budget. Often, a VA has a vast array of knowledge and a niche skillset, which you need in the online world, as things are dynamic and fast-changing.
2) A VA Knows Market Research
We’ve already covered that a virtual assistant has a wide range of expertise and a highly unique skill-set. Still, another significant cost savings advantage of hiring a VA is that they are fully capable of doing a large portion of your research.
When you’re working on online platforms, and product selection is the key to your selling success, it takes up a lot of your focus. You can end up spending some cash on software and consultants to help you find that winning product. However, many people are using the same software, and many of these consulting agencies outsource their work to less skilled and knowledgeable employees. It ends up being an expensive way to find a failed product.
How Can a VA help with Market research?
- Virtual assistants have in-depth familiarity with these platforms and understand how a winning product is found. They use their market research skills to provide an in-depth analysis of the products at hand and save money by focusing on good manufacturing investment.
- A virtual assistant can assist in sourcing and cutting out unnecessary intermediaries. They can help make recommendations for buying and therefore save you money in the long term by avoiding potential negative supply chain issues. They spend time researching these suppliers and suggest more cost-effective alternatives based on your needs.
- Optimization is essential to any online platform, and that is where a VA excels. Not only can they produce recommendations with product selection, but they can also assist in informing which optimization metrics need to be implemented and when—things such as imagery, keyword use, copywriting and PPC campaigns.
3) Hiring "Experts" Can Drain Your Bank Account
Perhaps you’ve scaled your business significantly in a short time, and you realize that due to the ever-changing realm of the online world, knowledge truly is power. Business coaches and the onslaught of experts that you may be hiring to run your companies online day to day can cost you a fortune. You feel trapped in a cycle, though, because you want their insight. Still, you may not have a clear picture aside from some foggy results, and you may very well wonder if it was worth it.
When you hire a virtual assistant, you have access to a one-stop-shop for eCommerce needs. Their roles are diverse, and they are highly skilled in many facets of eCommerce. Expert audits and coaching can cost upwards of $300, if not more, an hour.
With a VA, you pay one monthly fee for a set number of hours and determine where their focus needs to be. You aren’t shelling out unnecessary spending. Every hour is accounted for, and because eComm is a VA’s arena, they are more efficient at this type of work. They have already undergone extensive training and are capable of meeting your online platform’s demands. No brainer!
When the time comes that you are considering hiring a Virtual Assistant, it’s essential to look at the bigger picture. For a growing brand, expansion often means growing off of the initial platform you started on. It’s imperative to an online business’s success that you factor in the areas of expertise a VA will contribute.
Problem-solving, efficiency, and personalized online knowledge should be considered when hiring a virtual assistant.
Not hiring a VA can put your business in harm’s way, by waiting too long to admit you need additional resources and assistance. The adverse effects of portraying that you can do it all can be costly and draining.
Save yourself some money, and consider hiring a VA as an investment for your online business’s future.