If you’re a photographer you’ve probably started hearing the faint whispers of “Virtual Assistant” (VA). This career path, while not new, is gaining more and more popularity as individuals have quit the 9-5 grind and have opted to take on a more freelance lifestyle. Any job that can be done over a computer has begun to transition from being based in an office to being based anywhere your laptop and wifi is present– a coffee shop, your bed, or half-way around the world.
A Wedding Photographer Virtual Assistant, to put it in its most basic form, is really an assistant that does their work virtually. No coming into an office, no in-person meetings (hello, Zoom!) and often, no hiring of an employee. Virtual Assistants are sub-contractors who will charge you a rate and do the work while slipping you an invoice at the end of every month. It sounds almost too good to be true!
So how do you know when it’s time to hire a Wedding Photographer Virtual Assistant?
There are 5 key factors that will tell you it’s TIME to hire a VA and we are highlighting them below!
1 – You’re experiencing burnout.
If work is dragging you down, taking you away from your personal life, causing you to feel overwhelmed, making you feel burned out, then it’s time to hire a VA. As soon as your quality of life is diminishing to the point where waking as soon as you become conscious in the morning you are instantly taken over with a sense of overwhelming at starting the day, it’s time to get a VA to help you share the load.
2 – You’re not meeting deadlines.
Thankfully when we are talking about deadlines at work it is less gruesome than the war-time background of the word ‘deadline’. Missing deadline after deadline, always being behind on your work, and continually having to play ‘catch up’ even when you haven’t taken time off are clear signs you need a helping hand. Deadlines are given for reasons and trust us, you’ll never get more hours in a day (we’ve tried), so add a VA to the mix and let them take on some tasks.
3 – You’re working too much IN your business and not ON your business.
When you’re a business owner, you are the visionary, the pathmaker, the boundary breaker! You are the one who pushes the business forward and takes it to places that you dream of. No one else is going to step in and know the vision as clearly as you. Your role is to push forward, not get lost doing the daily tasks. At the end of the day, if you’re just glad you made it through the day, without being excited about making progress in your business, it’s time to let a VA get some tasks done so you can dream and scheme of where your business is going next.
4 – You have more work than you know what to do with.
If your daily to-do list could fill up 3-4 full 8-hour days, then you need a VA stat. You started your business so that you could live a life you are passionate about– not feel like you sit down at your desk each day with a mile-long to-do list that will never quit. If you look at your to-do list and struggle to figure out how to get it all done (knowing more tasks always come in on the fly) then it’s time for a VA.
5 – You can’t meet the need.
In business, you will inevitably come across tasks and things to do that you do not have the training, skills or knowledge to do effectively. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this (hey, we can’t do it all! It’s okay!) and it just means it’s time to get a VA at your fingertips who is skilled in the areas you are not. When I started my own VA business, I knew I needed to get a designer, social media strategist and writer in my pocket for when I needed them. These are areas that are not my specialty so I bit the bullet, drowned the ‘I’m not good enough’ thoughts, and realized the truth– we all have unique strengths and to do the best at my job, I need to get VA’s in who can do the best work for my biz.
Having a VA (or two) around with specialties based on what you need assistance within your business means that your business is doing great and it’s time to grow so you can keep reaching those stars you’re shooting for. VA’s are an amazing way to get a skilled individual working for you to do the tasks you probably don’t want to be doing anyways and spoiler alert– VA’s actually ENJOY those tasks! It’s a win-win!
If you have thought about outsourcing and hiring a Virtual Assistant, look no further. We have teamed up and collaborating with Wedding Workflows- a Virtual Assistant company ran by our friend and fellow Wedding Photographer, Rick Listen. Wedding Workflow VA’s are trained in everything and anything you would need as a wedding photographer already which makes onboarding them a breeze.
Feel free to book a call HERE or fill out the contact form HERE.
We got you! Actually, they do but thank us later for the recommendation!
