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You’re an entrepreneur. You have a vision. But you know your vision can’t come to fruition without building the right team around it.

It’s hard to find employees who are productive enough to fuel your goals, though. The pool of talent is limited, unfortunately, and settling for less is a bad idea. Any chain is only as strong as its weakest link; bad hires can undo your entire dynamic.

If you’re like most business owners, you see the role of an assistant as an entry-level position. And, usually, entry-level jobs are pretty replaceable. But, believe it or not, assistants can be the tether that holds it all together—especially for small businesses. They might not have a fancy degree or get as much recognition as higher-level roles, but the professional administrative, technical, and creative assistance they offer is invaluable. 

No matter what type of business you run, you should prioritize hiring an assistant. But that doesn’t mean you need to go looking for an in-house employee. In fact, a virtual assistant can actually provide a more practical solution. 

1. Increase Your Business’s Productivity

Your full-time employees shouldn’t be sidetracked by run-of-the-mill tasks, yet it happens all the time in small businesses. The IT guy will spend an hour or two posting job advertisements. A copywriter will conduct preliminary resume screenings. A front desk team member will organize an interview process. 

There’s no way to avoid the fact that a business is a sum of many smaller, moving parts. If it’s not you picking up the slack, it’ll be another member of your team. But your full-time employees have skillsets you’re paying them for. It’s not a good use of their time to slow them down with tasks anyone can take care of. 

Employees will soon feel undervalued if they’re doing work suited for an entry-level position. They won’t be utilizing the skillsets your brought them on for, either. By bringing on a virtual assistant, team members can focus on what they do best. 

2. An Affordable Alternative

A virtual assistant isn’t as expensive as a full-time employee. There’s no accounting for benefits, insurance costs, and so on. Also, you can save money that would otherwise be spent on training expenses. It costs time and money to your in-house team on tasks and duties after they’ve cleared the hiring process. 

When you hire a virtual assistant, make sure you’re hiring the right one. Personally, I like to hire through All-Star Outsourcing. When I go to them, I know I’m hiring a professional who is already an expert in their field. I don’t have to waste time and money training them—they can get started right away.

3. Improve the Chemistry of Your Team

Arguments are bound to happen on any team. When conflict keeps happening between team members, though, the lack of chemistry is going to get in the way of your business goals.

A toxic team member will create conflict amongst your team members and disrupt chemistry. No one wants to be around that atmosphere. If you don’t fire the toxic team member or correct them, team members will leave. 

Any drama amongst staff will hinder productivity, there’s no way around it. When folks are on top of each other and under tons of pressure, drama is what you’ll get. In a workplace that gets too crowded, with too much to get done, microaggressions and heated encounters will foster and quickly turn problematic. 

A virtual assistant might very well feel like a part of your team culture and family, but they’ll be working remotely. They won’t take up any space in the actual office. That means people will feel less on top of each other from day to day, so there’ll be less likelihood for any contentious moments. Just as importantly, having the mundane stuff taken care of will put everyone in a better mood. Things won’t feel like they’re piling up so much.

What’re You Waiting For?

By hiring a virtual assistant, you can nip a lot of potential issues in the bud. You can keep spearheading the growth strategies of your business alongside your team members.  

Delegate the more mundane stuff to a virtual assistant so you can stay focused on more pressing matters that need to be done in person at your office. Reduce your overhead by avoiding a full-time hire and outsourcing instead. Improve the chemistry of your team by maintaining a good atmosphere at your workplace.

I don’t want to sound like a salesperson in disguise—I am a partner of All-Star Outsourcing. But I mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say they’re a good choice for any business owner looking for a talented virtual assistant. Their dedicated team of A-Players always give me the results I want, and I’d wager they can meet your needs just the same.