Working with a Virtual Assistant

In a past post on the new year, I mentioned that I hired a personal virtual assistant. A couple of you asked me for more details and I’ve talked with folks on the phone and they have mentioned it. So I thought I would put together a post on the why and how of this to give you more details about the process.

Here’s why: I hate administration. I am not a details person. Big vision, big ideas, seeing the whole picture? That’s me. But making it work…not me. I can if I want, but it’s really hard work to be detailed oriented and to even remember to pay bills. That’s why my wife handles our finances. I can tell you what’s on my schedule in regards to meetings, but not much else; I’m a people-oriented person and those things stick out to me. That’s just who I am.

I had read parts of Tim Ferris’ The Four Hour Work Week and saw a clip or two of him talking about outsourcing his administrative stuff to a virtual assistant in India for $5/hour. I thought, “Hey, that sounds like a great idea. I need to check that out.” So I did, and placed an ad on elance.com. Elance is a site where people who are freelancers bid on projects from folks who need projects done. I had used the site before for a logo, and had used the site to find someone to create executive summaries from big documents. I’ve had good success from the site. So I posted a project for a virtual assistant. And I waited for the bids to come in. Several did. Some were from overseas, but I really wanted someone who I could get during the day if necessary. The bids from Americans were higher than the overseas bid, but I chose a person from Michigan for the job. Her name is Erin.

Before I accepted her bid, I contacted her to make sure she was fine working for a pastor. I knew that I might ask her to do some “pastoral” oriented administrative stuff, and I needed to make sure she was comfortable with doing that. Her reply was that she was fine with it, and that she was a Methodist. So I accepted her bid and off we have gone.

I asked Erin to share a little something about what she does and why she is a virtual assistant. She said:

I could go on, and on, and on! Because I love it so much and benefits are numerous. Like you said in your last post your church is small and does not need a full or even part time administrator. Someone like me can step in on an as needed basis and stay out of the way when you don’t need me. No taxes, payroll, vacation, sick time, 401 k you just pay a small fee for services rendered.

When I started this business I tried selling this idea to my surrounding area. I live in a small town here in SW MI but I am within 20 minutes of South Bend, IN (Notre Dame), St. Joseph, MI (Lake MI), Kalamazoo (Western MI University) and so on…why wouldn’t everyone want this????? Well they didn’t. It was once that I explored the online world and “virtual assisting” that I started making a presence. I am assisting everyone from a business coach in Florida to a small bicycle touring company in Italy and I adore every one of my clients. I like that I can have a personal touch even though I may be several thousands of miles away from my client. When someone calls and says, “Erin my shower is leaking and I need it fixed” or “Erin I need 10 60 page documents printed and Fed Ex ASAP” I can make it happen and they didn’t have to take the time out of their busy schedules to get it done, that is what I am here for!

I live my life and proceed in my business with one rule always in mind, “Due unto others as which you would have done to you.” Taking care of peoples needs and getting satisfaction from it gives me pride that I never got from the 9-5 world.

So what does Erin do for me? She has organized all my personal and ministry expenses by category and month in a spreadsheet. I have a second email account set up so that when I get email receipts - which is where the majority of my expenses come from - a rule forwards them on to the second email and she will pick those up and put them in the spreadsheet. She acts as my assistant in scheduling. She also manages my calendar. Another thing she does is gives me a summary each week of three blogs I consider important reads. That way I don’t have to read all of their posts each day. She does that for me and I get a document each Friday with the summaries.

In addition, I will be sending her some of my sermons and she will transcribe them for me. Since I am preaching through part of my doctoral research, she will be giving me the foundation for my dissertation. Two weeks ago, I called her and asked if she did video work. She didn’t but was able to outsource the development of a video for a song I wanted to use in a sermon last week. As we speak now, she is doing some research for me from the Bible for my sermon this week. She is finding that really interesting. She’s reading passages from Genesis and 1 Samuel - 1 Kings to look at how the sin of Abram and David was passed down to their descendants.

Since I have offloaded things that I find either boring, am not good at, or that would just give me a little more time with people or in preparation, I’m more productive personally, and it has reduced some stress. It will also help me financially. For example, I spent WAAAYYYY more than I should have on books last year. I had no idea I spent as much as I did. Now that someone is providing that information for me, I’m better able to keep track of the budget. So what I may pay her will help me save money.

The best part is that she works when I need her, so I only pay her for hours worked.

You have to be able to let a person do things their own way. She might not do things the exact way I would do them, but that’s fine. It’s actually refreshing and stimulating creatively.

Would I recommend getting a virtual assistant? Yes, if you can find one you are comfortable with and does a good job. I would recommend Erin, but only if she can take your work without compromising mine :-D.

Outsourcing opens up a lot of avenues for you to accomplish more than you could on your own. Since I was a freelancer at one time in my life, and have been a contractor as well, it’s not that difficult for me to let go of that control. Some people can’t. But it does make you more productive in the long run.