Hey, busy business owner, let us paint a picture for you:
You're overwhelmed, a slave to that never-ending to-do list, wondering how you'll ever get on top of everything.
You want to free up the time to focus on the things that only you can do in your business. The revenue-generating, business building, high level things that you love doing.
You decide that you need a virtual assistant to delegate your day-to-day admin, bookkeeping and creative tasks to. So, who do you hire? A freelancer, or an agency?
Your knee-jerk reaction might be that an agency isn't going to care as much as a freelancer. You need someone that can learn the ins and outs of what you do, that you can build a strong working relationship with.
Or, maybe a VA agency is the right choice. You need guaranteed continuity of service and specialised support over a number of areas that a freelancer just can't provide.
It's hard to know where to start.
Let's talk about the differences between a freelance VA and an agency, so you can decide which option is a better fit for your business.
Skills and limitations:
A freelancer is one person with the limitations of their skills only. If you just need help with general day-to-day admin, a freelancer is a good choice. Or, if you need help with one very specific niche within your business, you could seek out a freelancer who specialises in this one area.
At a VA agency, you have one dedicated person assigned to you, but you can access the full range of skills and knowledge within the wider team when needed.
If you have multiple specialist areas in your business that you need help with, for example bookkeeping, admin and creative tasks, a VA agency is going to be your best bet, as they can likely accommodate all of those specialties within their team. They're equally well equipped to handle your day-to-day admin tasks, with the benefit of experience, having worked with a large number of small businesses.
Continuity of service
If your freelance VA is sick or on leave, you may be left in the lurch, looking for someone to cover your tasks or waiting until your VA returns from leave. In some cases, your VA may be able to arrange cover during their absence, although this is not guaranteed.
A VA agency takes advantage of their wider team when your assigned VA is on leave, offering guaranteed uninterrupted service with a backup VA.
Documentation of processes
Since freelancers carry out your work by themselves, it's not uncommon that they don't document their processes anywhere. While this is usually not an issue, it can become one in the case of unexpected leave where someone else has to take on their role at short notice, or if you decide to go on and hire someone else and find there is no documented training manual.
At a VA agency, tasks and processes are more often than not fully documented, meaning that you have a full operations manual prepared if you go on to hire in-house, or need to cover unexpected leave.
Relationship and trust
Many business owners work with the same VA for many years! This is true for both freelance VAs and VA agencies.
Security and privacy
Your privacy and data security is so important. A VA agency will have thorough and strict security measures in place such as password vaults, antivirus protection, cyber insurance, and centralised remote access to devices.
Many freelance VAs will also have some or all of these measures in place, although this varies from person to person. It's really important that this is something that's discussed when onboarding your VA.
We talk about the topic of security and privacy in depth here.
So, does a VA agency sound like the best option for you? You're in the right place! Set up your free discovery call with us today.
