VA Myth Busting

We have been working in the Virtual Assistant industry for some time, and have noticed a few common misconceptions coming up time and again. 

 

For some reason, the world of Virtual Assistants seems mysterious - perhaps because those who have embraced it are keen to keep their happiness to themselves! 

 

At Pink Spaghetti, we’re all about transparency - so we’d like to bust five massive myths about using a Virtual Assistant. From workday monotony to who could use an assistant in the first place - read on to find out more. 

 

 

 

What a way to start! This actually couldn’t be further from the truth: it’s often Virtual Assistants who help small businesses expand into big ones in the first place! 

 

When small business owners try to take on all the day-to-day tasks themselves, they can quickly get overwhelmed. 

 

You’ve surely had days when you’ve been bogged down in replying to emails or Facebook comments, and not got to anything else on your to-do list? 

 

Worse, business owners then don’t have the time to think about the bigger picture and dedicate time to growing and improving their businesses. 

 

While in larger businesses, executives often have whole teams they can reach out to for specialised tasks - social media marketing, accounting, managing diaries - small business leaders don’t usually have those resources at their disposal. 

 

If anything, Virtual Assistants are even more crucial to small businesses than they are to big businesses. They allow the director to focus on more overarching plans and tasks, while they take over more routine tasks. 

 

That’s not to say that life as a VA is all about monotony: on the contrary! Tasks can change from day to day, and you might find yourself challenging yourself and learning new skills. 

 

At Pink Spaghetti, we focus on filling the need for small business VAs, and have a supportive community and training program in place to help our franchisees tackle anything that comes their way. 

 

 

 

Nope! As with any role, there can be admin involved, especially as it allows the executive to carry out other tasks. However, admin is only ever part of the position. In many companies, there is already someone taking care of it! 

 

What is special about a VA-client relationship is that it’s a partnership - we’ll cover that in a little more depth later. 

 

That partnership means that an executive should be able to trust his/her Virtual Assistant with any task - from calculating expenses to personal missions. 

 

VAs are also often trusted to be the voice of the company. While in-person Executive Assistants often attend events and communicate the organisation’s goals to potential stakeholders, VAs can do the same in an online sphere. 

 

Whether that’s engaging with an online social media community or responding to client emails on behalf of the executive, that trust - and partnership - is key. 

 

 

 

This is a really common misapprehension. A good VA-client partnership is all about delegation, with the assistant allowing the executive to establish a course of direction and then move on. 

 

They work as a team, sharing tasks and changing expectations as the business grows. It’s not uncommon for VAs to be a long-term partner, and as employees join the company and teams expand, their duties shift to fill the most pressing gaps. 

 

Rather than an employee-employer relationship, it really is a partnership. At Pink Spaghetti, all of the Virtual Assistants are self-employed and can work with whichever clients they choose. 

 

This means that they can decide which kind of clients they want to take on, and in which hours. Don’t believe the misconception that Virtual Assistants are at the beck and call of their phones at all hours! 

 

 

 

We suspect this one comes from the above idea that there are poor hapless assistants being woken in the early hours for banal requests. 

 

On the contrary, there are so many perks to being a Virtual Assistant! 

 

One we’ve already mentioned is the flexibility, especially as a franchisee where you own your own business and can decide your own hours entirely. 

 

Another is the fact that there are constant opportunities for learning, which not only makes the workday incredibly varied and interesting but also means that, should the assistant move onto another role, they will have built up an assortment of useful skills. 

 

On top of that, because assistants are so essential to the running of a company, the compensation is very fair. Some of our franchisees earn more than £4000 per month - still working the hours that suit them. 

 

Plus, as you can choose who to work for, they don’t have to stick with anyone who’s ungrateful for the work they’re doing. However, we’ve found those people to be few and far between - most are incredibly thankful that we have helped them to stabilise their business and meet their goals! 

 

 

 

All of the myths on this list are wrong, but this one seems to be the most pervasive. 

 

A good Virtual Assistant is an extension of the business executive - we like to think of them as the ‘25th hour in the day’. They’re working together to achieve the same goals - but those goals are as many and varied as there are businesses! 

 

A small beauty company won’t have the same needs as a B2B tech startup. Their customers will differ, where the business should put its energy (and budget) will differ, and of course, the people within the organisation will differ too! 

 

Some executives are absolutely happy to answer their own emails, but lost when it comes to Instagram marketing. Some adore writing blog posts but don’t have a head for numbers so find invoicing a nightmare. 

 

Some teams already have a tech team, but no one to write newsletters. Some will have the opposite. 

 

There really are a million different types of Virtual Assistant roles and a million different ways in which they can help small businesses thrive and grow. As a franchisee, you can decide which fits best! 

 

To find out more about joining us all you need to do is get in touch with us today.