Guest post by Dee Mason.

Artists have a tendency to wear many hats at once.  The process of becoming an artist whether you are striving to become a dancer, actor, filmmaker, or painter, is quite expensive.  Money must be spent on classes, supplies, special equipment like pointe shoes, brushes, lenses, etc., and for many artists, the way to keep overhead at a minimum is to create their art alone.  Choreographers also function as their own costume designers, grant writers, and tour directors.  Filmmakers write, cast, hire, light, shoot, and distribute their own work.  Rarely do artists consider outsourcing the minutiae of arts administration that takes them away from the act of creation.  However, it is a practice that all artists should consider, and is a hugely helpful in freeing up creative energy that is otherwise used up on logistics.

Arts administration requires wearing many hats, and can include everything from grant writing, to visa paperwork, to scheduling hotel and plane travel, to booking gigs and lectures, to hiring cast and crew, to cutting promotional trailers or videos, to advertising shows, and the list goes on.  Many artistic directors try to do all of this on their own, while simultaneously creating new works.  The practice of “doing it all”, is often a train wreck, and something gets shortchanged.  However, taking the time to find someone outside of your own head to handle projects that are not directly related to creation can vastly improve the kind of creative work you put out.  If you are an artist considering hiring a virtual assistant to help you with your artistic endeavors, there are a few things to look for that will help make your assistant search, and subsequent working relationship, more successful.

Decide What You Need Done

While it may not give you the chance to finally sit down in your favorite comfy chair for a half a minute, it will most definitely help you retain your sanity.

Don’t go looking for an assistant helter-skelter.  Take the time to sit and choose what portion of your arts responsibilities you can comfortably assign to someone else, and what you must keep on your own docket.  The success of your virtual assistant will be partially based upon how well you can delegate, so be sure to adhere to the work-related boundaries you create, or you run the risk of micro-managing.

Who to Hire

A lot of the work that you will be outsourcing will be time-sensitive.  Grants must be turned in by particular hours and dates.  Producers and presenters need documents in time to go to press.  Able crew must be hired before someone else contracts them.  Consequently, unlike large corporations or businesses that outsource work that is less pressing, the virtual assistant you hire would ideally be in the same time zone.  They also must have a firm grasp of the native tongue of the region in which you are working.  Remember, your virtual assistant will become the first point of contact for your film, dance, or theater company, so their ability to communicate eloquently is vital to the success of your arts entity.

Their History

Finding someone who lives in your general area and has linguistic skills that will be an asset to you is the first step.  Next, their work history must be examined closely.  In arts administration, years of experience in the workplace are far less important than what the years of experience were focused upon.  For example, someone who has a 15 year experience in phone sales, may not be as useful to you as someone who interned for three major theater companies while in college, but then spent the next two years working as a waitress.  Arts organizations, sponsors, presenters, and producers of arts events, have their own language, practices, and codes of behavior.  It is a very different field from the worlds of finance, advertising, or sales, though it does combine elements of all of these.  Master’s Degree programs in Arts Administration exist for a reason, and that is because it is a difficult, multi-faceted job.  When seeking someone to take over a portion of those duties for you, actively seek out those candidates who have at least some prior experience in an arts related office position.  If their time was very short, make sure to ask them why they left.

Samples

If you know that your virtual assistant is going to need to write grant proposals, press releases, advertising copy, or web content, ask for writing samples.  If they are going to be spending time speaking with potential funders or the press, spend some time on the phone with them to get a sense of their phone manner.  If they are going to need to book multiple travel dates and accommodations, ask them to create a mock itinerary for you within a particular budget.  Get to know how they work.  This also allows them to get to know how you work.  If it is not a comfortable working situation for one or the other of you, than it will most likely not work out in the long run.

Hiring a virtual assistant is not an exact science, but if you are an artist looking for some help, these guidelines will hopefully give you a jumping off point.  Having some support when creating a new work of art is also incredibly helpful.

I know this post is probably going to cause some controversy and difference of opinion, but even so, most virtual assistants ARE doing it all wrong… at least in my honest opinion. And I’ll warn you, it’s a little ranty.

With the recent Virtual Assistant industry event hosted by IVAA and all the buzz on twitter from the VAs in attendance, I just had to put my head down. As a VA with a sales and marketing background, the idea of spending money (registration, airfare, lodging, etc.) and time to network with those working (and also competing) in my industry is simply not desirable. The thought of it is almost ridiculous to me. If I’m going to invest in an event, I’m going to attend an event where my ideal clients are going to be — whether it be an event for the speaking and coaching industry, like those held by the National Speakers Association, or for those involved with Social Media, such as the New Media Expo held by BlogWorld. But I tell you what I’m not going to do — and that is spend multiple days networking with hundreds or thousands in the same industry — instead, I’ll be the one out there mingling and getting to know my potential clients.

Also, unless you’re a Virtual Assistant coach, there are very few reasons to ever use the #VAtip twitter tag. Every day I see “A VA can check your email while you’re on vacation” or “A VA can draft and schedule your newsletter”… another example of how so many VAs are doing it all wrong. My ideal clients are those that already know what a virtual assistant is. I don’t want to first have to sell a potential client on the idea of what a virtual assistant is and can do, to then have to sell them on why I’m the best one to meet their needs. My ideal clients are those that are looking for a Virtual Assistant because they have a problem or don’t have enough time in a day — and I provide solutions. I’m out there networking, connecting, and engaging with my potential clients, not trying to talk about myself and what I can do. I’m learning more about the things that are pain points for them — not throwing ten different #VATips aimlessly out on twitter and hopping one of them sticks to something.

Those are just two examples of why I think most VAs are doing it all wrong. I’m currently writing a book to show VAs how to do it right and if you’re interested, you can sign up to be notified on launch (and you’ll receive a special discount code at launch) at Becoming a Virtual Assistant.

There has been a lot of buzz lately about overseas virtual assistants (specifically those in India and the Philippines). Although I do not necessarily consider these VA companies my competition, it does still strike a nerve. There are so many people still unemployed (my husband included) and looking for jobs. To see any U.S. business promoting the use of overseas workers just because they are cheap makes me a little disgusted. I know this practice won’t stop because some companies are just looking at their bottoms lines, but I was interested in hearing from companies who specifically chose to hire a U.S. based virtual assistant and learning why they did so and what their experiences were. Please pay particular attention to what Deborah Bailey has to say, because she is exactly right.

Here’s what they had to say:

Deborah Bailey, DBC Communications

My name is Deborah A. Bailey and I’m a writer, entrepreneur and author of “Think Like an Entrepreneur: Transforming Your Career and Taking Charge of Your Life” available on Amazon.com. I’m also the host of a talk radio show called Women Entrepreneurs Radio on blog talk radio.

I first used a VA when I started my radio show and I needed help scheduling guests. The VA I hired was based in St. Louis and she was a great help in my getting the radio show on the air and assisting me with blog posts, twitter, Facebook and setting up webinars and teleclasses. She also helped me later when I started using an online cart to sell my information products. It was a very successful partnership because she took on the tasks that helped me to focus more on my business. I feel that women entrepreneurs tend to take on too much and think we must do it all. But we can’t grow (or accomplish very much) if we don’t delegate.

I would only work with VA’s in the US because I believe in hiring people here first. As an entrepreneur I’m well aware of how important it is to have clients to sell my services to. If my potential clients don’t have money to spend because they don’t have jobs, then that impacts me as well. If we can circulate money here, then that can help someone else to be able to pay their bills and help put money into their community as well. I’d rather pay the money to have the job done the way I want it, and to be able to communicate with the person during my business hours. If I’ve invested time and money into my business, then I ‘d rather invest in support staff that have the knowledge, experience and expertise. It’s not about hiring the cheapest choice, but about hiring the best person for my business.

Marjorie Asturias, Blue Volcano Media

My name is Marjorie R. Asturias, and I’m president and founder of Blue Volcano Media, a Dallas-based boutique Internet marketing, SEO and content firm that specializes in helping small and medium-size businesses enhance and convert their website traffic. Ive been using an Arizona-based virtual assistant since February, and I couldn’t be happier. I found Tawny on oDesk.com and have since found her to be indispensable in the success and continued growth of my business. She started out doing basic administrative tasks, including creating spreadsheets and doing Internet research, but shes slowly learning more and more about the business and has really helped keep me organized and on top of all the different aspects of running my company. Shes so extremely organized, its scary.
Some of the things she has accomplished for me in the relatively brief period of time shes been working here:
* organized our company’s participation in a small business expo/trade show in March, including locating printers for the
* banners
* located a graphic designer
* found the perfect person to be our SEO specialist
* organized all of our company-wide meetings and conferences
* spearheaded the organization of our complex pricing schedule (no longer complex, thanks to Tawny!)
…and so much more. I’ve hired overseas VAs before, and although they were also quite professional and relatively inexpensive, the time difference was just difficult to overcome (most of them didn’t or wouldn’t work all US hours). Also, as a growing business, I really need someone who can jump in and start taking ownership almost immediately of some of the more critical projects, and the learning curve was just a little too steep for the foreign VAs. I’m not much of a micro-manager, especially since were technically a startup, so I found it frustrating to have to check and double-check my foreign VAs work all the time. Tawny quickly understood my personal work style and knows exactly how I want certain things done, which is a huge blessing for someone like me who can sometimes live a little too much in my head. She and I are still adjusting a bit to how the whole VA thing works, but I’m quite happy with her performance thus far and am looking forward to expanding her responsibilities and hours as our company grows.

Eric Anderson, Private Tutor, I Tutor English

I hired a US-based VA to write titles and descriptions for about 100 posts on a blog that I run after it was moved to WordPress. I hired through Odesk and specifically looked for a US-based VA because of how poorly a non-US-based WordPress expert had done moving the blog from Go Daddy’s blog platform to WordPress. With no language barrier, the work went much more smoothly. The blog traffic has doubled, and the blog is producing twice as many inquiries as it did before the tags were redone. The blog that was redone is I-Tutor-English.com. I’m a private tutor in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

Dreama Lee, Intern Profits

How has your life changed when using your virtual assistant?
Our life has changed immensely. When we finally decided to hire our first stateside VA 3 years ago we were drowning under daily repetitive tasks like customer service, tracking sales and invoicing (to name a few). Once we got our VA up and running we were no longer bogged down by mundane daily tasks but able to work on our business, not in it.

Did business improve?
Yes, our business greatly approved. We were able to not only launch new products and even a new business but our customers were happier because they were being gotten back to sooner and more efficiently. We also implemented
a ticketing system so that all customer service requests could be handled in
that matter and tracked for follow-up later. Our VA was key in setting this system up.

If so, by how much?
As mentioned above, greatly. We were able to grow our business and launch new products but we also were able to start new businesses and ventures. As working parents it also provided us more free time to be parents.

Why did you decide to go with a US-based virtual assistant, as opposed to an overseas assistant?
We have used and on occasion use offshore virtual assistants for certain tasks. However, we needed a stateside speaking virtual assistant who not only could speak English well but also understand the American mentality/etc. We also wanted someone who would be working in a similar timezone. Our current VA is 3 hours ahead of us on the East coast which
works out perfectly as she often has tasks completed before we even start our day but is also working during our own business hours for the most part so we can interact daily as needed.

What type of tasks do you find the best to outsource to your virtual assistant?
We outsource most of our daily repetitive tasks to our VA. Things like: customer service, sales tracking and customer follow-up, scheduling and some assistance with bookkeeping from an auditing perspective. She also pays some of our bills and tracks progress on some projects. We have also utilized her as a second set of eyes for new content, new products, and new websites.  We don’t believe that VA’s are a good fit for “large project based” tasks or major implementation plans that are meant to “grow” your business. VA’s are great for maintaining your business. We actually utilize interns to grow our business and put them on project based tasks.

Angela Nielsen, One Lily Inc.

I have owned a small web design company (200 clients) for a little over 10 years. Most of my clients are in the professional services industry (coaches, authors, speakers, attorneys, financial advisors). In 2004 I had my first opportunity to work with a VA through one of my clients. She happened to be in Canada but after working with her a few months through our mutual client, I quickly realized how valuable a VA can be. In the years since, I have worked with at least a dozen VAs, in the US, Canada and a few other countries. I have found that US (or Canadian) VAs are best for the majority of my clients. The time zone issue is probably the biggest problem with working with VAs from other countries, not to mention the language barrier.

We have worked with VAs for simple administrative assistant tasks, event planning/coordination, sales and marketing, even hiring/firing for companies. Most often the VAs we work with help our clients with their technology needs (sending newsletters, setting up shopping carts, helping with blogging and social media, etc). Our clients find that VAs take less time to get up to speed than hiring an actual employee. With a VA you pay for only what you use (not stuck with someone on the clock even if there is no work to do), and VAs seem to “get” the challenge of running a small business better.

We continue to work with about half a dozen VAs with our current clients, and also have our own VA on staff to support our own company (as well as help our clients).

I’m happy to announce that my ebook, Becoming a Virtual Assistant, will be hitting the e-shelves soon! Over the years I’ve had thousands people contact me to inquire about available opportunities. Unfortunately, when there are that many emails there’s no way I can respond to each person individually. But it was pretty clear that there are so many people trying to become a virtual assistant, and honestly, many of them are not doing it right. It’s not because they don’t care, but it’s because they just don’t know what’s involved in starting up their own virtual assistant business.

All of this and more prompted me to set off to write Becoming a Virtual Assistant. And this is going to be the real deal. I will guide you not only in creating your virtual assistant business, but also how to grow your business and create an reasonable income.

I’ve created a landing page over at www.BecomingAVirtualAssistant.com where you can sign up to be notified when we the book officially launches. Those of you who sign up to be notified will also receive an discount code when the book is available for purchase.

Thanks to all of you who inspired me to write this. It will not let you down!

You may have heard some of your colleagues speak of hiring a “VA” or Virtual Assistant and you may have wondered how this works and how you can benefit from it. The key factors of hiring a VA over an employee or just doing the work yourself are: time, money and expertise. These factors are of course very important to all businesses. They always need to be improved upon continuously so that your company can run smoothly, efficiently and profitably. You may think you can do it all yourself, that you can’t afford to hire anyone, or that hiring an “employee” is safer and easier. Let’s look at the three factors in depth.

First, let’s look at time. If you’re doing everything on your own, you are probably often thinking, “I really need to be working on marketing strategies,” or “I really need to be increasing my billable time,” or whatever it is that you do best and what your business is really about! Yet, there you are, doing data entry, research or tweeting and facebooking throughout the day. As a company owner or entrepreneur you need to spend your time wisely to get a jump on the competition. Can you do it all? If you work 12 to 18 hours a day – probably. But is that why you decided to own your own business or be self-employed? Probably not.

You may wonder how you can save money by hiring a VA. If we think about what it takes to hire an employee, we can easily add up the savings. When you hire an employee, you pay them salary or on an hourly basis – sometimes just to sit and wait for the phone to ring. You pay them for every bathroom break, personal phone call or co-worker chat that they have. When you hire a Virtual Assistant you pay only for the work that is actually performed, down to the minute. Sometimes you pay a flat rate for a project to be completed; regardless of the time it takes for them to complete it. Of course you also save money on all the extras that go along with hiring an employee, rather than a VA. When you hire a VA there is no Worker’s Compensation or disability insurance to purchase; no lengthy tax paper work to keep track of. No Social Security Tax to pay – and of course no paid benefits like sick days or vacation time!

What is YOUR expertise in? Probably not document formatting or creating calculations in spreadsheets, social networking for your business or updating your website. Your expertise likely lies in what your business is all about. As an entrepreneur or business owner, you may be familiar with Michael Gerber’s book, “The E-Myth Revisited”. Gerber talks about the baker who opens a bakery, but not only has to make the pies and other baked goods that they specialize in, but who also has to market the business, wait on customers, keep the books, clean the shop and just about everything else. The baker’s business is just starting and they feel they can’t afford to hire anyone to help.  But do you think the business will make it? Is the baker really happy owning their own business, when they are working long hours and having to rush through what they love to do and what they do best – baking? The whole idea is lost in the logistics of it all. A Virtual Assistant has the expertise to do the things that need to be done to keep your business running, while you do what you are passionate about and what your business is all about!

Hiring a VA will save you time by getting things done quickly and efficiently; giving you your life back. Hiring a VA will save you money by getting paid only for the work actually accomplished and not for “dead air” time, as well as saving on benefits. And lastly, the expertise of a VA will allow you to do what you got into business to do – your passion, your business, and your expertise! Oh, and somewhere in there, you get to have a life outside of work too!