I know that the answer to this question will be different for everybody, but from your seasoned perspective: Roughly how much money do you think one should be making/month (after bills and whatnot) before taking on a VA?
Initially odds are that you are not going to get the most you can out of a VA unless you have some history/experience in hiring and people so keep that in mind when you first consider hiring one.
As to monthly income/revenue, that is hard to say but you want to ask yourself a couple of things if you are going to take the step:
1) Am I going to use the time I save wisely? Lots of people do not as they think they are on easy street now since a bunch of stuff is not in their to do box. Make good use of the time you save and turn that into money. This is not so much a quality of life move as it is a business move.
2) If the cost of my VA is 100.00 (salary + tools + VPS etc, how much will I make from their efforts in a worst case scenario? Then deduct 10% from what you think you would make.
3) If I totally screw up with my VA and make nothing at all, will the cost cause undo hardship to me? Let's say you completely fail and get ZERO return, if the investment is going to make your family miss meals then you are not in a place to venture there yet.
This might be an incredibly dumb question, but it's been on my mind for a while now.
When you give the VA access to whatever project you're outsourcing.. What stops them from running off and starting their own operation that mimics your project completely?
That is actually a good question, Floops, and one that lots of people think when they are considering a VA. I usually only give them a piece of the puzzle. If I am building a car, one builds the transmission, one the drive train, one the motor, one the body etc. The transmission guy does not know about the engine guy and the engine guy does not know the body guy.
If all they are doing is pieces, then it is pretty hard for them to steal your ideas or methods and that is how I
always start them out until I get to know them.
Also most of the VAs don't want to be the man. They just want to go to work, do their work and collect a pay check. Not everyone is an entrepreneur like yourself with a vision to build, many are happy doing their job and taking a check. That is why factories the world over have been successful for decades.
Good post
I already had most of this in mind but for the things I need a VA for it kinda scares me as they could really screw me over or steal from me.
I'd have to find a way to prevent that, and i'm not quite sure how yet lol.
Are most VAs honorable in your experience?
Honor as to stealing has not been an issue with the ones we have hired in past and the ones we work with on a regular basis. I have had issues with some people not wanting to come to work and that is not a VA specific issue as that is a real life job issue as well when you are hiring a lower end employee.
