Have you ever needed help, like desperately, and you didn’t know how you were going to get everything done or how you were going to run this one-man show by yourself?

Listen, we have all been there! I know I have and man, oh man, can it be stressful!

From losing sleep to eating more chocolate than what is necessary, I believe a lot of entrepreneurs live in a state of overwhelm and not knowing how to keep up with all the daily maintenance of running a business while getting clients, doing marketing, and everything else that comes with the territory.

That is why there are people out there called Virtual Assistants (also known as VAs), and they can be a God-send to anyone who needs help!

Back in November, I ran my first Blogging Bootcamp and I knew I needed help. I needed someone to reach out to my affiliates and make social media graphics for me.

I reached out, got lucky and found Kim McDowall from Savvy Support VA and she was a lifesaver to my sanity! She helped me create graphics for my Bootcamp, the daily prompts, and reached out to my affiliates!

Let me tell you, knowing that someone was doing work for me made me feel relieved and it was the best feeling ever! That is why I knew I had to bring Kim onto the blog so she can tell you why every entrepreneur needs a VA, what a VA does and how you can reach out to her and let her relieve you from a few daily items on your to-dos so you can get back to what you LOVE doing!

1) What is a Virtual Assistant (VA)?

A VA is someone who helps or does work for a business or entity in an online capacity and usually from their home office. A virtual assistant can help with a variety of things such as, but not limited to, email management, customer service, social media management, content creation, marketing, and graphic design.

2) Why would I need one?

Most business owners, both online and brick and mortar, get to a point where they need to hire someone. This usually happens when you get too much business to handle on your own or it can be because in order to scale and grow your business you need to delegate tasks and focus on other work. You may also need a VA to do work you don’t have the skills or desire to do.

3) What kinds of tasks can a Virtual Assistant do?

Virtual assistants offer different skillsets and each one is different. For example, I offer blogging, social media, podcasts, video and some graphics services. Another VA might only offer Pinterest services for life coaches. There are thousands of VA’s doing things such as customer service, website/blog management, graphic design, marketing/ads, customer acquisition or lead generation, bookkeeping, and many other professional services.

4) When do I know when I am ready to hire a VA?

Being ready to hire a VA can be different for each business owner. One may need to hire someone or a few VA’s to get their business off the ground. Another owner might need to hire someone for an overflow of business. Hiring a virtual assistant isn’t a luxury and can be the difference in your business succeeding or failing. If you find you need someone to handle your social media or marketing then get someone as quickly as possible. If you don’t, your business will be less likely to grow and succeed.

Think of this as a normal business expense like ordering food for a restaurant or display racks for shoes in a shoe store. You can’t make money with a restaurant without food. Every business owner has to invest more into the business to grow and scale. Hiring a VA can get you results faster and free you up to do things you are proficient in rather than trying to do it all and learning from scratch.

5) What kind of entrepreneurs do you serve?

I provide B2B (business to business) services to women with chronic illness. As someone with autoimmune disease and a few other chronic illnesses, I understand the unique challenges of trying to run a business with a disability.

There are women with chronic pain, migraines, depression, CFS/ME, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and other illnesses or disabilities that struggle to work their business. When I looked for help with my business I didn’t find any so I started Savvy Support VA. I provide virtual assistance and, coming soon, a blog with other resources to help other “spooniepreneurs” create a better life.

(Spoonies are what many people with chronic, invisible illness sometimes call themselves based on this article from Christine Miserandino and “spooniepreneurs” are people with chronic, invisible illness who own a business)

6) How can I learn more about you?

You can visit my site at savvysupportva.com and I also have a blog at chronicchimera.com to help women after abuse, chronic illness and divorce. Chronic Chimera was born because I experienced everything I write about and know how confusing and painful it is. I have taken a short break from Chronic Chimera to set up Savvy Support VA but will be writing and working on Chronic Chimera again in early 2020. I am also on Facebook @savvysupportva, Instagram and Pinterest. I’m in the process of setting up my LinkedIn profile too.