Admin is definitely a skill, and not one that everyone naturally possesses. But it is one that anyone can learn if they’re willing to put in the time and effort and understand how their brain works.
A big part of admin is learning how to balance things, so you need to make sure you don’t spend so much time doing your admin that you never get anything else done. For some business owners, this means having dedicated admin time during the week, for others, it’s spreading it out little and often, and for others again it means outsourcing their admin completely. Your choice will depend on your business, your aptitude for admin, and how much time you’re willing to dedicate. Whichever option you choose, we have a few tips to help make your journey into admin a little bit smoother.
4 Quick Admin Tips
Make Lists: We mentioned lists earlier, but we’re going to say it again now. Because your brain loved to-do lists, and one of the best things you can do to manage the admin in your business and your life is to make lists. Lists of long-term and short-term goals, of things that need to be done now vs things that can wait for a few days, or that can be done next month. Making lists ensures that nothing gets missed, and if you can prioritise the tasks properly, it makes it simpler for you to get things done little by little. It’s also hacking your brain – as you tick things off, your brain will send out a little surge of endorphins. This is why we feel pleasure when we complete a task, and it can act as motivation to tackle some of those bigger, more intimidating jobs.
Set Aside Some Time: If you’re not naturally inclined to do admin (and not many people are), then odds are you’ll find any excuse not to do it. So carve yourself out some time, once a week, to work through the admin list. Monday mornings often work best, as it means you can get everything laid out for the week and understand exactly what needs doing throughout your business, but it can be any day that works for you. Use that time to organise your requirements, complete a few tasks, and get those lists written. Think of it like going to the gym – it’s important to set aside the time for it if you want to see results.
Automate Where You Can: Technology is wonderful, and modern advancements mean it’s possible for us to do almost anything. Including automating a lot of our work. Where you can try to automate some of the more repetitive or time-consuming admin tasks on your list. This will make sure they get done (because no one likes doing boring jobs) and frees up your time for more valuable tasks. A few things you could automate include invoice chasing, data entry and paying bills.
Outsource: Finally, our biggest tip is to outsource. If you really struggle with your admin and you just never manage to find the time, then you need to do something about it. Hiring a VA to support you with your admin is a simple process, and they can handle all of the niggly little admin tasks for you. Almost any admin task can be outsourced, which means you can get back to focusing on the work you’re good at, and more importantly, actually want to do.
Why Outsource to a Virtual Assistant?
As we mentioned above, outsourcing to a VA buys you the most precious resource of all – time. Admin is one of the more time-consuming business tasks, and it only gets worse the less you do it, and the longer you leave it. For business owners who need to focus on running their business, a VA can be exactly what they need.
A virtual assistant (like the Starfish Admin team) can do all of those niggly little jobs you don’t really want to do, but need to be done in order to run your business. You know, things like:
- Secretarial and admin support
- Social media management
- Typing quotes and invoices
- Diary and email management
- Arranging meetings and appointments
- Answering and making calls
- Organising paperwork
- Data entry
- Travel plans
- Recruitment
- HR investigations
- Independent audits
- Statistical analysis
- Performance monitoring
- Taking minutes (and transcribing them)
- Anything else you might need us to do
In other words, we’re a one-stop shop for your business needs, whatever they happen to be. We have the skills in-house to handle anything you can throw at us, and we take far less time to learn than hiring a new employee! If you’re still not sure, here are just a few of the benefits of working with a VA:
Reduced Costs: Yes, believe it or not, it is actually cheaper to hire a VA to handle your admin than it would be to hire someone in-house. This is mainly because for a VA you only have to pay their hourly rate, whereas with an employee you have to pay things like salary, taxes, sick days, holidays, training and more. With a VA, you pay for what you need, when you need it, and not a penny more. And given that most full-time employees do less than 3 hours productive work in an 8 hour work day, this is a considerable saving!
Increased Productivity: A VA means more productive work done for your business, and more productive time for you. Because you don’t have all of those time-consuming admin jobs to do, or the stress of them hanging over your head, you can focus on getting your work done. A VA can also offer support for the bigger jobs you need to do, which means you can do better work, faster. And because a VA works remotely and by the hour, that productivity also translates into reduced costs.
Increased Flexibility: With a VA, you’re not saddled with a 9-5 workday – they work around your schedule and are there when you need them. So if something last minute or out of hours comes up, you can rely on their support through that without worrying about things like overtime and employee goodwill. A good VA will work with you to achieve what you need, when you need it.
Higher Quality Work: No ‘busywork’ means more mental space and time to focus on your work. But hiring a VA doesn’t just mean your work quality improves – it also means your admin is done to a higher standard as well. This might not seem like an important thing, but well done admin means fewer mistakes, fewer fines for inaccurately submitted forms, less money spent on the wrong products, and fewer issues with suppliers and customers, and overall a better brand image for your business.
Skills You Need: Hiring talent costs a lot of money, and if you need a lot of skills for your business, that can get very expensive, very fast. Hiring a VA gives you access to a wide range of skills you may need for your business, without the big price tag attached. For example, a VA could support you in setting up your business, creating marketing materials, building systems to support your workflow, organising logistics or even small tasks like transcription – a VA can do it all.
By taking these things off your hands and giving them to highly qualified VA’s, we can save you time and money, and give your own productivity a serious boost too. And the best part? You don’t have to pay all of those expensive overheads that come with hiring an on-site assistant. You know, things like tax, national insurance, pensions, holiday, and sick leave. Instead, you just pay our hourly fee, and leave the rest to us. Want to know more? Just get in touch with the team today.