Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Are you looking for a way to save time and money? Do you need someone to help with clerical duties, but don’t have the time or resources to do them yourself? If so, consider hiring a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants are people who work from home and help their clients with a variety of tasks, from communication, administration and social media management.

Before you hire a virtual assistant, make sure you ask these questions:

Do You Want to Hire Freelance or Go Through an Agency?

The very first thing you need to consider when hiring a virtual assistant is if you want to go through a website like Fiverr or if you want to go through an agency.

Do I want to Use Someone On Fiverr?

The very first option is to go to a place like Fiverr. When you go to Fiverr you can find people who have reviews already established about their virtual assistant skills and abilities. It has a great search function and it allows you to find somebody who oftentimes can work at a very affordable rate for you.

Now there are some downsides to hiring somebody directly from Fiverr. First, even with the reviews, you may not find somebody with your exact core values. Or, if you find somebody

with your values, you’re still not entirely sure if they are the right person. Have they been vetted? What’s their skill set? Hiring an agency can alleviate these concerns.

Do I want to Choose Someone Off of Google?

The second option is to look for individuals that you can hire by simply Googling “virtual assistants for hire.” You can find the occasional person who set up their website and who is advertising their virtual assistant skills.

Now you can easily find an amazing virtual assistant this way. However, there are problems. You might find that they’re going to charge a little bit higher premium cost. Also, they’re dealing with so many different clients that they may not have time to work just for you.

One final problem and this is the same problem that those who are on Fiverr also have is that if that virtual assistant gets sick or is unavailable, there is no backup readily available.

Should I Hire a Virtual Assistant Agency?

The third option is to hire a virtual assistant agency. Now there are two different types of agencies you will need to consider.

Do I want to hire an agency that uses overseas help?

First, some agencies specialize in hiring a virtual assistant for you and they typically hire from overseas.

This is good because you can find virtual assistants who are willing to work for very, very little wages.

Often, these are virtual assistants who come from either India or the Philippines. They can charge as little as ten dollars an hour. That’s phenomenally cheap.

Now there are some complications. First of all, there’s the English barrier. While this isn’t necessarily the case for every virtual assistant, it can happen where you find somebody who is not as proficient in English, and for issues like church communication that can be a really big deal.

The second issue is that many times you do not have an option to hire somebody who shares your same values. So while you’re getting a virtual assistant at an affordable price you are not necessarily having someone who aligns with the values of your ministry.

Do I want to hire an agency that uses exclusively U.S. Help?

The other option is to go with an agency that specializes in hiring within the United States. There are a lot of phenomenal agencies that do this.

They can range in price (with some of the more expensive agencies charging upwards of $50-$80 per hour). That is out of the budget of many churches.

Other agencies are gonna charge you per task. If you have a “one-off” task this can be an effective and financially smart choice. However, these agencies are often too expensive for many churches if you have recurring tasks.

One question to ask agencies is how they handle VAs who are sick or unable to work. Some agencies have an entire crew of individuals that can step in at a moment’s notice to take in or take off those tasks.

However, that’s not always the case. Some agencies silo out their individuals so that if you hire one virtual assistant, you’re just getting that virtual assistant.

There are a lot of perks of also going through an agency. Not only getting are you getting an agency backing, but you typically can trust that this agency has vetted the VA properly and can vouch for the quality of their work.

Also, most agencies are comfortable being able to swap somebody out if a virtual assistant is just not working for you.

The downside is that you’re going to pay a little bit more for these services, but the protection and peace of mind, in my opinion, are worth it.

Why Ministry Assistant Services Is Your Best Option.

Ministry Assistance Services is different than other agencies. How?

We use what’s called a “project manager model.”

What this means is that when you contract with us, we give you a project manager and not just a virtual assistant.

Under this project manager is an entire team of virtual assistants. That way the project manager is going to do the bulk of the work.

But the team of virtual assistants can step in at a moment’s notice and take on tasks that the project manager isn’t as proficient in.

This is one of the perks of using this kind of model. You’re not just stuck with the skill set of one virtual assistant. You have a bunch of team members coming together and working together, but for one low cost.

We don’t charge per task either, we charge per hour. We found that long term this is a lot more affordable for churches regardless of the size. Two to three hours a week can take a lot off your plate.

We also only hire Christians, people who are dedicated and committed to the local church. This way, you know when you’re working with us that this is a team that is committed to working with the local church and is dedicated to seeing the gospel spread.

So are you interested in working with us? Click the button below to schedule your free 15-minute consultation.

There is a lot of talk these days about the need for pastors to delegate tasks to virtual assistants. I can’t say I disagree with it, because I have seen firsthand how pastors struggle to do so.

In our culture, we are constantly being reminded that we should be working harder at our jobs; that we should be doing more. That if we don’t do this or that job, then we are not performing well enough. And when it comes to work, there is a lot of pressure on us, especially as pastors. We are told to take care of everything: house and family matters; church finances; church attendance; living at home with all the distractions and junk in your life. And if you don’t do all those things right, you will be fired or replaced.

And I believe hiring a virtual assistant and delegating to them can and does remove many of these stresses.

Why Don’t Pastors Delegate More Often?

So why don’t we see pastors delegate more often? I believe this pressure comes from a few sources:

The “WORK HARDER” Mindset

First, it comes from our culture that says we should be working hard. I believe this is a result of our materialistic society that encourages us to strive for more. And when you are striving for more, you want to do the best you can do.

We Determine Success By Metrics

Second and a corollary to the first, I believe the emphasis on goals and metrics has created a false sense of accountability. We are constantly measured by what we do, rather than who we are. And when you are measured by what you do, you feel like you have to be good at it. This creates a pressure on pastors to prove their worth via doing more.

Limited Resources

Third, it can feel like there are limited resources available and the pastor wants to be a good steward of what there is. This leads to the pastor trying to do everything, rather than what he is proficient in.

Confusion

Fourth, I believe many pastors simply don’t know WHICH tasks to delegate. Everything feels pressing and everything feels like it needs their attention.

Overwhelmed

Fifth, it feels easier NOT to delegate work. When you delegate you have to explain the task. You run the risk of it not being done properly and people getting upset. So it becomes easier just to do it yourself.

A False Sense of Productivity

Sixth, it can FEEL productive to do those small, repetitive tasks. Some pastors retreat to doing those small tasks because it is comforting–it is far easier to format a newsletter than it is to vision cast or counsel. It is simple to check off your to-do list rather. It gives us a sense of accomplishment and a dopamine hit–far more so than those tasks that make take weeks or even months to accomplish.

So now that we’ve explored WHY pastors struggle to delegate, I want to talk about HOW pastors can start the process of delegating tasks.

How to Delegate Tasks to a Virtual Assistant

So now that we’ve explored WHY pastors struggle to delegate, I want to talk about HOW pastors can start the process of delegating tasks.

Here are some practical tips on how pastors can delegate their tasks to a virtual assistant:

Brain dump all of the tasks that you currently do in a week, month, quarter and year.

Get them all down on paper. Organize them by division or category (sermon prep, counseling, administration, weekly tasks, monthly tasks etc.). Color code it so that you can easily reference all of the tasks that need to be done. Spend some time working on this project and dedicate an afternoon to getting it all down.

Label the enjoyability of the task for you on a scale of 1-10.

If the score for any task is under an 8, it may be a good candidate for being outsourced. If the task is a 9-10, you may want to figure out how to center your week around those tasks more.

Determine which of those tasks can be delegated.

There are three steps to determine what can be delegated:

1) identify the task,

2) assess the importance of the task, and

3) determine if someone else can do the task.

The first step is to identify the task. This may seem like a simple step, but it can be difficult to determine what is a task and what is part of ministry. Tasks are those things that need to be done in order for the ministry to run smoothly. They are usually administrative or logistical in nature.

Second, you’ll want to identify the importance of the task. If the task is unimportant, this task can be delegated to a virtual assistant at a later time or put on their to-do list but with the caveat that it is not pressing. You should not take this task on if at all possible. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t need to directly be involved, DON’T BE INVOLVED.

Third, with each task ask yourself “Can anyone else do this task?” If the answer is yes , then you can delegate the task to another person. You don’t have to be the one who does it, but you do have to make sure that someone else can do it. This keeps your time spent doing things that are in your wheelhouse and are essential. It also helps you avoid distractions too.

As a reminder, you need to be truthful when assessing your capabilities. If you are not able to do the task, delegate it to a virtual assistant immediately.

Delegate the Work

Now comes the difficult part: you have to delegate the work. This means identifying someone who has the gifts and abilities to accomplish the work. Now if you have a virtual assistant who has the experience, this is simple. They likely will require minimal training and can figure it out.

I have found Michael Hyatt INCREDIBLY helpful here. In his book Free to Focus, he talks about “5 Levels of Delegation.” Determining your level of delegation also determines your how. To summarize the five levels:

Level one: you want the person to do exactly what you’ve ask them to do–nothing more or less.

Level two: you want the person to examine or research and topic and report back to you–nothing more.

Level three: you give the person more room to operate and problem solve, but you reserve the final decision for yourself.

Level four: you want the person to evaluate the options, make the decision on their own, execute it and then give you an update afterward.

Level five: you hand over the entire project or task to someone else and exit the decision making process entirely.

99.9% of the time, our VAs operate in the first three levels. Realistically, this is Ministry Assistant Services’ sweet spot. We like the first three levels like a pig likes mud. While we CAN operate in the fourth and fifth level, we have found that this is difficult to do when working with institutions. It is much easier to perform levels four and five if you are hiring our VAs to personally assist

However, to ensure that the task is accomplished correctly, you can do a couple of steps.

1) Screen Record Yourself Accomplishing the Task

Use Loom or Zoom and then screenshot exactly what you want to be done. This way, your VA has the exact steps. What’s awesome is that you do these tasks anyway! Why not record it and then send it to your VA. This way, you’ll know that the task was accomplished correctly.

2) Follow Up

Simply look over the work once it’s complete. If it’s done how you want it, sign off and then trust that your VA has a grip on what to do and move along. Notice that a little time spent upfront ensures HOURS of freedom moving forward.

Conclusion

Delegation has to be done. It is not an option. Delegating to a virtual assistant is an easy task that can help you become more productive. Whether that is communication tasks, administration tasks, or social media management, a virtual assistant can help you.

In conclusion, by following the tips provided in this article, you can effectively delegate to a virtual assistant and improve your church or ministry. Remember to take your time in training your virtual assistant and be patient as they learn the ropes. Also, be sure to communicate clearly and frequently with them to ensure that they are meeting your expectations. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it; there is no shame in admitting that you can’t do everything yourself.

And if you are looking for a virtual assistant to hire, consider working with Ministry Assistant Services. As offer a unique project manager model at an affordable rate.

Click the button below to schedule a brief 10-minute conversation and we can get started as soon as next week!