[Editor's Note: PIMD is a huge advocate for outsourcing every thing you can so you can concentrate on the (usually highest-paying) tasks that only you can do. Taken to an extreme, this could even involve hiring a virtual assistant, the subject of today's post which originally ran on Passive Income MD. Having hired many people virtually to do tasks for WCI, LLC over the years, I have been very surprised to learn how competent and inexpensive this can be. Enjoy the post.]
In a recent post, I mentioned the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant (VA). Afterward, I received a good number of requests on the specifics of hiring one. I discovered the concept in a book called the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, and the idea was further reinforced when I read Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker. In this post, I’ll try to help explain what exactly a virtual assistant is and why you should have one.
As I mentioned, entire books are devoted to this, but I’ll do my best to give you enough information to be dangerous. In future posts, I’ll give you some tips on the hiring process, tips on how to work with a VA, and also list some of my favorite virtual assistant sites.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is someone who works remotely to help you perform tasks or projects. We’ve all heard of personal assistants, but due to the advances in technology like video chat, shared documents, artificial intelligence, and messaging apps, many of the tasks that once required close proximity can now be done from anywhere, even from different countries.
Why Hire a Virtual Assistant?
After using multiple virtual assistants and seeing the benefits firsthand, I strongly believe everyone should try to incorporate one into their lives. Let’s face it, as doctors, most of us aren’t used to working with assistants in our daily lives to this degree, but there are many reasons why we should consider it. Assistants are not only for business moguls and celebrities.
Free Up Time
As a busy professional, the main reason I’ve found to hire a virtual assistant is to simply decrease your workload and free up time. If you’re anything like me and my wife, trying to juggle the roles of physician, husband, wife, father, mother, friend, and whatever else you have on your plate. . . well, it’s a challenge.
Add to that “busy-work” tasks that need to get done, and the day just doesn’t seem to have enough hours. We should be focusing on how to free up time in our lives and this is one great way.
Free Up Mental Energy
Ultimately, you want to focus on things you’re passionate about or that will help your side hustles or businesses advance. So much mental energy is devoted to and drained by mundane tasks that can be outsourced. Your focus should be on the fun stuff and higher- level thinking necessary to grow your business. Virtual assistants allow you to do this much more effectively by taking those menial tasks off of your plate.
Get Tasks Done Faster
Let’s be honest, you may not be the fastest at booking travel plans or bookkeeping or making presentations or slideshows (I know I’m not). But there are people who do that on a daily basis and can get it done much, much faster than you can.
You Can Delegate Stuff You Just Don’t Enjoy Doing
Have you noticed that it’s so difficult to get through certain projects or tasks just because you don’t enjoy doing it? You’ll stop halfway and even avoid thinking about it. Think about the things on your to-do list that you’ve put off for weeks, months, or even years. I bet you it’s because they’re things you don’t enjoy doing.
Personally, I hate bookkeeping, so if I can offload some of that, I feel nothing but deep relief. There are people you can hire to gladly take those tasks off of your plate and do it with a smile on their face.
Downsides of Hiring a Virtual Assistant
It Costs Money
It can be (accurately) be argued that a good VA will ultimately pay for themselves, but there is, of course, a cost to it. No one will work for free.
You just have to do a cost-benefit analysis and think of the productivity you could gain, not the money you lose. “Time is money” the old adage goes, and it’s absolutely true. Ask yourself, how much is your time worth?
Training
I like things done a certain way, and I think that’s true of everyone. Only you know exactly how you want things done, and it takes time to teach someone what’s in your head. It may take a while for the virtual assistant to work in a way that produces satisfactory results. Of course, once that time passes, you’ll be surprised how synchronized you can become.
I go through a similar process when teaching residents. Everyone wants to teach them their own way. It takes skill to learn how to communicate effectively and over time, they become quite good at knowing what you’re trying to convey to them. We all went through it.
Have to Let Go of Some Control
Look, I get it. You’re a control freak, used to doing things yourself. I know the feeling -sometimes it’s hard to let that mentality go. Just as much as any other profession (if not more), physicians suffer from “superhero syndrome,” where we feel like we can handle all things and do them extremely well.
We’re used to thinking that if we want something done well, we have to take care of it ourselves. With a virtual assistant, you have to let go of some of that control, and it can be scary. It can also be very worth it.
Trust is Difficult and Takes Time
It takes time to trust anyone, especially if it has to do with confidential information. It may take some time for you to learn how much you can trust this virtual person. You’re going to depend on them for something and for some people that process of building trust takes longer than for others.
Is a VA Only for People with Businesses? Is It Worth It for Physicians?
I believe that hiring a virtual assistant is for anyone who wants to free up their time and sees the value in paying someone to do it, no matter your profession. You pay someone for services on a daily basis, whether you realize it or not: paying a CPA to do your taxes, someone to wash your car, someone to make your food, etc. Having a VA isn’t much different, other than their service contributes directly to your productivity and peace of mind.
As physicians, I believe the value of our time is high, and what little free time we do have is even that much more valuable. Do you really want to spend your free time doing things you don’t enjoy? Yes, a virtual assistant is worth it for anyone who wants to spend their time doing things they love.
If you have a side hustle or business, it’s quite easy to figure out how to plug a VA in. Need someone to manage your schedule, make phone calls, and more? A virtual assistant can help. Most businesses already have some form of an assistant (if not more than one), so outsourcing here is a no-brainer.
Wouldn’t It Be Better to Just Hire an In-Person Assistant?
This really depends on your needs. Do you need someone to literally run and drive to places for you? Do you have a business that involves a significant amount of packaging and sendoffs? Maybe you need someone to come to your house or the office to help you with these things.
In reality, most of the things that could be considered timesavers in our lives can either be done through automation, online ordering or virtually. So it may be way more cost-effective to hire someone virtually.
What Specific Tasks Can a VA Do?
Plenty! Not limited to but including:
- Organizing spreadsheets
- Create presentations
- Edit writing
- Order presents, supplies
- Ordering your groceries
- Email Management
- Organize files
- Organize photos
- Social Media posting
- Hotel and Flight Booking
- Transcribe
- Online Research
- And much more…
How Much Time Can You Really Save?
That depends on how much of your life is filled doing extraneous stuff. Small tasks seem to only take a few minutes of time. But once they’re all added up, especially over a week, it can result in a significant amount of time.
To give you some idea, how much time has shopping on Amazon saved you? Sure maybe you spend more than you need to at times, but it probably saves many of us hours a week not having to get in our car, drive to the store, walk the aisles, wait in the checkout line, and drive back. You probably never realized how much time this technology would one day save you until you used it.
The same can be said for having a virtual assistant. Once you start using a VA, you start realizing how much time you waste on a weekly basis doing things that could easily be outsourced, streamlined, and simplified.
Personally, using assistants routinely saves me 5-10 hours a week. What could you do with an extra hour a day?
How Much Is a Virtual Assistant?
This varies quite a bit. It depends on the following:
- Whether you’re paying by the task, by the hour, or by salary
- Expertise needed to perform the task
- Experience of the VA
- Country of origin of the VA
To expand on this last point, according to Payscale.com, the average virtual assistant in the US makes $15.82 an hour. However, in the Philippines, the average VA makes $4-5 an hour. Again, it depends on the type of job they’re performing. Basic, general tasks make less, while ones that are associated with personal information or complex tasks make more.
Where Can I Hire a Virtual Assistant?
Here’s a list of some of the best sites to hire a virtual assistant.
Conclusion: Hire a Virtual Assistant
If it hasn’t been clear up to this point, I highly recommend hiring a virtual assistant. Yes, we’re used to getting things done and doing it ourselves, especially if we want it done right. Unfortunately, we’re already so strapped for time, all we end up doing is filling our precious free time with tasks that we don’t enjoy doing, aren’t that great at, or honestly shouldn’t be doing at all.
Maybe that should be the first step in evaluating whether you should hire one. I’d recommend you do a quick inventory of those same tasks in your own life:
- Tasks you don’t enjoy doing
- Tasks you’re doing that could be done by someone else (likely faster and more efficiently)
- Tasks you probably shouldn’t be doing
Take that list and figure out how much time you’re spending on those things daily, weekly, and monthly. If it adds up to more than even an hour a week, it’s worth looking into hiring someone to do it. At a minimum, that’s 52 hours a year freed up to do the things you enjoy.
Personally, it’s changed the way I live on a weekly and monthly basis. Certain tasks like paperwork and online research get done instead of sitting on my to-do list. More of my mental energy is devoted to things that bring a lot more value to my life. More of my time is spent on things I enjoy, like hanging out with my family, watching sports, and working on my side hustles.
Focus on how to free up your time and consider hiring a virtual assistant. Then, just maybe, you’ll be able to reclaim some of that precious time that you feel you’ve lost.
In the next posts, you’ll get a list of some my favorite resources when it comes to virtual assistants, tips for the hiring process, and tips on how to work with them.
Have you ever used a virtual assistant? Did you find it useful? What were some of the benefits and challenges for you? Curious about using one?
An interesting concept…I’m just having trouble finding things within my personal life that I’d both want and be able to offload virtually. I’m a planner so I kind of enjoy doing travel arrangements. I find the numeric monotony of bookkeeping/taxes somewhat zen (and largely automated). I only really do gifts for family so offloading that would feel cheesy.
Many of these are “chores” and with four kids I have a free(ish…already funded?) labor pool to draw from and I feel this need to set a good example so they know how to do those things (my wife grew up without ever learning how to mow the lawn or do any other yardwork). They may wind up underwater basket weavers after all and not able to afford extra help. I will admit a VA to help managing cleaning out my email sounds enticing but is such a personal task that I’d want a relationship first…which means I’d have to find something else to do with them first.
So, cool idea and I’ll keep it in the back of my mind, but I don’t think it’s for everyone.
Yeah I agree. While interesting I honestly don’t know what use I’d make of a virtual assistant. Our young family’s needs all require a physical presence (laundry, cooking, cleaning etc). And it pains me to “outsource” things I can do myself for free.
Reading lots of Regency era novels about lords with secretaries I am envious of that. I’d set one to dusting and organizing my library (did it myself 10 years back- no longer so jazzed by maintenance), lining up and being at home to meet all the handy men we need in to do a few repairs/updates, and maybe after all that do Xmas cards for me. However I don’t have the poor 7th son of the local minister who needs a job, nor the charming ward (anymore- they’ve flown the coop, and should’ve had them doing all this) for him to fall in love with.
The kid offers to do it in the summer but I really doubt she’d earn her pay. One summer I set her to selling on ebay my excess books. Amazing how few people want books anymore so she didn’t earn much for her efforts (let her keep the cash- my goal was more shelf space).
Have a househusband I think would make a great secretary- but he’ll only work on projects he agrees with, or when the device has gone kaputt instead of, as I request, preventing same with timely repairs. He HAS implemented housekeeping that is miles ahead of any plan or spontaneous cleaning I did when I was at home. House is very nice now, though he still doesn’t consider important some of the odd tasks I think should be in his repertoire. (Guest room toilet also needs cleaning; can’t just do it the day before we have our rare guests.)
Virtual? I haven’t even delegated my money management or taxes to Quicken or similar programs. Don’t see the benefit/ superiority yet.
I would love to see a list of tasks that MDs have offloaded to VAs. PIMD – what have you used VAs for in the past week or month? I understand the broad categories, but can’t picture the email I would send out at the beginning of the week or month outlining deliverables that would be faster and easier to explain than they are to simply do. Specific examples from your past month would be greatly appreciated.
Bueller… Bueller…
Might have to hit him up via email. He doesn’t get automatic notice of comments on my blog like I do and vice versa.
Hi Ben!
I am co-founder of one of the sites they mention in this article. I’d love to send you a list of typical items you could outsource and/or talk you through some of the logistics behind the tasks that a VA could assist with. Feel free to email me at [email protected] to discuss! Thanks – Lauren
Why not list them right here in your comment?
Calendar Management, Inquiry Responses, Clinical Follow-ups, Data Entry, Research, Email Management, Social Media, etc.
Good summary, PIMD.
I’ve largely left the “outsource your entire life to focus entirely on the highest paying tasks” mantra behind, but everyone already outsources whether they realize it or not. Just replace “highest paying” with “greatest joy” and that’s more my speed. A followup post describing how to hire, find and manage VAs (along with the downsides) would make a great little mini-series. The reality of getting someone effective to work for you remotely is far more difficult than Tim Ferris would make it seem especially since the idea has gained some traction.
Are you comfortable giving a complete stranger access to your personal information? Bank accounts? Emails? Contacts? It’s must easier to manage in the context of running an online business which is the basis of the 4HWW philosophy. Harder to pull off when that person could effectively become your second, third or fourth spouse and life partner.
I can see VAs being a useful tool to help offload the many duties that a busy physician working at their prime would have. My two cents based on experience is to be careful with what you delegate and to who, as trust is a major concern. It is one thing to pay a lawn service to mow your lawn couple times a month which seems benign enough. However, I have gone thru several medical billing services that are just lazy, only collecting on the easy cases, taking their juicy cut, and leaving a lot of collections on the table. Same with multiple marketing/ social media/ SEO companies that promise to get you on page 1 of google search and give a steady stream of patients to your door, only to fail miserably while they collect their nice monthly cash flow from the ‘rich’ doctor. What I love is when they say that it takes ‘time’ to get the marketing to work while they do not have to show any proof of work and my guess is they are not doing anything at all and laughing all the way to the bank! We have also hired licensed contractors to build an addition to our home- first one ran off with the $20k deposit, then second one who we found via a high recommendation from a friend (no longer a friend) that did a sloppy job, abandoned the job near the end without finishing, then had the gonads to sue us for over half million dollars claiming we did not pay them for work they did not even do! The whole job quote was not nearly for that much so I do not know where they pulled that number out of! Needless to say we were successful in defending that case, but only after 1.5 years of stressful litigation, lost work revenue, and over $100K in legal fees. I also know of several colleagues who have had nurses, MA’s, office managers, etc. steal from the office leading to their arrest. The point is that TRUST is a major concern, particularly when you do not know about what you are delegating, and you must do your due diligence before delegating any tasks to anyone, especially a VA who may be overseas or anonymous with no accountability if they disappear with your sensitive information. In my case, I no longer trust anyone with anything!
As for me, no need for a VA at this time. I got terminated from my corporate medicine job 3 months ago and have not been able to find new work yet. So much for our economy’s rosy jobs report. I am currently a stay at home dad, which would be ok in our progressive society where gender roles are equalizing. Only problem is my wife is also a stay at home mom who comes from a traditional background where ‘the man’ is supposed to be the bread winner of the family. Can’t win them all. Thus, despite the 9 years of residency/ fellowships and triple board-certification status, guess who is the designated toilet scrubber/ floor mopper/ lawn mower/ dish washer/ dog walker/ etc and has two thumbs? This guy!
#burnedoutmd
There are so many other things that are higher on the outsourcing list than a virtual assistant.
For us the first tasks we outsourced were housecleaning every other week, after we moved to the suburbs it was lawn care, then large home jobs such as painting/staining decks, dangerous jobs cleaning out gutters.
We pretty much do the rest ourselves.
But my future wish list would include.
Laundry
Grocery shopping
And would love to have a personal chef.
Things I enjoy doing include managing my rental properties, managing my finances, taking care of my garden and fruit trees.
Most of us are on this site since we don’t want to pay someone else to manage our money. So really depends what things you feel comfortable having someone else do for you.
Jim I am curious as the blog has taken off what have you outsourced?
Ad sales, podcast production, bulk book sales, setting up travel/speaking gigs, servicing of the online course, video production, significant parts of social media, editing, post preparation, conference preparation. Should I go on? There are four part-timers working here besides me.
Sorry should have been more clear.
I meant with regards to things that help out at home.
I would consider all the things you put as part of growing your business. Things you did before the blog became successful that you can now choose to continue or not.
I was just asked to be part of a start up company based data my research. I asked myself if the company becomes profitable what things at home would I outsource. The big things that came up for me were laundry, cooking and definitely my night shifts!!!
I can see VAs being a useful tool to help offload the many duties that a busy physician working at their prime would have. My two cents based on experience is to be careful with what you delegate and to who, as trust is a major concern. It is one thing to pay a lawn service to mow your lawn couple times a month which seems benign enough. However, I have gone thru several medical billing services that are just lazy, only collecting on the easy cases, taking their juicy cut, and leaving a lot of collections on the table. Same with multiple marketing/ social media/ SEO companies that promise to get you on page 1 of google search and give a steady stream of patients to your door, only to fail miserably while they collect their nice monthly cash flow from the ‘rich’ doctor. What I love is when they say that it takes ‘time’ to get the marketing to work while they do not have to show any proof of work and my guess is they are not doing anything at all and laughing all the way to the bank! We have also hired licensed contractors to build an addition to our home- first one ran off with the $20k deposit, then second one who we found via a high recommendation from a friend (no longer a friend) that did a sloppy job, abandoned the job near the end without finishing, then had the gonads to sue us for over half million dollars claiming we did not pay them for work they did not even do! The whole job quote was not nearly for that much so I do not know where they pulled that number out of! Needless to say we were successful in defending that case, but only after 1.5 years of stressful litigation, lost work revenue, and over $100K in legal fees. I also know of several colleagues who have had nurses, MA’s, office managers, etc. steal from the office leading to their arrest. The point is that TRUST is a major concern, particularly when you do not know about what you are delegating, and you must do your due diligence before delegating any tasks to anyone, especially a VA who may be overseas or anonymous with no accountability if they disappear with your sensitive information. In my case, I no longer trust anyone with anything!
As for me, no need for a VA at this time. I got terminated from my corporate medicine job 3 months ago and have not been able to find new work yet. So much for our economy’s rosy jobs report. I am currently a stay at home dad, which would be ok in our progressive society where gender roles are equalizing. Only problem is my wife is also a stay at home mom who comes from a traditional background where ‘the man’ is supposed to be the bread winner of the family. Can’t win them all. Thus, despite the 9 years of residency/ fellowships and triple board-certification status, guess who is the designated toilet scrubber/ floor mopper/ lawn mower/ dish washer/ dog walker/ etc and has two thumbs? This guy!
#burnedoutmd
I agree that the trust factor as well as the fact that many times you will do a far better job than anyone else are big barriers.
Thanks for the offer , my wife is my virtual assistant and she costs nothing
Where did you get the virtual wife?
Kenny, Kenny, Kenny,
Your wife is priceless, not free! If you don’t believe me, just ask her.
I’m a big fan of Tim Ferriss myself. I’ve thought a lot about hiring a PA, but it would only be for blog activities and I haven’t gotten to that level of scale yet. For personal, non side-hustle activities, I’d rather do everything myself.
But it does have me thinking that leveraging a PA to do some online research for a post may be a good idea. Maybe soon…
I’ve been thinking about hiring a PA for a while but wasn’t sure I had enough work for them and seems a bit pretentious but a good us based VA may be the perfect solution.
I already have a va for my biz and pay her $5/hour but that’s really for more basic tasks that don’t require a ton of critical thinking.
There are some basic things I could use help with but I’m also more excited for the bonus items like keeping track of birthdays. I’d love to have her help me keep track of close friends and families birthdays for example and she could help me facilitate sending a handwritten card. Pmd, do you have your va do any tasks like this?
I have been struggling with this concept for 2 years. I first got my wife involved, then my son. Now I think I need to branch outside the family. My hang up is the time and effort to train them and then turn over the control. As I get busier, the decision is becoming easier to see.
Dr. Cory S. Fawcett
Prescription for Financial Success
I honestly still dont see the use in a Virtual assistant. Maybe if you have an online job to do some of these things it would be useful. But for most people there really isnt anything on the list that a VA would be helpful for:
Organizing spreadsheets – how many spreadsheets are doctors making outside of maybe once for financial tracking
Create presentations – Can they really do this for Medical presentations that would be worth a darn
Edit writing – Most Docs dont do
Order presents, supplies – How hard is it to do this and how much time is really being saved
Ordering your groceries – Most people still go to the store, but reordering on Amazon is quick
Email Management – Dont know how a virtual assistant would really help what I want to go through
Organize files – dont see how to train them for this
Organize photos – Maybe
Social Media posting – If you have a business, but my marketing company already does this
Hotel and Flight Booking -takes like what 5 minutes on a website.
Transcribe – Sure, if you dont have a service or dragon
Online Research – Ok. But personally don’t knwo about the trust level on this one.
Hahaha! Looking at this list, it appears my physician (in training) husband already has one of these…me.
I literally booked travel for a conference this morning.
Totally okay, though. I mostly enjoy these tasks and soon enough his income will help me offload some of the tasks I don’t enjoy…like deep cleaning!