Up until today, you have been working your ass off on your wedding photography or wedding education business. You have been spending countless hours on marketing, emails, content creations, writing up contracts and invoices, answering and following up with inquiries and more. You have been doing an amazing job and I want you to be so proud of yourself. But I can bet you have lost out of so much time with family and friends, have gotten in a bad sleeping and eating habit, or losing chances on bigger opportunities because you “just don’t have time”.

If you are sitting there shaking your head because what you’re reading sounds like your own life… Let’s get down to business and hire a wedding virtual assistant to avoid that inevitable burnout everyone talks about. So here is how a Wedding Virtual Assistant helps you from burnout?

Takes Over Tasks You Don’t Enjoy

The last thing I want to do is take away tasks you actually enjoy doing. You can delegate every single tasks or just ones you don’t like, that’s the art of hiring a virtual assistant. It depends on your preference and the wedding virtual assistant you end up signing on with.

I bet you have outsourced help without even thinking about it too much. So why keep pushing it off when it comes to your business? Think about it..

No time to walk your dog – Hire a dog walker

No time to clean your house – Hire a housekeeper

Don’t want to handle taxes and bookkeeping – Hire a CPA / Bookkeeper

Allowing a virtual assistant to handle tasks such as emails, Honeybook or Dubsado management, inquiry management opens up the opportunity to have more time to spend on bigger weddings, additional income opportunities, self-care or time with family and friends. The world is open when you have more time!

When I said it depends on the VA you choose, it means that you have chosen a virtual assistant who is capable of handling the tasks you want to hand off. Personally, I handle majority of backend admin tasks and client experiences. An example is: Inquiry and email management, CRM management, graphic and questionnaires, Special Event assistance (workshops, content days, styled shoots). Not all VA’s offer these services. Some only handle social media, so it truly depends on what you are needing.

Pros Hiring a Wedding Virtual Assistant VS an Employee

Wedding Photographers and Educators don’t have time to train or the budget for an employee hence hiring a VA. Now, I am not against hiring an employee if that is what you prefer but the difference is quite substantial:

+ A Virtual Assistant is already trained and they will let you know exactly what they offer (if I need to learn something you are needing, I learn on my own time). An Employee means you will 99% have to train them.

+ A Virtual Assistant is very productive because they do the same tasks for almost every client (it’s drilled in my head!) and they already know what they need to do daily. An Employee you will need to delegate tasks every day.

+ A Virtual Assistant is budget friendly-er. Stop rolling your eyes! It’s actually true. VA’s create their own rate and it is based on how many hours they will work on your business (I usually spend 1 – 2 hours per day for each client). For an Employee you set the pay and hours. If you need them for only 2 – 5 hours a week, that’s most likely less than they can do.

+ A Virtual Assistant is an Independent Contractor which means you don’t provide raises, benefits, tax, equipment, etc. (there’s goes that budget friendly again!) An Employee is a W2 which you will pay all of the above.

What Tasks To Hand Off to Your Virtual Assistant

Now that you know what the difference is between a Wedding Virtual Assistant and an employee, what do you hand over to your VA? This is typically one of the causes for many photographers to hold off on hiring a VA. You know you need help in avoiding burnout but don’t know how or what to hand over.

Here is a short list on what you can outsource to a wedding virtual assistant:

+ Email communication

+ Inquiry responses and follow ups

+ Scheduling calls and sessions

+ Creating and sending out contracts / invoices and follow ups

+ Graphics, Guides etc

+ Social Media

That’s just to name a few! Just imagine all of the other tasks. Visit my SERVICES page to learn all that I offer. Burnout is inevitable so please take time to really get into the mindset of hiring help. Even if it isn’t me! My goal for my business to assist amazing and talented wedding photographers but if I’m not a good fit for you then I still love referring you to someone who fits your business best.

Feel free to see my INSTAGRAM content and learn a little more, see behind the scenes and support each other!