When I was waitressing part time, acting part time and doing photoshoots part time, I hired an assistant.

 

I paid a friend to drive all over town to drop off my marketing postcards to display at various businesses for actors to find me.

 

I had two jobs which meant that’s how I made ends meet but I still hired someone else to drive all over town for me instead of doing it myself.

 

Because I knew that I made more money doing my “high value” jobs of waitressing and photoshoots than I would if I did the low value job of driving around town.

 

Soon after that, while still waitressing, I hired another friend to become an administrative assistant.

 

I literally had my work desk setup in my bedroom because I lived in a one bedroom apartment and that’s where I got work done.

 

My friend would come in on a part time basis and help with admin?‍? work while I was shooting.

 

I had two other assistants after that who came to my house which by then was a two bedroom apartment and then a condo with a dedicated office.

 

When I got my first studio, I hired a full time in-studio administrative assistant.

 

Times have since changed of course!

 

I now have a virtual assistant who helps me from the comfort of her own home and thanks to the internet, she’s able to access every necessary document, app or image file to run my business.

 

??‍♀️ Here’s the thing.

 

Hiring help for my photography business early on, helped me grow faster.

 

If you find yourself fielding emails left and right and getting bogged down in the trenches of your job, it’s waaay time to hire an assistant.

 

If I had to do it all over again now, the very first thing I would take off my plate is emails.

 

Then, all the low-value tasks that make my business run but don’t move the needle forward.

 

Everything from database entry to updates on all levels from my website, various templates to my CRM documents and more are low value tasks.

 

If I had to hire someone right now, here’s what I would do.

 

I’d go to an agency like Somewhere, watch their training video on how to successfully hire a virtual assistant (VA) and then hire full time help based in the Philippines.

 

I know you probably think you don’t have full time work to give anyone but I bet you do.

 

If you keep track of every task you do on a daily basis for one month (and I highly recommend you do), you’ll discover that a lot of the work you do CAN be offloaded to a VA.

 

Because most of what you do is not considered high value, it won’t help you grow your business.

 

To grow your business, you need to focus on your business and not work in it.

 

And when you hire a full time VA, you’ll be able to make more money and pay them full time.

 

Now if you’re still convinced you don’t have full time work for someone and you’d like to hire part time help, I recommend Upwork.

 

At Upwork you’ll find part time freelancers both in the US and all over the world. This is where I hired both my retouchers who have been with me for a long time.

 

But with any freelancer, when you don’t go through an agency that knows how to vet prospects, you have to be vigilant about vetting them properly.

 

The best advice I can give you, and you should take this advice very seriously.

 

⚡️Hire slowly and methodically but fire fast.⚡️

 

It’s not about being nice, it’s about your livelihood.

 

Submit your questions, in the comments below!