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Wedding planning is a billion-dollar industry, as people want to make sure their special day is flawlessly organized for themselves and their guests. Approximately 2 million women marry each year, and it’s believed that at least 1 in 3 couples will want a wedding planner. And naturally, as a wedding planner, you want to be considered! However, as your clientele grows and people get wind of the fabulous events you put together, your work list also increases. Before you know it, it’ll start to feel like you’re spending more time doing everything but wedding planning. If such is the case now, it might be time to hire a virtual assistant for wedding planners.
What is a Wedding Virtual Assistant?
You’ve probably heard people speak about virtual assistants (VAs) a time or two, but what exactly are they? For clarity, when we talk about virtual assistants, we’re not referring to Alexa or Siri; we’re talking about human beings. A VA is typically self-employed, meaning they operate their own business as independent contractors.
As a self-employed professional, they’re responsible for paying their own taxes, ensuring they have a workspace (most work from home), and purchasing the equipment (e.g., computer) they need to complete their job. In addition, they must search for and obtain their own insurance benefits, like dental, vision, and health.
Occasionally, VAs are referred to as fractional service providers, which means they offer their services as needed to several clients. Unlike employees who are committed to one organization, you can access their skill set and experience without the full-time worker price tag.
Why Hire a Virtual Assistant For A Wedding Business
If you’re trying to determine if trying virtual assistant services is right for you, consider the following:
They Can Adapt to Your Business Needs
People mainly hire VAs for wedding creatives because they’re often more flexible than employees. For instance, you might only need a VA for 20 hours some months and 5 hours during slower times. With employees, though, you have to commit to paying them based on their part-time or full-time status. This could get pricey, especially if your business doesn’t yet have the volume to justify the cost of an employee.
They’re Often Less Costly Than Employees
VAs are also more cost-effective. Hiring a VA for even $40 to $50/hour might be more affordable than hiring a new employee. Consider this â adding a new team member to your payroll doesn’t just include the salary you agree to; it’s also the cost of health benefits, federal and state taxes, worker’s compensation, and more. The SBA states the cost of an employee is about 1.25 to 1.4 times the salary. So, if you hire a full-time employee for $50,000/year, you should really expect to pay $70,000. Part-time would be about $35,000 a year.
But what if you only need a virtual assistant for 20 hours monthly? Twenty hours multiplied by $50/hour is just $1,000, and the VA would only charge for actual time worked (with our company, at least). If you can bring on two extra monthly customers for $2,500 each, that’s an additional $60,000 a year. What a return on investment!
They’re Subject Matter Experts
Another thing to consider is that virtual assistants should be subject matter experts. Many people search for a unicorn VA who can do a little bit of everything, but this isn’t the most efficient practice. If you hire a VA who dabbles in some of everything, you’ll end up hiring someone who possibly knows just as much as you when it comes to certain tasks, and that’s not always helpful.
You want someone who can help fill in your gaps, especially for social media, email marketing, and technical support. Hiring someone who’s not proficient at any one thing could lead to more mistakes, which could be costly. However, hiring a VA who has specialized knowledge in a specific area often means they can deliver projects more efficiently, quickly, and accurately.
A wedding planner virtual assistant only works when you need them to. So, if some months are busier than others, they can adjust. In addition, if you need assistance after hours or during the weekends, that may also be possible.
What Tasks Can a Virtual Wedding Planning Assistant Do?
A remote wedding planning assistant can perform numerous tasks so you can focus on other things. Consider the following:
Virtual Assistants Can Do Administrative Tasks For Wedding Pros
You can assign many administrative tasks to your wedding virtual assistant. For instance, they can support you with:
Virtual Wedding Planning Assistants Can Help With Customer Support Tasks
Customer service is absolutely crucial in wedding planning. Your customers trust you to handle their big day, so little things like replying to an email 3 to 5 business days later could cause worry. One stat revealed that 75% of consumers spend more with businesses that offer a good customer experience. Another one found that it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one negative experience.
Therefore, if you feel like managing your leads and clients are becoming too much, it’s likely time to hire a customer service virtual assistant for wedding pros.
Your VA for wedding creatives can assist with tasks like:
Wedding Planning Virtual Assistants Can Manage Your Social MediaÂ
Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest could be a game-changer for wedding planners. Many brides make their way to these platforms for inspo regarding wedding decor and more. However, as a wedding planner, you’re likely bogged down with so many other duties, making it challenging to find time to work on social media content. Fortunately, this is where a social media virtual assistant for wedding planners could step in and help you with the following:
A Wedding Virtual Assistant Can Engage Your Leads With Email Marketing
If you want to inform your leads about your products and more, email marketing is a great way to reach them. After all, 99% of email users check their inbox every day. And get this â I came across one stat that said customers spend 138% more because of email marketing than consumers who don’t receive email campaigns. Therefore, it’s not something you want to overlook. But we also understand that you have a bunch of other assignments on your to-do list, so it’s probably hard to fit something like this into your schedule.
Thankfully, you don’t have to do everything alone. An email marketing virtual assistant could help you with the following:
VAs for Wedding Creatives Can Help With Some Tech Duties
A lot of people have a love/hate relationship with technology, and if you fall into the âhateâ part, you might want to hire a tech virtual assistant. It’s easy to want to sweep technical stuff under the rug, but the most successful brands use technology to streamline processes and better assist their clients. You’ll want to incorporate technology if you want to stay competitive in the wedding planner industry.
Here are a few ways a remote assistant could help you and your team focus on other duties:
Your Virtual Assistant Can Aid With Personal To-Dos
Maybe you have everything covered with your wedding planning business, but you need help with things in your personal life. Or maybe you just want to spend more free time not doing work. We understand!
A personal virtual assistant for the wedding industry could assist you with the following:
What Qualities Do Great Wedding Planner Virtual Assistants Have?
A wedding planning virtual assistant should have traits similar to those of a wedding planner or wedding coordinator. We believe those traits should include:
How Can I Prepare For A VA For Wedding Creatives?
If you’re thinking about hiring a virtual assistant, there are a few things you should consider. Overlooking these steps could lead to a hiring disaster, which isn’t just time-consuming but also costly in some circumstances.
The Best Time For Hiring a Virtual Assistant For Wedding Pros
I believe the best time to hire a virtual assistant is BEFORE you start to get overwhelmed. Once you begin operating in chaos, finding time to train your virtual assistant on how you want things done in your business will be more challenging. Many people don’t realize that hiring requires more time initially, as you want to ensure your VA is acclimated to your business practices. So, if wedding season is on the horizon, consider hiring an online wedding planning assistant during the slower season.
If you’re in the middle of wedding season and need a virtual assistant now, get clear on the tasks you need help with and create some work instructions so the assistant doesn’t have to ask as many questions once they come on board.
Ready to Find Your Ideal Wedding Planner Virtual Assistant?
As a wedding planner, you know your stuff and can create phenomenal events that will have your clients and their guests talking for years to come. However, as your business grows, managing the small details for multiple clients becomes a little more challenging. Understand that hiring help doesn’t make you incapableâit means your business is growing, which is a good thing.
At Imperative Concierge Services, we help busy professionals like you get matched to top-tier virtual assistants so you can seamlessly scale your business. By working with us, you don’t have to create or post a job description, read through hundreds of resumes/portfolios, or try to schedule multiple interviews. We handle the time-consuming to-dos because we know you’re busy enough! You can just sit back, relax, and let us present you with fractional service providers that’ll help you meet your desired personal and business goals.
So, are you ready to hire a virtual assistant? Book a discovery call below! And if you do more than weddings, that’s no problemâwe also have event planning virtual assistants.
