There’s only so much time in a day. Time spent is time lost, and entrepreneurs have to make the best of this scarce resource. Unfortunately, they are often encumbered with a myriad of unexciting tasks that commands their precious time and attention away from an already demanding career. And managing one’s finances is no exception.
As a sole trader, you are legally responsible for the reportage of financial liabilities, and the management of financial assets. At times, it is an impenetrable swirl of legal and financial jargon that’s tedious to navigate alone. All these extenuating responsibilities linger in the foreground of daily life. This makes it virtually impossible to focus on your profession, being overwhelmed by unceasing worries.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown of the business, especially if you don’t have anyone to rely on! However, every cloud has a silver lining. This is a wonderful opportunity to discuss the benefits of employing a virtual assistant to ease the financial burdens on your weary shoulders.
Why Hire a Virtual Assistant (VA)?
Picture this: You’re currently trying to improve your health through diet and exercise. Whose services would you consult to fulfill your fitness aspirations? A fitness instructor, or a chef? Naturally, a sensible person would choose the former! Why hire someone whose skillset is completely misaligned with the task at hand? You’re trying to optimize your health, not improve your culinary prowess!
Fundamentally, the same intuition applies to you! The impetus of your business is the quality of your trade or service offering. The doldrums of financial management should be the responsibility of an accountant. Let the accountant do the accounting! Moreover, a survey reveals that over 50% of millennials resigned over issues related to mental health. Stress is the ultimate commitment-killer; hiring a VA allows you to perform for the long-term in a healthy and sustainable manner. The qualitative benefits reaped from the contributions of a VA are invaluable!
Today, many VAs are normally trained to tackle mundane, operative tasks that are necessary for the smooth functioning of your business. At Hippo, we utilise a three-step process when we’re approached by our clients: Systemise, Outsource and Scalability (S.O.S). In the “Outsource” stage, our prodigious team at Hippo diligently screens, and hires the best virtual assistants to satisfy your needs and wants. In this case, hiring a VA that has adequate experience with financial management. Here are some of the financial activities that a VA can assist you with:
Tax-time!
While the same tax-rules such as the individual tax-free threshold applies for both sole-traders and employed individuals, there are more legal obligations to be wary of.
For starters, your stream of income is contingent on the number of paid contracts being undertaken in a financial year. It fluctuates from time to time, and the strict management of one’s invoices is vital in keeping track of your annual income. Only then, can you explicitly determine the extent of your tax liabilities. The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) method, is a highly encouraging approach in avoiding an onslaught of payable liabilities at the end of the financial year. Moreover, you are solely responsible for the management of your superannuation contributions.
While we are in no way advocating that you bypass a tax agent, a VA can assist you in the lead up to the tax lodgement in multiple ways. Firstly, a VA could organise your compounded ledger of previous invoices, simplifying the process of calculating your tax obligations. Secondly, your VA could schedule timely reminders for upcoming PAYG or superannuation contributions. By allowing your VA to systemise your backdoor operations, you’re freeing up your hands for productive endeavours!
Knowing the Ins and Outs:
Documenting the inflows and outflows of capital is a demanding task that is often delegated to an organisation’s accountant. Yet, entrepreneurs are expected to be expert task-switchers, oscillating between exhausting day work and time-consuming financial paperwork. Liberate yourself from the latter by recruiting a VA!
As physical capital such as your mechanical tools deteriorate overtime, the need for a replacement is inevitable. In addition, if your trade is dependent on seasonal demand, inflows of capital are naturally sporadic. Therefore, inflows and outflows vary, some more or less than the next. As a business, it is crucial to monitor such sporadic changes so as to minimize unnecessary expenditure. Conversely, identifying the group of projects that yields the highest profits allows you to maximize profit-producing opportunities. These are all difficult practices that could be assigned to a trained VA.
As mentioned earlier, time is a commodity that once lost, cannot be recouped. Instead of spending your limited hours researching cost-saving mechanisms, designate such tasks to your VA. Allow these backdrop tasks to be performed as you reinvest your time into your profession! Spend more time away from the desk, and less time away from your profession!
Convinced?
The Hippo Bullseye is a framework that we use to separate tasks into three respective categories: Time-wasting, dispassionate and H.I.P.P.O. (Happiness Influencers and Profit Producing Opportunities). Managing your finances falls under the category of “dispassionate”. Hiring a VA alleviates you of these responsibilities. Focus on your H.I.P.P.O.; that of which takes skyrockets your business’ growth, and the thrill of your creative pursuits. As the idiom goes: two hands are better than one!
Convinced? Feel free to contact us, and we’ll get back to you shortly. Let us do the heavy lifting for you, and save yourself time and money!
