Starting an Etsy business can be really hard, let’s be honest.
Running a successful Etsy business at scale though, is a completely different animal.
When you start, you have just a few products or maybe just 1, and it’s just you and the computer!
When you start to scale up though, you can have hundreds of products, thousands of sales, and a BIG headache trying to get everything done each and every day.
At this point, it might be worth your time to invest some of your profits into hiring a VA.
A VA as it is often times referred to, is simply a virtual assistant.
A virtual assistant is someone that you hire over the internet, that could live in another country than you, that you hire to work on your Etsy business and grow along side you. You can think of a VA as an employee that can take care of tasks that you either hate, or just do not have time for in your day to day activities.
Why Think About Hiring a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual Assistants are crucial for ecommerce businesses at scale.
At some point, you just will not have enough time in the day to do everything yourself.
Once you realize that you only have 24 hours per day, and need to sleep 6-8 of those hours, at some point it makes sense to leverage the time of other people in the form of paying them!
Not only that, but you need to admit to yourself that even if you are a great business owner, there are just some parts of your business that you are not the BEST at, whereas other people might be!
The way to maximize the potential of your business and sell as many products as possible is to hire some help.
How To Hire A Virtual Etsy Assistant
We have spent years learning and building out ecommerce businesses and by far the best resource to use is called Upwork.
This platform will give you almost an endless amount of talent to pick from, and all you have to do is post up a job and wait for people to apply!
Using this site is very easy, so let’s go over each step of the way so that you can get a feel for how it works, and then follow the instructions to get your first job posted.
First, head over to Upwork.com:
Click on the “sign up” button from the top right and go through the process. This will require you to enter in your email, your name, and shouldn’t take very long at all.
When you finally get to the dashboard, you will want to make sure that you add a billing method.
This is how you will pay for the jobs you are going to post.
Upwork has 2 methods here. You can either add a credit or debit card, or connect your paypal account.
Don’t worry, you will not be charged for posting a job, you will only be charged once you hire someone and the amount of the job needs to go into the escrow account.
Now that you have your billing method selected, you can now go to the dashboard, and post your first job!
Click on the post a job button, and the options page will pop up.
You will want to select what type of project you are looking for (remember, we are looking for an Etsy Virtual Assistant).
You will want to select what kind of job you are posting. We recommend that you go with short term or part time work at first so you can get a better feel for how this will work once you hire someone.
If you find a good fit for your business, you can always increase their hours or go and hire some more talent!
Upwork will ask you to write a title for your job post:
Make sure to fill this out with exactly what you are looking for. This is the first thing that job seekers will see, so if it is relevant to the help you want, you will get good candidates.
You will then need to add what type of skills you are looking for:
There are lots of different options, but make sure to go through the list or add your own skills that you want to find.
Remember, being as relevant as possible here is sure to help in finding the best Etsy virtual assistant that you can.
Finally, you will need to select the scope of work, location, and budget.
When it comes to the location section, you will get a much cheaper rate if you are looking to hire someone that may live in another country than your own. Just make sure that they are a good fit for your business and that you can communicate properly with them.
Lack of communication is a recipe for disaster if you are running your own business.
Finally, set in a budget which can be an hourly rate, or a budget for the entire project. You will want to select which best fits for the talent you are looking for.
After you are done, you will review the job post and get it posted. Applications will then start to come in which you can take a look at, view their portfolios, and message any questions you may have!
Make sure to interview the applicants you are looking for, and then try to hire someone!
We know this is daunting when you first start out, but if you can get through the process, learn the ropes, and hire people who will help you grow, your business will reward you long into the future!