Even if you only recently became a wedding planner, if you are planning weddings, you need an assistant to help you
In today’s Q&A, I offer tips to a help a wedding planner looking for inexpensive help.
Question
How do I hire an assistant to help with administrative tasks? Where can I find someone who will work a couple of hours a week for about $10 per hour?
Answer
I think hiring someone to take on some of your office work is a great idea. The difficult part may be finding someone to do it for $10 an hour. Also, in some cities, the minimum wage is more than $10 an hour so that rate of pay would not be acceptable.
The first thing to do before hiring anyone is determine what tasks you want an assistant to perform and what knowledge and skills the person needs to have in order to do them. Then decide if you need your assistant to work in your office with you or if you would be willing to get a virtual assistant. Virtual help can be less expensive than hiring someone from your own neighborhood. And, even less expensive for you, if you want to consider it, might be hiring a virtual assistant who is based in another country.
There are a few things to remember though when hiring anyone. You often get what you pay for. Someone who is charging $10 an hour, if you can find them, might not be able to meet your high standards and may need a lot of supervision. If either of these things is true, you won’t be saving any time by having an assistant and the situation could be very stressful for you.
I suggest that you first review what you are charging for your services. Your rates should cover the expense of having knowledgeable, responsible assistants to help you in your office and onsite at weddings so you can deliver excellent service. If you aren’t making enough money to cover these costs, it’s time to raise your rates. Then you can hire someone who has the expertise you need and want.
And if you have a pressing question about starting or running your wedding planning business, you can send me an email at [email protected]. I’ll answer them on this blog or in my ezine, “Wedding Planner Tips,” which you can subscribe to here.
