Several Inspirational Points On Hiring A Professional Virtual Assistant
Many clients have come to me with their personal experiences of hiring a Virtual Assistant – Some good, some bad, and some pretty ugly….
So where are they going right, and where are they going wrong? There may be several reasons why one arrangement could have been considered as “couldn’t be better”, while another was simply “stress and aggravation”. It could be the VA and it could be the hirer, or the situation could be caused by both. If you’re pondering on the idea of hiring a virtual assistant, make sure you remember these basic rules of survival.
Rule # 1 – Evaluate your work. Start considering the bigger picture, and ask yourself, what can you outsource which keeps getting put to the bottom or your ‘To Do’ list? What causes you the most frustration? What things do you really like and what do you usually stay away from? With every task you undertake, always ask yourself this question, “Could a VA be doing this instead of me?”
For instance, if you’re marketing your online business and submitting articles for the primary purpose of creating wealth, this can take up quite a bit of time, and you’re much better off outsourcing this work to someone else while personally working on tasks which only you can do. Other outsourced tasks may include networking, managing affiliates, research, web development, email marketing, bookkeeping and much more… Before taking a VA on board, be sure you understand in detail what you want to achieve. Perfect your rules and the processes of your work before introducing a VA into your business.
Money Saving Tip: While going through your evaluating process, it would be a good idea to consider what you can delegate – and eliminate. Is every one of your tasks necessary? Could you potentially automate some of your work? A good VA should be able to assist you with automating your business. I know – as a VA myself, when dealing with several projects and clients simultaneously, a VA can soon perfect a multi-tasking state of mind!
Rule # 2 – Take the plunge and start hiring (we usually charge by the hour). If you have little or no experience with commanding a virtual worker – there’s no time like the present! Most VA’s work on a “pay as you go” hourly rate. Start by assigning menial or repetitive jobs which need doing, and test out at least a few VA’s before making any sort of commitment to one in particular.
Rule # 3 – Know how to assign your tasks. Many VA’s will have their own systems and methods for working with their clients. Explore these methods in detail from the offset, and make sure their way of working fits in with your plans. If you’re the kind of person who prefers to deal with your VA on the phone, and he or she usually only deals with clients through email, then that VA is not really the best choice for you. Generally, when assigning any tasks to your VA, delegate only one task at a time, for example, send individual emails rather than 6 tasks on a single email. This way each task can be completed, responded to and closed.
A good task assignment should be made up of 3 things. 1) A title or reference. 2) A project brief or task description. 3) A timescale and deadline – e.g. spend a maximum of 2 hours, to be completed on dd/mm.
Try to set your deadlines in advance, and when using a solo VA, make this your golden rule – one person can only do so much. If you employ a VA who leads a highly trained specialist support team, it’s much more likely that they will be able to meet tough deadlines. If assigning multiple tasks, always set an order of priority.
Rule # 4 – Common fears – and how to overcome them.
- Confidentiality. All good VA’s will have a Privacy Policy and/or Confidentiality Agreement. When working with a VA, electronic business is the most common practice. Make sure your VA has sufficient security measures in place to keep your valuable information safe.
- Finance. Never give your VA your debit card for online transactions. Credit card charges can more often than not be easily reversed, however debit cards work slightly differently, resulting in issues being much harder to resolve.
- Passwords and Logins. If your VA will be accessing websites and online systems on your behalf, then wherever possible, create a unique login for your VA. Problems can be more easily identified and dealt with when you know the specific user who was logged in at any point in time. Also, if you’re one of those people who tends to use the same passwords for various applications, these passwords can remain undisclosed.
- Leap of Faith. More often than not, letting go is the hardest thing of all. You know how you like to do things, you have perfected your work ethic, and now you are going to just hand it over to someone else. There are only so many hours in the day, and unless you want to spend the entirety of every day working, outsourcing is the most cost effective way to stay productive while freeing up your time to do other things. Hiring a good Virtual Assistant who can understand your business, your work, and above all understand you, can be one of the most rewarding decisions you ever make.
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