An Entrepreneurs Blueprint to Hiring a Virtual Assistant.

It’s difficult to be successful in business on your own. A clone of yourself is something we’ve all fantasized about at some point in our lives, so that we might focus on more important things. This is why I’ve always believed that a small business owner should have a virtual assistant right from the beginning.

When you make that amazing step of starting your business, there were important things you had to make sure you completed. For example:

• Obtaining your BN Number
• Purchasing the right software for your business news
• Opening a business bank account 
• Creating a comfortable office space 
• Have strong wifi along with back-up wifi, etc

Outsourcing a VA should be a part of that list. You can let your VA work through things you are not good at, you don’t enjoy, and don’t create revenue. Set up your business so that your virtual assistant is handling those tasks that are not revenue-producing, you will see growth right from the start. 

When you continue to concentrate on earning a particular amount of money before employing a VA, it will take you longer to achieve your financial goals since you are not fully focused on the revenue-generating tasks. When you hire a VA, you won’t waste time doing tasks that don’t create income.

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistants 

The primary advantages of virtual assistants are:

Cost Effective. Working with a virtual assistant is the perfect solution for those who have been looking to increase their productivity but don’t want to spend money on office space, equipment or employee taxes. VA’s handle all of these things which means you only pay them for the work they complete.

A time-zone difference can benefit your work flow. If you are looking to maximize your productivity, then a time-zone difference can be useful. You might want the help of an assistant while sleeping so that all work is done on what they have accomplished or discovered and then base any future endeavors around their schedule – though this may become difficult if there needs constant communication between yourself and said person!

There’s great flexibility with VA’s. Your workload is always changing, which means you can’t afford to have too many Virtual Assistants on hand. You might need three VA’S this week and then only one next time around because their job couldn’t quite match up with what’s coming in through the door!

While a VA is great for taking care of administrative tasks, they can’t do everything. Sometimes it’s convenient to have someone run out to the bank or prepare and mail packages – but not always!

Know Your Business Needs

If you don’t know what you want, it’s hard to find a suitable assistant. When it comes to promoting your business, think about the repetitive duties that are important. 

Do you merely need someone to send out emails to customers and communicate with them on social media? Or are you in need of an assistant who can help you schedule appointments and keep track of your schedule?

You may want someone to help you with the scheduling of your blog and social media postings. Perhaps you’re searching for a project manager or team leader to assist you with your virtual team. Social media tools like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, to mention a few, may be requirements for your ideal VA. 

Virtual assistants can handle a wide range of roles for you. Understanding how a VA might fit into your business strategy is key. As a result, you’ll want to hunt for a person who can support you in accomplishing your goals.

Finding a Virtual Assistant

Here are some of the top methods for finding and assessing a virtual assistant. It can be difficult to assess someone without seeing them in-person, but there’s no reason why you should not have an excellent candidate waiting on your doorstep.

When searching for a virtual assistant, consider the following strategies:

The most cost-effective method is to do it yourself. Although it might be cheaper to find your own virtual assistant, it’s also likely to take more time.  When you search for a virtual assistant on your own, you’re likely to find a lot of amazingly qualified candidates, which will make it a bit harder to choose from. Remember to choose the one you believe will have a great business relationship with.

• You can post your job ad on Facebook, LinkedIn and my personal favorite CAVA (Canadian Association of Virtual Assistants)
• It pays to ask around! It’s not always easy to find people who are willing and able, but if you have any friends or family members that could help out then it is worth asking. They might know the perfect person for what your needs are.

Use a Canadian virtual assistant agency. There are many services that can match you up with a great virtual assistant. 

• Checklist Canada Inc – Toronto, ON
• Assist Her – Vancouver, BC
• BeeVee Professionals – Edmonton, AB
• Creative Dynamic Virtual Services Ltd – Victoria, BC

Take a course. Hire, Train, and Manage Your Own Virtual Assistant is a highly recommended course on Udemy to take when you are looking to outsource a VA. This course was created by the amazing Erin Booth and it will break down every step and help you to:

• Get organized 
• Identify your goals
• Attract and hire the best VA
• Create an easy onboarding process  
• Effectively delegate 
  

Managing Your Virtual Assistant

This is the moment when the real work starts. It’s never easy to supervise others, but it may be considerably more difficult when you’re doing it virtually.

To ensure that you and your VA are on the same page, here are some helpful tips:

Set up communication tools that are simple and effective. Some of them are obvious, but not all of them.

• An email system that reduces the chance of misunderstanding should be developed and implemented. Additionally, every conversation should be geared toward a certain assigned task.

• Have a means of instant communication. There are a wide variety of chat applications and project management software out there. Make sure you have at least two systems in place in case one fails. There are a number of options, including Voxer and ClickUp, Slack and Asana.

In the beginning, give the VA simple duties that don’t need a lot of judgment from your VA. Use the communication systems you’ve built up to allocate duties to your new VA and get your feet wet more quickly.

• You can unleash your secret weapon after you have a better sense of your VA’s abilities.

Don’t be afraid to lay out your needs and deadlines expectations. Make it obvious to your virtual assistant which tasks are most important to you. Make a schedule and stick to it.

Be reasonable. You may assume that a job takes you 1 hour, but in reality it takes 2 hours to complete. Be realistic about the amount of time it will take you to complete the work you’re about to delegate. If you’ve done something multiple times, you’re going to be quicker than someone who is just learning how to do it.

Be mindful of the differences in languages. If you’re searching for a virtual assistant to work in your English-speaking business, keep in mind that your VA’s native tongue may not be English. Many words may be spelled differently by various countries. Hire your VA according to your needs.

Tasks that require a lot of expertise and skill can be tough to handle on your own. Hiring a virtual assistant is an advantage because they’re able to focus 100% into these difficult tasks, freeing up your time for other aspects in work like revenue building tasks or in your personal life.

Find a virtual assistant (VA) with the expertise you’re looking for. Afterwards, create a to-do list for the task. If you’ve hired a professional virtual assistant, you’ll be able to devote more time to the duties that really matter. Even better, your profits will improve.

Are you looking to outsource a VA for your business? Let us provide you with relief in keeping you on top of things! Click here to schedule a free relief call.