As an entrepreneur, if money was not the problem, what part of your business would you outsource? Marketing, social media, admin work or accounting? You can get all that by hiring a virtual assistant.
Needing help is not a sign of weakness. As much as you might think you got it all figured out, it would be best if you had a loyal team to back you up. Remember, alone you can far, but with a team, you’ll go farthest.
Why suffocate yourself doing the things that you don’t like anyway? If a task makes you feel overwhelmed, just stop right there! Don’t waste your energy and precious time.
If you want to see the growth of your business and a massive increase in your bank account, delegate the tedious work. You can use the extra time to focus on making the most important decisions about your business. Or better still, create more time for your loved ones and do the things that you love to do.
If you want to scale up your business, hiring a team is necessary to see continuous growth in your business. Make it your goal to work on your business instead of working in your business.
In this article, I will take you through the most critical steps involved when hiring a virtual assistant. I will also share the tools that you need and tips that will help manage your virtual team easily.
Once you’ve successfully carried out your first virtual assistant hire, the next hire and next will be like a walk in the park. Create roles in your business and bring assistance aboard until you only have one position to handle in your business.
How Do You Know That You Need To Hire A Virtual Assistant?
Still sceptical about the whole idea of a bringing a virtual assistant on board? Here are the signs that you’re ready for one.
You’re second-guessing your ability in handling some tasksStop patronizing yourself. You’re not doing your business any justice. Why do things that someone else would do better? You know what you’re good at and what you’re not. Start doing what gives you joy and delegate what you hate.
Here is an example of what you can delegate.
- Social media and blog graphics
- Admin work
- Creating social media posts and scheduling
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Writing blog articles
- Calendar management
- Appointment booking
- Cold emailing and follow-ups
- Creating a lead magnet
- Branding
If doing these tasks is your jam, well for you. But remember, you can be perfect in every area. Furthermore, you will end up wasting a lot of time. Hire a VA and let them handle what you can’t. There are affordable VAs if you think you need a bank job to hire one.
- You don’t spend enough time with your loved ones as before
Running a business can consume a better part of your time, especially on the startup and scaling-up stage. I’m afraid there is no shortcut around it.
However, if your loved ones are consistently raising their concerns about missed dates, dinner and late nights, consider seeking virtual assistance. That way, you’ll create time for the people who matter the most.
- Admin work is consuming more time than growing up your business.
Replying to emails, enquiry call spreadsheet, or social media content, what’s taking most of your time? You can outsource all these tasks to a VA.
- Your to-do list is not all ticked.
Missed social media content? No weekly blog post? These are all signs that you need help.
If you’re lucky to make a good hire on the first attempt, you’ll be surprised how an A player VA will revive your poor customer service again.
- Your customers are based all over the world.
If your clientele is international, you need a 24/7 customer service. In this case, hiring virtual assistants to service your customers when you’re not available would be best.
Types Of Virtual Assistants
What can a virtual assistant do for me? You could be wondering.
VAs can do almost anything.
However, it would help if you kept in mind when hiring a VA, you need the ones with best talent, training, skills, and the necessary tools. You don’t need their physical presence.
Having said that, let’s take a look at the types of Vas available, find the one that best suits your needs.
- Specialized Virtual Assistants
Specialized Virtual assistants are the ones who have niched down and they are very particular in what they do. They tend to be a bit expense. Hiring some of these virtual assistants can cause you a leg and an arm.
They already packed with the required skills, and they may or may not require any extra training from you.
Services like graphics, branding, video/podcast editing are better handled by a specialized virtual assistant.
- General Virtual Assistants
This is the most common type of Virtual assistants. A general VA is good at handling and processing daily tasks of your business that are necessary for running it from day to day. A general VA might not entirely contribute to the growth of your business.
The tasks that you’d outsource to a general VA are usually repetitive and technical like, appointment booking, calendar management, answering emails or travel appointments.
Benefits Of Hiring A Virtual Assistant
Whether you want to hire a virtual team or a one VA, delegating some part of your remotely can create a huge impact on your business. You’ll start noticing that you’re more productive and your business growth on point.
Below are some of the things you’ll enjoy while working with a Virtual assistant:
- You don’t need a bank job to hire a VA
If you’re conscious about your budget, having a VA on board is the cheaper alternative of having a physical employee.
Depending on their location or country, the hourly rate maybe drop significantly than what it would cost you to have an employee in your office. For instance, virtual assistance from developing world will cost much less than a virtual assistant from US for the same tasks.
- Having enough time to do what you enjoy doing
When you hire a VA, you’re simply affirming that you need to focus more on doing the things you love. Tasks that add a direct impact to your business growth and making the most important decisions about your business.
In short, you’re creating more time to level up, and be a boss that you were meant to be.
- Outsourcing Helps You To Stop Overworking
Are you experiencing burnouts on a daily basis? It’s because you’re taking in more than you can handle. Burnouts can lead to anxiety. Your business needs you every day, with anxiety you’re likely to have a mental break down. What do you think will happen if you can’t show up for your business?
To avoid this, you need to outsource certain responsibilities and tasks. With a VA you can create time for exercise, hobbies, family and working on your mental clarity.
- No talent limitations
Most entrepreneur, don’t have an access to pool of local talent when trying to hire A players. Unlike local talent, your virtual assistant can work from anywhere as long as they can access internet connection. Not being limited to local hiring, broadens your chances of hiring a perfect fit.
How to know what part of your business to delegate
Every entrepreneur with a clear vision about their business, they have different departments involved in running their daily activities. To be clear about what you’d like to delegate and what you can do yourself, categorize everything in the categories below:
- Tasks that you can handle: What part of your business gives you joy? Identify that and do more of it.
- Tasks that you’re second guessing: tasks that you don’t qualify to do. You probably don’t have the knowledge or skills needed to get them done
- Tasks that overwhelms you: You know how to do these tasks, but you don’t like doing them and you think someone will do a good job at it.
- Tasks you shouldn’t do: Tasks that are not worthy your time and value. Even if you have the necessary experience or you love handling them, you need to outsource them.
How To Hire A Virtual Assistant
Hiring a VA might not be as easy as you might be thinking. Remember you’re hiring a stranger online. Someone you’ve never met and you’ll probably never meeting in person apart from zoom meetings or skype.
After you express an interest that you’re looking to hire, you’ll get tones of application, most of them who are meet your expectation. But you can’t quite tell who is really qualified.
To avoid making a miss hire, I have created a step by step guide to help you hire the most qualified candidates.
- Write Down The Part of Your Business That You’d Like to Delegate
What is it that you want to outsource? Take your time to write down your business goals and a clear plan on how to execute them. Make a list of all the tasks that you’d like to outsource to help you achieve your goals.
Assuming you’ve been handling the tasks before, create a guideline or operating procedures for your new hire. This will help them understand your business model, how you operate and manage your online reputation.
- Create Your Job Description
Once your list is ready, create a relevant job descriptions for the role you want to delegate. If you’ve any tasks that require certain skills like marketing or branding don’t include them in a general VA.
The tasks that you’d like to delegate to a general virtual assistant must have a common skill level.
An ideal job description includes:
- A general background info about your niche, what products/services do you sell, who you sell to and your vision.
- A list of duties & responsibility
- Level of experience, education, and the skills required
- List of tools, apps or any software they need to be versed with.
Check out this example of a well-crafted virtual assistant job description
- Post your job description
Obviously you have to post your job description online and start expecting applications immediately. The best option is joining entrepreneur related Facebook groups and post your application there.
You can also post it directly to craigslist or use third party sites like Upwork and Fivver or a virtual assistant hiring service.
- Go through all the application interview the best
If you’re not in any hurry, go through every single application and select the most suitable applicants for an interview. Don’t overlook anything. Always involve your intuition to help you make a sound decision.
You can select anywhere from 5 to 10 applicants. Arrange a zoom interview, it’s as better as having a one on one interview with someone.
A video interview will help you fill in the gaps, you can easily determine if the person is a perfect fit. If the candidate isn’t willing to hold a video interview, don’t rush hire them. This is a red flag.
During the interview, don’t just focus on their skills and experience. Make it expansive, ask them about their goals, why they do what they do, what they should expect from you and their work process.
Better still, if you could have your ideal candidates do a personality test. It will help you figure out their strengths, values, and their operation method.
- Test Your Top Candidates
Before deciding to bring someone aboard, give you best three candidates a task to do. Consider it as a test. Pick something that they’d be doing in their role and see who does it the best.
Sometimes people can dupe you. Someone can be great on paper but when it comes to real life they are really baaad! This will help you come up with the best of the best.
- Give a Trial Period
This can last from a week to 3 months. Whichever you two agree upon. A trial period will make your virtual assistant do a phenomenal job just to have you hooked and eventually a permanent role in your business.
Have an agreement ready for them to sign. This will help you avoid any future discrepancies
Are You Ready To Hire A Virtual Assistant
If you’re not ready, you’re wasting your precious time. Trust me, hiring a virtual assistant is the best decision for your business. Stop waiting and get into action!
Once you start delegating the things that are not worth your time, the ones that you hate doing and whatever overwhelms you, you’ll start seeing more clarity on your business venture. Moreover, you’ll avoid burnouts and create more time for family and friends.
But, make ensure that you don’t skip any steps if you want to make the right hire on the first attempt.
Good luck, hope you find the best virtual assistant.