 Hiring a virtual assistant is a major step in growing your company. With a VA taking over certain tasks and aspects of your business, you can do more. They give you more time to plan and strategize, and more room to scale. The key to hiring and working with a VA successfully is to plan well. What Tasks Can You Outsource? Start by thinking about what tasks you want to outsource. Consider tasks you’d like to outsource today, as well as those you might find helpful as your business grows. For example, you may have some routine daily activities you can get rid of now, but also plan to turn over your social media and blog writing to someone in the future. You need to clarify which tasks you’ll outsource so you can find a qualified person to handle them. This will determine the skills and experience you’re looking for. Training and Onboarding Your VA When you first hire a virtual assistant, you’ll need to onboard them. This is the process of kicking off your relationship and getting them started. It includes:
This process is important at the beginning of your relationship with your VA, but you won’t need to continue after the first few months or so (though it never hurts to give feedback). What’s important here is to have everything planned and in place before you hire them. Create a Communication and Workflow Plan Before hiring a virtual assistant, you’ll need to set up a plan for working together. This includes any tools you’ll use, such as a project management software program or special platform for communicating. Since you’re working together virtually, you’ll have to choose a method and frequency for communicating with your VA. Even if they know what to do and the work is going smoothly, it’s good to touch base regularly and see if they’re having any issues. There may also be changes you need to tell them about. The Growth Mindset Finally, there’s a certain mindset you have to cultivate in order to hire a virtual assistant. There are risks involved and you’ll be handing over some aspects of your business to someone else. During the process of hiring and working with a VA, keep in mind the benefits of this working relationship and the future growth it will enable. We’ve only scratched the surface here and I have much more I can tell you about hiring and working with a VA. Are you ready to start growing your business with your first employee? I’m offering a full course that teaches you step-by-step how to find the right Virtual Assistant and work with them, complete with learning exercises so that you get started as you learn. Check it out HERE Don’t Wait!!! About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.
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 Hiring a virtual assistant is a huge step for any entrepreneur. It means giving up some control over your business. But it's also your first move towards scaling up your business so that it can grow beyond its current limitations. If you’re thinking about taking this crucial first step, there’s a certain mindset you need to cultivate first. Learning to Let Go When you hire a VA, you’re not giving away the keys to the kingdom. But you are letting go of some part of your business operations, even if it’s just a handful of tasks. Your business is your baby. Up until now, you’ve done everything yourself. It’s easy to understand why outsourcing tasks is scary. The way to overcome this fear is to focus on the positive. Think about the immediate benefits you’ll receive from outsourcing some aspects of your business. You can also mitigate this fear by being careful about what you hand over. Hire a VA you can trust and only share with them what they need to get the job done. Outsourcing Costs Money It’s certainly true that hiring a virtual assistant costs money. How much does it cost? This depends on what you need done. It’s also not a good idea to cut corners. If you pay as little as possible, it’s only natural that you’ll get what you pay for. You can mitigate this risk by allocating a budget you can afford. Work out the numbers beforehand and make an offer that doesn’t break the bank. Hiring a virtual assistant, if done right, will earn you greater profits in the future. One way to adjust your mindset is to think of hiring a VA as buying time. You pay for the VA to take tasks off your hands so that you have time to focus on more important things. Managing Others Is No Fun One mindset challenge that many face is that they don’t want to become managers. Up to this point, you’ve only had to manage yourself and, for some of us, that’s enough of a monumental challenge. But now you have an employee and you are their boss. Working with a VA isn’t the same as managing a busy office. First of all, as the name suggests, it’s “virtual.” You give the VA tasks to do and check in regularly to see how they’re doing. Once the training and onboarding is finished, they’ll require little management, and the investment you make in training will pay off with the time you gain. So Many Things Can Go Wrong You may have heard horror stories about virtual assistants who caused terrible headaches for other businesses. Especially the first time, hiring a VA isn’t easy and there are many things that can go wrong. While it’s true that it’s a complex and often difficult process, you can overcome this by being prepared. Carefully consider the jobs you need done, search for the right person, and prepare a good training and onboarding process to get them on track. It also helps to realize that a bad VA experience isn’t a business-ending event but a learning opportunity. I’m offering a full course that teaches you step-by-step how to find the right Virtual Assistant and work with them, complete with learning exercises so that you get started as you learn. Check it out HERE About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Onboarding is an important part of hiring your virtual assistant. It gets them "on board" with your company so that they're ready to start working on the tasks you're giving them. It also kicks off your relationship with your VA on the right foot. Share Your Business's Vision and Values Your virtual assistant needs to understand exactly what your business is all about. Start your onboarding by teaching them the unique value you offer to the market. Show them what sets you apart and convey to them the principles that are at the core of your business. You need to be on the same page before you start delegating work to them. Training Your VA A major part of your VA's development is the training you give them when they are first hired. Even with years of experience doing the work you want them to do, they won't know your unique systems and processes. Training is especially challenging because you don't see them face to face, but you can take advantage of online tools. What's important is to create a good training plan before you hire a VA. Your Training Content Create content that you can use along with your online training sessions. Even if you explain the process step-by-step, this content will still be extremely helpful. Your VA can refer back to it when needed. This content could be:
Hold Regular Sessions It depends on the nature of the work you're outsourcing, but you'll probably need more than one training session. Your VA might have questions or issues along the way. It's best to set up regular training sessions where you can take their questions, offer feedback, and help them if they're getting stuck somewhere. Tips and Best Practices for Onboarding Your VA
Are you ready to get started building your business with a virtual assistant? This course teaches you how to do it step-by-step so that hiring a Virtual Assistant is as smooth and effective as possible. Check it out HERE Hiring and Onboarding a Virtual Assistant  Hiring a virtual assistant frees up your time, adds new skills to your organization, and allows your business to scale up. It’s a natural step for solo entrepreneurs who are ready to grow. Things are much easier with a skilled VA at your side, but the first challenge is finding the right person. Skills and Experience Start by figuring out exactly what you need done. What skills and experience are necessary to do the tasks you want to outsource? Clarifying this will help you create a job ad that will attract the right kind of help and it will weed out those who don’t have the skills you need. Set Your Budget Decide how much you’re willing to spend to hire a virtual assistant. You can pay them a recurring salary or for each individual project they do for you. You should put the payment details in your job ad. This prevents the back and forth of negotiating on payment terms. Location and Language Your virtual assistant can be located anywhere in the world and some countries offer cheaper rates than others. As part of the specifications of the job, decide on location and language. Keep in mind that if your VA is on the other side of the world, you’ll need to arrange times to communicate. You should also consider whether native-level English is a must. Shop Around Before you write and post your ad, look around at virtual assistants offering their services online. This will give you a good idea of what they are proposing and the going rate. You may also want to look at VA job ads to get ideas for writing your own. Short List Applicants Once you post your job ad, start a list of applicants who meet your criteria. Look at each one carefully and narrow it down. Once you have a few who you particularly like, make contact with them. Ask for samples of the kind of work you need done if applicable. You can also vet them by asking for references and talking to past clients. The Final Decision Set up interviews with applicants who seem suitable. Ask them about their work experience and skills, but also get a feel for their personality. You’ll need to create a good connection with this person, so it’s important that you can communicate and that you get along well. Set Job Standards Determine standards for the work you need done so your VA knows what you expect. Design step-by-step processes for the key tasks you want your VA to handle. Go through each one to examine how you do things now and in what order, and lay this out in a document. For example, you might turn the information into a checklist or flow chart. Think About Scaling As your business grows, you may need a virtual assistant with additional skills. Think about this when you hire someone. They might have other skills that you can use in your business in the future. Keep in mind that hiring a virtual assistant is a process. It’s not always easy and there could be problems that arise. If you want to learn how to hire and work with a VA stress-free, check out my full course. It covers all the steps from beginning to end including Action Steps. Check it out here: Hiring and Onboarding The Right Virtual Assistant |
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