We’Re talking about how to hire a Virtual Assistant here , As a busy web professional you’re, probably gon na, get to a point where you probably need to outsource some of the work in order to scale and grow your business right. You want to be large and in charge and on top of the world, but A hero, The hero, if you will, but you can’t be a hero alone And you might not need to hire someone full time, might not even have the finances for it, But a Virtual Assistant or a VA is a great way to do that. Where you have someone come in and do things part-time, Because just because you can do this task that task every task doesn’t mean that you should do it Yeah. I know it’s super hard to give ownership to someone else that you think you can do it the best right And you probably can
But if they can do it to a point where it’s at least 80 % of the quality of your work, you can focus on running your business versus working. Your business That’s crucial if you want to scale, Delegate, delegate, delegate, Delegate, delegate delegate, So I know one thing that I struggle with is just deciding. How do I know how do I know I’m ready for a virtual assistant. Do I need one yet And I think that can be difficult sometimes because, like you mentioned, I wan na handle all these tasks, because I know how to do it. I feel like I’m gon na, do the best job, But there are some great examples. I know my friend who’s a photographer where she does a lot of the shoot plans. Does the shoot? Does the shoot does a lot of editing, But for some of the editing in the retouching virtual Assistant, hand that over Yeah, I think the answer is for the most of you is right now, There’s lots of tasks that we are doing, but should we do like The administrative tasks that we’re doing repetitively
Yeah Those easier tasks where you can make sense to hand it off, so you can focus on those high value tasks like running your business thinking about growth strategies, marketing all these different things and pass off some work to your Virtual Assistant. One thing to keep in mind when it comes to hiring a virtual Assistant: They are not magicians, unlike Nealey, and I they can’t read your mind. So you need to be really clear about what you need done. What is that that you need help with Yeah? So I have a really good friend Carol with Rady WP and she has a Virtual Assistant And she gave me some pro tips when it comes to basically doing just this. The pre-work before actually hiring and using a VA
And that is basically start writing out all the tasks that you do throughout the day as mundane as it sounds, it helps basically to understand where you’re spending a lot of your time where you can kind of divvy up and assign out to that VA.. That’S good plan, If you notice you’re doing a bunch of tasks that are pretty simple but you’re constantly doing it. It’S a good chance. If VA, can do that, for you And, like you said, they’re, not magicians. You have to be very, very specific about the task that you give them Don’t just say: set up a dinner reservation in Midtown New York right Around 7:00 p.m and 8:00 p.m. What if What type of food do you like? What, if they’re, not open, Or what about all these different variables that they may not know be specific? With your asks, And I like your point about thinking, how do I spend my day, which is always just a good check in general?
How do you spend the day? How do you like? What are you doing? That was a question I wan na know. Well, you know start off my day with some emails, which I noticed with our email that they recently are sending an analytics to show you how you’re spending your time, Which has been helpful, because I didn’t realize how much time I was spending with correspondence on email. So that would be for me like. Oh my God, this is a big chunk of my day And some of it is pretty mindless. So I could delegate that to someone else and get the time back to put my brainpower and creative juices elsewhere to be more productive. Let’S talk about where to actually find a VA right Yeah. So I think the obvious answer is Google just search find VA on Google, But before we do that, I think it’s important to really connect with your network. Is there anyone that you know doing the similar work that you can hire right there There’s something goes a long way with that, like in person connection, Yes, Really getting your point across versus just hiring online
So if you’ve exhausted your resources, you’ve asked around. I asked Nealey, didn’t work and therefore no assistant, so I got ta go online. You can go to sites like udyamjob, Upwork and People By Hour to find a potential VA for you Yeah. Those are awesome sources. They specialize in hiring people in impoverished places around the world that helps support better their lives, support their families, helping their local economy. If you wan na kind of give back and feel better about hiring someone online and also helping out
So now I wanna talk about how to narrow down the field. One way to look at this is value your time and value their time. This is both important in order to get to the right candidate. Also, don’t be cheap Right, you get what you pay for. You also wan na kind of think of the tasks that you’re going to be giving that person. If they’re more complicated tasks that require experience or certain skills, you probably have to pay a little bit more to get the quality that you’re looking for Now, if they’re less mundane tasks, that’s like checking, email or setting appointments things like that. You don’t need someone as qualified, so that might be a little bit less, but at the end of the day you get what you pay for, Don’t go just for the cheapest option, go for the one that makes sense for your business.
So now you narrow down the search and you’re, probably wondering how do I hire this VA. Definitely recommend you get those two to three strong candidates Give them a task. Have them do the same task and see how they compare across the board Yeah and going with your friend with the photographer right? If that were me, and I was seeing their kind of touch up skills, I would give them the same photo with my specific requirements and then see what they do and then use that as part of their resume of their skill set to see if they meet. My requirements, If so you’re hired After you’ve hired a VA congrats
Be very clear with your expectations: that’s our pro tip. Remember they’re, not mind reader’s they’re, not magicians, So if they are checking your email, when are they doing it from 8:00 a.m, to 10:00 a.m? 8:00 a.m to 9:00 a.m. Be really clear about that. This also translates really well in your social life as well Couple other pro tips. I highly recommend recording little videos, whether it’s on basic tasks or things like that and use Loom.com to do it. Just a quick little browser plugin That way, instead of just sending an email or call them on the phone, they have that to go back and look at if they get stuck or lost or if you end up getting a new VA, you don’t have to start That process all over
And then, lastly, if the VA, isn’t working out, they’re, just not completing the tasks on time or to your liking, Don’t be afraid to cut the cord Nothing’s personal, it’s just business. There are plenty of other VAs out there and they may be better suited for a different business owner All right, you’re ready to go hire your VA. I’M super excited for you. You’Re gon na get so much done and accomplished with your business.
