Virtual assistants offer entrepreneurs the chance to free up their time, without spending a fortune to hire in-house staff. And if you’re that person who just can’t seem to find enough hours in the day to get everything done, you’re long overdue to hire one or two of your own.
Whether you hire your VA through online classified sites and forum postings, or choose to deal with the more hassle-free experience offered by reputable virtual staffing agencies like our favorite, 24/7 Virtual Assistant, you’ll always be working directly with the individual or team. It’s important that you each have a mutual respect for each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and work schedules.
Here are a few tips for starting out on the right foot with your VA and ensuring a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship with them:
Make sure you know them first…
It’s easy to jump into the classified section of an Internet forum or hire someone through a firm, and just go with the cheapest of the bunch. This’s where most first-time VA users go wrong, and they usually pay for this mistake by suffering through one tortuous letdown after another, as the person they hired isn’t capable of doing the advertised work, or simply has a real stinker of a personality.
Make sure you trust the person first, don’t settle for a few back and forth emails. Demand to speak to them on Skype, or if you’re using an agency to supply you with VAs, ask them if their virtual desktop allows you to talk to potential hires before they’re assigned to you.
Personalities will always clash and this is the best time to find out how compatible you are now, before anyone’s time and effort are wasted. Always check for testimonials on the person and definitely contact their references! If the person doesn’t have many – or any – references make sure to ask them lots of questions that relate to the type of work they’ll be doing to get a sense of their competency.
Make sure they understand your business…
There’s no limit to the skill levels available in VA. Some can do everything you want and more. Other’s might have basic data entry, email and web browsing skills. And still others will have industry specific qualifications like medical transcription, legal administration, or professional research. The more qualified they are, the less training time will be required from you.
During the hiring process, have them do some practical test projects that will represent the hardest part of their day. If they struggle before they’re hired, they’ll struggle after they start working for you. There are also several websites like this one that offer VA certification testing that takes around an hour to complete. An extra $10 or $20 is nothing compared to the expense of recruiting an in-house employee.
Make sure you iron out the pay arrangement upfront…
Usually, there are two payment options preferred by VAs: Per hour or per project. There are pros and cons related to each option. Here’s how it works.
With that said, VAs often prefer to be paid by the hour, regardless of what country they reside. It can seem like a great deal to get a bargain-priced assistant for $2 per hour, but be wary that the person charging so little for their time may not work very hard from one hour to the next. It’s really hard to monitor them minute-to-minute using most activity-tracking software too.
Paying per project has some great perks for the person paying for the work. The VA can spend as much time as they like, dilly dally to their heart’s content, and you only pay for the finished result. However, on this same note: your assistant is likely to get work done much faster and efficiently, since they can’t move on to another task and make more money until the first one’s finished. Consider a structured bonus system too at this time, if you really want your VA to feel appreciated and eager to work with you.
Remember that you get what you pay for. The cheapest of the bunch usually have nothing more than basic administrative skills to offer.
Make sure to find out about their other commitments…
You go out and hire the most highly-rated, highest-paid VA for your business, only to find out that they can only complete a single project or a few minor tasks for you each day. What do you do now? How about if they’re 12 hours apart from you time-wise? Your morning is their late evening and they won’t be available for the next 8 – 9 hours?
You’re dead in the water if you need thing’s done on your time and the VA isn’t available. Find out their exact timezone, use a free time zone converter like this one, and make sure you can work out an amenable work schedule together.
Make sure you communicate clearly…
Communication can be tough even when both parties speak the same language and generally get along well with each other. And guess what? Most times when communication is going poorly between you and your VA, it’s usually because YOU’RE at fault. Being a good delegator means you can adapt to language differences and are intuitive enough to realize when your assistant isn’t understanding you.
All written communication should be as concise as possible. Remember that they’re busy too, and don’t appreciate opening a 3-page email first thing for a project that only requires 5 minutes of time to complete. Same with spoken communication, leave your long-winded speeches for family and friends. If you know your instructions will be difficult for the average person to understand, write them down hours in advance, then reread them at least a few hours later and see if they still make sense.
Schedule a Skype call for after you send out instructions for a challenging task, so you can speak to your virtual assistant and ensure they understand what’s expected of them.
Ready to pull the trigger and get a VA of your very own?
Follow the tips above and you’ll find yourself working with a lot more winners than losers.
Always keep in mind that virtual assistants are supposed to make your life easier, not harder! If you don’t feel like you’re getting the value you’re paying for, move on!
