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How to Hire a Virtual Assistant: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Outsourcing

Apr 21, 2022

Finding a virtual assistant to work for you is among the very first but most crucial hires that you can make as the business's owner. If you do not have someone in your organization to delegate particular tasks then you'll spend your energy and time doing activities that don't actually help to grow your business.

Solopreneur vs Entrepreneur

One of the key distinctions in a "solopreneur" (someone that is sole person in their business) and a business proprietor/entrepreneur is a team. A business owner can't be able to handle everything by themselves. They develop systems and hire employees to manage things on their behalf. It's a crucial stage to create a company that can grow even when employees aren't working.

Hiring a team member is a critical step in making changes from being sole proprietor to one that owns a company or, as Michael E. Gerber, writer of the most-read business journal "The E-Myth," will say that you can go from working for your company to working in the business. Having other people on your team helps to minimize your workload, so that you can focus on activities which will have the greatest influence on your business and the income you earn.

In this article, I'll take you through the steps when selecting a virtual assistant. In addition, I'll share some specific tips and tools that can help you to manage your virtual assistant effectively.

You can jump into:

After you've hired the initial Virtual Assistant, you can use this same method to determine even more tasks to delegate, create new positions at your workplace and also recruit additional employees until you've got only one position in your business which is the CEO position.

In the meantime, we'll discuss the hiring of your very first Virtual Assistant.

The benefits of employing virtual employees

Whether you hire one Virtual Assistant, or build an entire group of virtual employees and remote workers, outsourcing remote staff could significantly impact your productivity and increase the size of your business.

Here are a few of the major benefits of employing Virtual Assistants:

does not require office area.

Based on the location you reside in, the cost of renting office space can be quite expensive. Hiring a Virtual Assistant enables you to begin building your workforce while keeping expenses in check. With the exception of some programs that aid in managing and communicating with the virtual staff The primary expense of hiring virtual employees is the cost you need to cover their expenses.

Virtual Assistants cost nothing

Virtual Assistants are an affordable alternative to traditional employees. Most Virtual Assistants are freelancers . Depending the location they live the pay rate may be considerably less than the amount a local worker would cost you. A virtual Assistant in the Philippines is a good example that typically will cost one-third of what that a virtual Assistant within North America costs for the same tasks and responsibilities.

You're not limited by the talent available locally (hire only the very best of the top)

Many business owners do not have access to an area-wide pool of skilled applicants for their job. Virtual assistants are able to be hired anywhere on the globe as you have an internet connection. The absence of having local recruiters increases the amount of candidates you could consider for certain positions substantially.

ConvertKit Remote Team

Delegation helps prevent burnout

Giving specific tasks or responsibilities for other individuals can be a significant step towards stopping burnout. However, there are many entrepreneurs who think they need to do all the work by themselves. This is exactly what they're doing. The result is lengthy work hours, failure to focus on their work, and feeling overwhelmed. a lack of time to different aspects of their lives , such as exercise, hobbies, and the family.

You should spend more time with strengths

There is no way to be an expert of all things. And you shouldn't try to become. Every task or process needed to run your business (including those that you aren't a fan of or do not understand! ) There are individuals who are experts in those areas and are incredibly comfortable with these tasks. Employing people to help delegate your work lets you focus on things that you like and that you're good at.

The emphasis is on the highest-value, income-generating and income-producing actions

In the end, when you hire an assistant virtual and you have the ability to make the time needed to complete projects which add value to your business , rather than your tasks that you have assigned to the Virtual Assistant. That is, you have more time available to focus on tasks that have an impact on your income.

"Your most important source of human resources (not solely a business owner) is your TIME. If you're not committed to, the greater your focus. The more focused you are, the more the impact you will have in the time you're given. This is why everyone should at least employ one Virtual Assistant."
Matthew Turner

Virtual assistants of various types

The most crucial issues you're likely asking yourself as you consider hiring virtual assistants is what they can do for you?

The answer is pretty much everything.

As long as they have the right training, skills and tools, Virtual assistants can efficiently complete anything that doesn't necessitate their physical presence, which in the context of it, is actually quite a bit.

That being said, there different types of Virtual Assistants. It is important to determine which type or Virtual Assistant will be best for the task that you're looking to outsource.

 The General Virtual Assistant

The most popular form which Virtual Assistant is known as the General Virtual Assistant (aka a General VA). A General VA is someone who can take on the daily tasks and routines that are essential for the running of your business, but do not have the time to grow your business.

The duties you'd give to an General VA tend to be very specific and repetitive, for example, managing your travel email agenda, scheduling your meetings, research, data entry making postings for social media and more.

The Specialized Virtual Assistant

An expert virtual assistant is an individual with a particular set of skills and is most adept at managing a particular process in your business. They tend to be more costly in comparison to General VAs due to their a specialized skill set and require only minimal training of your part.

jobs like customer service or bookkeeping as well as project management like these, are to be handled by VAs who specialize in these areas. VA.

Outsourcing tasks. the results

If you employ a General VA, it is recommended to contract out certain tasks and processes as well as give them instruction on the proper way to complete those jobs as well as the proper processes.

If you're working with a specialist VA you should consider outsourcing particular performance. A specialist VA has more experience than you (that's the reason you choose them!) at the specific processes and assignments that are the core of their job. Since you're counting on their expertise and knowledge of the particular procedures and tasks they must be aware of the details of what is required, instead of the steps to take instead of what you need to do and how you can achieve this.

A rise in Twitter followers of 10 - 10 percentage per month, as an instance, could be one illustration of what happens. Importing blog posts from Google Drive to WordPress, in this case, might be a task to complete. What's the difference?

How to become the CEO of your business

If you haven't hired someone at the time you began the company, you'll have to assume the responsibility of a variety of duties. Also, you're performing many roles and your work time is split among multiple duties and tasks.

To become the company's CEO and spend your time solely doing the things the CEO must devote their time on You must assign specific duties and tasks to the employees.

It all boils down to fundamental math.

If you're looking to make more than 100,000 dollars of revenue each year like, say it's impossible to accomplish this by utilizing tasks that will cost you only 20 dollars an hour. If you're able to work longer than 5,000 hours over the course of a 12-month time frame (unlikely) and the number do not match to. Your job should be spent time working on things that earn you higher wages.

The reason that people don't want to employ employees is due to the fact that they consider hiring other employees as an expense and not an investment. If you've felt this way about hiring employees This exercise could be beneficial for you.

Determine your desired Hourly Cost

The target hourly rate (THR) represents the amount for your working hours, as CEO of your business, must be worth so that you meet your income goals.

In order to determine your Target Hourly Rate take the annual (or annual) earnings goal, and then divide it by the total amount of hours that you will work during that period of length.

As an example: $250,000 (annual income target) divided by the number of 2,000 (the amount of hours worked) is equal to $125/hour.

"Personally, I hired much earlier than I felt I was ready to make a hire. I also urged others to do the same. Most individuals do not make the decision until they've reached a certain revenue level or were in business during a specific time. There's no "magic" time when you can hire assistance, other than If it lets you be focused on the things you are good at, and you don't need to go into debt for this, and the amount of time that you'll save allows you to concentrate on the activities that bring in revenue. Then it's time."
Trivinia Barber

Every single job within your business is estimated to have amount in dollar

As an entrepreneur, it's your responsibility to decide which activities will bring the most value for your business and to spend the majority of your time working on the tasks that are most beneficial to your company. Anything that isn't in line with your fall below your Target Hourly Pay should be assigned to someone else.

If you're not achieving your financial goals I'm fairly certain you're not investing adequate time and effort in things that are of great value.

tasks of low or high-value jobs

Tasks with low value must be accomplished to manage your business , but they do not directly impact revenues. Some examples of tasks with low value are customer support as well as bookkeeping, project management and bookkeeping Graphic design editing etc.

The most valuable tasks directly influence revenue growth. The most valuable tasks include the promotion of leads, leads generation, and selling, aswell the launching of new products or services, and creating strategic alliances as well as .

The most efficient way to increase your earnings as a business owner is to delegate jobs that are less valuable and fill your schedule with as many valuable tasks as is possible. Use the income that you make from jobs with high worth in order to finance the outsourcing of jobs that have of low value.

What are the best ways to select which tasks and procedures are best outsourced

Every business has an extensive list of tasks and processes that are essential to running the business. In order to determine which tasks you should outsource and which ones you should keep doing begin with categorizing your tasks as well as the processes.

HTML0Every process and task that you conduct in your organization falls under one of four categories:

1. Things you must do work that is worth your time and effort, which you're enthusiastic about and are skilled in.

2. Tasks that you should not be completing: projects which don't merit your time or aren't an efficient use of your time, no matter if you're competent in them or simply enjoy doing these jobs. (These are the toughest to outsource!)

3. Things you do not want to perform: work you don't like doing however you know someone else will.

4. You are unable to complete the tasks you do not have the knowledge and expertise in order to accomplish.

If you're not already completed then download our worksheet on Outsourcing. The table we included will help the purpose of recording and categorizing the processes and tasks within your company.

"The jobs you dislike and don't want to complete should be on the most important list of tasks to delegate. The toughest assignments to delegate the ones you're competent to do, and might even like doing but they shouldn't be your primary focus."
Nick Loper

What is the best way to find a virtual Assistant

Hiring virtual staff for specific jobs on your team is distinct from hiring employees for projects that are specific to.

If you contract an individual freelancer to work on a particular project, it will be assigned a an expiration and start date. And since most freelancers have several clients, you'll never ever be their top priority.

If you choose to hire a virtual Assistant, you are making an effort to be an group member. Even though the tasks you give to them may alter in time, they'll remain in a certain position in your team. However, this doesn't mean they can't be located on the internet-based freelancer sites such as Fiverr or Upwork. There are a lot of virtual assistants seeking work at these sites who are able to meet your demands.

The steps for hiring virtual assistants

Step 1: Document the work you wish to outsource

Start by making a list of the various tasks and tasks you're planning to assign to your virtual Assistant. If these tasks are ones which you already perform by yourself, write training documents (aka Standard Operating Procedures) for these tasks. If you want to learn to write powerful Standard Operating Procedures, take a look at this article.

If you're using the services of a Specialized Virtual Assistant, document what results you'd like the virtual assistant to attain in place of specific assignments or steps.

2. Make an employment description

If you've created a list of tasks you want to delegate, it's time make a job description for the role who will have to perform the duties.

jobs that require specialization tasks that require specialization are not listed in the description of responsibilities for general virtual assistant. All tasks assigned to the General Virtual Assistant. They should share a similar skill level and hourly rate.

The job description must include:

  • The background information you have about your business (your industry, what you are selling and who you're selling to and who your customers are)
  • The level of education, experience, or any other qualifications are needed.
  • The following list of duties and duties
  • An overview of the apps or instruments they'll utilize

Here's an example of an appropriately created Virtual Assistant job description that was adapted by us to suit our needs. It's based on Shopify's instructions on hiring Virtual Assistants:

HTML0 Third step: Make a job posting on the web.

When you've got your job description in place, the next thing to do is make it accessible on the web and to begin accepting applicants. You can post the job description on Craigslist (post in the city/country that you'd like to work in). An alternative is to utilize a Virtual Assistant hiring service or directory.

Below are other popular directories and websites that you can use to find Virtual Assistants:

"It's important to write an extensive job description in order that expectations are satisfied for both sides. It is my practice to ask anyone I've met to recommend me. A virtual assistant should have evidence of their services. Making contact with them by phone can be extremely beneficial for getting familiar with them as well as their personalities to see if they're an ideal match."
Sue Canfield

4. Check applications and schedule interviews

Review the applications that come through and arrange interviews with the top 5-10 applicants. It is recommended to conduct video interviews with your best candidates. Video interviews are an alternative to having a face-to-face conversation with someone. It is possible to determine whether you're affection with that person, and be able to communicate through a video conferences. If someone won't do a video interview with you, that's an indication that they aren't interested and you shouldn't hire the person.

In your interview with every candidate, do not only talk to the candidates about their experience at work and skills. Discuss their objectives and interests, as well as how they feel about working and what they think about being handled. Perhaps you can invite your potential candidate to test their personality with a assessment of their personality for free. This will help you to gain a better understanding of the character of their candidate in relation to strengths and weaknesses as well as how they function.

"We have a strict series of questions about character that test how someone is likely to treat another human. It is possible to apply "automatic disqualifiers" that remove individuals from our program immediately, based on their answers. It prevents us from speaking to anyone who isn't a match for the values we hold dear, as well as preventing us getting glossy-eyed about their qualifications. This has saved us from many bad hires and makes the screening process much more quickly."
Trivinia Barber

Step 5: Give the best candidates an exam

When you're deciding whether to hire one particular candidate, you must assign three of the best candidates a task to complete with a purpose which they are able to test. Pick a task which will be element of their job in the first place as well as take note of how they complete during this particular assignment. Asking your candidates to complete an actual job can help in determining the person you determine is the most qualified candidate.

6. Give the top candidate a test period

Find the ideal person for the job and start them off on a first test (30 30, 60 or 90 days, for example). Trials provide your Virtual Assistant additional incentive to do a great job to you. This may lead to a long-term position on your team. Have them sign an official Service Agreement to avoid any issues at a later time.

How do you manage your virtual Assistant

The process of finding a virtual assistant who will help you out isn't end of the story. After you've brought someone on your team One of the obligations of your role as leader is to ensure a successful productive, professional, and mutually beneficial relationship with the staff.

Evaluate performance

At the end of the day, you should be judging the efficiency of your Virtual Assistant based on their effectiveness. To do this, ensure that you've set clear goals or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) established. If your employees are meeting their goals are you concerned with how many breaks they take during the course of the workday?

Don't micromanage

If you have clearly stated requirements for your virtual assistant and evaluate them based on how well they meet the expectations, there ought to have no need to supervise your virtual assistants. There are software programs which allow you to "spy" onto your virtual assistant's screen on your computer or observe the time they're doing their work. It's not necessary if you have trust and clearly defined expectations for your virtual Assistant. If you wouldn't like being managed the way that you manage your Virtual Assistant, you're probably making a mistake.

Schedule check-ins

Utilize a communication tool like Slack Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams and Slack to conduct quick check-ins via your personal assistant. Perhaps this happens every day in the middle or at the conclusion of their day or each two days, or even regularly. Whatever is most beneficial for both of you. It is important that everyone understands what they're working on There's no reason for someone (including you!) stopping them from performing their tasks during the day.

Requires weekly reporting

After each week, let the Virtual Assistant send you a summary of the week's activities. Give them the template that they will use for their weekly monthly reports. Below are a few questions we'd suggest you request your Virtual Assistant to address in their weekly reports along with any specific metrics or KPIs they're responsible to monitor.

  • What tasks or projects were they able to complete?
  • What was the amount of time that team members dedicate to their respective tasks or projects?
  • What are they still working on?
  • Are they experiencing any difficulties or problems?
  • Are they able to provide comments or suggestions you can use?
  • Do they require further education?

Establish a culture of constructive feedback

Establish a culture among the virtual Assistant (and others that you collaborate with) of trust and open conversation. Engage them in discussions as well as ask questions and provide feedback on a regular regularly. Doing so will help you improve as a manager and leader, and will help to create relationships that benefit both you and your colleagues. for your team members. Here at, we're huge supporters of Kim Scott's book Radical Candor as way of getting feedback and giving it for a better start.

The best tools for outsourcing and manage virtual employees

While the thought of hiring someone that you may never actually talk to might seem strange, but with the proper toolsyou will be able to build and maintain enjoyable, productive connections with your virtual employees.

The most important categories of software required to work effectively with Virtual Assistants and remote team members include communication projects, management of files, project management and security (password security). Here are some of our favorite tools for the various categories listed in the following table.

If you want to learn more about additional applications and tools that can help you manage your business, look through our list of .

Communication Tools

Project Management Tools

File Security and Sharing

Engage a Virtual Assistant to help you to help you concentrate on the aspects that matter most

If you're feeling overwhelmed and depleted with the work of building your business, you're not alone. The majority of entrepreneurs work throughout the day due to their inability to use their time effectively and efficiently assigning tasks to other people. They are suffering from what is known as "superhero syndrome" by our friend Chris Ducker, best-selling author of Virtual Freedom and Virtual Freedom, refers to as "Superhero syndrome".

Many entrepreneurs believe they're able to do everything themselves. Because of this belief this is exactly how they are. What they lack in efficiency they make up for in the way they work which is usually with the threat of burnout.

The job of an entrepreneur isn't just about making money for yourself. Self-employment and freelance work are for. Entrepreneurs build processes and employs staff to control their companies to run their business.

A Virtual Assistant likely won't be the only one you add to your team when the business grows, but it's important to include them as the first. The hiring of a virtual assistant can give you more time for you to work on projects that have a greater impact in your private life and business.

"One one of the ways that we can take to avoid exhaustion is to be better delegaters. It's difficult when first letting go, but I guarantee you that once you start to relax the wheel for a few minutes, you're ready for the full-time driver sooner, or earlier!"
Chris Ducker

     This blog was originally published in May of this year. It has been updated in April 2022.

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