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What is the best way to employ a Virtual Assistant: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Outsourcing

Apr 21, 2022

Finding an assistant virtual to help you in your business is one of the most important, yet crucial options you can make as an entrepreneurial. If you don't have an employee in your company to give specific tasks to, you'll continue to consume your energy and time doing things that aren't contributing towards the development of your company.

Solopreneur vs Entrepreneur

One of the main differences in an "solopreneur" (someone that has an official status as sole proprietor of a business) sole owner of the business) and an entrepreneur/business owner is the fact that both work as a collective. Entrepreneurs don't need to take on all the burdens. They create systems and employ employees to manage duties on their behalf. This is an essential step in building a business that can keep growing even when it's not operating.

The addition of a team member is crucial to making the shift from being a solopreneur to an owner of a business in the manner Michael E. Gerber, author of the most popular book on business "The E-Myth," suggests to make the shift to a role of a worker on the company, to later working as part of your business. The importance of having additional members to your team. to help you reduce the workload and allow you to be able to focus on jobs which will have the greatest influence on the business you run and the money you earn.

In this blog , I'll go through the steps involved when hiring a virtual assistant along giving specific advice and tools to assist in managing your virtual employees effectively.

Jump to:

When you have hired one or your virtual assistants you're able to take similar steps to determine the tasks that you want to delegate, to create new positions in your company, and hire more workers until you are in just one job in your business which is the CEO.

We'll talk about the steps to hiring your very the first Virtual Assistant.

The advantages of hiring virtual employees

If you opt to contract only one Virtual Assistant, or create an entire group of virtual workers , outsourcing remote employees can be a major factor in your efficiency and growth of your company.

These are the top advantages to using virtual assistants

     does not require office space    

Based on the location you reside in, the expense of leasing offices can be very expensive. The use of a virtual assistant allows the creation of your team with minimal expenses. Apart from a variety of software programs for working alongside your virtual team the primary cost of hiring virtual assistants is how much you will be required to spend for their services.

     Virtual Assistants aren't costly    

Virtual Assistants are a cost-effective alternative to regular employees. Virtual Assistants typically work as freelancers and based on where they live, their hourly rates could be significantly less than what a local employee will cost you. A virtual Assistant located in the Philippines for instance, usually costs half an assistant working within North America costs for the similar tasks and duties.

There is no limit to the local talent (hire the best of the top)

Entrepreneurs don't always have access to an array of local, qualified candidates for this post. Virtual assistants can technically work anywhere around the globe as that they're connected the internet. The absence of local employees increases the amount of applicants for certain job roles dramatically.

ConvertKit Remote Team

Delegation helps prevent burnout

The ability to delegate specific work and tasks to other people could be an important step towards the prevention of burnout. Unfortunately, there is a lot of entrepreneurs who think that they must manage everything on their own. This is precisely the way they are. It can lead to long hours at work, an absence of energy, feeling overwhelmed with little time to attend to other aspects of their life, such as hobbies such as exercising, family or friends.

Spend more time with your strengths

It is impossible to be an expert of every aspect. You don't have to try to become. It's not necessary to be a professional in every step and project that you must manage in your business (including those that you don't like or are having a hard to deal dealing with! ) There are those who are experts in those things and enjoy doing their best work. Utilizing other people to help in delegating tasks allows you concentrate on things that you love and are good in.

The focus is on things that create revenues and that are of high value.

Additionally, when you engage the services of a virtual Assistant and can free up time to focus on activities which can add value to your company as opposed to the tasks that you have assigned to the virtual assistant. This means that you will make time on projects that directly influence your income.

"Your most valuable resource of human capital (not only a business proprietor) is your time. If you're not committing more time, the more focussed you are. When you're focussed, the better impact you can have with your time. This is why every person should get at least an assistant virtual."
Matthew Turner

The different types of virtual Assistants

One of the primary concerns you'll have to ask yourself in the event employing the services of a virtual Assistant is: what will they provide for you?

There's almost every thing.

If they've got the appropriate training, abilities and equipment, Virtual Assistants have the capacity to perform anything that does not require physical presence. Which in the context of it, actually is quite a lot.

That being said, there various types of Virtual Assistants and it is crucial to know what type or Virtual Assistant is best suited to the specific tasks you're planning on outsourcing.

The General Virtual Assistant

The most sought-after kind of Virtual Assistant is known as an General Virtual Assistant (aka a General VA). "General VA" or "General VA" is a reference to an individual who is able to take on the daily tasks and processes necessary for running your company  However, they're not on the lookout for ways to improve it.

The duties you'd assign an General VA typically are technical and repetitive such as managing your travel or email schedules, scheduling meetings, research, data entry the latest research, scheduling posts for social media, and on.

The Virtual Assistant Particularized

Virtual assistants who specialize are someone that has a very particular set of skills and has the capability to supervise an extremely specific procedure within your business. The price of expert virtual assistants tends to be higher when compared to General VAs due to the fact that they have particularizations and need only minimal training from you.

tasks like client support such as bookkeeping, client support, editing videos as well as managing projects such as is best done by a Specialized VA.

Tasks that are outsourced. Results

If you're in the position of General VA, General VA, you should consider outsourcing particular processes and tasks for the purpose of giving employees instructions on how to finish those tasks and process correctly.

When you hire an experienced VA is best to hire the contract to guarantee specific outcomes. A Specialized VA will have more knowledge than you (that's the reason why you decide to work with them!) for the job and protocols that constitute part of their work. Since you're counting on their knowledge and expertise on specifics, explain to them the things that you're working on but do not explain the steps you'll accomplish this.

The increase of Twitter followers by 10 percent per month is one example, and could be the consequence. Importing blog posts from Google Drive to WordPress, in this case, may be a difficult project to accomplish. Do you know the difference?

How to become the business's chief executive officer

If you did not hire a team at the time you began your venture and you're now taking on a multitude of responsibilities. Also, it is possible that you are performing various tasks as because that time will be split among various assignments and obligations.

In order to become the CEO of your business and spend your time exclusively performing the tasks that CEOs ought to be spending their time You will have be able to delegate certain tasks and responsibilities to different employees.

It boils down to basic math.

It is your intention to earn more than 100,000 dollars of income per year, then in other words, you can't get there with the help of work that is worth just 20 dollars an hour. If you are able to work 5,000 hours within a 12 months timeframe (unlikely) it's a math problem that just isn't a good idea. Your time should be spent on activities that have greater hours of work.

One reason people are reluctant to employ employees is their belief that hiring employees as cost rather than as investing in the future. If you've been in the exact same position in which you were hired by someone else then the steps below should help you.

Determine your hourly target cost.

The Target Hourly Rate (THR) refers to the cost you earn as the chief executive officer of your firm, is necessary to be assessed in order to meet your goals for income.

In order to calculate your hourly wage, take into account your month-to-month (or annual) income goal then multiply that by the amount of time you'll work during the duration.

As an example, $250,000 (annual earnings amount) divided into 2 000 (the total number of hours of work) is $125/hour.

"Personally I made the decision to employ before I was sure I was ready for an assistant. and I urged others to do the same. Many people wait until they've earned a set amount of revenue or they've been operating for a set amount of duration. There isn't a "magic" moment when the hiring of support services is appropriate except for: "If it allows you to be focused on what you're skilled at and don't have debt, and focus on revenue-generating tasks Now is the perfect time."
Trivinia Barber

Each and every task in your company is expected to be in dollars.

Your job as an entrepreneur is to determine what tasks add value to your company, and then to devote the bulk of your time working on these tasks. Anything that isn't directly related to your objectives or falls under your target hourly rate is to be delegated to somebody other than you.

If you're having trouble achieving your budget, I'll almost certainly say that the cause is because you're not spending enough time and effort in things that are of significant value.

     jobs that are high and low-cost job opportunities    

Tasks with low value are required to be performed in order to operate the business but that don't directly increase revenue. Some examples of low-value jobs are bookkeeping, customer service tasks, graphic design editing, and many more.

Some of the most important jobs directly influence revenues growth. Some examples of high-value work include leading generation and advertising sales. They also involve the launch of brand new products or services and the formation of strategic alliances as well as .

One of the best ways to improve the money you earn as an entrepreneur is to delegate less valuable tasks, and filling your calendar with as many high-value tasks as is possible. Profit from high-value tasks in order to pay for outsourcing jobs which are of low worth.

How do you best to choose which projects and activities are most appropriate to outsource?

Each business is a hefty listing of the tasks and procedures that are essential to the running of your firm. To help you identify which of these tasks you should offload and which ones to keep doing, start with categorizing the tasks along with the processes.

HTML0 Each task and procedure inside your organization falls within the following four categories:

1. It's important to complete tasks: important tasks which you're enthusiastic about and are really good in.

2. What you shouldn't do: tasks that don't merit your time and are not the most efficient way to make use of your time regardless of whether you're adept at them or you are a fan of these tasks. (These are the toughest tasks you can outsource!)

3. The things you're not able to finish: tasks that you're not a fan of or believe that other people would.

4. You are unable to complete tasks that require expert knowledge or skills.

If you're not yet making sure that you've have downloaded your copy of the Outsourcing Worksheet. The table allows you to track and categorize the activities and procedures you employ in your business.

"The things you're uncomfortable doing or aren't able to do ought to be on the top of your checklist of things you can assign. Some of the most challenging tasks to delegate are ones that you might do and even enjoy doing In reality the reality is that you're not worth it."
Nick Loper

How can I find the most efficient method to locate a virtual assistant

The selection of virtual workers to fill specific positions on your team may be different than for assignments that are specific to them.

If you hire a freelancer for a specific project, it will be a job with an expiration and start date. Because most freelancers work with several customers, you may not be their primary customer.

If you decide to employ as a Virtual Assistant, you're employing an group member. Although the duties that you assign to them could be changed over time, they'll continue to have a specific role in the group. However, this doesn't mean they can't work in a freelance site such as Fiverr or Upwork. Virtual assistants are plentiful searching for jobs on these websites that will fulfill your specifications.

What steps are required to engage an assistant online

     1. Record the task you want to assign    

Write down the procedures and duties that you're planning to delegate to your virtual assistant. If the tasks are ones you're completing on your own then you'll need to create instructional materials (aka Standard Operating Procedures) that cover the tasks you'll be delegating the virtual assistant. For more information on how to create powerful Standard Operating Procedures, read this guide.

If you're seeking the assistance from a professional virtual assistant, document the results you'd like them obtain in exchange for particular instructions or assignments.

     The third step is to develop your job's description.    

After you've compiled the checklist of the tasks you'd like delegate, now is the time to create a description of the duties of the person taking these tasks.

Specialization-related tasks shouldn't be part of the job description that the Virtual Assistant General has to perform. Tasks you assign on behalf of the General Virtual Assistant must to have identical knowledge and expertise as well as pay per hour.

The description of your job must contain:

  • The background information you have regarding your company (your specialization as well as the items you sell, and people you consider your clients or your customers)
  • Education, experience or knowledge are vital.
  • A complete list of the tasks and the responsibilities
  • A listing of all the software or tools will be employed by them.

Here's a sample of an efficient written Virtual Assistant job description that is adapted from Shopify's guide for the recruitment of virtual assistants:

3. Create a job posting on the internet

After you've got your job description ready then next step is to post it online before you start accepting applicants. One option is to post the job description directly on Craigslist (post within the city that you'd like to recruit in). A different option is using virtual assistant, which is the Virtual Assistant hiring service or directory.

There are several other directories and websites you could utilize to find Virtual Assistants

"It's important to develop detailed job descriptions that meet the expectations of both sides. It is my practice to ask those I've met to recommend. Virtual assistants need to supply references as well as examples of the work they do. Contacting them on the telephone is a great method to meet the person, and to determine if they are a great person to work with."
Sue Canfield

4. Review applications and plan interviews

Review the application that comes in, and then schedule interview with your 5-10 most qualified candidates. It is recommended to interview applicants via video who are the most qualified. An interview via video is an alternative to interviewing someone in person. You can determine quickly if you like an individual and chat with them via video chat. If the person is not willing to participate in a video conversation with you, this is an indication that they're not at all interested, and it is a sign that you shouldn't be engaging with them.

When interviewing potential candidates, don't just inquire about their work experience, industry and the skills they possess. Ask them questions about their goals like their passions as well as their hobbies, where they work as well as how they would like to be treated. Maybe you could ask your candidate to complete an online personality test online for free. This will help you gain a better understanding of their personality and abilities and how they operate.

"We run a stringent set of character tests to determine how someone is likely to behave with the other person. We also have "automatic disqualifiers" which remove people from our database immediately in accordance with the answers they provide. We are unable to speak with anyone who's not part of our core principles without having to overly embellish the qualifications of those they interview. This helps us avoid many poor hires, and helps the screening process significantly faster."
Trivinia Barber

5th Step: Take the top candidate on your list by taking an exam

Prior to committing to hiring one candidate in particular, give the top three candidates an assignment in a way that they will be able to take tests. Choose a project that is an element of their job at the beginning . Then, make a note of the tasks they completed during this test. How you expect candidates to finish an actual assignment can help you find the most qualified candidates.

6. The best candidate for to take a test

Select the best person to do the position, then start by giving them the opportunity to test them out for a period of time (30 days 30 days 30 days, 60 days or 90 days for instance). The trial period gives the Virtual Assistant additional incentive to be successful for you as it could lead to becoming an ongoing participant in your organization. It is recommended that they sign your formal Service Agreement to avoid any issues later on.

Strategies for managing your Virtual Assistant

Finding a virtual assistant who will serve as your assistant is only the beginning. Once you've selected someone for the team, part of the responsibility you have as an administrator is maintaining an effective, professional, and beneficial relationship with the employees of your company.

Evaluate performance

Most crucial thing to do is evaluate your performance made with your virtual Assistant based on its efficacy. Make sure you have specific expectations or key performance indicators (KPIs) established. If your employees ' performance is up to the standards they are expected to meet, are you concerned with how many coffee breaks they have in the course of their working day?

Don't micromanage

If you've established specific specifications for your virtual Assistant and afterwards evaluate whether or not they're in line with the requirements you have established, you don't need to supervise the virtual assistants. Yes, there are programs that allow you to "spy" directly onto the screen of your virtual assistant via your laptop or desktop computer to check the time they spend working. These aren't necessary if you're sure and understand what you expect from your virtual assistant. If you don't like how you are handled by the way you handle you Virtual Assistant You're likely not doing it right.

Schedule check-ins

Utilize a communications tool to facilitate communication, such as using google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, or Slack for quick check-ins with your virtual assistant. This could happen from the start to the end of the day or every day for a second or regularly. This is the best option for the two of you. Use this time to make sure they're aware of the process they're using and they aren't shackled by anything or someone (including you!) that is hindering them from accomplishing their tasks during all of the day.

     HTML1 requires weekly reports    

Each week, let your virtual assistant email an overview of their tasks throughout the week. Give them a template to use for their weekly report. Here are a few questions we recommend requiring to the Virtual Assistant for consideration during the weekly report, and in addition, any other metrics or KPIs which they are accountable to.

  • What were the tasks or tasks they completed?
  • What is the total amount of time that team members dedicate for each project or task?
  • What are they still working on?
  • Are they experiencing challenges or problems?
  • Are they able to provide ideas and feedback or suggest ideas to you?
  • Do they require any further training?

     Set up an feedback system    

Develop a culture for your virtual Assistant (and anyone else whom you communicate with) of trust and clear dialogue. Inspire them to discuss their ideas and to inquire about issues and offer regular feedback. It will help you improve as a leader and manager. This will help you create relationships that benefit those in your team. The group on the other hand, at a.m. are huge admirers of Kim Scott's work Radical Candor as an approach to providing and receiving feedback to bring you to an end.

Top software for outsourcing as well as managing virtual staff

While the concept of hiring someone who will never ever meet in person might appear odd, with appropriate tools, you can create and maintain healthy and positive relationships for members of the virtual team.

The primary categories of equipment needed for efficient working with virtual assistants as well as remote team members include communications tasks, managing projects, sharing files , as also safety (password security). Below are a few of the top tools used for each of the below.

If you're looking to find out more about software and instruments to assist with managing your business then you should check out our list of .

Communications Tools

Project Tools for Management

     File Security and Sharing    

Use a Virtual Assistant assist you in helping you concentrate on the things that are essential to you.

If you're feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by the progress of your business, then you're all on your own. Most entrepreneurs have a longer working hours because they haven't discovered ways to optimize their time and efficiently assign tasks for their coworkers. They're experiencing what the book by our dear buddy Chris Ducker, best-selling author of Virtual Freedom refers to as "Superhero syndrome".

Most entrepreneurs believe they can do it all themselves, and due to that belief it is precisely the way they operate. Although they're not quite as effective, they offset this by their dedication to work, which often comes with the risk of exhaustion.

As an owner you're not only responsible for creating a profit for you. This is what self-employment as well as freelancers are made for. Entrepreneurs develop strategies and recruit employees for their business to manage their businesses.

A virtual assistant might not be the only one who you have in your team as you grow the scope of your business, however they need to be one of the first. Employing an online assistant will free your time to work on projects which have greater influence on your personal life and business.

"One one of the ways to prevent fatigue is by becoming more effective delegaters. It's not easy at first to step away from the steering wheel, but trust me when I say that once you've let go the driving wheel for just a while and you'll want for the most competent driver for your job soon!"
      Chris Ducker

     The original blog was published in May 2018. The blog was updated on April 20, 2022.

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