Very often a lot of entrepreneurs think that they only need to hire a Virtual Assistant and their business will change instantaneously. In most cases, they believe that they will have a lot of accomplishments with very small time and effort on their part.

The problem is that when they get started they soon realize that there has to be some effort coming from them. With this they immediately become disappointed and they decide to stop the service. 

I have seen this scenario so many times since we started Outsourced VA in 2009. What most of them don’t realize is that working with a Virtual Assistant needs some initial attention, weekly meetings, and daily management.

Let me explain this:

Initial Attention

The first thing you need to understand if you are planning to hire a Virtual Assistant is that this service is all about delegation. The main purpose is to take off some tedious load from your shoulder so you can focus more on income-generating activities.

You need to be able to automate your VA’s daily task by putting up a system for them to follow. You have to make a list of tasks that you want to delegate that will add value to your business. Based on my experience, you have to invest in training your Virtual Staff for the first 2-weeks (assuming you already have listed tasks to delegate and have organized a system) and then give them special attention for the next 2-weeks.

Weekly Meetings

Even in the non-virtual world, if you have an office where your staff reports to work, you will have weekly meetings (at least once in a week) to make sure that you are all on the same page.

A weekly meeting will help your VA know your direction for the week so she knows what to prioritize. This will also help you understand what is already done, what is being done, and what needs to be done.

Daily Management

Before you even think and say, “Wait, I thought a Virtual Assistant is supposed to be automated?” Let me tell you this, no business succeed unless you manage it well. Every success and failure of a company fall on leadership. You are the leader of this team and, therefore, you need to lead.

A simple email asking your VA how she is and what she is planning to do for the day will set the VA in the right direction for the day. Also, making a follow-up on an important task that you asked your VA to do will really help.

If you have hired a Virtual Assistant and feel that you are getting frustrated, I hope this article has helped you.

Please do not hesitate to leave a comment or share your experience here and I will gladly give you my advice as to how you can effectively use your Virtual Assistant.