Virtual assistants (VA) can be the best and most cost-effective way to expand your business without having to hire extra staff. VA’s are professionals that help you with running your day-to-day operations, freeing you up to do more important tasks in your business.

Virtual Assistants can be a great business asset, but working with someone you don’t know can be challenging. That is why it’s important to find the right person for the job and it’s equally important to set expectations upfront.

Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your Virtual Assistant.

List down a specific daily task

Since you will be hiring someone who has no idea how your business is going on a daily basis, it is always good to give your Virtual Assistant some structure to follow on a daily basis. The problem with many businessmen is that they think that VA’s are mind readers and can run their business for them on day one.

With Outsourced VA, we usually spend the first week with the client just trying to map out their business process. We have a way of helping the client identify tasks that can be delegated to a VA and help them plot a structure.

Choose the right skill level

Once you have listed the important task that you would like to delegate, the next thing to do is to choose the right VA by assessing their skill level.

Some important general skills your VA should have are written communication skills and the ability to follow instructions. They should also be able to use Google Drive, Microsoft Office products, and other common programs such as DropBox or Slack.

We recommend that you list down the platforms or programs that you are using and then, from the list of daily tasks list down the skills that you would require to accomplish them.

Create Training Videos

I get it, the reason why you’re hiring a Virtual Assistant is to take off loads of tedious tasks from your shoulders, and spending the time to train your new VA may look like a waste of time. Just look at it this way, if you are to hire someone to work in an actual office I am sure that you will still have to train them for the next 1-2 months, right? The good thing about VA’s is that most of them already have the experience so you may only need 2-3 weeks to train them.

In order to save on time, we suggest that you record a training video. Especially when you are training someone to use a platform that you are using, a training video will really help. Videos can be paused and rewinded so your new VA can internalize the training well.

Save the training videos in a folder on Google Drive so that they can easily be accessed by your VA.

Some people say that having a virtual assistant is a luxury. Others say that it’s a necessity. I agree with both. There are so many tasks in the business world that can be easily outsourced to an overseas VA, or delegated to someone in your local area who can do it for cheaper than you can.

If you want to learn more about how a Virtual Assistant can help you in your business, do reach out to us at info@outsourcedva.com, and let’s set up a discovery call.