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How to hire a virtual Assistant An Entrepreneur's Guide to outsourcing

Apr 20, 2022

Find a virtual assistant who can work for you is one of the first and most crucial hires that you can do when you are an entrepreneur. If you do not have someone on your team whom you're able to assign specific duties to, you'll waste your time and energy doing tasks that do not contribute to the growth of your company.

Solopreneur vs Entrepreneur

One of the major distinctions in the "solopreneur" (someone that is the sole the sole proprietor of their business) as well as a business owner/entrepreneur is that they are part of a group. Business owners don't have to handle all the work. They can design their systems and hire individuals to take care of everything for them. These are necessary steps to creating a business that continues to expand even when they're not working.

A team member is crucial in making the transition from just a sole-preneur, to becoming a company owner. Michael E. Gerber, author of the top-rated business journal "The E-Myth suggests, to move between working within your company to being an employee for your business. Being able to have other individuals on your team helps to make your life easier so that you can devote your time and energy to the activities that have the most influence in your company's income.

In this article I'll walk you through the process of hiring a Virtual Assistant and provide suggestions and tools that can help you to manage your virtual assistant efficiently.

Jump into:

When you've hired your Virtual Assistants You can follow similar steps to decide additional duties to assign, create new roles in your business as well as recruit team members until you eventually hold only one job in your company which is the CEO position.

For now we'll tackle the process of hiring your first Virtual Assistant.

The benefits of employing virtual employees

Whether you hire an individual Virtual Assistant or create an entire virtual team outsourcing remote employees will have an enormous impact on your productivity and also the development of your business.

Here are the major benefits of hiring Virtual Assistants:

It doesn't require an office space in a physical location

Based on the area you reside in and where you reside depending on the location you live in, leasing an office isn't cheap. Employing an assistant virtual will allow you to begin building your team while keeping costs minimal. Apart from the use of a handful of software programs for working with and managing your virtual employees the main cost for the hiring of virtual assistants is how much you pay for their services.

Virtual Assistants don't cost a fortune

Virtual Assistants could be effective alternatives to the cost of hiring regular employees. The majority of Virtual Assistants work as independent contractors and based on where they reside, the rates for their hours are often significantly lower than what an employee in your local area charges to you. A virtual Assistant located in the Philippines is an instance, and typically costs less than half the amount the cost of the virtual assistant working in North America costs for the identical tasks and responsibilities.

HTML0 It isn't limited by local talent (hire one of the top)

Not every entrepreneur has access to local talent in the form of people who have the qualifications for an exact job. Virtual Assistants can theoretically be employed from any place on the world, provided that they're connected to the internet. Working remotely without hiring someone from a local location will increase your chances of being a candidate for particular job roles dramatically.

ConvertKit Remote Team

Delegation helps prevent burnout

The ability to delegate specific tasks and responsibilities on others is significant in helping get rid of burning out. But, there are lots of business owners who believe they must handle everything on their own. That's the exact thing they are doing. It leads to lengthy work days, a lack of concentration, feeling overwhelmed and an inability to devote time to other areas of their lives like exercise, hobbies, and families.

You can spend more time in areas of strength

It is impossible to be the ultimate master of all things. It is not necessary to work to become. Every job you need to manage your company (including the ones you don't find enjoyable or you're not good at doing! ) However, there are professionals who excel in these tasks and actually like the task. The hiring of experts to aid in delegating duties lets you concentrate on tasks you love and are skilled in.

 Concentrate on high-value income-generating, high-value actions

If you hire a virtual Assistant You free up time to work on projects which add worth for your business more than tasks you assigned to your virtual assistant. This means that you free up time to concentrate on the tasks that will have a direct effect on your earnings.

"Your most precious resource as a human (not only a solely business owner) is time. If you're not committing to more, the better your attention will be on. Your more focused, greater impact you'll achieve by using your time. This is why everybody should at least employ one Virtual Assistant."
Matthew Turner

Different types of virtual assistants

The most crucial questions you're probably asking yourself when considering hiring a Virtual Assistant is, what do they have to offer to

There is basically anything.

When they've had the proper knowledge, training and experience as well as the appropriate tools, Virtual Assistants are capable of doing anything which doesn't need the presence of a person that, when you think about it can be quite a bit.

There exist different kinds of virtual assistants. It is important to decide which Virtual Assistant is best for the task you want to outsource.

The General Virtual Assistant

The most well-known type of Virtual Assistant is known as an General Virtual Assistant (aka a General VA). General VAs have the ability to take on everyday activities and routines necessary to run your business  however, they aren't focused in enhancing their workload.

The jobs you'd assign to a General VA typically are specific and repetitive for example, managing your travel or email schedule as well as scheduling your meetings. data entry, research, making posts on social media and more.

The Virtual Assistant Specialized

A specialist virtual assistant is a person who has a particular set of skills and is best at handling a specific process in your business. They can be costlier in comparison to General VAs because of the fact that they possess a specific skills and only require a minimal amount of instruction from your.

jobs like customer service, recording and editing videos for bookkeeping, as well as project management, for example best suited to a Specialized VA.

HTML1 Tasks outsourced vs. the results

With an General VA, it is ideal to outsource certain tasks and processes so that you can give them training on how to complete those duties and process correctly.

If you have a specialized VA you should consider contract out certain results. A skilled VA will be better than you (that's why you hire them!) in the processes and tasks they perform as part of their job. Because you're relying on their experience and skills regarding details, make sure you explain the steps what you're trying to accomplish, rather than how you'll accomplish the task.

The increase in Twitter followers of 10 percent per month, as an example, is a consequence. Importing blog posts from Google Drive to WordPress, for example, is a process. See the difference?

How do you become the Chief Executive Officer of your own company?

If you're not hiring staff as soon as you launched your company, it's possible that you're in charge of many different tasks. That is, you're trying at many different hats as a result of which your time will be divided among various obligations and tasks.

To become the chief executive of your company and focus your attention exclusively in the activities that the CEO has to spend their time and energy to. They must give specific tasks and duties to other people.

The most important thing is math.

Your goal is to make more than 100,000 dollars of revenue per year such as it's quite a bit of money for you to reach this objective with the help of projects that will take around 20 dollars per hour. If you are unable to work longer than 5,000 hours in a twelve-month time frame (unlikely) then the numbers don't add to. You should concentrate your efforts on tasks which have a greater per hour rate.

A reason why people find it difficult to employ helpers is that they consider hiring staff as an expense instead of being an investment. If you've had this situation when you hired anyone, this procedure should help those who are.

Find your hourly target Rate

The target hourly rate (THR) represents the price at which your timeas CEO of your company, has to be worth in order for you to reach your income goals.

In order to calculate how much you earn as your Target Hourly Rate, calculate your monthly (or the annual) budget and multiply the total number of hours you'll work during that period of time.

For illustration: $250,000 (annual income objective) multiplied by 2 000 (number of hours of work) equals $125 an hour

"Personally I started hiring way earlier than I thought I was ready for an assistant. Also, I urged other employees to do the same. Most companies don't hire employees until they've achieved a particular revenue, or are in operation for during an exact date. It's not a "magic" moment when hiring support makes sense and only if it helps you to be focused on the things is your most proficient at. There's no necessity to get into financial debt in order to accomplish it. in the same time as you will have to concentrate on the things that earn you money. Then it's time."
Trivinia Barber

Every job you do for your business will be calculated to cost in dollar

Being an entrepreneur, your job is to identify the activities that bring the most value to your company and to devote the bulk of your time working on these activities. All tasks that do not achieve your desired Hourly Rate must be assigned to another employee.

If you're struggling to meet your income goals I'm sure it's because you're not spending enough time and effort on activities of high value.

tasks of low and valuable task

Low-value tasks are tasks that require your company but don't directly increase revenue. Low-value tasks are accounting, customer service, managing projects, graphic design and editing.

High-value tasks boost revenue directly. The most valuable tasks include the sales of lead generation and marketing as well as the launch of innovative products or services or forming strategic alliances and .

The most efficient way to boost the amount you earn as business owner is to delegate less-valuable tasks and make sure you have as many high-value jobs as is possible. Make use of the money you make from jobs that are high value to pay for the outsourcing of tasks that are less valuable.

What process or task should be delegated?

Each company is abounding with a checklist of procedures and activities that are vital to the operation of the company. For you to decide what duties to assign and what you'll need to continue to do first, you must categorize the processes and activities.

HTML0 Every task and step within your organization is part of one of four categories:

1. Things to do that are high-value that you are passionate about and actually good at.

2. Tasks that you should not be completing: projects that aren't worth your time or aren't the ideal way to use your time, even if you're skilled at them or simply enjoy working on these tasks. (These are the toughest outsourcing tasks!)

3. It's not something you want to do: work that you aren't an enthusiast of or the work you feel that somebody else would.

4. It is impossible to finish You don't have the knowledge or skills in order to complete.

If you're not already made sure that you have downloaded the Worksheet for Outsourcing. The table allows you to categorize and record the activities and processes in your company.

"The things you hate doing or don't want to undertake ought to be on the top of your list of things to be delegated. The most difficult tasks to delegate with are the ones you're able to do, and might be even like doing However, in reality, you shouldn't be doing them."
Nick Loper

What is the best way to find a virtual Assistant

Virtual staff hiring for certain positions on your team can be different than for particular assignments.

When you employ an individual freelancer to complete an individual project, the project will have a beginning and an expiration date. Since most freelancers work with many clients, you won't necessarily be their primary customer.

If you choose to hire a virtual Assistant You are employing an additional individual to your team. Although the duties you delegate to them might change in time, they'll continue to play the role of a specific member on your team. It doesn't mean they won't be found on any online platform for freelancers like Fiverr or Upwork. There are numerous virtual assistants seeking work that are listed on these websites and who fulfill your specifications.

The steps to employ an Assistant online

 Step 1. Write down what you would like outsourcing

Start by making a list of every task you're planning to assign your virtual assistant. If the tasks are ones that you already perform by yourself, create training documentation (aka Standard Operating Procedures) that cover the work that you're assigning to your virtual assistant. To learn how to write powerful Standard Operating Procedures, go through this tutorial.

If you're working with a Specialized Virtual Assistant, document what you would like the virtual assistant to attain in place of specified tasks or practices.

2. Make an outline of the job

After you've compiled the task list you'd like delegate, you must prepare a description of the job to explain the position that will be responsible for these tasks.

tasks that require specialization are not included in the description of the work for the General Virtual Assistant. The tasks you give to the General Virtual Assistant need to be completed in the same manner, with the same competence and at the same hourly rate.

Your job description should include:

  • Your background data regarding your company (your company, your industry, the product you offer as well as the individuals that are your clients or customers)
  • Experience, education, or the required skills
  • The list of duties and responsibilities
  • A list of all apps or tools they'll be using

Below is an instance of a well created Virtual Assistant job description that was taken to Shopify's guidelines for recruiting Virtual Assistants:

Step 3. Post your job description on the internet.

Once you have your job description ready the next step is to post it online and then begin to invite applicants. One alternative is to post the job description directly on Craigslist (post from within the country or the city you'd like recruit in). An alternative is to utilize a Virtual Assistant hiring service or directory.

There are other popular websites as well as directories to search for Virtual Assistants

"It's essential to write a complete job description to ensure you can meet expectations from both sides. Always ask the people who I know first for recommendations. Virtual assistants need to be able to give examples of their tasks. Communicating with them via the phone is a great way to learn more about the person , and to determine whether they're a good fit."
Sue Canfield

Step 4: Go through the forms and make arrangements for interviews

Examine the resumes that come through Make an appointment for interviews with your top five to 10 applicants. It is recommended to conduct video interviews with the top candidates. Interviews via video are a far better idea than chatting to an individual in person. It's possible to see how much you enjoy your conversation and be able to communicate with them on a video chat. If someone doesn't want to have a video conversation with you, this is an indication they're not in the mood and should be avoiding hiring the individual.

In your interview with every applicant, you shouldn't just inquire about their knowledge of their profession and experiences. It is important to inquire about their ambitions such as the things they enjoy, their things they enjoy, their preferred places to work as well as what they want to be managed. It is also possible to request that your candidate take an free personality test. It can help you gain a deeper understanding of their personality, their strengths and the ways they function.

"We have a specific series of questions about personality that decide how individuals will be treated by an individual. We also have "automatic disqualifiers" that remove individuals from our process right away based on what they have completed. We are able to avoid interviewing anyone that isn't a part of our values, and not letting us be awed by their resumes. It's saved us from so many poor hires, and helps make the screening process much more quickly."
Trivinia Barber

 Phase 5: Give your best candidates a test

When you're deciding whether to hire an individual candidate, assign the top three applicants a task in a way that tests them. Select a task that is component of their daily responsibilities regardless, and observe their performance during the exercise. Asking your candidates to complete an actual task can help you to determine who the most competent candidates.

6. Offer the top candidate a test time

Pick the ideal candidate for the position and begin them on the trial phase (30 days for instance, or 60 or 90 days for example). Trial periods provide your Virtual Assistant a greater incentive to do a great job to you knowing it may lead to an ongoing position on the team. Make sure they sign a formal Service Agreement to avoid any complications at a later date.

How to manage your Virtual Assistant

Hiring a Virtual Assistant is only the start. When you've added someone on your team, one of the responsibilities of the job of Administrators is maintaining a positive, professional, and mutually beneficial relationships with your staff.

Evaluate performance

Above all else it is essential to assess the effectiveness within Your Virtual Assistant based on the performance. For this, you must ensure that you've got clearly defined expectations, and/or key indicator of performance (KPIs) in place. If they're performing to your expectations, do you really care what number of breaks they get during the course of their day?

Don't micromanage

If you establish clearly-defined requirements of your Virtual Assistant and review them to determine how well they satisfy those standards There is no requirement to supervise the virtual assistants. Yes, there are programs that allow you to "spy" onto your virtual assistant's screen on your computer or track the time they're working. These things are unnecessary when you have confidence and specific expectations of your virtual assistant. If you would not like being controlled exactly the way you handle your Virtual Assistant, you're probably not doing things right.

Schedule check-ins

Utilize a communication tool like Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams and Slack for quick checks-ins via your virtual Assistant. Perhaps this happens every day during the middle of or the conclusion of their day as well on every other day, or sometimes even weekly. Whatever works best for both of you. Use this time to make sure that everyone knows what they're working on, and there's nothing or anyone (including your own!) which is stopping the way to complete their task during the whole day.

 Require weekly reports

Each week, you should ask the Virtual Assistant send you a summary of their work for the week. Provide them with an example of how they can deliver their report. Below are a few questions that we suggest asking to the Virtual Assistant to respond to in their weekly reports , along with any particular KPIs or metrics that they are accountable to track.

  • Which projects or tasks were they able to complete?
  • How long did they dedicate for each task or job?
  • What do they continue to do?
  • Have they encountered any problems or issues?
  • Do they have the ability to offer ideas, comments or suggestions which you could benefit from?
  • Do they need any additional instructions?

Create an feedback system

Establish an environment Virtual Assistant (and any other partner you have with) of open and trusting conversations. Engage them in discussions or concerns and give them regular feedback. In this way you'll become a better manager and leader. This can help you build friendships that benefit your colleagues. At a.m. are huge admirers of Kim Scott's work Radical Candor as the basis to provide and receive feedback. going.

The best tools to outsource and control virtual workers

It's a bit odd to hire an employee you're not likely to be able to talk to might seem strange, but using the right tools, it is possible to build and maintain productive and pleasant connections to your virtual workers.

The primary categories of equipment required to work effectively with remote assistants and virtual team members are communication projects managing projects the sharing of files and security (password secure). We've listed a selection of our most popular tools within each one below.

If you're looking to find out more about the various programs and tools to help you manage your business, you can browse our collection of .

Communications Tools

 Tool to manage projects. Management:

 File Sharing and Security

Employ a virtual assistant to aid you to focus on the most important things for you.

If you're exhausted and overwhelmed in the process of building your company, it's not your fault. Many entrepreneurs are working long hours simply because they're not able to make the most of their time or allocate work tasks efficiently to their colleagues. They're being affected by what one of our colleagues Chris Ducker, best-selling author of Virtual Freedom calls "Superhero syndrome".

Many entrepreneurs think they're competent to handle everything on their own. Based on this assumption, it's precisely that they are. Whatever they don't have in terms of efficiency, they make up in their work methods and are often at risk that they'll burn out.

As an entrepreneur, your job doesn't just consist of earning money. This is what self-employment and freelance work can do for you. Entrepreneurs develop systems and hires employees to manage the company on their behalf.

A Virtual Assistant likely won't be the only one is added to the team when you build your business, however they ought to be among the first. The hiring of a virtual assistant could free the time you need to focus on the tasks that will have more influence on your personal and business life.

"One one of the ways we can do to keep from getting exhausted is to be better delegations. At first, it's hard to give up the steering wheel, but believe me when I say that the moment you let go of the steering wheel for a few minutes, you'll want to hire a full-time driver sooner or later!"
Chris Ducker

     The blog first appeared in May 2018. The blog was last updated in April 2022.

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