How to hire a Virtual Assistant & transform your business

Running your own business as a Solopreneur, you wear all the hats. From sales and marketing to packing and even deliveries - doing everything in the beginning is essential as there isn’t the money to pay anyone else.

The long hours and weekends are a fact of Solopreneur life in those early days. Yet as the business grows, and to enable the business to grow you will need help.

Enter the Virtual Assistants. A growing network of qualified individuals (often more qualified than you would ever hope to employ on a full-time basis) who provide freelance support services. Services offered range from administration and bookkeeping to social media and customer service. They work with many clients on a project or retainer basis.

Sounds perfect! Just think someone else on board to take care of all those tasks. You feel lighter – almost elated – you can let go and get on with other things – right?

Yet, managing tasks and managing people are very different things. Whilst success can lead to freeing up your time, reducing your stress and increasing the capacity of your business, if you get it wrong it can create more stress, worrying about tasks being done incorrectly and not ready on time.

Before you know it, you could find yourself becoming the client we all hate, the dreaded ‘micro manager’. A cycle of constant email queries, checking up, sending out lastminute requests and changing the goalposts.

So how do you create that ‘Dream Team’ partnership. This article will help you

• Find the right VA for you and your business

• Build and manage that relationship to ensure a happy and effective partnership.

In researching this article, I asked some VA’s for their insight and experience, I have included some advice in their own words.

The 2 Must Haves before you start your search for a VA

If you were going to take on a member of staff, you would need to create a job description and person specification – hiring a VA should be the same.

A Job Description

What tasks do you want someone to do? These should be things that are routine in the business and done using clear guidelines or instructions. From dealing with customers’ orders, scheduling appointments to social media. Listing out all the tasks you plan to delegate will give you a good start to approach a VA.

A Person Specification

What knowledge and skills are important? Are there systems they must be familiar with such as Hootsuite or Mailchimp? A second language? What experiences would be useful, for example working in the same industry. Finally, what personal attributes are you looking for. Avoid general terms like ‘good communicator’. What do you need, someone who is comfortable talking to clients and cold calling or creative writing ability?

With this clear picture in mind speak to at least two or three VA’s.

You could seek recommendations from other business owners (but remember your needs could be very different to theirs)

You may find a VA through your networking groups.

LinkedIn is a great resource, with the opportunity to review VA's profiles for background and experiences, looking for a good match.

“I would recommend you start the search before you really need one, with the view that you will need some support in 3-6 months” – Fiona Ibbetson http://www.getaheadva.com/meet-franchisee-fiona-ibbetson/

Once you have found them, pick up the phone – don’t rely on email, have a conversation on the phone, via video conference or even meet face to face.

If your job description includes tasks of producing marketing materials or reports, you may want to see samples of previous work.

“Your VA wants to provide the very best service so discussing your needs and expectations will be welcomed” – Jenni Brown http://www.jjbofficeservices.co.uk

Remember, whilst you are looking to find the ‘right match’ they also need to be happy that you will be a good client. It is useful to start with a trial period or trial project.

“A ‘no-obligation’ trial period has worked well for me – if it turns out not to be a good fit you can part company with a professional relationship intact” - Alison Knight http://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-knight/

In surveys where managers were asked ‘what is the hardest thing about managing people?’ alongside delivering bad news and dealing with conflict, delegating was high on the list. Add to that someone you don’t know very well and who is working remotely makes it even more important to get this right.

So take a deep breath, here are the essential tips to create and maintain a happy and effective partnership

You as the business owner are still responsible for getting those tasks completed, it’s your business, your orders, your commitments to your customers. Delegation is achieving those tasks through a third party. Successful delegation is made up of three key elements.

Clear Responsibility – what are they expected to do and by when.

Defined Authority – what are the boundaries that they can make decisions within. e.g. if they are dealing with customers what can they agree to and what should be referred to you.

Agreed Accountability – They understand and accept the tasks, agree the responsibilities and authority given.

A written agreement is essential. Where appropriate provide a ‘standard operating procedure’ for each task to ensure consistency over the long term. Plus, if you need someone else to step in either temporarily or permanently (or you take the step to employing someone) these ‘step by step’ guides will also save a huge amount of time.

“VA’s are super talented individuals, but we aren’t mind readers” – Catherine Body http://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-body/

Sorry but before things get easier you will need to invest time and even accept things may initially take longer in the hand over period.

Take the time to share about your business, why you do what you do, how do you help your customers. Explain why the tasks they are completing are so important and the impact of working well together. Building a relationship will help the VA to feel a valuable part of your business and win their support.

“Don’t expect you will be on the same wavelength immediately; it takes time. When one of my clients said we should treat the next month or two as getting to know each other time I was so pleased – it didn’t take that long, but it took the pressure off and our working relationship has benefited” – Mandy Gorse http://www.linkedin.com/in/mandy-gorse-042599172/

Trust is the foundation of any successful relationship. The way to build trust is through open, honest and regular two-way communication.

Don’t limit your communication to emailing over lists of tasks. Communication is a two-way process; sharing information, confirming understanding, receiving feedback and agreement

Remember to give feedback, to say 'Thank you' and to share successes.

Setting up a regular phone call will enable you to develop the relationship and ensure they become an advocate for your business too. Even agreeing that emails are responded to within a set time (i.e. 48 hours) will help to build that trust.

Take advantage of their expertise, explain what needs doing but be open to ways of doing it better, easier or quicker. After all they are likely to have wider experience than you.

“We spend a lot of time on training and self-development to ensure we provide the best support possible” – Amy Russell http://www.linkedin.com/in/amyrussell3/

“We recognise when we have the ability to offer further assistance and say so, plus we make a good sounding board too” – Wendy Laverty http://www.linkedin.com/in/wendylavertypacloud/

Like you, a VA works hard to earn their living.

When asked to describe ‘difficult clients’ they were the late payers, those that cancelled work at the last minute or failed to treat them with respect. These factors will have a detrimental effect on your relationship and prevent you getting the best support.

Engaging a VA has the potential to transform how you work in your business and to get back that vital work-life balance. It may be difficult to release control and trust someone to work on your behalf yet it is a key part of growing a business and the first step on the road to leadership.

I would like to thank all the Virtual Assistants who kindly provided feedback and insight to this article. I hope that this is a useful resource for both Small business owners and Virtual Assistants.

Janet Doran , works as a Strategic Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners to win in competitive markets.

Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk or call 07505 120051 and Follow her on twitter https://twitter.com/thepositivepen

One of the key benefits business owners get from working with a business coach is that ‘protected’ time to work on the business instead of it in. If you are thinking about working with a business coach in 2019 please give me a call.