As a business owner, you're likely juggling multiple tasks, and as your business grows, the workload will only increase. To keep up with demands, hiring a virtual assistant can be an excellent solution. However, before you begin the hiring process, there are a few things you need to do to ensure that your virtual assistant is set up for success. In this blog post, we'll outline what you should do before hiring a virtual assistant.
Develop a Business To-Do List
First and foremost, it's essential to develop a business to-do list. This list should contain all the tasks that need to be completed to keep your business running smoothly. It's crucial to have a comprehensive list so that you can prioritize tasks and delegate them to your virtual assistant.
Arrange Tasks According to Their Level of Priority
Once you have a comprehensive to-do list, the next step is to arrange the tasks according to their level of priority. This means that you should identify the most urgent and essential tasks that need to be completed first. This way, your virtual assistant knows which tasks require their immediate attention. This is how a virtual assistant begins to understand the rhythm of your business- by knowing what matters most and what is of highest importance and urgency.
Establish Workflows and Processes
Before you begin working with your virtual assistant, it's essential to establish workflows and processes. This means that you need to develop a plan for how tasks will be completed and communicated.
An example of a workflow for a webinar funnel:
Share a registration link as a broadcast to marketing list using convertkit
Share webinar details on social media platforms (create and schedule posts in advance)
Host live workshop on Livestorm
Send post workshop email sequence through convert kit
It's crucial to ensure that your virtual assistant understands your expectations and knows how to get in touch with you as well if they have any questions. Having a strategy meeting at the start or end of the week is an amazing way (in our opinion) to communicate the goals of the week and to keep accountability.
Prepare what to assign and Delegate
After you've arranged your tasks, the next step is to assign and delegate them. This means that you need to identify which tasks you'll be responsible for and which tasks you'll delegate to your virtual assistant. Assigning tasks will help you ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
Prepare Expectations
It's essential to prepare your expectations before hiring a virtual assistant. This means that you need to be clear about what you expect from your virtual assistant in terms of work quality, communication, and deadlines. Preparing your expectations upfront will help you and your virtual assistant work together more effectively. You will need to share your preference and styles of working with your virtual assistant. Here's a question for you- how frequently would you like your VA to report to you for example? Would you need weekly review meetings or do you prefer short write ups? Those are just some questions you can ask yourself to determine your expectations.
Prepare a Budget- be psychologically prepared
Last but not least, it's essential to prepare a budget before hiring a virtual assistant. You need to
consider how much you're willing to spend on a virtual assistant's services and how much time you expect them to work for you. Establishing a budget upfront will help you identify which virtual assistant services you can afford and allow you to make an informed decision. Most of the time a VA or VA agency has packages that include the amount of hours dedicated to a specific scope of work- the price can waiver based off of an increase or decrease of the work scope.
Bonus tip: Determine the privacy limits you have
For those tasks you are not able to delegate because they would need you to give access to documents, platforms or anything you feel is exclusive- you need to make it clear that these are aspects of the business that only you can handle. Communicate openly and if you need to make adjustments you can always create a way for your Virtual assistant to do the work you wish to delegate without going against any boundaries within your business. For example by creating a company email to your VA to use.
Hiring a virtual assistant can be a game-changer for your business. However, before you start working with a virtual assistant, it's essential to take the time to prepare.
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