Delegating and outsourcing to Virtual Assistant can be a great way to expand your business and your services. While they are taking care of the administrative portion of your business, you can focus on your clients and the money-making tasks. However, don’t jump into the interview process without first asking yourself these questions:
What kind of person do I want to bring into my business?
Do you want someone who is just starting out so you can train them in the way you like things done or do you want someone with experience who can just run with a job until it’s complete? Do you want someone in the same time zone? What skills do I need them to have to support me?
Can you afford an assistant?
If you’re overburdened with your own work and business isn’t moving forward, hiring an assistant is a smart move. Look at your books and realistically determine a budget for this assistant and stick to it. Keep in mind that with a Virtual Assistant, you can outsource adhoc tasks or bring them in on a retainer basis (x number of hours per month) to support you. Most of the Virtual Assistants on our Virtual Assistant Directory offer adhoc hourly tasking, retainer packages of 10, 20, 30, 40 hours (some offer smaller or bigger retainers), package pricing and project pricing.
What tasks can a Virtual Assistant perform?
Know ahead of time what tasks you need to delegate so you can determine which Virtual Assistant might be right for you and your business. Not sure how to determine what you need – brainstorm the tasks that never get done in your business or the tasks that you seem to procrastinate over. These are great starting points. Walking into a discovery call with a “I’ll get you a list of tasks in a few days” attitude is bound to fail. Just as you want to find the perfect help, the interviewee wants to know you – their client – is serious about their business and will forward tasks on a consistent basis. Not sure what to outsource, we have broken down the Virtual Assistant Directory by categories of tasks to help do that initial sift.
Tips for the Interview Process
When you interview candidates, listen for their level of professionalism and if they care for their clients’ businesses as much as their own. Even in a virtual setting, you’ll want a professional who will always complete a project within the deadline rather than one who gives you one excuse after another as to why it’s not done yet.
And definitely go through a regular interview process, even if you’re hiring a virtual assistant. Don’t hire the first person who shows an interest. Advertise the opportunity, interview those who meet your initial criteria, seek recommendations and testimonials. Virtual assistants are certainly used to being interviewed and definitely make use of today’s technology of video chatting so that you can get to know, like and trust each other.
