Four Steps To Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant

One of the first steps to expansion is hiring your first virtual assistant to take you there. Are you ready to give yourself, and your growing business, the energizing, passion-infusing gift of outsourced support?

Outsourcing to the right virtual assistant and eventually virtual team makes your business more streamlined and credible and your processes more efficient. Reliable team members free up your time to pursue growth and focus on your brilliance instead of getting caught up in the tasks you’re not best at.

Last week, I wrote about the QUALITIES of a great virtual assistant. This week, let’s look at PROCESS for finding that first member of your team.

Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant
Step 1: Know When You’re Ready for Support

• If you can spare $50 a month, you’re ready. Start where you can and grow from there.
• If you want practice managing a team, being a BOSS and understanding your communication style, you’re ready.
• If you want the capacity to support your ideal business and a lot of customers / clients, you’re ready. When the a line of your dream clients knocks on your door, you’ll have the infrastructure in place to provide them your best work.
• If your offerings are deserving of a bigger impact, you’re ready. A virtual assistant provides support, freeing you up time and resources, so you can easily share your passion via writing, speaking or creating.
• If you’re prepared to be held accountable for being up-to-date with your weekly tasks, you’re ready. A virtual assistant will be invested in your business’ marketing and support you staying on track in your role as its leader.

Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant
Step 2: Identify the Outsourcing Need

When you’re ready to create a job posting, spend some time meditating on the exact NEEDS you’re looking to outsource. Every business and entrepreneur is different, and every virtual assistant has unique support skillsets.

The best way to get a great match is to create a specific JOB DESCRIPTION:

• What tasks currently slow down your process?
• What are your weaknesses as an entrepreneur, and how could another person help compensate for them?
• What part of running your business drains your energy? How could someone else take over in this area?

We created a worksheet to help you if you’re feeling stuck on your job description. Click here to download!

Once you’ve determined your business’s unique needs, create a posting on Elance or oDesk. Anticipate that your virtual assistant may be located in the US, or she/he may be living in India, the Philippines, elsewhere abroad- Make sure you ask the hours they will work to synch your work schedule with time zone difference. You can actually leverage the time zone difference, and delegate tastes while you sleep.

And remember one job description may end up being two people! Be open to different possibilities.

Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant
Step 3: Interview Prospective Virtual Assistant Hires / Provide A Test Task

Once you’ve found a small group of potential virtual team members, give each a test task that aligns with the projects and assignments they’d be working on. You will get to see where they are at right now with their current skillset.

Keep in mind that they’re not yet familiar with all the ins and outs of your business process and unique voice, but use this test as an opportunity to evaluate their work ethic, timeline and see how their qualities and personal style align with your own.

You may end up with two people who share the work as your virtual assistant, each using their unique strengths to add support and value.

Hiring Your First Virtual Assistant
Step 4: Set Up Your Virtual Assistant for Success

You’ve decided to outsource. You’ve chosen your virtual assistant. Now it’s time to prepare them for success. At the beginning the process will involve more work, but this time spent is an investment. Soon, with the right virtual hires and setup, assigned tasks will be streamlined and out of your hands.

From the beginning, establish weekly deadlines and project workflow. Don’t wait for mistakes to be made to outline exactly what your expectations are.

Use technology to track and pay your team. There are so many great online resources to help with this process. We recommend Asana and Trello to track projects and connect with your virtual team.

We are stronger when we build collectively. Let’s gain from communal knowledge. Post your outsourcing success stories, hiring tips or questions in the comments below.

Best of luck growing your team and building your empire!

Join our list to stay posted weekly on virtual assistant tips and on our exclusive Building a Virtual Team training program hosted by my great friend and business partner, Amberly Miller. Her program will launch in the coming months – stay tuned!

2 responses to “How To Hire Your First Virtual Assistant”

1. Samara says:

   September 13, 2014 at 2:36 am

   Thanks for sharing. I love starting with clarity about what you need. Knowing what slows me down is key to really making a VA the most successful.

2. Simplifying Your Social Media Plan says:

   June 26, 2015 at 6:47 pm

   […] a virtual assistant (and when you’re at the point that you should) from my client and friend, The Big Factor – I followed her steps and recommendations and have to say, I’m pretty […]