5 Factors to Think About Before Searching for a Virtual Assistant
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Once you understand how virtual assistants work and you have determined the goals for your business, you can start to streamline the process by outlining six factors that will get you one step closer to being able to acquiring a great virtual assistant that you can establish a growing long term business relationship with for your business.
? Strengths- What are those tasks in your business that you are really good at completing? Also, what are those tasks that you find a struggle for you to handle on a consistent basis? It is important to write down the tasks you are proficient and those that hamper your business progress. Once you have accessed those tasks that you lack strength in completing, those are the ones you will hand over to your virtual assistant. There is no since in you taking the time to do a spreadsheet if you are not good at doing Microsoft Excel. You end up wasting time and in turn, money by doing these tasks yourself.
? Experience – When you have completed assessing your strengths, you will now have a list of tasks you will wish to hand over to a virtual assistant. For each of these tasks, you will want to ask those virtual assistant their experience in doing each of these tasks. The virtual assistant will have acquired experience from on the job or through education to have gained the knowledge to be able to handle these tasks. Sometimes, virtual assistants will reduce their rate if a requested task is something they haven’t done before, just in order to learn how to do the skills necessary to complete the task.
? Personality – Personality is something most of time noticeable during an initial conversation. For you, you may find it is much easier to work with someone who has a similar personality. However, you may prefer to have a virtual assistant who challenges your personality. You may be a person whose personality is pretty laid back and you would like to have someone who is more conservative in their personality because it will help you with time management or goal setting. However, you may wish to work with someone whose personality is similar to yours because you feel it may provide more ease in the business relationship.
? Values – Does your virtual assistant have similar values as you do? This may seem as a minor thing, however, you may want to be sure that this is more inline with what you believe if you are interested in having a lengthy business relationship with your virtual assistant. For instance, if you are a person who values integrity then you will wish to work with someone who builds their business around those same values.
? Location/Time Zone- Some business owners looking for a virtual assistant prefer they reside in the same time zone. Others like the idea of the virtual assistant reside in a different time zone, because they can use the time difference to your business’ advantage.
Before you search for a virtual assistant, taking the time to review these factors is essential to finding the correct fit for your business. You will need to determine how valuable these factors are to you and the importance of each one. By assessing these factors are when searching for a virtual assistant will help you find a better business partner in your virtual assistant then just going out finding one who won’t work out for you and your business.
Teresa Morrow is on Florida Board of Advisors with The WECAI Network ™ and Editor at Large for WE Magazine for Women ™. She has over 15 years working with various industries to include property management, landscape architecture and financial planning firms in executive administrative positions. In 2005, she left the corporate world and managed the daily operations of her husband’s floor cleaning/restoration company. In 2007, Teresa started Key Business Partners, a virtual assistance & online promotional company for coaches, speakers and writers. She cares about her clients and is available for a 20 minute free consultation. You can contact her via email at keybusinesspartners@verizon.net or visit her website at http://www.keybusinesspartners.com .
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Teresa - This is really helpful to people that might be seeking out this type of service. I have been using a VA and it makes my life soooooo much easier and is well worth the investment. One other thing I would also suggest considering is how customizable the service is. What other specialized tasks can your VA be used to help streamline administration so a business owner can keep their focus on business.
Thanks for the info!
ourmonmouth’s last blog post..Attributes of the Great Salesperson
The Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce is a fantastic resource for business owners seeking qualified and competent Virtual Assistant professionals. Of particular interest:
Client’s Guide to Virtual Assistants:
http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/client-guide.htm
How to Hire a Virtual Assistant:
http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/how-to-hire-a-virtual-assistant.htm
Virtual Assistant Directory:
http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/directory/
RFP Center:
http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/rfp-center.htm
Get to Know Our Virtual Assistants:
http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/subscribe.htm
Teresa, great list but I wouldn’t be the Life Passions Coach if I didn’t point out that you should also make sure that your V.A. has a passion for what he/she does.
Katherine Reschke’s last blog post..Is your Passion Significant?
Thank you Teresa,
As having a personal assistant is something I aspire to having I think this is a good reference
I’m still looking at this VA thing - not sure they will have the same passion as I do for my business. I guess it doesn’t hurt to try them out though.
Marni Dean’s last blog post..By: The Importance of Retaining Visitors
I have about additional income from being a VA but deep down I know that I just can’t give the comitment needed.
Maybe just freelancing once in a while is a possibility.
I like what you say Marni about having a virtual assistant who is as passionate about what you do and I think that is a great point to add here.
I have had people whom I have hired to do work with me and they may have possessed the knowledge to do it, however, they clearly did not possess the passion to get it done and so I ended up disappointed with their performance.
I think passion is another factor that should be added to this list.
Thank you Marni for your comment.
I wanted to say thank to Danielle also for giving these additional resources for the readers here. The VACOC is a great place for information as well.
Thanks Danielle.
And I believe that Katherine brought up the topic of having your virtual assistant being passionate as well about their business as well.
Yes, it does make it easier (I agree) when your virtual assistant is excited about helping your grow your business.
Thanks Katherine!
Thank you Teresa!
That is a great article on what to look for when hiring a VA. I have been trying to build my business, and over the last few months have been considering hiring an assistant.
My problem I think is giving up some control of tasks that I am afraid another person wouldn’t do as well as I would - since they don’t have the interest invested that I do.
I realize it is necessary though, and your article sure helps to understand what to look for.
Thanks for the info!
I agree with what others have said. Having a VA makes life so much easier.
If you’re not sure where to start with a VA, try handing over 1 or 2 small non-critical tasks. See how much time and energy that frees up for you. Soon, you’ll be looking for more and more things to hand off
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Hey Teresa, just found this article - so good of you to write about our industry.
The passion is true - I celebrated my 14th year in business in March and I still love what I do with a passion. My longest term client has been with me for 11 years and she’s passionate about our industry as she tells everyone about us!
Like Danielle I manage a network of VAs - in 16 countries and always welcome new members. We have a bookshop, a coaching course, webhosting and many other things available to our team members. And they get to learn so much about running their own business whilst receiving client requests at the same time.
I love working in this industry - it’s provided so many opportunities and my family love that I am home for them too!
http://www.vadirectory.net
Kathie Thomas, A Claytons Secretary’s last blog post..Transcriptions - Get all the details I
I’d like to clarify… I don’t manage anyone. Virtual Assistants each run their own busineses. Rather, I am the founder of a professional association for Virtual Assistants. That’s a large distinction.
Agreed Danielle - I don’t manage anyone either, I manage the network which assists VAs to run their businesses, learn about the industry and look after clients. Again a professional organisation for Virtual Assistants.
Kathie Thomas, A Claytons Secretary’s last blog post..Transcriptions - Get all the details I
Thank you for these very helpful tips. I have considered a VA but wasn’t sure where to begin and now I know.
LaGina
LaGina’s last blog post..Connectors for Landscape Lighting
What are some of the “best” virtual assistant companies to look into? I’m thinking that would be a good thing for me, while I have a wee one at home (she’s 22 months). Cheers!
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Cheryl,
I would like to ask you if you are looking to become a virtual assistant yourself or are you looking to hire a virtual assistant for your business?
Please clarify so I am able to answer your question properly.
Also, if you have a business, I would love to hear (read) more about it).
Thanks!
Cheryl, there are many VA forums at yahoogroups.com - I suggest you go there and do a search for Virtual Assistants and then look at the number of messages that happen - that will soon tell you which ones are most active. I belong to several and many of them are attached to VA networks so you get to hear from existing members of the benefits of membership, and how their own businesses are going. You get to mix and mingle with VAs who are already running businesses.
There are other VA networks that also run board type forums - I personally prefer the email type so I don’t have to log in and check for messages every day - the messages come to me. However, both types of forums work really well.
And I encourage you to explore joining at least 2 or 3 VA networks when you’re ready - they all have their own ‘culture’ and bring different benefits to their members. Have fun exploring!
Kathie Thomas, A Claytons Secretary’s last blog post..Transcriptions - Get all the details II
Hi,
I agree with what you had posted above. Lot of time and efforts goes into finding a best VA for you.
But the most difficult and productive part about using VA services is to find out how you can keep them for long time.
Any Thoughts?
Thanks
J
Jonathan, if you got through the Virtual Assistant Networks which are the professional organisations for the industry you will find reputable and reliable VAs that you can keep. My longest term client has been with me for over 11 years and I have several other clients that have been with me well over 5 years. I have VAs who have been with my network over 10 years.
At the VA associations or networks you’ll find members who have come from the corporate world and truly are professionals at what they do. What’s more the networks and associations give all their members support for the industry, training, and heaps of other things. This is not something that the ‘VAs’ at the freelance sites get, nor if they’re a stand-alone VA and not aligned with any VA association.
Kathie Thomas, A Clayton’s Secretary’s last blog post..How often are you backing up?
I absolutely agree - your Virtual Assistant must be passionate about your business and believe in what you do in order to effectively support you.
When investing in a Virtual Assistant for your business, you’re looking for more than just someone to delegate administrative tasks to. To get the most return on your investment, you want someone who will learn the ins and outs of your business, provide you with suggestions, feedback and truly become your sounding board and partner.
If a VA lacks excitement for your target market and what you offer, the relationship will not flourish and provide you with the best return on your investment.
Cindy Greenway
http://www.MultipleStreamsTeam.com