How Do I Hire A Virtual Assistant?
Why hire a virtual assistant? In short, to save yourself time, money, and boost productivity to drive your business forward.
As a small business owner, your most precious resource is your time. After all, each minute you spend is a minute you'll never see again. A virtual assistant is an investment in reclaiming that time so you can spend your time more wisely. If you’re sitting there, spending your days sifting through emails, writing, re-drafting and sending emails, checking messages or a million other little jobs, then your time is not being spent on developing and building your business. That is where a virtual assistant comes in.
One of the key differences between a “solopreneur” and a business owner is a team. A business owner doesn’t do everything themselves. They recognise that their time could be better spent building the systems of the business to help it continue to grow and they learn to delegate. Hiring a Virtual Assistant is one of the first, yet most important hires that you can make as an entrepreneur.
So, how do you hire a virtual assistant? When you decide to hire a virtual assistant, first clarify details regarding:
Who Do You Need?
Do you need to hire a permanent team member or a freelancer who can help with a specific project?
Is this going to be a full-time or part-time position?
What skills are necessary for this position?
Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s time to communicate that to job seekers.
How to Find Them?
One of the best things you can do, is ask within your network for recommendations. You’ll be surprised to find how many people use virtual assistants and it is always better to get a recommendation.
Failing that, a simple Google search will of course bring up lots of options. You will find you get better value for money, going directly to a virtual assistant than perhaps using an agency who will of course take a cut of what you are paying and therefore charge more.
Hiring Them
Hiring a virtual assistant is all about finding someone who is the right fit for you and your business. Something should just click.
The majority of virtual assistants will offer a free initial consultation to discuss your needs and how they believe they can help. Don’t just speak to one, speak to several, find one that you like the sound of, that sounds like your kind of person, has the skills and has the experience.
It is always useful to set up a face to face meeting, either in person if the distance is a viable option or over a program such as Skype or Zoom so you can see they are in fact a real person.
Don’t forget to discuss money and payment early on. There is no point in becoming attached to a virtual assistant you know you want to work with and finding out that they are out of your budget range.
If you’re still unsure, start out slow and see how things go. Take them on for only a few hours or just one task and see how they get on. You can always request a settling in period e.g. a 6-week probationary period to see how well you work together.
Remember communication and delegation are key. If you don’t do your job, they cannot do theirs. When you find the right virtual assistant for you and your business, you’ll be amazed at the difference it will make.
We offer a complimentary no obligation consultation to discuss how we can add value to your business. Offering you more time, more productivity and more business.
We will identify the tasks you need to outsource, the right package for you, how we would work together, regular updates and preferred communication.
Take a call today with an award-winning Business Support Expert to…
✔︎ Boost your productivity
✔︎ Help you win both at work and home
To transform your productivity schedule a call here
Selina Johnson — Business Support Expert, solution seeker and freedom fixer — helps successful coaches, consultants, speakers and entrepreneurs from across the globe to scale their businesses, make more money and achieve faster, sustainable results without compromising their time.
Over the past 16 years, she’s supported high profile individuals like award-winning architect Dame Zaha Hadid DBE, Sunday Times Top 20 Most Influential Entrepreneurs In The UK Sháá Wasmund MBE, former Co-Director of the Serpentine Gallery Dame Julia Peyton-Jones DBE, and Russian billionaire Timur Sardarov.
Today, she teaches brilliant entrepreneurs just like you how to implement her simple methods that result in BIG wins in their businesses — including the dynamite delegation strategies, time management hacks and mindset mastery she’s used to halve her hours, double her income and ditch her commute, leaving her free to create and live the life she loves.
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