After my post on hiring your first employee, I got a lot of questions about the other employment scenario I mentioned – VAs. So I asked Carrie Keplinger, VA extraordinaire and forum moderator for The Creative Empire, to share what a VA is and how hiring one can benefit your business. Thanks, Carrie!
Lots of folks are talking about virtual assistants these days, and just as many are labeling themselves such. It’s even kind of trendy to hire a VA. But just who are these people, and do you need one?
I fell into being a virtual assistant quite by accident. What I mean is that I never intended, in all my wildest dreams, to become a VA until an innocent conversation about web assistance found me saying, “Well, I could do that!”
I have a varied background. My professional life started out in the dry, technical realm of manual writing and streaked quickly into journalism, where I eventually became a magazine editor. When the field tanked several years ago, I fell back on two of my favorite indulgences, graphic design and crochet, determined to forge my way through creative businesses.
And then Tara came along and sort of spun everything around. She needed someone to handle various projects for her company, Scout Creative Media. I needed money and had the skills to help. Suddenly, overnight, I was a VA.
I now have several virtual assistance clients and I handle everything from answering their email and doing research to blogging and social media to graphic and web design.
But that’s just my story. Every VA has their own. Every VA has their set of skills. What you must do is to find one with the skills YOU need.
And that’s the first question you should ask yourself: “What do I need?”
What tasks bog you down and keep you from focusing on what really brings in money? Is it bookkeeping, correspondence, blogging? Is updating your web and social media presence eating too much time? Now, imagine letting go of those tasks and trusting someone else to do them. Can you? If you can, you’re ready to move forward.
Next, ask yourself, “What do I need to do to prepare for my future VA?”
A virtual assistant can’t just waltz in and take over your email correspondence; you must first decide on a procedure for handling, filing, and resonding to your emails. Pick a task that you want your VA to do, then sit down with a pad of paper and a pencil and do that task yourself. Write down the steps you take and describe how you deal with different situations. Be sure to include any rules, policies, or specifics you have for certain tasks.
You also need to prepare your budget; VAs don’t work for free, you know. Cost generally fluctuates based on the kind and amount of work performed and can be anywhere from $12-45 an hour (or more!). Do some research into what VAs in your field are making and plan your budget accordingly.
The final question you need to ask is, “Where can I find a virtual assistant?”
Ask your friends. I don’t mean that you should ask your buddy to be your assistant. No, ma’am, that might be a bad plan. What I mean is that if your friend has a VA, maybe you should find out if she can help you, too. Most VAs have multiple clients and might have an opening for a new one.
Check your local networks. Is there a business network that meets in your area? Find out when their next meeting is scheduled and see if you can attend. You will likely pick up some good leads and may even meet a VA in person.
Go online. There are several online organizations for VAs, including the International Virtual Assistants Association, which allow you to submit a Request For Proposal to their bank of professional assistants. Check social networks like LinkedIn, too, and don’t forget to ask around in any business forums of which you are a member.
Think you’re ready for a virtual assistant? Go for it! You’ll be amazed at what you are able to put back into your business now that someone else is helping you take care of things.
Carrie Keplinger does graphic design and marketing from her home in Pennsylvania. She is a virtual assistant for Scoutie Girl and IndieMade.
Oy. I am so wrestling with this! for me the bottom line is trust. I *know* I should get a VA to do a lot of the file production and upload work for my online store, but there is a lot of personal data and information that I’d have to give someone who I’ve literally never met and…it just makes me nervous.
I struggled with the same trust issues as Eleanor (reply above me). I wanted to find a VA who came with stellar recommendations, and met all my other criteria. I did find one lady with a business similar to mine who was looking to take on more clients. She had a professional website and came across very trustworthy…as much as you can think so reading online. I almost contracted with her. But, in the end I decided to go with someone with less experience, but that I actually know and have complete trust in. Such a difficult decision.
Hey Megan,
I wrote a post about hiring a VA that your readers might find helpful.
http://www.themogulmom.com/2009/11/how-to-hire-the-right-virtual-assistant/
Hiring a fab virtual assistant is TOPS on my list of goals for 2011. 😀
Heather
Great post Carrie and Megan – it is always refreshing to see educational post on our growing industry.
@Eleanor – I understand your concerns…my tip to you is to schedule a few consultations and get a feel for the different Admin Consultants/VA’s you talk to – you will probably feel more comfortable and safer with one more than all the others – so just make sure you do your homework and you should be fine when it comes to finding YOUR excellent Administrative Consultant 🙂
Hey, That was a good post, I like it. I also found some intresting posts about virtual assistant services at http://adaywithvirtualassistan-flex-m.blogspot.com
Megan/Carrie,
Great post and very informative for anyone looking to partner with a VA. I loved what you said about preparing for your VA, it’s essential that you know exactly how you intend to work with your VA from the get-go and what tasks they will take on. This will mean that you need to invest some extra time but it will ensure the relationship gets off to a good start
@Eleanor – A lot of business owners are nervous about bringing someone on board whom they haven’t met before and probably never will however there are ways to ensure that you are choosing the right VA for your business (very important aspect of working with a VA). As a Virtual Assistant Matchmaker, a lot of my clients come to me because they are nervous about finding the right VA and we help to alleviate the stress and hassle of the interview process by presenting them with pre-screened and qualified VA’s.
However this can also be done by asking the right questions (be very clear and precise) and knowing exactly what you need in a VA before you decide to start interviewing, eg do you need someone available at particular times, do they need to have certain skills, do they need to have experience in your industry. Also follow up with clients they have worked with previously and ask about deadliness and any work issues you should be aware of. By the end of the interview process, you should be 100% convinced that you have found the right VA, if you haven’t, keep going until you do.
Regarding your anxiety about passing out personal information. Start off slowly with your VA, give them small tasks where they are not necessarily dealing with any personal information and once you become more comfortable with them, you can start to add more important tasks and always follow up so you know how things are going, not micro managing but stay in touch with them on a regular basis (this is something you would set at the start of the relationship.
Referrals are a great way to find a VA but you must still interview them, someone else’s awesome VA may not be the right VA for you.
Hope this helps you feel a little more at ease.
Grainne
Hiring a virtual assistant have lots of benefits. It’s no wonder why there are lots of business owners who hire VAs and even much more people who are interested on being one. It doesn’t only save time but it is also cost effective since you don’t have to have an actual office for him/her.
For someone who doesn’t have that much budget, you might wanna consider looking in some lower income countries like the Philippines. I think you just got to have an effective technique on hiring to be able to hire a great Virtual Assistant for as low as $3 per hour.
I definitely agree on what you said here, specially on finding virtual assistant to handle your business, virtual assistant is a big help, they expand your business with minimal cost.
when you have a virtual assistant of your business its great, because VA handles any kind of task, then it helps you also to grow your business with less cost, your article is great, thanks for sharing this.
Hey Guys,
I have read this post and I love to share my experience and learning to you guys about VA.
The very important thing to remember when outsourcing offshore is that you are doing it to save time and money. A key to making sure this happens is that you articulate your instructions in such as way as to ensure that your VA knows exactly what to do and precisely what your expectations are. And by keeping this in mind Im happy that I got the perfect Virtual Assistant for me.
I have considered one from Australian Company and their assistants are located in the Philippines and are monitored by their on site management team.You can reach your Virtual Assistant at any time via telephone and you will be assured that any confidential business information is kept secure as we have some of the greatest computer security available.
This makes them affordable and the work is really really awesome. I tell you, try them!
Hey my friends I tell you some tips. Your personal account manager will discuss your business objectives more widely, to learn how we can align our strategy to help you achieve your goals. We customise a solution that will deliver the most relevant traffic to your website, with the potential to increase your rankings exponentially.
Hire Virtual Assistant for Link Building Pakistan, Affordable Virtual Assistant