Lighten Your Load and Become More Productive

By Ann Brown
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Having a virtual assistant (VA) on board can play a pivotal role throughout your busy work day. We've all had days where the phone is ringing, deadlines are closing in and text messages are flying back and forth. Imagine having a VA, not only to handle miniscule tasks, but also to partner with you to actively engage in important work matters.

Hiring the right VA means you'll immediately have more time to do those tasks that directly contribute to the growth of your business. But if you've never worked with a virtual assistant, where do you start? How do you find the VA who is right for you?

Searching Online

Obviously, the bottom line is that you want to find someone whose fees are within your budget, is competent of the work to be performed and is both available and reliable. You can easily do a search on Google for "virtual assistant," but hiring someone that way is really a shot in the dark. Instead, try the International Association of Virtual Assistants or the National Association of Christian Virtual Assistants. Both have directories of their members, as well as a request for proposal process to find a good VA match for you.

The Web site Elance works on a rating system, and you can read reviews left by other members about your potential VA. Hiring someone with 100 percent positive feedback is a good indication that you're probably getting a quality VA.

Another point to remember is that not every VA is going to have the top-notch skills to do every task you require. If you are looking for someone to manage your bills and accounting, you don't want to necessarily hire a virtual assistant who promotes herself as a "social media expert." You wouldn't expect your accountant to also manage your Web site, so be open to the fact that you may want to hire more than one VA.

First Impressions

As you begin your search to find the perfect VA, take the time to go through a complete interview process. The first step is to visit his or her Web site:

• Is it professional and easy to navigate?
• Are testimonials present?
• Is the necessary company and personal information provided?

After narrowing your selections, you'll want to contact the prospective candidates via e-mail. This is also a good test. How fast did they respond? What did the e-mail look like in response to your query? Was it professional? If you requested specific information, were your instructions followed? All of these are good indications as to how your working relationship with the VA will be, so take everything into consideration.

The Phone Interview

A phone interview is the final phase of the hiring process. Make sure you have set aside about 30 minutes to an hour to chat by phone, and be prepared with a list of questions before you get on the call. This will prevent you from getting sidetracked or forgetting to ask important things. If you're going to interview multiple candidates (and you should!), have a standard set of questions to compare answers of the candidates. Suggested Interview Questions

Can You Really Do That?

Before hiring a virtual assistant on a long-term basis, it's a good idea to find out whether they can actually do what they claim and do it well.

For example, if a VA says he is an outstanding blog writer, hire him for a one-time writing project, in which he writes five blog posts for you. In doing this, you will find out many key factors such as:

• How long did it take to complete the job?
• Was the VA easy to work with?
• Did he/she respond quickly to your e-mails or calls?
• What is the quality of the work?
• Did he/she follow instructions well?

Knowing how well a virtual assistant can do certain tasks will also make it easy for you to delegate tasks in the future without having to worry about the results.

Your Expectations

One of the biggest stumbling blocks that some people have in working with a virtual assistant is communication. You must be clear with your VA as to what you want done and what your expectations are. Before hiring someone, ask them specific questions so you know what to expect from the start:

• What is his/her turnaround time for work completed?
• When is he/she available? Does he/she work on weekends?
• Will he/she subcontract any work out to someone else?
• Is he/she task-oriented or time-oriented?

Getting the answers to these kinds of questions in the beginning will avoid problems and frustration in the future.

Delegating Work

In my experience, this is one of the hardest things for people to do. You know you need assistance, but you don't want to let anything go. "If I do it myself, I know it will get done right." Admit it – you've said that before, probably many times.

Start by making four short lists, divided into these categories:

• Tasks you like to do
• Tasks you don't like to do or don't want to do
• Tasks in which you are barely meeting deadlines
• Tasks you wish would be magically taken care of

You'll be amazed at how fast you'll have added four or five tasks in each category. Once you've broken it down, you'll know at a quick glance the jobs you'll want to give to your virtual assistant, and delegation won't seem like such an overwhelming task.

Hiring a virtual assistant can definitely save you time and money. In this economy, it's almost a luxury to have an in-house assistant, but having a VA is fast becoming a necessity. Since a VA is paid only for the time they spend working on your projects, it's a smart business move that pays off quickly, in more ways than one!

Ann Brown is a professional virtual assistant and president of virtualadminsplus.com. She specializes in real estate support and social networking and can be reached at 800-320-5159 or via e-mail at ann@virtualadminsplus.com.

Learn more in Ann’s new book, Secrets Revealed: How to Find, Hire, Utilize, and Build Your Business Using a Virtual Assistant. In this 60-plus-page E-book, you'll learn how to find the right VA for you, how to check references and how to delegate tasks, plus more than 15 pages of helpful lists and charts to put into use immediately. Get $10 off the regular price by visiting www.hiringavirtualassistantiseasy.com/wcr.