How to Hire a Virtual Assistant: The Entrepreneur's Guide for outsourcing
Hiring a Virtual Assistant is one of the first but most crucial hires that you can make as an business owner. If you don't have someone on your team to assign specific duties to, you'll be wasting your time and energy doing activities that don't actually contribute to the growth of your business.
Solopreneur vs Entrepreneur
One of the key distinctions in a "solopreneur" (someone that is sole person in their business) and a business proprietor/entrepreneur is a team. The business owner isn't able to do everything themselves. They create systems and employ individuals to take care of things on their behalf. This is a necessary step to building a scalable business that grows even when employees aren't working.
Hiring a team member is a critical step in making transition from being a sole proprietor to one who owns a business or, as Michael E. Gerber, author of the top-selling business publication The E-Myth will say: from working on your company to working in your business. Having other people on your team helps to reduce your workload so you can focus on activities that will have the biggest effect on your company and your income.
In this post I'll walk you through the steps when hiring a virtual assistant and share some specific tips and tools that can help you to manage your virtual assistant effectively.
Jump into:
- Benefits of hiring virtual employees
- Virtual assistants in various types
- How do you become the CEO of your own company
- How do you choose which tasks and processes to delegate
- How do I find an assistant virtual
- 6 steps to hiring an assistant virtual
- Strategies for managing the virtual assistant
- Top tools for outsourcing and managing virtual workers
- Hire a virtual assistant so you can concentrate on what is most important to you.
When you've hired the first Virtual Assistant, you can use the same process to identify even more tasks to delegate, create new positions in your company and recruit more employees until you have just one job in your company which is the CEO position.
For now we'll tackle the hiring of your first Virtual Assistant.
Benefits of hiring virtual staff
Whether you hire a single Virtual Assistant or build an entire team of virtual workers, outsourcing remote staff members could significantly impact your productivity and the growth of your business.
Here are a few of the main benefits of hiring Virtual Assistants:
It doesn't require an office space
Depending on where you live the cost of renting office space can be quite expensive. Hiring a Virtual Assistant enables you to begin building your staff while keeping expenditures at a minimum. With the exception of some software tools that assist in communication with and managing the virtual team, the primary cost of hiring virtual staff is the amount you have to pay for their work.
Virtual Assistants are inexpensive
Virtual Assistants are an affordable alternative to regular employees. The majority of Virtual Assistants are independent contractors . Depending the location they live in their rate of pay can be substantially lower than what a local employee costs you. A virtual Assistant in the Philippines is an instance, and will typically cost just a fraction of the price a Virtual Assistant within North America costs for the same tasks and responsibilities.
You're not limited by the local talents (hire only the very best of the best)
There are many entrepreneurs who do not have access to a local pool of qualified candidates for the job. Virtual Assistants can be employed from any place around the globe as long as they have an internet connection. The absence of having to recruit someone locally increases your number of candidates you could consider for certain roles significantly.
Delegation helps prevent burnout
Giving specific tasks or responsibilities to other people is a huge step toward preventing burning out. However, there are a lot of entrepreneurs that feel they have to handle all the work themselves. That's exactly what they are doing. This can lead to extremely prolonged work hours, inability to focus, feeling overwhelmed, and a lack of time to other aspects of their lives like exercise, hobbies, and the family.
You should spend more time in strengths
You can't be a master of everything. Nor would you ever strive to be. Every task or process that is required to run your company (including the ones you don't like or don't know how to do! ) There are individuals who are experts in these things and enjoy doing them. Employing people to help delegate work allows you to focus on activities that you enjoy and that you're good at.
The focus is on high-value and income generating actions
Finally, when you engage an assistant virtual and you are able to free up time to work on projects which add value to your business as opposed to the tasks you assigned to your Virtual Assistant. That is, you free up more time to work on projects which have an impact on your income.
"Your most precious source of human resources (not solely a business owner) is TIME. If you're not committing to, the greater your focus. The greater your focus, the more the impact you will have in the time you're given. Because of this, everybody should at least employ one Virtual Assistant."
Matthew Turner Matthew Turner
Different types of virtual assistants
One of the most important issues you're likely asking yourself when you think about the hiring of a virtual Assistant is, what could they do for you?
The answer is pretty much anything.
As long as they have the right training, skills and the right tools Virtual Assistants can effectively do any task that does not require their presence physically that, when you think about it, is actually a lot.
That being said, there various types of Virtual Assistants. You need to know which type of Virtual Assistant is best suited to the job you want outsourcing.
The General Virtual Assistant
The most commonly used form that Virtual Assistant is known as a General Virtual Assistant (aka a General VA). A General VA is someone who can take on the everyday tasks and routines which are essential for the running of your business , but are not dedicated to growing the business.
The duties you'd give to an General VA typically are specific and repetitive, such as handling your travel or email agenda, scheduling your meetings, data entry, studies, scheduling postings on social media and more.
The Specialized Virtual Assistant
A specialist virtual assistant is an individual with a particular set of skills and is best at overseeing a very specific process within your company. They are generally more expensive as compared to General VAs due to the fact that they have a specialized skill set and require only minimal training from you.
tasks like customer service, bookkeeping, editing videos, or project management, for example, are better suited for the services of a specialized VA.
Tasks that are outsourced. the results
When you hire an General VA, it is best to outsource certain tasks and processes, and you should offer them training in how to do those tasks and processes properly.
If you have a specialized VA it's best to outsourcing particular outcomes. A specialist VA is more proficient than you are (that's the reason you choose them!) at the specific procedures and tasks that form the basis of their work. Because you're relying on their expertise and knowledge in the specific tasks and processes, you should inform them what is required, instead of what to do, but how you can accomplish it.
An increase of Twitter followers by 10 10% per month, for instance, could be one example of the result. Importing blog content to Google Drive to WordPress, as an example, can be a job to be completed. What is the difference?
How to become the CEO of your business
If you haven't hired an employee as soon as you started your company You'll likely be taking on the charge of a variety of roles. In other words, you're wearing many different hats which means that your time will be divided between multiple tasks and duties.
To become the CEO of your firm, and to spend your time only doing the things the CEO needs to devote their time on You must give specific tasks and duties to employees.
It boils down to basic math.
If your aim is to generate over 100,000 dollars in revenue per year such as, say, you can't expect to meet this objective with the help of jobs that cost you just $20 an hour. If you're able to work more than 5,000 hours during a twelve-month period (unlikely) then the numbers does not add up. You need to spend your time doing things that pay more hours of work.
One reason people are reluctant to hire employees is due to the fact that they consider hiring others as a burden and not as an investment. If you've felt this way regarding hiring people, this exercise should be helpful for you.
Determine your desired hourly Cost
The Target Hourly Rate (THR) is the price at which your work time, as CEO of your business, must be worth so that you can achieve your income goals.
To determine the Target Hourly Rate take the monthly (or annual) earnings goal, and then divide it by the total number of hours you intend to work during that period of duration.
As an example: $250,000 (annual income goal) divided by the number 2,000 (the number of working hours) equals $125/hour.
"Personally, I hired way ahead of when I believed I was ready to hire an assistant. I also encouraged others to do the same. Most individuals wait until they're in a certain revenue level, or have been in business during a specific time. There is no "magic" date when hires support, other than: If it lets you be focused on the things you excel at, and there's no need to go into debt for this, and the time you'll conserve allows you to concentrate on activities that generate revenue Then it's time."
- Trivinia Barber
Every single task within your business is estimated to have amount in dollar
Being an entrepreneur, it's your responsibility to determine the activities that contribute the most benefit to your company and you should spend the majority of your time working on those tasks. Any tasks or activities that fall below your Target Hourly Rate should be delegated to someone else.
If you're struggling to meet your goals for income, I'm pretty sure it's due to not spending sufficient time and energy on activities of high value.
tasks of low and high value jobs
Tasks with low value must be completed to run your business , but they do not directly impact revenue growth. Examples of low-value tasks are customer support, bookkeeping and project management, graphic design editing, and so on.
The most valuable tasks directly impact revenue growth. Some examples of high-value jobs are the marketing of leads and lead generation and selling, as well as launching new products or services and forming strategic alliances and .
The most efficient way to boost your income as business owner is to delegate less-valuable tasks and to fill your schedule with as many high-value tasks as possible. Use the income that you earn from tasks that are high value to pay for the outsourcing of tasks that are low value.
How to choose what jobs and procedures to outsource
Each business is armed with a lengthy list of activities and procedures associated with operating the company. For you to decide which tasks you should outsource and which ones you should keep doing, start by categorizing these jobs and processes.
Every task and process in your business belongs in one of four categories:
1. Tasks that you should do High-value jobs that you are passionate about that you're proficient at.
2. Tasks that you should not complete: jobs that aren't worth your time and do not make the most way to use your time, regardless of whether you're proficient in them, or enjoy working on these tasks. (These are the hardest ones to outsource!)
3. Tasks that you don't want to do: tasks that you don't like doing however, somebody else would.
4. You are unable to complete: tasks that you lack the necessary knowledge and skills to do properly.
If you're not already done so, download our Worksheet on Outsourcing. We included a table for you to record and categorize the tasks and processes within your company.
"The tasks you hate and can't complete ought to be on the most important list of tasks to delegate. The most difficult tasks to delegate with are those that you are able to do, and might even enjoy doing however, you shouldn't be doing them."
- Nick Loper
What is the best way to find a virtual Assistant
Hiring virtual staff for specific tasks on your team is distinct from hiring for projects that are specific to.
When you hire a freelancer for a specific assignment, that job has starting and expiration date. And since most freelancers have multiple clients, you won't ever be their top priority.
If you choose to hire a virtual Assistant, you are making the position of a team person. Although the duties you delegate to them may alter in time, they'll remain in a certain position in your group. This doesn't mean that you can't find them via an online freelancer site like Fiverr or Upwork. There are numerous virtual assistants seeking work on these sites that are able to meet your demands.
The steps for hiring virtual Assistant
Step 1: Document the work you wish to outsource
Start by making a list of all the tasks and processes that you plan to delegate to your Virtual Assistant. In the event that these tasks are ones which you're already performing by yourself, write training documents (aka Standard Operating Procedures) to perform these duties. If you want to learn to write powerful Standard Operating Procedures, check out this guide.
If you're employing the services of a Specialized Virtual Assistant, document the results you'd like for them to achieve in lieu of specific assignments or steps.
2. Make an employment description
When you've got the list of tasks you want to delegate, it's time make a job description for the role who will have responsibility for the duties.
tasks that require specialization are not included in the job description for General Virtual Assistant. Every task are delegated to the General Virtual Assistant should share a similar skill level as well as hourly rates.
Your job description should include:
- Background information about your business (your industry, what you are selling, as well as whom your clients/customers are)
- Experience, education level or other skills are required
- A list of responsibilities and duties
- A list of all apps or tools they will be making use of
Here's an example of a properly written Virtual Assistant job description that we adapted from Shopify's guidelines for hiring Virtual Assistants:
Step 3: Create a job posting on the web.
Once you have your job description ready then the next thing to do is to make it available online and begin accepting applicants. One option is to post your job description directly through Craigslist (post in the city/country you'd like to employ in). Another alternative is using an Virtual Assistant hiring service or directory.
Here are some other popular directories and websites you could use to find Virtual Assistants:
"It's crucial to develop a thorough job description so expectations are satisfied by both parties. I always ask people whom I have met for recommendations. A virtual assistant should have examples of their work. Contacting them via phone is very helpful for getting acquainted with them and their personality to determine if they are a great match."
-- Sue Canfield
4. Read applications & schedule interviews
Review the applications that come through and schedule interviews with the best 5-10 applicants. I recommend conducting videos with your best candidates. An interview via video is the next best thing to chatting with someone face-to-face. You can figure out the instant you are in love with the person and can communicate via video conference. If someone isn't willing to do a video interview with you, this is an indication that they aren't interested and you shouldn't hire them.
In your interview with every candidate, don't only ask them about their work experience and skills. Ask them about their goals, their hobbies, how they feel about work as well as how they would like being managed. Perhaps you can invite your potential candidate to take a an free personality test. This will help you to gain a better understanding of their character in terms of strengths and weaknesses, as well as how they function.
"We ask a very specific series of questions about character that test how someone would treat another human being. There are "automatic disqualifiers" which remove people of our process immediately based on their answers. This prevents us from talking to someone who doesn't share our values, and without us getting glossy-eyed about their resume. It has helped us avoid many bad hires and makes our screening process go much quicker."
- Trivinia Barber
Step 5: Give the top candidates an exam
Before you decide to hire an individual candidate, assign the top three candidates an assignment to complete in a way that they can test. Select a specific task that would be a part of their regular responsibilities in the first place, and then observe the way they do in this task. Inquiring your candidates to finish an actual task can aid in determining who you can identify as the best candidate.
Step 6: Provide the top candidate a test period
Choose the best candidate for the job, begin them on an initial trial (30 30 or 60 days for instance). Trial periods give the Virtual Assistant additional incentive to do a great job for you, as it could lead to a permanent role on your team. Have them sign an official Service Agreement to avoid any discrepancies at a later date.
How to manage your Virtual Assistant
Finding a virtual assistant to work for you isn't the end of the story. After you've brought someone on your team, one of the responsibilities of your role as a leader is to help maintain a positive, professional and beneficial partnership with your staff.
Evaluate performance
In the end, you should be judging the effectiveness in your Virtual Assistant based on their efficiency. To do this, ensure that you've got clear expectations and/or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in place. If your employees are meeting their goals are you truly concerned about how many coffee breaks they have in the course of the workday?
Don't micromanage
If you establish clearly defined expectations for your virtual Assistant and you evaluate them based on how well they meet those expectations, there should be no reason to supervise the virtual assistants. There are software programs that allow you to "spy" onto your virtual assistant's computer screen or monitor the amount of time they are doing their work. This isn't necessary if you have trust and clear expectations of your virtual Assistant. If you wouldn't like being managed the way that you manage you Virtual Assistant, you're probably making a mistake.
Schedule check-ins
Make use of a communications tool like Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams as well as Slack to conduct quick check-ins using your virtual Assistant. Maybe this is daily in the middle or at the end of their workday as well as every two days, or even weekly. Whatever works best for both of you. Make sure that everyone knows the things they're working on, and there's nothing or someone (including you!) hindering them from accomplishing their tasks during the day.
Requires weekly reports
After each week, let the Virtual Assistant send you a summary of their activities this week. Provide them with the template they can use to send you their reports. Here are some questions we suggest asking you to ask your virtual Assistant to address in their weekly reports along with any specific metrics or KPIs they're responsible for monitoring.
- What tasks or projects did them finish?
- What was the amount of time the team members devote to each task or task?
- What are they still working on?
- Do they encounter any issues or problems?
- Do they have comments, suggestions or suggestions that you can use?
- Do they require additional education?
Create a culture of feedback
Establish a culture among your Virtual Assistant (and anyone else you work with) of trust and open dialogue. Inspire them to discuss ideas, ask questions, and give feedback on a regular basis. Doing so will help you learn to be a better leader and manager, which will help to create friendships that are mutually beneficial with your colleagues. At , we're big fans of Kim Scott's book Radical Candor as an approach to giving and receiving feedback to get going.
Top tools to outsource and manage virtual employees
Although the idea of hiring someone that you may never actually have a conversation with may seem odd, with the proper toolsyou will be able to build and maintain productive and enjoyable relationships with your virtual staff.
The main categories of tools needed to effectively work together with Virtual Assistants as well as remote team members include communication projects, management of projects, file sharing and security (password security). Below are a few of our favorite tools for each of these categories below.
If you want to learn more about additional programs and tools to help you manage your business, you can check through our selection of .
Communication Tools
Project Management Tools:
File Sharing and Security
Engage a Virtual Assistant to help you to help you focus on the things that matter most
If you're exhausted and overwhelmed by the task of building your business, you're not alone. The majority of entrepreneurs work for all day long because they haven't learned how use their time effectively and assign tasks effectively to other people. They suffer from what our friend Chris Ducker, best-selling author of Virtual Freedom and Virtual Freedom, refers to as "Superhero syndrome".
Many entrepreneurs believe they're able to handle everything by themselves. And because of this belief, it's exactly what they are. What they lack in efficiency they make up for in the way they work, usually at the risk of burning out.
Your job as an entrepreneur is not just to create an income for yourself. That's what freelancing and self-employment are for. Entrepreneurs are those who builds systems and hires people who manage their company to run their business.
A Virtual Assistant likely won't be the only person you include in your team as you expand your business however, they must be among the very first. The hiring of a virtual assistant can make more time available for you to work on projects that will have more impact on your personal life as well as business.
"One one of the ways that we can take to prevent burning out is to become more effective delegators. It can be difficult at first letting go, but trust me, when you begin to let off the steering wheel for a while and you're ready to get the full-time driver sooner, or sooner!"
- Chris Ducker
This blog was originally published in May of 2018. It has been updated in April 2022.