Having a virtual personal assistant can help you save time on all kinds of different things. If you value your time at $100 an hour and could pay someone $10 an hour to handle certain tasks, why wouldn’t you? A virtual personal assistant can be a big boon to your business.
Here’s how to find and hire a virtual personal assistant.
==> Where to Find Them
There are a few different places you can look:
– Freelancer sites. Sites like eLance and oDesk are full of people looking to work as personal assistants.
– Your personal network. Stay at home moms, freelancers and fresh college grads are often interested in making extra money by being a virtual assistant.
– VA firms. There are many firms that specialize in providing virtual assistant services. You can find these firms online.
– Professional virtual assistants. You can find these professionals through searching for them online. Usually they’ll have their own websites.
==> The Beginning Stages
The first step to beginning a virtual assistant relationship is to hammer out the details of the contracting agreement.
How many hours a week do you want them to work? What are the terms of payment? What rate are you paying them? Do you expect them to work weekends? How do holidays and sick days work?
One thing you’ll want to work out is a tracking system for hours worked. If possible, use a system that can be verified to track hours.
Make sure the initial few weeks are done on a trial basis only.
==> Outlining and Outsourcing Processes
You’ll need to train your virtual personal assistant on all the processes they’ll be responsible for.
For example, let’s say four common processes are:
– Handling phone calls
– Handling emails
– Booking appointments in your calendar
– Booking flights
For each of these processes, you’ll need to outline exactly what you want your assistant to do in various situations. For example, you might tell your assistant to handle all the emails they can, forward the ones they can’t and only send you personal messages.
==> Security
Get a debit card with a limit of just $500 to $1,000 that your personal assistant can use. This is especially important if you’re working with a virtual assistant you meet online.
If you’re working with someone you know personally, you may feel safe giving them full access to your accounts and credit cards. If you don’t know them however, stick with giving them a low-limit card to start with.
==> The Working Relationship
Finally, always work to keep the working relationship positive. Tell them when they’re doing a good job.
Having a great personal assistant that you have good working chemistry with can help you save a lot of time and streamline business processes.