Tweet

Virtual Assistants Hiring Other Virutal Assistants

Guest post by: Denise Griffitts

Article Overview: As you build your Virtual Assistance practice you will find that sometimes your workload as a virtual service provider can get quite heavy. One of the best ways to handle it is to outsource some of your work to other virtual assistants. But, where do you start? Let's dig a bit deeper to get your mind wheels spinning. If we can get you out from under some of that heavy load of working all the time, life will be a whole lot easier, right? And let's be very realistic here. There are some tasks that simply fall below your skill level and that you should not be doing.

Virtual Assistants Hiring Other Virutal Assistants

As you build your Virtual Assistance practice you will find that sometimes your workload as a virtualservice providercan get quite heavy. One of the best ways to handle it is to outsource some of your work to other virtual assistants. But, where do you start? Let's dig a bit deeper to get your mind wheels spinning. If we can get you out from under some of that heavy load of working all the time, life will be a whole lot easier, right? And let's be very realistic here. There are some tasks that simply fall below your skill level and that you should not be doing. If, as a virtual assistant you are charging $45 - $75 per hour for highly technical tasks and find yourself scrambling to get all of your work done by the end of the day because you spent hours doing work that really should only bill at $15 - $20 per hour, then you have wasted your time, your energy and your skill sets. It is time to look for team members and build your practice. Find team members who willgladly and competentlyfulfil the more mundane and lower skill level tasks, pay them the agreed-upon rate and pay your business the difference.

WhatTasks to Outsource

When you work with clients, there is a strongmeasure of confidentiality that must be observed. Your clients trust you with their databases, logins and passwords, email correspondence, meeting schedules and legal documents. These can't fall into the wrong hands. So, as the person who won the client and is responsible for keeping their information safe, you have a decision to make about what you will allow others to do for you.

The first important decision that you made was to hire someone else who can provide the same service that you have for your clients (more about that in a moment). Congratulations on letting go of the reins just a little bit. Now, what tasks will you entrust them with?

The jobs that you will probably be looking to outsource at first are those that don't involve a lot of contact with confidential information. And, the jobs will be small at first so that you can get an idea of your new assistant's work style and ethic.

Here's a short list of tasks to help get your thoughts flowing:

• Article submissions
• Article writing
• Creating reports and presentations (Power Points, Videos, etc.)
• Creating newsletters (Aweber, Constant Contact, Infusionsoft, etc.)
• Graphics
• Internet research
• Social media marketing

Article writing can be used for website content or article submissions. Clients with WordpressWebsites / Blogs must keep their contentupdated with fresh, pertinent information and if you find someone who can help you whip out that content in a timely and top-quality manner, you're in business.

Companiesuse reports to send to their clients and also for internal use. Creating reports involves knowledge of tools such as spreadsheets and databases as well as how to pull information together for presentations using PowerPoint. Depending on the information contained in the reports, this may be the perfect job to let go of and pass on to someone else.

Internet research is used for many things: writing manuscripts, articles, preparing reports and more. It is a unique skill to be able to entice search engines to give up their treasures. If you have someone helping you who revels ininternet research and possesses the skills to find what you need quickly, you will quickly free up your time toperform the tasks that you excel at.

Even if you don't outsource any job that involves confidential material, it is wise to get any subcontracting virtual assistant to sign a confidentiality agreement. This way, as you get more confident and need more in-depth help, you don't have to worry about anyone selling trade secrets. On that same note, you may want to consider having all your assistants sign and Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) depending on the nature of your work.This documentcan help protect you should your assistant decide to leave and pursue his or her own career and become your competition.

Choosing the Right Team Member

Who you work with all depends on your personality and their level of proficiency with the task or tasks. First of all, no two people will do the same job exactly alike. Let's get rid of that preconceived notion right now. If not, you will drive yourself crazy and nitpick over everything they do. What you are looking for is someone who knows what they are doing and can demonstrate the skills needed to get the job done correctly and on time. You need to know and trust your assistant and to be able to delight in their skill sets and creativity. If you find yourself angsting over everything that they do, you are wasting your time and theirs. Remember, you are bringing other highly skilled professionals into your team. Certainly you need to give them explicit instructions for each task, and absolutely you should check their work for a period of time, but after you are comfortable with their level of commitment to your work, you should be able to expect that the work is done properly and only have to check in once in a while as a spot test. Virtual Assistants, like everybody else can hit a wall, have problems at home and become a little inattentive. By checking their work every now and again, you can determine if there is a problem that needs to be discussed, or just offer a helping hand until they get back on track. A valuable team member is somebody you need to nurture and care about.

Outsourcing is the perfect way to get the help you need from other competent virtual assisting professionals. Start with small jobs and progress to moreconfidential and/or technicalassignments as you see fit.

Related Articles
  The Need for a Virtual Assistant Association
  Could you work without a staff?
  Every Small Business Owner Should Have At Least One
  The Benefits of Working with a Virtual Assistant over a Temp
  What to Give the Exec Who Has Everything
  Virtual Staffing - Get Expert Help on a Tight Budget
  5 Ways Through Which Virtual Services Can Help You Engage And Retain More Customers
  Challenges Of Outsourcing To Virtual Assistants And How They Can Be Surmounted
  Is Technology Failing to Simplify Life? Tim Ferriss on Economist.com
  Disadvantages of Outsourcing to Offshore Virtual Assistants
  Learn How Small Law Firms Are Effectively Using Virtual Assistants
  Top 5 Ways To Get The Best Out Of Your Virtual Assistants
  Who and What is a Virtual Assistant?
  Relief for Small Business Owners
  The Top 5 Clerical Work From Home Jobs
  Internet Marketing Specialists are in High Demand
  Profit Growth Strategy #7 for Virtual Assistants
  It’s an Economic Recession! Have you called your VA Today?
  How to Start a Virtual Assistant Business
  Business Travelers: Why Are You Puttiing Up with all of the Pain?

Article Tags: denise griffitts, skill level, VA teamvirtual assistants, virtual assistance industry expert, virtual assistant, virtual service provider
Referred by: http://www.onlinebizu.com



Related Forum Posts
employees or 1099? - In my line of work, we are trying to keep our costs down and stay as "virtual" as possible. I was wondering if anyone had some insight as to whether I should hire employees or contractors? My apologies, here is a description of the situation so you might actually be able to answer my question. Little Man Consulting has a policy to NOT meet with clients unless they are truly against the completely virtual environment. As my company has quadropled in size this year alone, I am finding it harder and harder to keep up with the work and still grow the business. There are other Virtual Assistants out there. Should I farm out the work, or bring in employees?
Re: How can I promote my site? - [quote="Hulbert Lee":krqwp5om]You can promote your website through blog commenting, forum posting, article directories, software directories, and search engine optimization.[/quote:krqwp5om] In addition, I would also recommend running some contest if you have a blog. Keep it simple for a starter, offer good/fun prizes, and find a "community" of bloggers to spread this contest/news by of course asking them nicely and propose that it would benefit both of your sites. See how that works, and if you want to, you could also join some carnivals. We have tried this for the company that I work for (Pepper Virtual Assistants) and it's given us great exposure in the online business industry.
Re: looking for experienced affiliate feedback - Hi Nancy, Hiring an experienced firm to market and sell your products is certainly a viable option. It all depends on whether you want to spend more of your time or money. Hiring a firm is going to cost a good bit I imagine. On the flip side, to do most of the work yourself and attract affiliates to sell your products for you will require much less money but a lot more time and effort. Do you have a budget to work within? Or perhaps maybe you have a loan to get things moving?
Re: Search Engine Optimization - Hi Thomas, So what would you recommend? Hiring an SEO expert or simply trying your hand at doing it yourself?
Re: Traditonal Demographics Do NOT Work with Generation V - That article is the first time I ever heard the term. I found this definition - [i:189o61sy]The term Generation V (for Virtual) is used to describe the online culture in which relationships, services and communication are carried primarily and preferably through electronic media. Generation Virtual is made up of people from multiple demographic age groups who make their social connections primarily online - through virtual worlds in online games, in social networks, as bloggers, or through posting and reading user-generated content.[/i:189o61sy] I like the targeting options the internet offers much better than the typical demographics. Age is particular is not nearly as effective in finding a target market unless you want to target kids. Too many of the typical demographics rely on stereotypes and just seems outdated for many types of promotion. That's one of the reasons this article title caught my eye. Shri


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

What Is The Foundation for Your Vision?

The Biggest Domain Name Myth

What is an Adaptive Organization

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.