There are several tools and software that can make your life easier when working with a virtual assistant. Today, we’re going to cover some tools that you can use with your virtual assistant to make sure communication is flowing and everyone is on the same page. Some of these tools are essential, especially if you’re working with multiple virtual assistants at once.
LastPass
LastPass is a tool that allows you to store your sensitive information, including your passwords and your credit card information. The nice thing about LastPass is that you can put whatever information in here that you’d like and send it directly to your virtual assistant’s LastPass account. They never see your information, but it autofills the passwords into whatever your virtual assistant is trying to log into.
If you need your virtual assistant to make purchases on your behalf (such as stock photos or presents for your customers), LastPass is a great way to let them make those purchases. Your credit card information is automatically pre-filled for them in the checkout page and you have the receipt right in your inbox.
If you and your virtual assistant part ways, you don’t have to go into every account and change the passwords individually. You can simply revoke their LastPass permissions and they will no longer have access to your secure accounts.
There are several password keeping options out there that you can use, but LastPass is one of the more popular ones. The only limitations of LastPass is that if a website (like Zapier) requires you to manually login, it won’t autofill with LastPass. LastPass is a great tool that can help your virtual assistant get into the majority of websites out there, but there are a few websites that require you to jump through the extra hoops.
Toggl
This tool is a must-have for virtual assistants who are working an hourly rate. Toggl tracks the amount of time a virtual assistant spends on a task and then generates a chart for you to look at. That way, you know exactly where your hours are going and how long it takes your virtual assistant to do each task.
It’s important to know where your hours are going when you’re working with an hourly virtual assistant because if you’re paying for 10 hours per month, you need to make sure you’re getting 10 hours worth of value from your virtual assistant. If you see that you’re paying for 10 hours but your virtual assistant is logging 1 hour per day to check 5 emails, there might be a problem.
You can also compare Toggl charts between your virtual assistants. For example, if a virtual assistant is taking 30 minutes to set up your newsletter for the week but another assistant only takes 10 minutes, it might be worth it to redelegate task to the assistant that takes less time. Take a moment to review their time logs at the end of each week.
Google Drive
There are multiple ways to share files and documents with your virtual assistants, but Google Drive is by far the easiest. You can custom choose who gets to view, comment, or edit the content. You can have documents edited in real time.
When you have new material that you need to share with your assistants, a Google Drive folder instantly populates your new material in their Google Drive folder.
Trello or Asana
Both of these apps are for project management, which is a necessary tool if you have a lot of moving parts in your projects.
We use Trello at Deleg8te since there aren’t too many tasks that need to be distributed. I write the blog posts and then pass them to another virtual assistant (Mae) to upload them. Trello is how we communicate what blog post needs to go up next and which ones need editing. The nice thing about Trello is that you can focus on one task at a time and break that task down into smaller projects. Trello is great for small, focused projects that don’t require a large amount of legwork to complete.
For bigger tasks that require more assistants and moving parts, try a system like Asana. Asana lets you break down your business into smaller projects and tasks. Those tasks can then be delegated to different virtual assistants. Asana might be overwhelming for a smaller business, but if you plan on scaling, Asana is a great tool for your business.
What other tools do you use to manage your virtual assistant? Let us know in the comments below.
