Having monthly goals and milestones is a great way to keep on track with your virtual assistant. It helps your business propel forward and it gives your virtual assistant a way to track how they can help your business accomplish its goals. You’ve probably heard of the famous SMART goals criteria, which states that goals should be: Specific (simple, sensible, significant). You want your goal to be clear and straightforward. It should dictate exactly what you want to accomplish, who you need to help you accomplish that goal, and how you’re going to get it done. Measurable (meaningful, motivating). Measuring the progress of your goal shows that your team is…

You want your first month with your virtual assistant to be seamless. After all the scouting, interviewing, contract signing, and dealing with the first few days, you’re ready to pave the road to long-term success with your virtual assistant. To set yourself on the path to success with your virtual assistant, here are a few tips that you can implement in your business. Trust your virtual assistant Micromanagement is an issue with a lot of business owners who are hiring their first virtual assistant. It makes sense because you’ve been running your business solo for so long. You’re the only one that knows the big picture of your business. Your…

You hired a new virtual assistant and onboard them into your business. Your next step is to train them. Even if your virtual assistant is versed in all of the different tasks that you need them to do, they may need a primer on your business and how it runs. If your virtual assistant needs help with skills Sometimes people hire virtual assistants at the cheaper end in exchange for training them. This is a great way to hire a virtual assistant on a budget, but you have to be prepared to train them in the tasks that you need them to do. For virtual assistants that need skills training,…

After all the scouting, interviewing, and preparing for a virtual assistant, you’ve finally made it to your first day with your virtual assistant. You might be excited to start your day with your virtual assistant, but let’s make sure that your first day goes smoothly. Here’s a list of things that you should do to ensure that your first day goes according to plan. Make sure your contracts are all signed Before you start working with your virtual assistant, you have to make sure you’re legally covered. If you and your virtual assistant haven’t agreed on the terms or the scope of work, you need to go over that through…

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.…

Now that you’re getting close to hiring a virtual assistant, you have to consider the legalities around hiring a virtual assistant. Most importantly, you’ll need your contract, W-9, and any other papers your company wants your virtual assistant to sign. In today’s blog post, we’ll go over the importance of each document. General Contract You can incorporate everything, including the non-compete and the nondisclosure agreements, into your general contract, though some businesses decide to keep them separate. Before drafting up your legal contract with your virtual assistant, be sure to differentiate between whether your VA is an employee or an independent contractor. This post will cover hiring an independent contractor.…

Hiring from a virtual assistance agency or hiring an independent (freelance) virtual assistant is a choice you’ll have to make as a business owner. There are pros and cons to each choice, so let’s go over the difference between hiring from a virtual assistance agency or hiring a freelance virtual assistant. What are you looking for in a virtual assistant? Before choosing between an agency or a freelancer, you have to figure out what you want from your virtual assistant. Are you looking for someone that you can train to do tasks specifically how you do them? Do you want someone who can jump right into your business and take…

There are hundreds of thousands of virtual assistants in the market right now. You’ll be overwhelmed trying to filter through all of them in order to find the perfect virtual assistant for yourself. Right now, there are 5,000 virtual assistants on Upwork, 74,000 virtual assistants on Guru, 26,000 virtual assistants on Freelancer, and 5,000 virtual assistants on PeoplePerHour, according to The Week. Note that these statistics don’t factor in independent virtual assistants who work for themselves or for private agencies. You have a lot of choices. Hiring through a freelancing platform You can start hiring a virtual assistant through a freelancer platform, such as Upwork or PeoplePerHour. The positive side…