In the last 3 weeks I have been trialling a couple of virtual assistants (V.A) to assist me with administrative tasks and I have learnt so many new le...
In the last 3 weeks I have been trialling a couple of virtual assistants (V.A) to assist me with administrative tasks and I have learnt so many new lessons along the way. The first thing for business owners wanting to outsource their work to a V.A is to interview them first before making any contractual commitment. You can trial their services for a 2-3 week period and it would provide sufficient time to test their abilities and resources available. Also be ready to pay for their services as nothing does come free,
though it is definitely money worth spending to save you many precious hours.
How Will A Virtual Assistant Benefit My Internet Business?
Are you getting frustrated and overwhelmed with your work? I have been and that’s why I decided to find a virtual assistant to take over a majority of my administrative tasks. The reason for hiring is to eliminate non-dollar productive tasks that requires someone to complete and can be completed from virtually anywhere in the world. Hiring a virtual assistant can be the most rewarding feeling as well, because it also teaches you to delegate and to become a business owner rather than the person who runs the show all the time. Some of the benefits I’ve seen from my virtual assistants are:
•Gives me more time to focus on business tasks where my strengths lie
•With the right virtual assistants in place it allows you to create a smooth system that runs on automation
•I can spend more time having fun and being outdoors rather than behind the computer
Watch Out If You’re Not Careful…
My very first virtual assistant I hired started with good intentions and showed promising signs. Though when I gave her an editing task to proofread my eBook and convert it to PDF with website links, she ended up spending over 10 hours on it. I was quite specific and laid out in detail what I needed and specified a deadline and time frame to finish the eBook by. Unfortunately I didn’t realise her English was average and she did everything completely wrong. Here is what I emailed to her:
Subject of TASK: Proofread and convert to PDF including links
TASK:
1.Please proof read and check for any Grammatical errors. If errors are found, please update. Also please find any words ending with “zing” or “zation” and change to “sing” or “sation”. E.g. customization to customisation.
2.Add links to websites mentioned in the document. E.g. if FaceBook, add the link to document of http://www.facebook.com. You will see examples in the document of what I have done in the first few pages.
3.Once you have checked through the document, please convert to PDF. Make sure all links are converted to PDF as well and check to see if they work in the document.
Can you do this? If not, please advise. Please reply and confirm what you will plan to do to complete this task.
DEADLINE: Please get started after your next email and stop at 1 hour and email me your work. Please begin this task now if possible. The deadline is Tuesday 5pm AEST.
Thank you for your fastest reply.
She did email me an eBook but it was not the same document I emailed her to convert and it had other people’s advertisements in it. I got quite angry at first and was going to send a really nasty email. But I decided it wasn’t going to be constructive. So I requested for another virtual assistant from that same company specifying for an assistant with excellent English. I received a much better response and managed to get the correct eBook sent back. Though, I did mention to them that the previous assistant needed to receive more English training.
The lesson I learnt here was not to accept what you’re given, but to keep trialling until you find an assistant who meets your standards.
Where Do I Find Virtual Assistants That Are Suitable?
To date I have found my most reliable virtual assistant for $3.50 an hour on eLance and this is the site I continue to use to look for other people to work for me. There are many other websites that I recommend below:
•Hire My Mom - A website to help you find female virtual assistants
•eLance - Type “Virtual Assistant” in the search to find a variety of assistants from around the globe
•Workaholics For Hire - A great virtual assistant service that helps you with urgent tasks for people with adhoc projects
•Able Virtual Assistant Services - Virtual Assistants located in Canada
What To Look For And Test In A Virtual Assistant?
Here are some guidelines I have used to look for a good virtual assistant:
•Give them sample work and see how they perform
•Evaluate their skills
•Ask plenty of questions from the short listed candidates
•Check their previous work and feedback statuses
•Get a few recommendations for the Virtual Assistant you wish to hire from previous clients
•Monitor their day to day progress by asking them to send you updates of their assigned tasks
Good virtual assistants are not expensive to find and there are many who are qualified to fit your budget. I would recommend giving it a go for a couple of weeks and it is the only way to know if a virtual assistant is right for your Internet business.
