Ways To Be

Difficult and

Annoying To Work With

6

Sure, it sounds fantastic to hire a virtual assistant and outsource half the stuff you do

everyday. Especially the hard, boring or repetitive things you're wasting too much time on

when you could be doing more high-value things in your business.

Hiring a virtual assistant is affordable. It's hip. It's a no-brainer.

Virtual Assistant

But before you go hiring someone and firing off a list of things for them to do, there's a few

key points to keep in mind to assure you get the results you're hoping for. I've seen too many

people mess this up and then complain that there's "no good help" out there.

You may think it's risky to let someone into your business and invest time in training

them…but they might be just as wary of you.

Hiring someone into your business ---remote or in

person, full time or part time---requires an investment of

time for them to be properly initiated. You can make this

easier by taking screenshots to show them examples,

recording voice memos with descriptions or making

screencast videos to demonstrate a task. When you

give someone a new task, explain "What’s the task

for" and the "Why is it done this way" to them.

1. Give them a list of tasks to do right from the start, and then get frustrated when they give you sub-optimal results.

Your VA will be able to handle whatever

communications medium you prefer. It may be by

phone, Skype, instant message or email. While

you're at it, tell them how you prefer to be reached, at

what times and for which problems. You don't want to

have your VA sending you an email when they should

have called about a question on a time-sensitive

project, and conversely, you don't want them calling

you at all hours of the night for trivial questions.

2. Expect them to check in with you, but fail to tell them your preferred communication, how often you want updates and for which tasks.

3. Treat them like a robot that lives on your screen.

Your virtual assistant is a team member, like anyone you'd work with in person, and also a business owner. They

enter into a working relationship with you as an individual business entity. Perceive them as your business

partner, but keep in mind that they have other clients to cater to, as well. They also have a life outside of working

for clients. They have interests, hobbies, families, dreams, goals, favorite books, movies, etc. Ask them about

their life, get to know who they are as a person. Schedule regular friendly chats on a monthly basis so they know

you're interested in them…and, therefore, they become more interested in you.

4. Don't tell them your plans.

Your virtual assistant needs to feel valued in order to

feel inspired to deliver high-quality work and stay

loyal to your company. Part of that comes from

including them in your plans.

To streamline the process, create a Google Doc or a

sharable folder on task manager software like Trello

or Asana. As you have your meetings, list the present

and future tasks you want to focus on.

5. Don’t miss the

Hiring a VA is supposed to help you meet your deadlines, right? If you know you

have a tendency to let things slide or push deadlines to the point of creating anxiety

and stress, this is something you need to manage for yourself instead of expecting a

virtual assistant to fix that. However, if you're aware that this is your habit, you can

use your virtual assistant to help you transform it. You can ask them to remind you of

your to-dos, help you with scheduling and keep you accountable for the things that

must get done. Tell them up front that you have a tendency to push things to the last

minute, and part of hiring them is to avoid doing that.

6. Assume they understand what you want and avoid checking in with them.

Even if you think your VA understood your

task, ask them to describe the task back

to you. Then ask them if anything is

unclear. This helps you to see if they're

fuzzy about anything and helps you both

to feel confident. Also, as they are

working, check in with them while they're

in progress, especially if it's a new task.

Better to take a few moments at the

beginning of a task than to have to spend

hours re-doing things at the end.

Hiring a virtual assistant and outsourcing could change your business and your life in

an awesome way. With today's technology, it's easy to get so many things

accomplished without having to be at a specific physical location. However, if you jump

into it without considering a few things first and learning from others who've made mistakes and learned from them you might end up frustrated and discouraged.

For more tips on outsourcing or if you're looking to have someone find, hire and

train a virtual assistant for you, check out http://www.outsourcingdoneforyou.com.