If you are trying to scale and grow your business and you are doing it alone, you are going to hit a wide, massive plateau eventually. From administration to marketing tasks – these time-consuming activities will hold you back from focusing on what you are supposed to do, which is what you enjoy.
Once you have decided to hire a Virtual Employee, there are five things that you should know, so your expectations are set correctly.
1. Have a checklist of your Virtual Employee’s tasks – daily, weekly, and monthly
Before you hire a Virtual Employee, make sure that you have outlined a detailed summary of what they are supposed to work on. Do not expect your Virtual Employee to do this for you as you are their boss, and so you should know what you want your Virtual Employee to do. With this, your Virtual Employee will consistently work on the tasks assigned to them, and over time, your Virtual Employee can carry out those tasks with minimum supervision.
2. Communicate with your Virtual Employee
This is the foundation of every business relationship and is the most critical during the first two weeks of your Virtual Employee. Although your workload has decreased because you have outsourced some to your Virtual Employee, you still need to monitor their performance with the tasks that you gave them – are they doing it right, or do they need more time to perfect it? Let your Virtual Employeeknow that you are only one message away during these times so they would also start to feel comfortable in communicating with you.
3. Review your Virtual Employee's tasks and accomplishments
Having weekly meetings to review the previous week’s activities and reports is a good way to start. Review the COB reports that your Virtual Employee sends daily and take note of the areas of improvements that they need to work on, but also give praise if they have done an exceptional job.
4. Try giving different tasks to your Virtual Employee to measure their level of expertise
Engaging your Virtual Employee in different tasks would help you identify what they are good at. You may try giving them data entry jobs in the first week, and then teach them how to respond to emails and phone calls in the second week. In the third week, try and see if they can write up articles for you – knowing your Virtual Employee's strengths are essential to your business, and this would hone their skillsets as well.
5. Allow time for your Virtual Employee to grow
Over time, your Virtual Employee will commit errors and mistakes, and this is perfectly normal. Give them an adjustment period (especially if it is your first time hiring a Virtual Employee and it is their first time working as a Virtual Employee) for about one month. By then, they should have been informed of the house rules, the tasks that they need to do, as well as how your business works. Do one on one coaching sessions if need be so they are aware of the things that they should and should not do.
Hiring a virtual assistant helps you in many ways. Don’t know where to begin? Book a consultation with us, and we will walk you through our simple process to get you the help you need.