Handling a business can be a very tough job – from the marketing aspects to the administrative side, these strenuous activities may sometimes hold you back from spending more time focusing on other important activities that generate revenue. This is the main reason why people hire the services of a Virtual Employee (VE) – to have someone to take care of the back end of their business while they venture out and generate profits.
There are several things you need to know once you decided that you want to work with a Virtual Employee.
1. Communicate with your Virtual Employee
This is very critical especially in the first 2 weeks of your VE. You need to constantly communicate with them and see how they’re doing – if they need some sort of assistance with the tasks that you have given them, or if they have questions that need some clarifications. Filipino VEs tend to be very timid in asking questions because they do not want to give their clients the wrong impression that they are not the right fit for the job. But once they get the hang of it, you can reduce the communication time from daily to weekly.
2. Choose your mode of communication
Most clients use Skype as the primary means of communication while others use Google Hangouts or emails. Let your VE know where they can reach you in case they need to ask questions, or they need to contact you.
3. Have a checklist of your VE’s tasks daily or weekly
Make a checklist of what you want your VE to do for you. Before hiring a VE, make sure that you have an idea of what you want your VE to do for you on a daily or weekly basis. This way, your VE will be consistently working on the tasks assigned to them and will not have to wait for the next task to fill up their work hours. The list would go on forever, and over time, your VE will be able to perform those tasks with minimal supervision.
4. Review your VE’s tasks and accomplishments
Conduct a weekly meeting with your VE to review the tasks that he/she was able to accomplish for the week. Review the COB Report that your VE is sending every end of his/her shift. Take note of the things that your VE needs to work on, but also give praise if your VE has done an exceptional job. Remember, communication is the key to building a long-term relationship with your VE.
5. Try giving your VE different tasks to identify their strengths and weaknesses
During the first month of your VE, try engaging them in different tasks to gauge their strengths and weaknesses. Try giving them data entry jobs during the first week, and teach them how to respond to emails and other sorts of communication in the second week. Not only will this help you gauge their performance, but this would also help them to be flexible in the workaround of your business.
Hope you enjoyed these tips & advice. If you have any questions about getting prepared for your virtual employee, contact us and we will be happy to assist you.