The theme for July is “Hiring Your First or Next Virtual Assistant.”
In last week’s video, I talked about the fact that you may have hired a VA, but things still weren’t being done correctly, handled the way that you want, you’re not getting the results you hoped for, or you feel like you are still doing it all yourself.
I explained that this could be a skills mismatch or you may not have hired the right person for the job. This all goes back to NOT having a SYSTEM for hiring your VAs or other contractors.
I’m going to share with you my four-part Expert Hiring System and we kick it off today with part one.
Last week we started our series for July, hiring your first or next VA. During that video, I talked about the fact that some may have hired a VA but things still weren’t being done correctly or handled the way that you want, you’re not getting the results you hoped for, or you feel like you are still doing it all yourself.
I explained that this could be a skills mismatch or you may not have the right person for the job. This all goes back to not having a system for hiring your VAs or other contractors. Too many times, a business owner will basically hire a warm body and not someone who was right for the job and, of course, sometimes they work out but more times, they don’t.
I’m going to share with you my expert hiring system and here’s part one:
First, define the role.
What that means is that you want to make a list of tasks to be performed. And from this list, you are going to need to determine the skill sets that are needed. If you don’t yet have that list of tasks, you will need to do this. Think about what you want your assistant to complete for you on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. If you already have someone in that role, ask them to do this for you – sort of like a job description. And then from the list, you are going to take those tasks and determine the skill sets that are needed.
For example, maybe you require some hard skills such as they need to understand the program that you are using. If you have invested a lot of money in Infusionsoft, then the person you have hired to do these tasks for you must have knowledge and experience with Infusionsoft. Or you want them to handle your social media, so they must be comfortable using social media.
Maybe you also want to include on here some soft skills. Things like they must be really detail-oriented or they have wonderful people skills. Or they are proactive; they are not sitting there waiting for you to give them directions. They can really take a task and run with it and come to you with suggestions or recommendations or things like that.
You want to create a list of hard skills, like some specific things that you know they need them to have experience with, but then also the soft skills like I mentioned. Things like great customer service skills or they need to be detail-oriented.
You need to define that. Every business is different and every role is different so take some time to define the role.
The next thing you need to determine is the specifics of the position. Meaning, can it be a virtual position, or it is something you need someone to be onsite with you every day? If it’s virtual, does it matter if they are a Mac or PC user? Do they need to have access to any special technology? Are there any special programs or tools that you use in your business that they need to have access to? To some people, it makes really no difference and to others it really does. That’s a question to ask or to be aware of if that is a specific criterion for you.
The other thing is do you need someone full-time or part-time? A great way to determine how many hours you need to hire someone for is to go through the task list and assign the approximate hours per day, week, or month depending on how long the task is going to take and when it needs to be taken care of.
Now, having been on the other side of things, being a virtual assistant myself, what I would do is create packages that included these types of things and would have a monthly flat rate as opposed to an hourly rate. This works well for both the business owner and the team member that you are bringing on. For one thing, you aren’t having to always calculate the ROI in your head for the time they are working. Also, if your business is cyclical and some months the hours are a lot more than normal, this can shield you from that huge overage invoice. Just understand that other months they may not be using all of those hours and other months they will be going way over the so-called allotted hours. But it’s a package rate, you are paying them based on value. Also lets you set a budget and your team member can count on that number for cash flow. I’m a huge fan of packages, so when hiring, check to see if this is an option.
So back to the task list, the more specific you are the easier it is for you to say to someone, ‘here is what I need you to do for me’, the more likely it is that you are going to find somebody to help you. This key of defining a role and laying out the task is huge. Think about it, how many times have you been in a situation where you are pulling out your hair? And someone comes to you and says “I see that you are pulling out your hair and you are really stressed out. Let me help you.”
Whether it’s a friend or somebody already working for you, whatever it is and your response is “I don’t even know how to begin to tell you what I am doing. I don’t even know what I am doing. I just know that I have all this stuff to do.” It gets really hard for someone to help you when you are in that mode. Taking that time to make that list of the things and really think about what you want somebody to do for you is going to make it so that you can set up your people to be successful for you. You are setting them up for success.
We’ll continue next week with more on my system and the hiring process.
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Outsourcing Templates
$24.00
As a busy entrepreneur, you know that it’s not possible to do ALL the tasks for your business and do them effectively. It’s easy enough to say you should outsource, but then you have to do the training. And when faced with that daunting task, it’s often easier to just say, “I’ll just do it myself.”
But that would be a mistake.
There are only so many hours in a day and you can only fully develop so many skills. Instead, these outsourcing templates will give you a giant head start and gives you all you need to find and hire that perfect contractor. Problem solved!
Here’s what you get:
- 4 Project Listing Templates
- You’ll get 4 fill in the blank Project Listing templates to use when you are looking to outsource specific projects for your business (perfect for submitting a request for proposal):
- Graphic Design Work
- Virtual Assistants
- Writing Work
- Web Development
- You’ll get 4 fill in the blank Project Listing templates to use when you are looking to outsource specific projects for your business (perfect for submitting a request for proposal):
- 4 Project Specifications Templates
- You’ll get 4 fill-in-the-blank Project Specification templates to use to ensure you don’t leave out the important details as you outsource your projects. You’ll get specification templates that are specific to the following type of projects:
- Graphic Design Work
- Virtual Assistants
- Writing Work
- Web Development
- You’ll get 4 fill-in-the-blank Project Specification templates to use to ensure you don’t leave out the important details as you outsource your projects. You’ll get specification templates that are specific to the following type of projects:
- Evaluating Applications Checklist
- Part of the struggle with outsourcing is not knowing who to choose to work with. This checklist will help you thoroughly evaluate the responses and applications you receive back from potential outsourcers to ensure you make the right choice for your business.
- Quality Check Checklist
- I want you to get the best work out of your contractor, so I’ve included a detailed quality check checklist that you can go through to ensure you are receiving quality service for your outsourced project.
- Constructive Feedback Template
- It can be difficult to provide constructive feedback when outsourcing. I’ve made it easy for you by providing a fill in the blanks template you can use to address any questions or concerns you may be having with your projects. No more struggling to find the right words.
- Big List of Outsourcing Sites
- Finding the perfect person for the job can seem overwhelming at first, but I’ve provided a comprehensive list of websites for you that will help you in your outsourcing search.
- Suggested Interview Questions
- Finally, I’ve included a list of interview questions you can use as you begin talking to and assessing potential contractors.
As you can see, all of the templates included in the Outsourcing Templates bundle will give you the boost you need to get started outsourcing for your business so you can finally focus on the tasks that will grow your business.
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