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Virtual Assistance
Diving into a business venture and building your own company are two very appealing and exciting ideas to think about. It’s even more thrilling and definitely rewarding once you start ticking things off your list and take those small steps towards making your business dreams come true. However, once the initial stage wears off, you’ll start realizing things may not be as easy as it looks after all.
All entrepreneurs have to carry the burden of making sure the company is expanding and developing well, coming up with new ideas, and basically, managing everything so everything falls in line towards the established business goals and company vision. Therefore, it would be quite impossible for them to take on seemingly simple yet time-consuming tasks such as filing, writing and organizing emails, researching, and other things that have to be done online and electronically. As a result, so many business owners get overwhelmed because of the ongoing struggle of task and time management, and making sure everything in the to-do list is accomplished.
The good news is, there are a huge number of ways you can implement to successfully manage your schedule and responsibilities. And these strategies bring countless of benefits to you and your company, so it definitely doesn’t hurt to try them out.
What is a virtual assistant?
One of the ways you can certainly rely on to be effective in reducing your stress is hiring a virtual assistant. VAs are professionals who are knowledgeable in different kinds of fields and have a particular skill set, which may be creative, technical, or administrative. Nevertheless, all VAs are adaptive and are up-to-date with the latest technology and software applications, and are popular with constructing your business in the online world. They also provide these services from an outside location, so not having to worry about more company expenses is another benefit to this.
More specifically, virtual assistants focus on helping you grow your online business by having responsibilities that can include managing business social media accounts, electronic filing, responding to emails, and setting appointments. Others can do more complex work such as web design, marketing, and PR work.
Training your virtual assistant
Once you select your virtual assistants after the usual job interview and a trial job, you can get into training right away. Despite how skilled and experienced your VA might already be in the industry, it’s still important to make sure you give the effective training your VA needs since all companies are still unique and have their own preferences.
It is said one of the most common mistake is thinking your virtual assistant doesn’t need much support since they already know so much and thus, not investing enough time in training. The opposite is true.
Hiring a VA requires you as the owner to be able to provide productive training by giving step-by-step instructions, and at least be clear in what you want. It’s also good to give some kind of context to each particular task such as letting them know the answers to questions like “why are they doing this” and “what happens if they can’t accomplish it.” By doing these, you can steer clear from misunderstandings and simple failures. They also help your VA truly understand your company a lot more, and make them see how their job fits into the whole picture and is equally important in making the whole organization work.
Another thing to keep in mind is that adequate training is more than just written guidelines to be handed over to your VA. Training also means being present to give constant support to them, especially when they encounter challenges in their job. It’s also good to give feedback every now and then so they can have the opportunity to review their performance and see where they cut short. Your VA would not be quickly familiar with your business, therefore, consistently documenting each action and result and being thorough with your overall training could be a big help in their adjustment process within the company.
Tracking your virtual assistant’s progress
There are countless of project management systems out in the internet you can purchase for a very cheap price, such as Trello. These applications make it so easy for you to track where your VA is on a particular task or project.
It’s simple to create checklists and pin resources your VA will find useful in his daily tasks, such as files and links. This kind of technique helps your VA to follow detailed instructions, and for you to easily oversee developments and make any adjustments required over time.
Continue managing your virtual assistant
Once your VA is able to adjust into the regular schedule and workflow, things become much relaxed. However, you also need to manage your VA effectively. This means checking in on your VA once in a while, and making sure they stay productive by keeping them interested and motivated.
Like you, VAs also get stressed at times so talking to them on a regular basis whether by phone or in person could make a difference. You could offer compliments when they did something significant or point out things you may want to be changed, while also letting your VA share their side. These kinds of discussions will let your VA know they’re important as well as maintain trust and communication.
The bottom line
In conclusion, employing a virtual assistant could do wonders to your business and helping it grow even more. It also saves a lot more of your time and make your business successful.
However, before being able to reduce stress and achieve a hassle-free work environment, you have to invest a lot of your time in training first. This makes sense as you are basically helping other people to succeed in the online field even without your guidance. Once you start realizing this and following the guidelines above, you’ll be able to nurture mutually beneficial relationships with your virtual team and have more time on your hands to do urgent stuff while also finding free time to relax and wind down.
