How to Hire a Virtual Assistant: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Outsourcing
Jan 26, 2023 • 23 min read
A virtual assistant is a person whose primary job is to provide support to another individual or business. They perform tasks such as scheduling meetings, answering emails, managing social media accounts, data entry, writing articles, creating graphics, proofreading documents, transcribing audio files, organizing data, performing research, etc.
Virtual assistants are typically hired as part of a larger outsourcing strategy. This allows small businesses to outsource some or all of their administrative functions without having to invest too much money up front. For example, a small business owner might decide to outsource his email management. He could pay a monthly fee to a third party provider and use his time to focus on growing his business.
The most important thing to remember about hiring a virtual assistant is that it is not like hiring someone else to do your job. Instead, you are delegating specific tasks to someone who specializes in those areas. In essence, you are outsourcing your business operations.
There are several types of virtual assistants, each of which focuses on one aspect of business operations. Some examples include:
• Customer Service Representatives – These individuals answer incoming calls and respond to messages left via online forms.
• Content Writers – These people write blogs, press releases, product descriptions, etc.
• Data Entry Specialists – These people enter data into spreadsheets and databases.
You’ll learn:
- Benefits of hiring virtual staff
- The Different Types of Virtual Assistants
- Outsourcing tasks vs. outcomes
- How to choose what tasks and processes to outsource
- How to hire a Virtual Assistant
- 6 steps to hiring a Virtual Assistant
- Tips for managing your Virtual Assistant
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Benefits of hiring virtual staff
Hiring a virtual assistant is one of the best ways to save money and increase your profit margins. You don’t have to worry about having enough employees to handle everything. With a virtual assistant, you’ll be able to spend less time managing your team and more time focusing on growing your business.
Virtual assistants are people who work remotely. They usually do tasks like data entry, customer support, social media management, email marketing, research, writing, proofreading, graphic design, web development, video editing, transcription, translation, programming, etc.
The benefits of outsourcing include:
Save Money
When you hire virtual assistants, you won’t have to pay salaries, insurance, retirement plans, bonuses, overtime, vacation days, sick days, etc. All of those costs add up quickly. When you outsource, you’re saving money every month.
Increase Profits
You’ll be able to focus on growing your business while your virtual assistant handles the administrative stuff. This frees up your time to make more sales, market your product/service, and improve your brand.
You don’t need a physical office
Virtual assistants are becoming increasingly popular among businesses. They allow companies to cut costs while still maintaining a presence in the market. With the rise of remote work technology, virtual assistants are now capable of performing tasks such as scheduling meetings, answering emails, and even taking care of customer support.
A virtual assistant can make it easier for small businesses to operate remotely. You no longer have to pay additional office space, rent, or electricity bills. Instead, you can focus on running and growing your business.
The biggest benefit of a virtual assistant is flexibility. Virtual assistants usually offer flexible hours and days. This allows your employees to choose how much time they want to dedicate to their job. If one person wants to go out every Friday night, another might prefer to spend his weekends relaxing.
Virtual Assistants are inexpensive
Hiring a full-time or part-time virtual assistant is usually more cost-effective as compared to hiring an in-person full time employee. There are also fewer employee costs and overhead costs. Companies can also choose to offer employee benefits like insurance, retirement funds, etc to VAs.
You’re not limited by local talent (hire the best of the best)
The idea of working from home isn’t exactly new. But what’s different now is how easy it is to work from anywhere. You no longer have to worry about finding a desk space in a crowded office, or even having access to a computer. With online collaboration tools such as Slack, Zoom, Trello, and others, remote teams can collaborate seamlessly across the world. And thanks to platforms like ConvertKit, companies can easily scale their marketing efforts to meet global demand.
Remote workers aren’t just millennials who want to spend every waking moment living life on the road. Professionals from all over the globe use remote work as a way to balance their professional lives with their personal ones. This includes parents who want to make sure their children get enough sleep while still being able to participate in sports practices and games. People who travel frequently find that working remotely allows them to save money on expensive hotels and flights. And those looking to move abroad can do so without sacrificing their career prospects.
Platforms like Fiverr, Upwork and DigiWorks are allowing compies to tap into the global talent pool and hire talented remote workers from around the world.
Delegation helps prevent burnout
There are many benefits to delegating, including:
– You avoid getting too overwhelmed
– You don’t feel like you’re doing everything yourself
– You gain confidence
– You build trust
– You learn how to delegate effectively
– You become more efficient
Spend more time in your areas of strength
Delegating tasks and processes makes sense. You don’t want to waste your precious time doing something that someone else can do instead.
Delegating tasks and processes gives you the opportunity to focus on what you love, while allowing others to take care of those pesky little details that you just don’t have time for anymore. If you’re looking to make some changes in your life, consider delegating tasks and processes. Here are three reasons why you might want to start today:
1. You’ll Save Time
There’s no denying that having help around the house saves you time. Whether you’re cooking dinner, cleaning the bathroom, or even vacuuming the floor, delegating tasks and processes lets you spend less time doing mundane tasks and more time working on projects that matter to you.
2. You’ll Avoid Mistakes
When you delegate tasks and processes, you give yourself the chance to avoid making costly mistakes. For example, if you hire someone to clean out your garage once a month, you won’t have to worry about forgetting to empty it out. Or maybe you decide to let your kids paint the kitchen walls without supervision. By delegating tasks and processes, you can avoid wasting hours trying to fix problems later on down the road.
3. You’ll focus on high-value and income-generating activities
The best way to ensure you are spending your time wisely is to focus on high-value and/or income generating activities. This includes working on projects that bring in money, such as blogging, freelancing, consulting, coaching, etc. There are many ways to make money online, and some methods work well for certain people while others do not. However, there are three key areas where you should be focusing your efforts:
1. High value activities – These include things like writing articles, creating videos, building a course, selling products, etc. You want to be focused on activities that produce long term value rather than short term gains.
2. Income Generating Activities – These include things like affiliate marketing, freelance writing, consulting, speaking, etc. In general, these types of activities require less upfront investment and provide greater flexibility.
3. Passive Income Sources – Things like investing, real estate, dividend stocks, etc. While it takes longer to build up a passive stream of income, it provides much greater stability.
The Different Types of Virtual Assistants
1. The General Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants aren’t just for techies anymore. A growing number of businesses are turning to virtual assistants to handle a wide range of tasks from scheduling meetings to tracking expenses. And now, the General VA can help you run your entire office.
2. The Specialized Virtual Assistant
These are VAs that are specialised or have a focus in a certain field. For example software engineers or customer service reps.
Outsourcing tasks vs. outcomes
The difference between outsourcing tasks versus outsourcing outcomes is important. When you hire someone to perform a task, such as writing a blog post or editing images, you want them to complete the task well. You don’t necessarily care about the outcome, just whether the task gets done correctly. If you hired me to write a blog post, I’d probably try to make sure that it was grammatically correct, had good spelling and punctuation, and flowed nicely. But I wouldn’t worry too much about what the end product looked like; I’d just focus on getting the work done.
When you outsource outcomes, however, you’re hiring someone to produce something for you. In many cases, you’ll want the finished product to look professional, and you’ll want to ensure that it meets certain standards. For example, I might ask my graphic designer to make some edits to an image because I’m concerned that it looks unprofessional. Or I might ask my copywriter to come up with a few different headlines for a blog post because I think one of them doesn’t sound quite right.
In both cases, I’m paying for a skill set, rather than a task. So while I’m paying for a writer to write a blog post or a graphic artist to edit an image, I’m paying for someone to help me meet a specific goal. And since goals are often tied to outcomes, it makes sense to pay for those outcomes rather than for the tasks themselves.
How to choose what tasks and processes to outsource
Outsourcing is one of the most popular strategies used by small businesses today. But how do you know whether it’s worth it? And how do you decide which tasks and processes to out source? Here are some tips to help you make the best decision possible.
1. Analyze Your Current Processes
Before you start looking into outsourcing, you need to understand where your current processes are failing. You want to identify areas that could benefit from being outsourced. For example, maybe you’re spending too much time creating reports every month. If you’re able to automate this process, you might end up saving hours each week. Or perhaps you spend too much time processing invoices. This task can easily be automated, allowing you to focus on growing your business.
2. Determine What Tasks Can Be Automated
Once you’ve identified potential areas for improvement, you need to determine exactly what tasks can be automated. Ask yourself questions like: How often does this task occur? Does it require multiple people? Are there certain steps involved? Once you answer those questions, you can begin to look into specific solutions.
3. Research Potential Solutions
Now that you know what needs to be done, you need to find companies that specialize in doing just that. Look for providers that offer software or web apps that can handle repetitive tasks. They should be easy to use and provide clear instructions. These tools should allow you to add new features without having to hire additional employees.
Common tasks to delegate include:
- Administrative tasks
- Making travel arrangements
- Customer Service and Support
- Content writing and content creation
- Calendar management and appointment scheduling
- Daily tasks, etc
How to hire a Virtual Assistant
Hiring a virtual assistant (VA) is one of those things that seems simple enough, but isn’t. There are plenty of platforms out there where you can find someone to do just about anything for you. However, finding the right person for the job requires some research. Here are a few tips to make sure you’re hiring the best VA possible.
Remember to:
- Understand what it takes to be successful on social media.
If you don’t understand how social media works, you won’t know what type of skills you want your VA to possess. You’ll also need to determine whether you want a full-time employee or a freelancer. If you choose a freelancer, you’ll need to decide whether you want to pay per project or set up a monthly retainer.
- Determine what type of work you need done.
The most important part of choosing a VA is figuring out exactly what you need completed. Do you need someone to post regularly to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, etc.? Or do you simply need someone to monitor your account and respond to comments? Once you’ve determined the scope of the task, you can narrow down your list of potential VAs.
- Get references.
Ask friends, family members, co-workers, and anyone else who knows the VA you’re considering to give you a reference. References aren’t always reliable, but asking for several will increase your chances of getting honest feedback.
Ready to build your remote team?
Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.
6 steps to hiring a Virtual Assistant
The role of virtual assistants (VAs) has grown exponentially over the past few years. They help businesses run smoothly by taking care of tasks like scheduling meetings, managing social media accounts, creating marketing materials, etc. But how do you choose the best VA for your needs? Here are some tips to consider when looking for a VA.
Step 1: Understand Your Needs
Before you start searching for a VA, it helps to define exactly what you want from your relationship. Do you need help with specific projects or tasks? Are you looking for a long term partnership? What about hourly rates? There are many different types of VAs, so make sure you’re clear about what type of assistance you need.
- Research Your Options
Once you’ve defined your needs, it’s time to look into the options. You’ll probably find yourself overwhelmed by the number of resources out there. Start by narrowing down your choices based on price, availability, experience, and location. For example, if you live in New York City, you might prefer to work with a local VA because of convenience. If you’re working with a large corporation, you might feel more comfortable with a remote VA.
- Interview Candidates
After you’ve narrowed down your list, it’s time to interview potential candidates. Ask questions about their skill set, experience, education, personality, and availability. Be honest about what you’re looking for; don’t waste anyone’s time if you aren’t truly interested in them.
Step 2: Create a job description
A job description is one of those things that people often overlook. In fact, it seems like everyone thinks that they know what a good job description looks like, but most of us are wrong. If you want to find out how to write a great job description, read on.
Here are some tips to help you write a successful job description:
- Know What You Want
Before you start writing anything, make sure that you understand exactly what you want. For example, do you want someone who knows HTML5/CSS3? Or perhaps you just want a general web developer? Do you want someone who can build sites from scratch? Or maybe you want someone who can work well within an existing team? Once you know what you want, you’ll be able to narrow down your options.
- Include All Essential Information
The best way to describe yourself is to include everything that is relevant about you. This includes information such as your name, contact number, email address, resume, references, and even social media profiles. When you’re describing yourself, don’t forget to mention your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t worry too much about being overly detailed; there’s no reason to go into unnecessary detail. Just keep in mind that if you’re looking for a specific skill set, you might want to mention that.
- Be Specific
Be clear on your requirements and descriptions.
Step 3: Post your job description online
When posting your job description online it helps to know exactly what you’re looking for in a virtual assistant. If you don’t, you could end up hiring someone who isn’t qualified for the position. So, how do you know whether you’ve found the perfect person for the job? Here are three ways to screen out unqualified candidates:
1. Ask for References
Ask potential VAs for previous work samples, client testimonials, and references. This gives you insight into how well they communicate, manage projects, and deliver quality work. You want to hire someone who’ll fit in with your team and provide value to your organization.
2. Research Their Portfolio
Before you start interviewing VAs, take some time to review their portfolio. Check out their skills, experience, and qualifications. Look for examples of their work and see if they match your expectations. A good VA won’t just show you their best work; they’ll also demonstrate their ability to adapt to changing circumstances and meet deadlines.
3. Interview Them
Once you’ve narrowed down your list of candidates, schedule interviews. During each meeting, ask questions about their communication style, project management abilities, and technical expertise. Pay attention to their responses and body language. Are they engaged during the conversation? Do they seem interested in learning more about your business?
Step 4: Review applications & schedule interviews
The hiring process doesn’t end once you’ve had an initial conversation with a candidate. You still need to make sure that the person is a good fit for your team. This includes reviewing their resume, conducting research about them, and scheduling interviews. Here are some tips to help you prepare for each step.
1. Reviewing Resumes
Your first task is to read through the resumes submitted by potential candidates. Start by looking for keywords that indicate whether the applicant has relevant experience. For example, if you’re hiring someone to manage social media marketing, look for terms like “social,” “marketing,” and “advertising.” If you see a lot of generic language such as “responsible,” “professional,” and “experienced,” it might mean that the candidate hasn’t done much work outside of school.
Next, take note of the skills listed on the resume. Look for those that align with what you’re trying to accomplish. If there aren’t many skills listed, that could be a red flag. Candidates with little to no experience often don’t realize how important it is to list specific skills.
After reading through the resumes, you’ll want to conduct further research into the applicants’ background. Check out LinkedIn profiles, do a quick Google search, and ask friends and colleagues about the candidates. This way, you can learn more about the people you’ve interviewed and determine whether they’re a good cultural fit for your organization.
2. Interviewing Potential Employees
Once you’ve reviewed the resumes, it’s time to schedule interviews. Make sure that you set up enough time slots to accommodate everyone. Try to avoid interviewing too close together because it makes it difficult to compare notes. Also, try to keep the number of interviews to a maximum of four per day. That way, you won’t overwhelm anyone.
Step 5: Give your top candidates a test
The hiring process is often described as a three-step process: screening resumes, conducting interviews and making offers. But here’s some tips to make sure you hire the best person for the job.
1. Screening Resumes
If you’ve ever applied for a job, you know how overwhelming it can be. You start reading through hundreds of applications, wondering whether you even want to work for this particular employer anymore. And then you find yourself staring at one resume and thinking, “I could never do that.”
But here’s the thing about resumes: They’re not designed to impress you. In fact, they’re usually just a list of skills and experience. So why waste your time trying to figure out whether the applicant is qualified? Instead, ask yourself questions like: What does this person do well? How did he/she accomplish those tasks? Why should I care?
2. Conducting Interviews
After you’ve screened resumes and eliminated some applicants, you’re ready to conduct phone interviews. If you’re interviewing multiple people, try to schedule each interview within 24 hours of the previous one. Otherwise, you risk losing momentum.
Step 6: Give the best candidate a trial period
The job interview process is tough enough without having to worry about whether you’re getting the best person for the job. You want someone who fits well with your team, knows what they are doing, and is committed to delivering great work. But how do you know if the potential hire is worth it?
- Do Your Research
Before you even approach the prospective employee, make sure you’ve done some research into their background. Find out where they went to school, what companies they worked for, and what projects they worked on. Ask friends and colleagues for recommendations. If possible, look up their LinkedIn profile.
- Interview Them
Once you’ve found a few candidates, schedule interviews. Don’t just ask questions like “What is your favorite color?” Instead, try asking questions that show you care about their experience and skills. For example, “Tell me about a project you worked on recently.” Or “How did you handle difficult customers?”
- Follow Up After the Interview
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Tips for managing your Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants are here to help us manage our digital lives. They do a wide variety of tasks like answer calls, emails, texts, and handle social media interactions. But just because someone is remote doesn’t mean she won’t make mistakes. Here are some tips for managing your virtual assistant.
Evaluate performance
Don’t let your VA work themselves into a corner – set KPIs and hold them responsible. You must always evaluate whether or not your VA is performing well enough to justify the cost. If you find yourself spending hours on tasks that could easily be delegated to a virtual assistant, it might be time to reevaluate your strategy.
Virtual assistants are great tools for automating repetitive tasks and freeing up your time for higher value activities. However, there are some things you just shouldn’t delegate. For example, if you pay a VA to research keywords for your site, make sure you understand how much time they spend researching each keyword. If you don’t, you might end up paying for unnecessary searches.
You should also consider evaluating your expectations. Many people think that a virtual assistant will do everything for them, including providing customer support, answering emails, scheduling meetings, managing social media accounts, etc. While a VA does have the ability to perform many of those tasks, it doesn’t mean that they should. There are plenty of times where delegating certain tasks makes sense, such as when you’re too busy to handle a project yourself. But, if you’re looking for a full-time employee, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
Don’t micromanage
If you’re looking for a virtual assistant, it might seem like it would be easy to find one online. But there are some things to keep in mind before hiring someone to help you out. First, make sure you know exactly what you want. If you’re just starting out, it might be best to start small, such as scheduling appointments or sending emails. You’ll learn how to do those tasks once you hire a VA, so why waste money on something you don’t really need?
Next, make sure you understand what you’re getting into. Do you want to pay per task or per hour? Will you be paying monthly or yearly fees? What happens if you don’t like the person you hired? These questions aren’t meant to discourage you; rather, they’re designed to ensure you’re making the right decision.
Finally, make sure you trust the person you choose. A good VA will take direction well and won’t let his/her ego get in the way of helping you achieve your goals. And remember, if you don’t like your VA, you can always fire him/her without penalty.
Schedule check-ins
Communication tools like Google Workspace are becoming increasingly popular among businesses. They let you chat with colleagues without having to pick up the phone or email. These tools make it easy to collaborate remotely and even hold video conferences. But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed about communication over the phone: scheduling. You still call people and ask them what they want to do. In fact, some companies use voice calls to schedule check-ins. This isn’t ideal because it takes longer to talk on the phone than it does to type out an email.
Checkin meetings help keep your teams on track. If you’re working on a project together, you might find yourself asking questions like:
• What did we accomplish today?
• How much progress did we make?
• Are we on track for our deadline?
• Do we need to adjust anything?
If you don’t set aside dedicated times to meet regularly, it becomes difficult to answer those questions. Scheduling check-ins helps everyone know where they stand and how far along they are towards reaching milestones.
Require weekly reports
Let your VAs know how to report on their daily and weekly updates.
Create a culture of feedback
In today’s digital world, it seems like every organization has a Facebook group, Slack channel, Twitter account, etc., dedicated to providing feedback about how things are going. But there’s one thing you might not know: most organizations don’t actually ask for feedback. They just assume it happens organically. And while that may work well enough for small teams, it doesn’t scale very well. So why do we keep doing this? Because we think it works. We feel like we’re being honest, transparent, and open. And we want our employees to see us as leaders in our industry.
But the truth is, asking for feedback isn’t always easy. In fact, it can be downright uncomfortable. People tend to avoid giving negative feedback because they worry it will hurt someone’s feelings. Or maybe they’re afraid they won’t be taken seriously. Either way, they end up avoiding the conversation altogether.
So how do you change this? Start by creating a culture where everyone feels comfortable sharing feedback. Here’s how:
1. Have a clear purpose for the feedback forum.
2. Be specific.
3. Ask good questions.
4. Give people plenty of time to respond.
Ready to build your remote team?
Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.
Hire a VA today
Using virtual assistant companies or virtual assistant marketplaces like DigiWorks is a great help when looking to hire a virtual assistant. Delegating your repetitive and time-consuming tasks would treating improve the daily lives of business owners.
When hiring remote team members, the most important thing is that they are vetted. The DigiWorks platform helps business owners build their remote teams with 100% vetted VAs. Speak to us today to find out more!
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About DigiWorks
DigiWorks is an easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and start ups hire amazing remote talent from around the world. DigiWorks offers a way for you to hire, manage and pay people from all countries. If you find an amazing virtual assistant from Philippines, a content writer from Nigeria, or operations manager from South Africa – manage and pay your entire team from one platform with no hassle.
If you’re looking for a more affordable and sustainable option you might consider making use of a hiring platform like DigiWorks. Virtual assistant companies or platforms like DigiWorks are amazing as they not only match you with pre-vetted and assessed remote workers that can take care of all your business needs but they will also handle all onboarding and payroll needs as well.