Growing Your Virtual Assistance Team
March 14, 2008
If you are a savvy virtual assistant looking to grow your team to be able to fulfill more of your client’s needs (and to service more clients!) you may have wondered what steps you should take.
When growing a team, the first thing to think about is what you will delegate. Determining this is probably going to be your first challenge. You’ll need to sit down and figure out what is going to be the easiest stuff to send to an assistant so that you don’t spend a lot of time managing it or having to review all work that was completed.
The first thing to do is to think about all of your current clients and whose work is the easiest for you to delegate. What I have found in the past is that it is good to begin with the recurring tasks. Those which you need to manage or do every day, week or month for your clients which you can easily put an assistant on. This will help you to focus on the larger aspects of projects and not the easier, recurring tasks that need to be done.
Another thing that is helpful in deciding what to delegate is to look at the things you are doing for clients or in your own business which are things you don’t like to do. By ridding yourself of the things you dislike doing in your business, you will then make room for the things you do like to do which will make you more valuable to your clients. If you are only doing that which you love, you will naturally be better at it which means your results will be better and your clients will be happier.
Once you’ve made a list of the things you know you would like to delegate, its then time to make up a list of the skills you will need someone to have to complete those tasks. Think about all aspects of the task and the software or specific programs you use to complete the tasks. Make that list and create a secondary list of personal qualities you would like that person to have.
Building a team isn’t just about outsourcing your work but also building a safety net for your business. If you are sick or you want to take vacation, you’ll need someone to cover for you. Especially as your business grows. You want to make sure this team member is reliable and trustworthy. The thing is, you don’t want your client to feel nervous about outsourcing work to you and allowing you to manage something and then not have you there at times when you want to vacation or have personal issues to deal with.
In order to prepare for your quest for a team, think about this aspect as well. Make a list of the things that you would need that person or persons to know should you become ill or take a vacation. When you are putting together your ideal assistant profile, make sure to include these skills and personal qualities as well. This way, you’ll be sure to find the absolute best person for your business.
Once you’ve done all of the things below, you should be well on your way to creating an ideal team member profile. This process shouldn’t be taken lightly and a lot of thought should be given to the type of person that you need inside of your business.
Lastly, before building a team, get clear on your arrangement with them. Do you want them to sign a non-compete? Do they need to have a confidentiality agreement on file? Think about the things you want to do with each team member you bring on and create a checklist.
Having an agreement in place is key. You want to protect your biggest asset which, for us in the service industry, is our clients. You also want to protect your own ideas and products to make sure that they too aren’t going to be compromised should you run into a not-so-great team member. I always get my team members to sign a confidentiality agreement and a non-compete agreement.
Please let me know if you have other questions surrounding the expansion of your team and moving to a more well-rounded virtual assistance business.
Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA Coach, The VA Coach, virtual assistant coach, virtual assistance coach, building a virtual assistance team, team building, delegating, outsourcing
5 Ways to Make Delegating More Effective
September 24, 2007
In my profession as a virtual assistant, I am in the front of the delegating lines and I see firsthand what works and what doesn’t. Oftentimes, new clients will ask me to coach them a bit on delegating work to our company and I am always happy to do so.
If you are currently delegating work to others or you may do so in future, here are five ways to make your delegating experience more effective.
(1) Set Deadlines
This often gets overlooked but it’s the most important part. If you need something back by week’s end, specify that when you delegate the task. Although your virtual assistant may be a magician when it comes to getting your work done, he/she is not a mind-reader. They need to know, from you, when you need the work done.
(2) Prioritize
If you are giving your virtual assistant many tasks, let him/her know which item needs to get done first. One of my own clients will often note when something takes precedence over the rest of the work she’s delegated to me. This helps me to know what she needs back quickly and what can wait until closer to the set deadline.
(3) Be Clear
When you delegate something, be clear in your message. It may be something that is easy for you to do because you’ve done it often but you’ll need to remember that when delegating items from your business, they may not be things that others are as familiar with. So, be clear and be available if/when your virtual assistant makes requests for items he/she needs to complete the task.
(4) Check Skills First
Too often I’ve seen people delegate out a task to someone that went above their knowledge level. When this happens, the person may take longer than expected or may have difficulty with the project. A lot of people want to please their clients so they may hang on to a task thinking, “I’ll learn this and get the work done” but that only delays progress. Check with the person first to make sure he/she has the skills required to complete the task.
(5) Give Advanced Notice
The last tip I’ll give you is to make sure you are giving enough notice. If you delegate a 5-minute project in the morning and want it done by day’s end, that may be okay for that person’s schedule but if you drop a full blog-design project in their lap and request it back within 24-hours, that may not always suit their schedule. It is better to give as much notice as possible so that you both benefit.
Want to Use This Article on Your Website, Ezine or Blog? You Can! Just Include the Bio Below…
Erin Blaskie is a virtual assistant and the owner of Business Services, ETC. Erin supports business owners with their daily operations - helping them fr*ee up their time so they can get back to doing the ‘life’ stuff or focus on the revenue generating items. Feel fr*ee to contact her via her website at http://www.bsetc.ca or at info@bsetc.ca.
Erin Blaskie - Expert on Delegation on Upcoming Teleseminar
May 11, 2007
Krishna De of Biz Growth Live will be interviewing me on May 14th about delegation and about working with a virtual assistant. Check out her blog entry below and click through to her website to sign up today!
Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have more free time for family, friends and fun?
Or pehaps you want more time to work on key activities serving more clients?
But what might be stopping you is that you are concerned that if you employed more people in your team it would be a huge impact to your fixed overheads?
Or perhaps you are not sure how to delegate more areas of responsibility to members of your team?
Well delegation and outsourcing strategies to grow your business is the subject of our next ‘Biz Growth Live’ where I will be in conversation with Erin Blaskie, Virtual Assistant.
Erin is the author of “30 days to delegationâ€and has worked with many business coaches taking on accountabilities so that they can focus on client centred work while Erin and her colleagues manage the administration for their growing businesses.
So if you are a small professional services firm and you want to explore how you could delegate or outsource adminstration to a virtual assistant or perhaps you are already working with virtual assistants and want to explore how you could be even more effective in leveraging these relationships to create more time for family, friends and fun, then join me for the no-cost Biz Growth Live call on the 14 May 2007.
Technorati Tags: Krishna De, Biz Growth Live, Erin Blaskie, Business Services ETC, BSETC, free teleseminar, teleseminar, delegation, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, working with a virtual assistant