The decision of hiring a virtual assistant is not something that should be taken lightly. The reason is simple: if you choose the right VA, your life can change drastically.
However, working with a virtual assistant is not as simple as pushing a button and getting the work done. For many people, especially those who have never worked with a remote team, hiring, delegating and managing are entirely new skill sets to learn.
With this article we want to help you discover the 5 most common mistakes when working with a virtual assistant and how to avoid them.
1.- Not Doing Enough Research And Prep Work
If you want to work successfully alongside a VA, you can’t avoid the necessary work you need to do before hiring your assistant.
The first thing to do is to focus on documenting your daily activities and analyzing which ones to delegate. After having a complete task list, you should detail the instructions on how you would like each one of them to be done.
Take these aspects into account:
Type of task
Deadlines
Special instructions
Presentation
Finally, you need to write the job description. This description should clearly explain your requirements, and must contain the the ideal description of the candidate as well. This document serves three important objectives:
Sets expectations
Shows a bit of your personality
Sets both you and your virtual assistance for success
2.- Hiring Someone Just For Their Skills
If you hire someone solely for their abilities and you don’t pay attention to their personality and attitude, it’s very likely that the relationship ends in an unsuccessful way.
The reason is simple: skills can be learned, personality can not.
It’s important to consider a candidate not only for their experience and skills but also for their personality. A candidate with the ideal personality and attitude for the position is much more valuable than someone with more experience, but with a mediocre personality match.
3.- Forgetting That You Get What You Pay For
Many people make the serious mistake of wanting to squeeze every penny they pay their VA.
If we compare the cost of hiring someone full time and in-house, it is clear that a virtual assistant is the least expensive option. However, many people can get caught up in cost savings rather than focusing on getting high quality work at a fair rate.
The truth is that in most cases, you get what you pay for. In many cases higher prices do not necessarily guarantee quality work, but going with the cheapest option just to save a few dollars can be a big disappointment in the long run.
4.- Communicating Fuzzy Outcomes
This is one of the most delicate aspects when establishing a working relationship with a virtual assistant. Communication should always be as clear and detailed as possible so that there are no confusions or misunderstandings.
If your virtual assistant asks “what do you want project X to look like?” and you answer “make it look awesome”, you probably will not get the results you expected. Not because your VA did it wrong, but because you didn’t have clear your own goals.
You need to communicate to your VA your expectations in the clearest way possible. For example, asking your VA to get 1000 new fans for your Facebook Page by the end of the year, it’s a good example of a project with clear goals and a deadline.
The clearer your goals, the better chances you have to actually achieve them.
5.- Micromanaging
This is one of the most common mistakes when hiring a virtual assistant. Many people starting to work with a VA lose time by micromanaging.
It is understandable that when working with a remote team you can’t control everything all the time. However, the best way to combat this is to ask for daily progress reports and establish short-term deadlines.
The best thing you can do when working with a virtual assistant is to trust that the work will be completed in a timely manner. In the end, you probably chose to hire a VA to save time, money and effort. Why waste your time trying to control every hour of the day of your virtual assistant?
Interested in hiring a virtual team? Download 4 Resources for Working with a Virtual Staff to Buy More Time and Be More Productive.
