How to Choose Your First Virtual Assistant – Our Down-to-Earth Guide
So, if you are reading this, you are probably thinking about talking to a Virtual Assistant (VA) to get some help with your admin. The next question is who to choose.
As your business grows, so does your to-do list. As the to-do list grows, the time to do other things shrinks. It’s a vicious circle that ends up with the admin generated by your growing business taking away the time from the very thing you are there to do… which is to grow your business. The way to break that cycle is often to talk to a virtual assistant (VA) and get back some of those hours by delegating the tasks on your list.
How do you choose the right VA?
I am assuming you have gone past the ‘do I need a VA’ stage when you read this article (if not, I would suggest you read our blog here first), and now have the usual questions like:
- ‘Who do I hire as a VA?’
- ‘What tasks should I hand over to them?’
- ‘How do I know a VA will “get” my business?’
And you probably also have a list of specific questions that relate you the unique nature of your particular business.
So, here is our guide to what you need to think about. When you read it through, you will notice that there are points where it advises you to pick specific kinds of VA support. I hope that will be us, but if it isn’t, that’s absolutely fine. One of the reasons we offer our free discovery call is that we can check we are the right VA for you. After all, good VA support is all about working together.
Be clear on what you want to delegate
Before you even start looking for a VA, spend some time mapping out what you actually want or need to delegate. ‘Want’ to delegate and ‘need’ to delegate can sometimes be different things, though, and it may be that practical reasons mean it’s best to let go of a task regardless of how you feel about it. See our blog here on the fine art of delegating and how to decide what is best for you.
Common tasks that virtual assistants handle include:
- Email and diary management
- Document preparation
- Invoice creation and chasing
- Data entry
- Social media scheduling
- Customer service admin
Start by tracking your own tasks for a few days. Figure out what drains your time unnecessarily or stops you from using your talents in your business. That’s usually your best starting point.
Decide on the type of VA you need
VAs come from different backgrounds and sometimes have particular specialities. Most will cover a range of common tasks like the list above, but others may have additional, specialist areas, such as our support for neurodiverse businesspeople. That said, it doesn’t necessarily follow that a specialism is needed.
You’ll also want to think about:
- Location - does that really matter to you? Many of our clients are not exactly on the doorstep.
Availability – Do you need someone full time, part time or ad-hoc? Flexibility can also be a big factor, and special offers such as our booster days may make all the difference if your workload varies.
Tools & Tech – What will they use in their support, and does it meet your needs?
It’s important to match the VA’s skills to your needs, or at least that the VA is capable of adapting to them.
What is your budget?
Be realistic about your budget! It can be hard to put a value on the relief from the dragline of admin that a VA will bring, but you should be able to see a clear return on your investment. A good measure is how much your time is worth, added to the losses created by you not doing your job.
The value of the VA is usually very clear. So, the question becomes one of how much budget you want to allocate to a VA service. However, also remember that cheap isn't always best. You want someone reliable, professional, capable and, just as importantly, someone who understands you and your business.
Let the trust build
Talk to your potential VA in advance of appointing them and discuss what you want to achieve. In the end, you are trusting them with an important part of your business, so you need to build trust. We sometimes find that clients want to build the work with us over time. Perhaps initially hand over some of the tasks and see how that goes. If so, that’s fine. We can scale if we need to.
Additional considerations for neurodiverse business owners
If you’re a neurodiverse business owner, choosing the right virtual assistant goes beyond just ticking off a list of skills. You probably have unique ways of working, problem solving, and communicating. These are things that a good VA should understand and embrace.
Here are a few extra things to consider:
- Do they have experience working with neurodiverse clients?
- Can they support Access to Work?
- Are they willing to adapt their communication style to yours?
- Do they bring emotional intelligence and patience?
The last two items on this list are really very important. A VA should be a support, not a hindrance, when it comes to communication and understanding how you want to work.
Hiring a virtual assistant can be a real game-changer, but it’s not just about a list of skills. A good VA doesn’t just do tasks, they become trusted partners helping you in your business journey. We want to support you to work better and grow your business more, not make you fall in line with our processes.
At the end of the day, you should be able to trust, like and depend on your Virtual Assistant, and they should be able to work with you easily because they understand and want you to succeed.