When you hire somebody, they don’t know everything about your business. I’ve had to train new employees in the past. I’ve shown them almost every aspect of the business that they will deal with from day to day. Heck, I even showed them how to do their own payroll. So, whenever you hire somebody, you accept that there will be a certain amount of training and ground rules to establish. The same holds for hiring a virtual assistant. Some groundwork is needed.
Thus far, I have sent my VA my client information. I have sent her jobs I’ve done and how much I got paid. I’ve sent her information about new leads. Just today, I finished creating my price list of services. Theoretically, all I have to do now is submit the number of hours worked and job descriptions for each client so that she can create invoices. I don’t expect things to work “according to plan” on the first try. There will be a few trial and error attempts, just like with an on-site employee. For now, we are setting up a system that she will use to do what I need done. We will refine the system as we go along.
In time, I expect that we will both work efficiently together. We are still getting to know each other, as much as it is possible to do so long-distance. Once we have a system established, I think Sahnaz will be a powerhouse for me. What is even better is that I will figure out what works and what doesn’t so that I can use that knowledge to train the next VA should Sahnaz decide to move on in her career. This is as much training for me as it is for her.
If you think you need a virtual assistant, you should consider GetFriday.com as well. I’ll keep you posted on how this business experiment works for me.
Shaine 