Are you intrigued yet sceptical when it comes to hiring a VA? Are you tempted but fearful of what to expect?
For many, the whole virtual assistant subject is still rather new and ‘scary’, albeit, having moved from full blown COVID lock down times to now – a time of remote working!
Like most things, it’s the fear of the “unknown”. You’ve never worked with a VA so you don’t know anything about them or how they work or if you can trust them. But if you think about it, it’s the same with every new employee you hire too so what’s different? At least with a VA you can try out several of them and if you’re not satisfied, even discontinue their services (within their specific cancellation policies of course). You certainly cannot do that with a permanent employee! Perhaps it’s the not knowing if they’re really actually working? That’s understandable but again, it can be the same with an in-house employee.
Thankfully, there are ways around that. You can establish a set of deliverables; request daily progress reports and schedule brief daily calls (or even Skype) outlining a full update and status of their work. Some VAs log their time and provide their time sheet to the client. Another way of ensuring they’re keeping up with their work requirements is to be sure to set cut-off times for every project – no matter how big or small. If they don’t manage to meet their deadlines (for good reason), then you can generally gage whether they’re fully committed or not. Then once you’ve seen the fruits of their VA labour and you’ve reached an acceptable level of trust, you won’t necessarily need to continue ‘checking up on them’. But do remember, that it’s not about the amount of time they spend at their desk, it’s about the overall outcome and of course, the consistency of those end results.
Or is it down to not liking or trusting the idea of a VA having such sensitive and personal information such as log-ins, bank account information and credit cards? Completely understandable! But it’s pretty much the same with any new permanent PA. Although they’re in your presence, can you still fully trust them with all that confidential information? Simply, screen the heck out of your future VA. And give it time. You need to take the time to build the trust. Once that’s in place, then share that information as you need. However, take into consideration that the work you delegate to them may very well be dependent on having those details in order to function efficiently. So before you start handing out your classified information, why not test the VA waters and start by delegating work that doesn’t require sharing them right from the outset. Build the trust first. If it’s any consolation, you could take assurance in the understanding that the expansion and on-going success of any VAs’ business (most businesses for that matter) is ordinarily based upon recommendations.
Apart from the VAs that are just simply respectful individuals who live by the rule that confidentiality is absolutely paramount in this business, they are also extremely dependent on referrals and steady work to meet their overall business and income needs. So most, if not all VAs very much appreciate that jeopardising their clients’ confidence in any way is oh so not worth any risk at all!
There are many positive aspects to hiring a VA – one of them being the advantageous ability of ‘testing the waters’ before committing to one VA. Something you most certainly cannot do with a permanent employee! Whilst it’s not generally the ‘done’ thing – because we all need to show a little common courtesy towards one another – but clients can potentially try a few different VAs before ‘settling down’ with their preferred choice. The exciting part is that you get to trial a variety of VAs across the globe and whilst they may not turn out to be suitably matched to you/your business requirements/personality needs, at least you get to build upon your international contacts (and pretty darn useful ones too!).
One of the other fears or concerns about bringing on board a VA is that you’re possibly used to having someone there – face-to-face, or the worry of being too disconnected. But think about how much you might travel/spend time in meetings/visit clients/attend events or conferences, etc. Where’s your PA then? So when you think about it, it’s pretty much a virtual relationship by phone/iPhone/Blackberry already. It’s your choice. You can involve your VA as much as you want or don’t want. Certainly, once you’ve built that vital element of trust, you’ll worry less about whether or not she’s working every second of the time you’re paying her because by then, you’ll know that she probably is.
Continue to my What is a VA? blog for more about what a VA can do for you!
To assess if I’m the Chaos-Coordinating VA for you, by all means, please do drop me a line at info@yourprivatepa.com.