The One Common Mistake to Avoid When Working with a Virtual Assistant

We have helped hundreds of small business owners get started with a virtual assistant (VA). Often we are able to predict whether a business owner will have success with their VA. It usually comes down to how the business owner envisions working with and delegating to their VA. If the business owner thinks, “I’ll send it to my VA as it comes up,” that is when things do not work out. It’s during those times when you do not have time to stop and think about how a VA might be able to help. Further, you don’t have the time to stop and train someone. If you have been in that boat before, the following might sound familiar:
I could really use some help right now.
Where would I even start?
It would take too long for someone else to figure all of this out.
I’ve waited until the situation is dire before deciding I need help.
Now I’m overwhelmed and will just do it myself.
This is the common mistake we see when working with a virtual assistant. Not only do you not have the time to train when you really need someone, but also, a VA has multiple clients. They cannot drop everything whenever you decide you need help.
How to avoid this common mistake

Invest up front: Invest in a process, invest in training, invest in the tools needed

For example, I was talking with someone the other day who is a solo business owner. She is planning for major growth this year and was interested in the idea of a VA responding to email inquiries for her services. She wants to wait until she’s busy, because that’s when she’ll really need the help. The catch-22 is that once she’s that busy, she won’t have time to stop and train someone. I suggested she start sooner so she could create the email templates and figure out the right access points a VA would need (logins, etc) while she has the time.

​The nice thing about a VA is you can delegate a specific task and that’s it. Her concern was the added expense, which is a valid concern. As her business starts to ramp up, she could get started with a VA for maybe an hour a week (or less!) just to get the processes and training in place (investing!) with the expectation that the VA’s hours would ramp up as the business grows. This investment would be minimal, yet save a lot of headache later.

When you think about a task you want to outsource, give yourself some space to think through how you’d want to do it. Ask yourself, what would someone else need in order to complete this task? The key is to set yourself up with a VA with the access and training before you need the work done. Not only can you just fire it off to your VA when a task comes up, you’re also not overwhelmed when things hit the fan.

Not sure what to outsource? Try our free Task Audit Quiz to help you figure out the tasks that can be delegated.