How To Hire A Virtual Assistant To Do Mundane Tasks

You’re not alone if you’re exhausted and overwhelmed by the prospect of growing your business.

Most entrepreneurs work long hours because they haven’t figured out how to properly use their time and delegate to others.

A lot of entrepreneurs think they can do it all by themselves, and that’s exactly what they do because of their belief.

As an entrepreneur, your job is not simply to create a job for yourself.

These tasks can be done by freelancers and virtual assistants.

An Entrepreneur builds their own empire by making other people do their tasks so that they can focus on more important things in the business.

So let’s get started.

Make a list of the chores you’d like to outsource.

Make a list of all the duties and processes you’d like to outsource to your Virtual Assistant.

So to start writing your chores, write down each and every thing that you think your VA should do:-

For example:-

Low -value tasks that, even if you’re good at them or enjoy them, are not the best use of your time.
Tasks for which you lack the necessary knowledge and skills.
Jobs you don’t want to do but that someone else will.

And If you’re hiring a Specialized Virtual Assistant, instead of listing specific activities or procedures, write down the objectives you want them to achieve.

Write a job description.

Now that you have a list of tasks that you would want your VA should do.

Start writing a job description to make the other person understand what you actually want them to do.

You can keep these things in mind before writing a job description.

Be clear and precise.
Straight to the point.
Specify the tasks and duties.
What you expect from them.

Sample Description

We’re seeking a Virtual Assistant to help our team with administrative tasks on a daily basis.
Answering emails, monitoring our social media profiles, organizing meetings, and making travel plans are just a few of the administrative responsibilities you’ll be doing as a Virtual Assistant.
All of these jobs should be performed by a virtual assistant with minimum supervision.
Roles and responsibilities
1. Respond to emails and phone calls.
2. Meetings should be scheduled.
3. Make a reservation for travel lodging.
4. Conduct market research.
5. Prepare reports and offer assistance to customers.
Prerequisites
1. Working as a Virtual Assistant for at least a year.
2. Excellent communication skills, both verbally and in writing.
3. Able to successfully manage their time.
4. Available to respond to communications from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST.

Put your job description online.

After you’ve finished writing your job description, you’ll need to post it online and begin receiving applications.

The approach is to use a hiring service or directory for Virtual Assistants.

Fiverr and upwork are the top websites where you can find virtual assistants.

Examine applications and set up interviews

Examine the applications received and set up interviews with the top 5-10 applicants.

Video interviews with your top prospects are something I encourage.

A video interview is the next best thing to conducting an in-person interview.

On a video call, you can tell quite immediately if you like someone and can connect well with them.

It’s a red sign if someone refuses to perform a video interview with you, and you shouldn’t hire them.

Don’t merely ask each candidate about their work experience and capabilities throughout the interview.

Inquire about their objectives, hobbies, preferred working environment, and management style.

Put your top candidates to the test.

Give your top three prospects an assignment to accomplish as a test before you commit to hiring them.

Choose a task that is likely to be part of their normal responsibilities and assess how well they complete it.

People who appear to be terrific on paper are frequently not so terrific in real life.

By requiring your prospects to execute a real-world activity, you will be able to establish who the best candidate is.

Provide a trial period to the top candidate.

Choose the most qualified individual for the job and give them a trial term (30, 60 or 90 days, for example).

A trial term provides additional motivation for your Virtual Assistant to do an excellent job for you, knowing that it will lead to a permanent position on your team.

To avoid future misunderstandings, have them sign a written Service Agreement.

Virtual Assistants are classified into several levels.

Remember that there are several tiers of virtual assistant for different skill sets, which explains the vast variance in ranges.

So if you want to hire a virtual assistant for writing articles, this virtual assistant can be categorised into three levels of expertise.

Basic:- Doers are virtual assistants who fall into the basic group.They’ll have prior experience with the task you’ve given them, but they’ll need some direction on how to execute it.

Medium Level:– Virtual assistants who work at this level are experts.They have more experience than beginners workers, and they bring their own procedures to the jobs you provide them.

Expert level: This category includes virtual assistants who are high-level experts and advisors.They’ve been freelancing for a long time and may even have their own agency through which they provide their services.

They can assist you in developing a strategy and completing complex tasks to a high standard.

The hourly pricing of a writer varies substantially depending on the level of expertise that you require.

Types of Virtual Assistants

Let’s take a look at different types of virtual assistants that you can hire and what they do?

General Virtual Assistant

Every entrepreneur needs a general virtual assistant. GVA are incredibly cost-effective, with a starting rate of $3 per hour, which allows them to take on lower-level online work.

For Example:-

Look for keywords and topics to research.
Maintain social media accounts and update statuses.
Organize your schedule, which includes travel and daily meetings.
Help with publication schedules by uploading your blog content.
Use a pre-paid credit card to make minor purchases.
Create and manage sales and delivery reports for your website.
Check in with the rest of the team.

Web developer

These virtual assistants are highly skilled and usually self-taught.

They can design any form of website, from simple brochure pages to fully complete e-commerce sites.

Consider the web developer VA to be a digital contractor who keeps your website up to date, appealing, and functional.

You’ll quickly find yourself with a stale site that lacks the content you need to climb the search engine results if you don’t hire a competent web developer.

Graphic Designer

Not to be confused with your web developer, your graphic designer VA will be in charge of creating customized graphics for both offline and online marketing.

For example:-

Make business cards and logos.
Create retail packaging and pictures for products.
Make 3-D video pictures.
Icons and buttons for the web that are customized.
Create unique websites and concepts.

SEO

The SEO industry is a fast-paced one.

That means that only those professionals who keep up with current events can provide long-term results to their clients and staff.

It indicates that what worked last year is likely to be less effective or ineffective today.

This is why working with an SEO VA who can incorporate the most recent modifications is so important.

This VA will assist you in optimizing your online content, and it is critical that your VA continues to educate himself or herself in order to stay current with any changes that may affect your website rankings.

Content Writer

Your content writer is someone who enjoys reading and writing and is proficient in both.

However, be careful about which material you choose to outsource.

For Example

Write a blog article that is 500 – 2000 words long.
Make a podcast description.
Write media releases.
E-books and white papers are researched, drawn up and written.
Come up with ideas for content.

Video Editor

Because internet video marketing is becoming more popular.

I’ve noticed a significant increase in demand for VAs with post-production experience and knowledge of the many video marketing platforms available.

To create a high-quality video, a video editor VA can blend raw footage with audio effects, video effects, and processing effects.

What should be your budget for a virtual assistant?

I believe that everyone has wondered about the cost of a virtual assistant at some point while running their business.

So I am going to make it clear for you so that you can expect how much it will cost, when you are hiring.

Let’s speak about US based virtual assistants vs. virtual assistants situated outside of the US before I give you a range of estimations based on a variety of various jobs that may occur within your organisation.

In general, if two virtual assistants have similar skills and expertise but are located in different parts of the world (for example,Los Angeles , Florida vs. Manila, Philippines), their hourly prices will differ.

Now, you could engage a virtual assistant who specialises in a specific skill set that is more difficult to master (for example, Facebook ads), which may be more expensive than a virtual assistant based in the United States who is executing a relatively simple task.

So in short Non US candidates are a lot more inexpensive than US candidates.

When considering the cost of a virtual assistant, I recommend starting with $5.00 per hour as the lowest price point.

With the price range of $3.00 to $5.00 per hour, you can begin to locate dependable, communicative, and highly experienced virtual assistants who will be able to completely devote themselves to the activity you are outsourcing.

However, you may get really excellent virtual assistants for as little as $10 to $50 per hour.

This is the spectrum to look at, If you’re seeking a higher-level consultant or performer to assist with the growth of your company.

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Save time and money :- you will save a lot of time delegating your mundane tasks to the V.A and with a much cheaper price if you hire the candidates outside the U.S country.

Stress Free Life:- Once you have someone to manage your tasks on your behalf you can live a stress free life because now you can use your mind more efficiently and use new strategies to scale your business.

Increases Productivity:- It helps in increasing productivity because once the job is distributed among more people than it will be completed faster and will lead to overall growth.

Increased Quality of Work:- Another significant benefit of having a virtual assistant is the increased quality of work. You can trust someone who knows what they’re doing and has the necessary capabilities to complete the task.

How To Manage Working With Virtual Assistant?

Working with someone remotely is not something that everyone is comfortable with.

In fact, it does not come naturally to the majority of people.

But, like any other skill, it can be learned.

To successfully manage someone who works for you but not with you, you must think outside the box and adopt new ways of thinking.

Communication – frequency, tone, duration… – is one factor that will set the tone for your business relationship. The more the merrier. Your VA should be on speed dial in the beginning. The quantity will be reduced once they are fully operational and up to date.

Set Expectations:- Another important topic is expectations; it is best to set them as early as possible and decide how much control you want over them. When you’ve had enough time with them to form a solid foundation and a good professional relationship, you can gradually reduce the level of management.

Performance Evaluation:- Finally, take into account the performance evaluation. To ensure that both parties are satisfied, you should decide how you will track performance, whether by hours, tasks completed, results obtained, and so on.

Mistakes to Avoid while working with a virtual assistant

Unclear Instructions

You need to give them clear instructions.

Virtual assistants are not superheroes that will read your mind.

Do not expect that they will do it by themselves with just giving them a hint of work.

You need to inform them of the clear expectations you want from them.

No Timeline

Not giving them a clear date and time on which you want them to complete the work is the mistake that most entrepreneur makes.

This will lead to confusion and frustration.

So you need to give them a deadline on which they have to deliver their work.

No Regular Meetings

Not having a proper schedule for meeting with your VA is the number one mistake to avoid.

Conduct regular meetings with your VA’s for proper evaluation and performance tracking.

This sets goals and expectations that you want them to follow.

In short, your virtual assistants will be more connected to you, disciplined and sincere towards their work.

Final Thoughts

After reading this post you have an idea how you can hire a virtual assistant for doing your mundane tasks. It is an important aspect of most entrepreneurs’ lives that they usually ignore and may end up frustrated, tired and stressed. So do not repeat this mistake for yourself. Just go and hire an excellent VA to build a business of your dreams.

Want more? No problem!

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