How to Effectively Use a Virtual Assistant to Boost Your Income and Get More Done
By: Scott Stockdale
Tags: Outsourcing, Systems Thinking, Freelancers, Podcast, Virtual Assistant

How to Effectively Use a Virtual Assistant to Boost Your Income and Get More Done

Photo by Soundtrap on Unsplash

6 months ago, I hired my first virtual assistant. I’d never managed anyone before, let alone someone on the other side of the world. Happily, it’s been a joy!

My VA edits audio, sends emails, creates social posts, schedules episodes, does ad-hoc tasks — all the things I hate doing. Just as importantly, she gets to work from home, spend more time with her family, and learn a bunch of new skills.

With the time zone difference, I also wake up to a daily report, detailing work that’s been completed and the time it took. I’m effectively working as I sleep!

The cherry on top? Now all my systems are in place, on-boarding my next VA will be a hundred times easier.

Here’s how I developed my systems, hired my first virtual assistant, and continue to manage this relationship.

1. I documented all the tasks that need doing

Although it took some time, documenting all of my tasks gave me a sense of how long each task should take and potential stumbling blocks for a VA.

Take podcasting. To produce Entrepreneurs Can Party, there are a bunch of tasks that make this happen. There’s promoting on social media, reaching out to guests, guesting on other podcasts, etc, etc.

I now have a single Google doc that documents every task that needs doing which my VA can access anytime through our shared Dropbox. Just as importantly, each task is broken down into a series of steps. For example, ‘producing a podcast’ alone is broken down into over 30.

Documenting these steps out was the most tedious thing I’ve ever done. But now it’s been systematised, I’ll never have to spend time training future VAs.

You don’t have to document tasks by writing them down. One of my favourite YouTubers, Travis Marziani, does video recordings of his tasks using Screen-o-matic which his VAs can watch in their own time.

2. I wrote a Virtual Assistant Rulebook

A Virtual Assistant Rulebook will help set your expectations so that you and your VA are on the same page when you onboard them. It should also outline a process of what will happen if they don’t meet these expectations.

For example, what happens if your VA secretly does work for others in your time and you catch them? Do you give them a warning? A strike? Dismissal?

My rulebook contains information on my strike system, whereby if a VA gets 5 strikes in a month for not fulfilling certain duties, I let them go. It also details what daily tasks I want them to complete and other expectations.

It’s worth noting this rulebook is a fail-safe. I haven’t had to turn to it yet and I believe if you hire the right person, you shouldn’t have to either.

3. I wrote a 1st Day VA Orientation Document

This 1st Day VA Orientation Document gave instructions to my VA on their first day of employment. It told her what tools to download, what documents to read and an overview of my most important rules/policies.

At this stage, it’s also helpful to think about money. How much are you willing and able to pay? Will it be on an hourly or monthly basis?

Although it’ll feel a long way off, it’s important to consider these questions before you hire because it’ll help give you clarity on the systems, tools, and processes you need in place. It’ll also save you time in the long-run.

4. I wrote a 1st Day Email

This 1st Day Email detailed my expectations, how I’d pay for their time, and included a link to the 1st Day Orientation Document.

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5. I loaded all the tasks into Asana

When it comes to managing the work of my VA, I use Asana’s free plan.

Asana is a web and mobile app designed to help teams organise, track, and manage their work. Here are just a few of its great features:

It’s easy to allocate tasks to you or your VA

You can opt to receive daily emails reminding you of tasks that you are due to complete for the day

If you have a task that needs to be completed daily/weekly/monthly, you can set the task to repeat.

You can split tasks by category. For example, I have a category called ‘Episode Editing & Shownotes’ which lists all of the tasks to be completed for this category.

6. I created an account on onlinejobs.ph ($69 fee)

I used onlinejobs.ph to hire a virtual assistant from South-East Asia for a number of reasons:

As Travis Marziani speaks to, the majority of VAs in this region are loyal, dependable, extremely well-mannered, and speak excellent English. Because of the low costs of living in South-East Asia, wages are extremely cost-effective for those looking to hire. The time zone difference means I wake up to completed work from my VA.

7. I created a Sample Project & Pre-Interview Message

Before posting my job on onlinejobs.ph, I created a sample project in a Google Doc. This contained four mini-projects which I would ask candidates to complete 24 hours before our interview.

The four mini-projects included:

Testing their internet speed using speedtest.net and attaching a screenshot. Internet speeds in South-East Asia can be slow in and I was looking for upload speeds over 5 MB. Producing a 1-minute audio clip of them talking about one of their favourite hobbies, featuring an intro and an outro. This tested their English, as well as their audio-editing. Finding a specific piece of information from my website and recommending a tool they think could go on one of my web pages. This tested their ability to follow simple instructions and their knowledge of podcasting. Including a link to their onlinejobs.ph profile in the email

Next, I wrote a pre-interview message which I sent to candidates when I received their applications. In this message, I provided a link to the sample project and asked them to select an interview slot from a Google spreadsheet I also provided a link to.

Having an interview timetable means you can batch all of your interviews in one day. I interviewed 7 people back to back, giving myself at least a 15-minute break between each so I could reflect on answers.

I’d recommend scheduling an interview day at least a week after you post your job to give candidates enough time to submit their applications.

8. I posted a job on onlinejobs.ph

I’m not affiliated with these guys but I wish I was with all the professionals I send their way! Here’s a link to the job I posted in April 2020:

https://www.onlinejobs.ph/jobseekers/job/386788

In the header at the top, it clearly specifies I’m looking for someone on a part-time basis and the salary is $200-$250 a month. In the job overview section, I make it clear what the job entails and what the perks of working for me are. I wanted to make the proposition as enticing as possible to find the best talent.

For example, I made it clear the VA could work whenever they want, wherever they want and would have the opportunity to learn new skills.

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I also gave detailed instructions on how applicants should apply for the job. This separates those who tailor their applications from those who bulk respond.

Just by asking applicants to change their reply subject line, I was able to immediately discount over half of all applicants.

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9. I waited for responses to come in and started sending sample projects

Once the responses trickled in, I messaged applicants with the sample project for them to complete.

As the sample projects then poured in, I reviewed each one and kept an eye on the interview timetable to make sure there weren’t any clashes.

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10. I interviewed applicants

After receiving sample projects and whittling down the applicants, I conducted interviews over Zoom. Here are the questions I asked:

Tell me about your last job — what did you do? Why did you leave your last job? If you were to get this job, how many hours are you looking to work? What are you looking to get from this job (other than a paycheck)? Do you own a computer and an internet connection? Do you own a smartphone? How fast is your internet connection? When would you be able to start if you got the job? Have you ever worked for a foreign employer before? Where in South-East Asia are you? Any previous podcasting experience? If your internet goes out, do you have any options? What happens? Can’t work? Do you have a PayPal account? What are your long-term goals? How many other companies are you interviewing with? Does the advertised wage work for you? Random question: if you could have a conversation with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose and why?

Here some other things I made a note of:

Did the applicant turn up on time for the interview? Note: Being an hour early (as one of my applicants was) and staying in the Zoom waiting room is just as bad as being late. In my opinion, candidates should be no more than 10 minutes early.

Note: Being an hour early (as one of my applicants was) and staying in the Zoom waiting room is just as bad as being late. In my opinion, candidates should be no more than 10 minutes early. How prepared are they? The VA I hired gave good answers and was the only one who seemed to have prepared.

The VA I hired gave good answers and was the only one who seemed to have prepared. Can you see yourself working with this person? This is one of the most important questions!

11. I responded to applicants

Once the interviews were over and I think I knew who I wanted to hire:

1. I messaged back the applicants I knew for sure I wouldn’t be hiring.

I thanked them for their time, gave a couple of lines of feedback (what went well, how they could improve, etc), and wished them luck in their search.

2. I emailed the virtual assistant I wanted to hire on the same day with the following:

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Thankfully, my virtual assistant was delighted to accept!

3. I messaged the applicants I had on my reserve list to tell them the bad news and give them feedback

4. After she accepted my offer, I emailed my new virtual assistant with the following:

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As you can see, I made it clear to my assistant that she didn’t have to complete anything before our first Monday meeting. However, she’s the best! She agreed to check through the VA documents before Monday and came back on Sunday morning with the following:

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We had our first meeting on Monday. In it, we made sure she had everything set up, and then I let her crack on.

The First Week

One piece of advice I always give to people hiring their first virtual assistant is to keep your schedule clear for the first week.

You’ll want to provide your assistant with as much feedback as possible and it may take time to respond to their questions, as well as give constructive criticism.

By providing constructive feedback from the beginning:

1: It’s less likely your VA will make the same mistake twice which will save you time in the long-run.

2: Providing detailed feedback signals to your VA that you’re serious about the relationship.

3: You’re developing their skills which most VAs will appreciate.

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The first week is also a good time to iron out creases in your systems. For example, it took us a while to find a suitable payment system for me to send money to Vietnam where my VA is based. (We ended up using TransferWise and they’ve been fantastic.)

We also had to tweak the amount of work I gave my VA to do each day. Initially, I spread it over the week. Now, it works better for us to front-load and to have the weekends off.

You probably won’t get it right straight away. You’ll make some mistakes. And that’s absolutely fine. Enjoy the process and I hope your first hire is as successful as mine!