A virtual assistant is an administrative Swiss Army knife for small business owners and entrepreneurs. They are self employed professionals that provide administrative, technical, and creative support to their clients remotely. Administrative support may include calendar management, client correspondence, data entry, travel coordination and research. Technical support may include general website, updates, software and system implementation and maintenance. Creative support may include social media management, event planning and coordination, producing newsletters and email campaigns.

If you are spending too much time working IN your business not ON your business, it is time to hire a Virtual Assistant. The first sign is when most of your day is highjacked by administrative tasks such as meeting coordination, social media management, data entry, email management, internet research, bookkeeping or travel coordination. These administrative tasks prevent you from focusing on scaling your business.

Tasks that you can delegate are things that you do repetitively, have a consistent process for or can be done with minimal instruction. Examples include responding to email inquiries, scheduling client meetings, creating images for social media, posting blogs, data entry, coordinating travel and internet research.

Don’t worry, your Virtual Assistant will have a robust onboarding process! There are some things you can do to help facilitate a smooth process. Set clear expectations of the tasks delegated. Be sure to include deadlines, examples of previous work (if applicable) and communication preference. The first month will be a learning phase for both parties, so schedule frequent check-in meetings to alleviate miscommunication.

No worries, your Virtual Assistant can help with that! Upon completion of the initial onboarding call, your Virtual Assistant should understand the framework necessary to create Standard Operating Procedures. This may be an ongoing project the first couple of months if you have a backlog of procedures and workflows to develop or refine.

A good rule of thumb is to expect 60-90 days for your Virtual Assistant to be functioning independently. The first thirty days will be spent learning and developing new processes. The second month will include refining and/or revising processes. By the third month things should be smooth sailing! The key to a successful onboarding for your Virtual Assistant is communication and providing feedback.