Getting the most out of your VA’s

When you just start outsourcing, you will often forget to send out tasks to your virtual assistants, and that is perfectly fine. But in order to get the most out of your VA experience, you will need to set recurring tasks, that will set off, without your involvement.

Processes for begginers

Best playing ground for this is actually social media. I’ve previously written a guide on Hootsuite and how it helps me manage my VA’s. This way you can efficiently give your VA’s the control over your social media without compromising your accounts.

But sometimes you will want to let them do more than just social media, and you will want to share them sensitive information about your business, but you don’t want to give them information straight out. In those cases, the best solution is to share them passwords via Lastpass.

These two processes require little to no setup, but pay MASSIVE dividends in time in the long run. It is centralizing your control management to two simple apps.

Recurring Processes

As a blogger, I’ve encountered a lot of repetitive tasks, and as I knew I will run out of ideas for my VA’s I made recurring tasks, that helped me get the most out of my outsourcing experience until I’ve got a hold of making the most out of them. So here are three ideas for people who are just starting out their outsourcing journey:

• Answering customer support emails – Most of these emails are FAQ, and your VA’s can be a first line of defense against the unnecessary emails.
• Scheduling your social media
• Scanning the internet for market leadership conversations
• Creating analytics reports of your website traffic

From my experience

Once you start outsourcing it’s extremely important to have a couple of recurring tasks to get you started. You won’t always feel inspired to give out new tasks, as it is not the integral part of your behavior online. Until outsourcing becomes your habit, and when you get in tune that your tasks are completed by someone else, having reliable recurring tasks is full proof way to get the most out of your VA’s.

This also keeps them sharp and constantly engaged in your business. They have a feel of building something with you, and have a feeling of ownership over the work that you do. They are a part of it. And as such, they will do a better job of working with you.

Your Turn

Did you try creating recurring tasks to your Virtual Staff? How did they perform? Do you have tips and tricks of your own to share? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments.