Once you've figured out the high-value items on your To-Do list, you may be wondering how you're going to do all of those other tasks that you haven't listed as critical, but that are still important to the maintenance of your business.

So you're not a technical or audio/video whiz, or you're so busy with your other business management tasks that you know you need to outsource your videos if it's ever going to get done. It is possible to outsource your video successfully. But like any outsourcing you do, you need to prepare and be aware of who you are hiring.

Here's what you need to keep in mind when hiring a freelancer for your video marketing:

Know What You Need: If you don't know what you need from your assistant or your marketing, how can you expect anyone else to know? If you can describe exactly what you need from your assistant then you will have a great chance for getting just that back from them when the project is completed.

Check Their Video Portfolio: Check the abilities of the person you're considering hiring to see if their style suits your needs. Ask for references and check them!

Prepare Materials and Logins: If there are specific materials and login information your assistant will need, it will save you a lot of time if you prepare everything ahead of time. If your assistant needs to email you every time they need something, you'll hold up the process while they wait for you to respond.

Find Reference Examples: Locate a few videos with the look and feel you like and forward those to your assistant. This will help your assistant make sure they're clear about what you're looking for.

Ask For Referrals: Asking for referrals is a great way to find qualified contractors. If you see a video online that you particularly like, contact the site owner to ask who created it. You'll know what kind of quality you'll be getting when you hire this way.

Be Open to Suggestions: Your contractor is an expert, so be open to suggestions from him or her. Explain your high-level goals, and then let them do their stuff.

Having a great team member or even a full team to handle your videos can be a real load off your mind. Just remember that successful outsourcing requires a careful blend of preparation and clarity on your goals, and willingness to let go and let the experts take over. Once you hit that sweet spot, you can cross one more thing off your To-Do list.

Every virtual assistant will need to assemble a team at some time in their career. A team increases your business possibilities and opportunities. But, handling all those people will take more than your stellar brain.

Putting the Pieces Together
Make a list. Whose skills will you use for what jobs? There are several ways you can do this. Let’s say that you want to hire someone to do article writing. You can use that same person for all your article needs across all projects, if they have the right qualifications. Or, you can use a different VA for each specialty that you handle, i.e. someone who is experienced with financial matters works with those clients and someone else who is experienced with website development can work with online businesses.

What you want to do is spread out the work so that deadlines are getting met. Even with one other person, burnout can come quick. Take inventory of how many people you will likely need to cover your overflow.

Getting your Mind Right
What’s this all about? Well, it involves how you will manage your team. Micromanaging is not what you want or need. That is just a fancy and roundabout way of doing all the work yourself. It is exhausting and not cost effective. You’ll have to let your team of professionals operate on their own with minimal guidance ONCE you are comfortable with their skills.

You already know that each person will have a different way of working. The important thing is that they can deliver for you. You can give each person a probationary period to evaluate their work. That’s another reason to implement your team approach while the overflow is light. You don’t want to test them under fire.

Tracking Projects
A project management system lets you keep track of not only the projects but the subcontractors as well. You can have them upload their work at various stages so you can see how they are doing and report to your client. Any documents that are needed by you and them can be uploaded to the project.

This system works well for asking questions, posting new information and hosting discussions with your team. There are options for you. Basecamp is a system that allows you to create client lists, post projects and add users. Each contractor can have their own username and password for the system and limited access to only their projects.

A similar system is SharePoint. This system was created by Microsoft and functions in much the same way. Here, each client can have access to a sub-site within the main site. They can view their work in progress and communicate questions or concerns right to you and the subcontractors.

Tracking your team is a matter of project management. To ease your mind, know who is doing what, when and how.

When you started your business you had a plan, a business plan. It no doubt mentioned something about future expansion. Now is the time to put those plans in place.

The best time to think about expanding your business is before it actually happens. Then, you can put your plan into action much more quickly and seamlessly. Part of expanding is outsourcing.

Now you are ready for a VA team. It was a team of one, but now you are happily getting too big for a one-man or one-woman show. To keep moving upward, you’ll need others to make it happen.

Choosing your Team
The team will be comprised mostly of other virtual assistants. These aren’t just any virtual assistants – they think like you do and have a similar work ethic. Just like your clients did with you, you’ll want to do some research and interviewing to find just the right people.

You may have already thought about what jobs you will outsource. Keeping it simple is a good way to start until you get a feel for how the team will work together. Interviewing is only the first step. Keep in mind that you may want to outsource more delicate matters later. Look for a variety of skills in the people that you choose for your team. The more skills that they have, the more useful they will turn out to be to you.

Starting off on the Right Foot
Get all of your ducks in a row from the beginning. This includes contracts, agreements and instructions. Each virtual assistant will need a contract that spells out, but is not limited to: pay per hour, pay schedule, job description. Agreements between you and your subcontracting VAs stipulating confidentiality and non-compete clauses are essential. You don’t want to be fleeced for your client list right under your nose.

Written instructions about how to do what you ask avoids as many mistakes as possible later. Even though your subcontractors know how to say, write a report, they don’t know how you write reports for your clients. Pleasing your clients is the important part here.

Crossing all the Ts
One “T” in particular is taxes. You are not just responsible for yourself but others who work for you. Hiring subcontractors is considered freelancing. This is another area that needs to be specified in any contracts with your team. As a subcontractor, they will be responsible for their own taxes and insurance. What you will provide (for US workers) is a 1099-MISC form for them that specify what you pay them so that they can use it to file their taxes.

The cost of subcontracting will figure into your hourly or per project rate for your clients. The last thing you want to do is undercut yourself because you are paying your contractors more than you are getting paid yourself.

Planning ahead for business growth will make you healthy, wealthy and wise.

Who says that outsourcing is strictly for work? As you grow your business, you still have other responsibilities that need to be taken care of. Check to see if these duties can be passed on to someone else.

When work and home collide, it can become insane. You will be folding laundry in your home office between emails and researching articles. Or, you’ll be going over reports in your head while you cook dinner. This is not what you had in mind when you decided to go into business for yourself.

Get Some Help…Again

You’ve already turned a big corner by outsourcing your virtual assisting work to other VAs with the right stuff. Now, turn your attention to your home. Those activities can also be outsourced to others with the right skills to do the job.

1. Childcare – Part of owning a home business like virtual assisting is that you can spend more time with the kids. You may have even worked out your business day around keeping the children at home. As the business becomes more demanding, you’ll want to rethink that scenario. Hiring someone to look after your kids, even on a part-time basis can make a huge difference. You have options: a nanny in the home, a part-time babysitter from the neighborhood or a childcare center.

2. Housecleaning – No one wants to clean even if they have the time. You might be sitting at your computer working but don’t let that fool your family. You can become mentally tired just like you can become physically tired. After a day of managing clients and typing your fingers off, you won’t want to pick up one more thing whether its clothing or a dirty dish. Budget in to hire a maid service. You don’t have to be the Rockefeller’s to afford it. If you do a thorough cleaning of your home, a service can come in just to touch things up once a week or twice a month. It will make a big difference.

3. Bookkeeping – You’ll need to balance those books if you own a business. All those numbers may start running together after a while. Waiting until tax time to handle them is an accident waiting to happen. Hire a freelance professional or another VA who specializes in bookkeeping to help you keep the business finances straight all along instead of at the last minute.

4. Your Business Needs – While you are building your business, administrative tasks seem to fall by the wayside. You’ll feel more at ease when you can find someone to do these things for you. Tasks like the following are perfect for someone else to handle for you.

• Updating your website
• Writing content
• Answering emails
• Sending out newsletters

What’s that? It’s the sigh of relief you’ll breathe when you outsource your needs so you can spend more time growing your business and doing the things in life you enjoy (yes, I mean more than working). 

As a business owner, you already know how important it is to communicate effectively. Your relationship with your clients depends on it. But, as an employer, you will need to be even more transparent to get the job done.

Your business brand is probably built on quality and timeliness. Your clients depend on a high caliber of work from you as well as meeting their hectic deadlines with time to spare.

None of that is going to change when you enlist the aid of subcontractors. If you want these VAs to provide the same high level of work, they need to know exactly what you expect from them and the system you want followed.

Being transparent is not about laying your soul bare. It’s more about leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of client satisfaction. That sounds very technical doesn’t it? Here’s what it essentially means.

Stating Your Case Up Front
Let’s begin at the beginning. There are tons of virtual assistants out there, but not all are created equal. You will work better with someone who has a personality and working style similar to yours. It’s not just experience that you are interested in here.

Let any prospects know about how you like to work. Let them know from day one (or interview one) how you handle work with your client. If you provide periodic updates for big projects then any subcontracting VAs need to know that their work will have more than one deadline.

What are you going to outsource to others?
Know what skills you are looking for and ask for those particular skills from your assistants. For example, articles can be written on an variety of subjects. If one of your clients is a real estate broker, you don’t want to hire someone with experience writing only gardening articles. Just the ability to write is not enough.

You have set the bar for your clients. They receive information from you in a format that has been mutually agreed upon. To receive the same from your subcontractors, they will need instructions. Writing detailed documents seems tedious, but in the grand scheme of things, this will ensure there will be no mistakes or misunderstandings. Not to mention, it makes it easier should the initial person you hire not work out for any reason. You’ll already have the instructions ready to send to the one who takes their place.

Here’s what can happen if you don’t. First, you will receive the completed work. When you look over it, you find several things wrong. Either you send it back to your subcontractor or you fix it yourself. If the time it takes to rework the work is over what has been agreed with the client, then you have to suck it up and lose money. If it puts you over your deadline, you have to explain to your client why it is not ready. Nothing about that is going to sit right with you, or, and most importantly, your client.

Transparency is good when you want need to outsource to other professionals. The work gets done right the first time and your clients remain happy. That’s the cornerstone of a successful service business. 

Sometimes your workload as a virtual assistant can get quite heavy. One of the best ways to handle it is to outsource some of your work to other virtual assistants. But, where do you start with that? Let’s dig a bit deeper to get your mind wheels spinning. If we can get you out from under some of that heavy load of working all the time, life will be a whole lot sweeter, right?

What Jobs to Outsource
When you work with clients, there is a measure of confidentiality going on. Companies trust you with their databases, email correspondence, meeting schedules and legal documents. These can’t fall into the wrong hands. So, as the person who won the client and is responsible for keeping their information safe, you have a decision to make about what you will allow others to do for you.

The first important decision that you made was to hire someone else who can provide the same service that you have for your clients (more about that in a moment). Congratulations on letting go of the reins just a little bit. Now, what will you give them to do?

The jobs that you will probably be looking to outsource at first are those that don’t involve a lot of contact with confidential information. And, the jobs will be small at first so that you can get an idea of your new helper’s work style and ethic. Here’s a short list of tasks to help get the juices flowing:

• Article submissions
• Article writing
• Creating reports and presentations
• Creating newsletters
• Internet research

Article writing can be used for website content or article submissions. Clients with websites like to keep it up-to-date with fresh, pertinent information and if you find someone who can help you whip out that content in a timely and top-quality manner, you’re in business.

Companies use reports to send to their clients and also for internal use. Creating reports involves knowledge of tools such as spreadsheets and databases as well as how to pull information together for presentations using PowerPoint. Depending on the information contained in the reports, this may be the perfect job to let go of and pass on to someone else.

Internet research is used for many things: writing manuscripts, articles, preparing reports and more. It is a unique skill to be able to entice search engines to give up their treasures. If you have someone helping you who doesn’t mind digging into research and possesses the skills to find what you need quickly, you’re on the right track.

Even if you don’t outsource any job that involves confidential material, it is wise to get any subcontracting virtual assistant to sign a confidentiality agreement. This way, as you get more confident and need more in-depth help, you don’t have to worry about anyone selling trade secrets. On that same note, you may want to consider having all your assistants sign and Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) depending on the nature of your work. While we won’t go into detail about NDAs, this can help protect you should your assistant decide to leave and pursue his or her own career and become your competition.

Choosing the Right Person
Who you work with all depends on your personality and their level of proficiency with the task. First of all, no two people will do the same job exactly alike. Let’s get rid of that preconceived notion right now. If not, you will drive yourself crazy and nitpick over everything they do. What you are looking for is someone who knows what they are doing and can demonstrate the skills needed to get the job done correctly and on time.

Outsourcing is the perfect way to get the help you need from other competent virtual assisting professionals. Start with small jobs and progress to more delicate assignments as you see fit.

Virtual assisting is an industry that has partially grown out of the need for getting important jobs done but with less overhead. To that end, virtual assistants take on a number of roles for the online business owner as well as large corporate companies. But, as you strive to achieve business success, beware of burnout.

A virtual assistant has to wear many hats. He or she is not a secretary but a fellow business professional that has developed a skillset that is in demand by other business professionals. You may start off with a few services that you offer: database creation, newsletters, word processing, creating reports. But, depending on your background you will add other services to stay competitive and also to utilize what you know: website design, Internet research, article writing and submission, event planning and etcetera.

While you are building a client base, you are going to be quite busy. As most virtual assistants work out of their home, that means many hours spent in your home office getting the job done. You make your money based on the number of hours you bill and the quality of your work. Burnout can severely impact that quality. No one wants that.

So, if you have to start turning down work because there are not enough hours in the day, it’s time to take a different tack.

Stop Turning Down Money!
The only way to keep growing is to take on more clients, but you don’t have to do it all alone. Many VAs, especially women, find it hard to ask for help. After all, you are the consummate assistant who provides all the needs of your clients.

Why does the assistant need an assistant?
An assistant with an assistant is not redundant. One person can’t manage their family life and business life by themselves once the business side experiences a growth spurt. You want the best balance you can get between both worlds and that won’t happen without help.

Take a Page from Your Clients’ Books – Consider Outsourcing
As a virtual assistant you know all about that. You are an outsourcing professional. Tasks that don’t necessarily have to be done in-house are farmed out to you. This lowers the cost of employees for the company and also frees them up to do other things. The same goes for you and your VA business.

Outsourcing can relieve the pressure of missing deadlines. With even one other person you can do double the work in the same amount of time. With less to manage, your business can continue to grow. Think about it, wouldn’t it be nice to profit more without working yourself to the bone? 

All companies are looking for ways to lower their overhead costs. Not some companies. Not most companies. All of them! For many of these companies it is not just a matter of trying to save a buck or two however; it often a question of sheer survival that has them scurrying around shutting off lights, computers or printers that are sitting around idle. If you are a business owner or are just in charge of making the financial decisions, exploring the option of outsourcing might be the answer that you are looking for. How do you know when it is time to consider this choice?

• Your overhead costs exceed your budget or projected expense report on a consistent basis and by substantial amounts.
  
• Your profit margin has become so razor thin that you can see the bankruptcy lawyer grinning on the other side.
  

• The daily commute
  
• The hours
  
• The expense of child care
  

Social media is a way in which customers can interact with the human aspect of all of their very favorite brands.  They can get to know the names behind the products, and ask questions about the things they intend to buy.  However, you may have a fantastic product to sell and are just not a very social person or you do not have the time to engage in social media for your customers’ benefit.  Many may wonder if it is appropriate to hire a professional to interact with customers on a social networking forum for you, such as Twitter or FaceBook.

The answer to this last issue is a resounding “No.”  The truth is that no one will be able to represent your company as well as you can, and someone may even misrepresent your company in a way that hurts your image.  It is always best to try to find some time, even if it is only once a week, to check email messages, tweet updates, or post a blog for your loyal fans.

The main reason for this is that only you know the ins and outs of your own company.  The business owner is best qualified to answer questions about his or own business. However, this is not the only reason you should try to find time for customer relations in your schedule.  Social networking creates relationships with the most important person to your business: the buyer.  When customers can see a small window into your life, and get to know a bit of who you are, what you are really doing is building customer loyalty.

Customers like to feel secure in the knowledge that you are someone with whom they would like to do business, and when they can get to know you, not just as a nameless storefront but also as a person with likes, dislikes, and a personality, they are more likely to come back in the future.  You may find that the converse happens as well.  When you get to know your customer base, it is much easier to cater to their needs.

However, there are certain times when business owners do not have the time, the knowledge, or the desire to keep up with a social networking forum.  In this case, an associate can be hired as the social “face” for your company.  Keep in mind, however, that there are some right and wrong ways to handle this.

Never hire someone to “represent” a current employee, but rather the company.

This means you should not have someone pretend to be you and engage with customers under your name.  Instead of having them introduce themselves as “Bob” from “Bob’s Pizza Shack,” you should always have them communicate as “Bob’s Pizza Shack.”

Hire someone already familiar with your field.

If you hire a phlebotomist to answer FAQs on a website about a florist’s company, you are likely not going to see good results and you will waste time teaching him or her about your company.  Instead, hire someone already interested in horticulture, or your particular field, as the case may be, and know that you have someone who knows about what they are talking to your customer base.

Remember, the person you hire will be representing your company, and you should think of them as the “face” of your business.  Hire appropriately, and you will not be disappointed.