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). 

Outsourcing jobs to a virtual assistant is a great way for busy business owners to get many small tasks accomplished at once.  A virtual assistant can do anything from reading and replying to customer service emails and placing orders for clients to setting up appointments and answering phones from a remote location.  However, if you are not careful, there can be some major pitfalls.  Here are some of the most important mistakes to avoid when outsourcing to a virtual assistant.

1.   Know Who You Hire

When you hire a virtual assistant to help with tasks that are important to your business, it is important to know your new employee as well as possible.  You need to treat this position as you would any other in your business.  Conduct interviews.  Look over resumes.  An outsourcing job generally performed remotely still means you need to get to know your candidates first.  The level of independence afforded by a remote position can be taken advantage of when an employer does not thoroughly check out a new hire.

2.  Communicate With Your Virtual Assistant

If work by your virtual assistant is done without keeping the lines of communication open, it is very possible that your assistant will not do as good a job at completing the tasks you need finished as you would have done them.  If you want your jobs to be done the way you would have done them, it is very important to be honest and open and communicate often with your assistant.

3.  Make, and Stick to, a Budget

If you have more than one outsourced job, it is easy to lose track of the funds you are spending for those jobs.  Some assistants will ask for hourly wages.  Others will expect to be paid by the project.  Still others may work through contracts, or even on commission.  If you do not keep accurate track of the funds you are spending, it will be easy for you to overspend on your budget.  Always keep accurate records of your spending, and never hire anyone you simply cannot afford.

4.  Use Your VA to His or Her Fullest Potential

Make sure when you hire a virtual assistant that you take some time to get to know his or her skills, and that you mandate tasks to him or her that are best suited for the particular skills offered.  If you neglect a talent your virtual assistant has, you may be missing out on a valuable resource.  Conversely, if you delegate more to your assistant than he or she can handle, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.

5.  Never Overstep Your Boundaries

Always remember that you are likely not your virtual assistant’s only client.  Asking too much and being over-protective is not only selfish, but it could be a way to lose your virtual assistant.  Be respectful, above all else!

When you are a business that has a lot of service to do and you need to get your business moving it can be difficult, especially when you have to wear every hat that the business needs. For most small business owners this means that marketing goes down to the bottom of the pile as something that will eventually get done.

Today, Internet presence is what is needed for most businesses and you must do this with some sort of effort. Whether you are a social networking or you are using professional social media to market your business, you will find that the Internet will play a major part in your marketing.Because of this and because you are probably too busy to do it yourself, you will need the professional services of a Virtual Marketing Assistant (VMA). This is an individual who is skilled in doing what you need done on the Internet.

There are probably thousands of VMAs who have the skills you need and they advertise them regularly. Some are in the beginning stages of their business but they may have expertise from other work.

A VMA can be particularly important when you have several projects to do at once. Here are some ways to work effectively with your VMA:

Define the Task

When you first start working with your VMA be very clear about what it is you want them to do. They are not mind readers and in order to get what you want you have to spell it out. Before you talk with your VMA make a list of all the things that you want done and that you are already doing. Be clear with yourself about which ones you want to delegate to someone else.

Define your way of working

As a small business owner you have a certain way of working that is only known to you. This information must be communicated to your VMA so that they can work with you instead of against you. The more they know the more the two of you will be able to work around your quirks.

Write what you want done in an email

Don’t expect that your VMA will know how to do something in the way you want it done. Write down in detail what it is that you expect to be done and when. Always give them a deadline so the two of you are on the same page.

Design a process for communication and working together

From the very beginning make sure that the two of you talk about working together and how that will look. Talk about the work flow and the way(s) in which you will communicate.

Let go of the work

Once you give your VMA an assignment you should be confident that they have the skills and expertise to do it. Ask your VMA for a regular update from them to resolve any control issues you have and then let them do their job.