5 Step Process for getting a new virtual assistant, freelancer or agency

For those of you struggling to delegate

Here is my five step process for getting a new virtual assistant, freelancer or agency

Before you get started looking at your numbers for last month. Figure out how aggressive or conservative you want to be. Do you want to invest 40-60% of your profits into people or 10-30%? We are all in a different place in our life and in our business. Figure out a % that makes sense for you. You can always go up or down slightly next month.

The first step is to figure out what you want to take off your plate. If you are stuck inside your day to day operations, create a list of everything you on a month to month basis. Assign some number of values to each task. How many hours a week do you spend doing it? What price per hour is the task? Prioritize that list so things that are low dollar value with lots of hours spent are at the top.

If you are someone where projects are building up or you are focusing on things too far away from your core competency create a list of your weaknesses. Figure out what you are the best at and get in the mentality of delegating everything else. Prioritize the list of weakness by ROi. 

Once you have these two lists you can establish what you want to hire for first.

Second, pick one thing from one of the lists to delegate first. Step two is about figuring out what your idea hire looks like. Is it a full time employee in your office? A virtual assistant in the Phillipines? A freelancer? An agency?

Figure out the price point, the skills they need to have and the commitment they need to make. Think of the type of people you work well with. What character traits do they have? Your goal here is to really define what your perfect hire looks like.

Once you have your perfect hire defined you are ready for step three. Figure out what site or resource you want to hire from and create a posting. Step three is all about interviewing. When you interview you are focused on four things.

Skill - Not everyone you hire needs to be a 10/10. There are a time and a place for a 6/10 or 3/10. What you care about is that they are honest about what they can and cannot do and that they are priced accordingly.

Attitude - Hire people that are positive and passionate about what they do. It has to be more than just about money. You want people who don’t get aggressive the moment something doesn’t go their way. People who can take feedback well.

Communication - Communication is everything. If someone has the attitude and skill but you can’t communicate with them it doesn’t work out. Obviously, they have to speak your language at a high level, but communication is so much more than that. Find people who can hit deadlines, don’t let personal issues interfere with work and can use the communication channels that you like at a high level.

Are they the right fit for me - Even the best virtual assistant/freelancers in the world are not the best fit for every business owner out there. Is this person going to work well with your management, communication and work style?

Your interview questions should be focused on these things. Not looking for the right answers but instead looking for the wrong answers. What are the red flags? What is this person saying that shows they might not have the skill, attitude, communication that I want?

Found someone you like from step 3? Now it is time for step 4, setting expectations.

This is the part most entrepreneurs miss. Get on the same page with your hire right from the beginning. Define what success and failure for their first project. Establish what communication systems you use and when you use them. Let them know who in your company to go to for what. Let them know about your pet peeves and dealbreakers. Your goal is to make everything black and white (in writing). Give them a chance to back out after you have established your expectations. You only want people who are 100% ok with them and can handle them at a high level. Don’t comprise here.

Once you have established expectations the final step and my personal favorite is the feedback loop. Give them feedback early and often. If they are a writer show them parts of their writing you like and parts you don’t. Be specific with examples. If they are meeting or not meeting your expectations tell them.  

The feedback goes both ways. Make sure you ask for feedback and ideas too. Some of the best ideas/feedback that has made or saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars came from other people. This only happened because I was open to listening and improving. The feedback loop never stops.

Delegation is the key to growing your business and it is almost impossible to scale without it. Hope this helps!