15 Entrepreneurs and Business Owners Share Their Virtual Assistants Tips

Maddy Osman

My best VA experiences resulted from a good hiring and onboarding process.

I write detailed job descriptions, narrow down candidates based on perceived fit, interview the top candidates thoroughly, and see if they can follow my directions during a paid test project.

Once on my team, they undergo an onboarding process that answers all their questions about working conditions, using specific tools, and submitting invoices. I share resources regarding particular client needs and how to use tools or deliver specific projects on an intranet they can access whenever required.

James Reynolds
SEO Sherpa

My company, SEO Sherpa, is a distributed organization. We have a head office in Dubai, but most roles can be worked remotely. At the time of writing this, around two-thirds of our team are full-time remote workers. We have over 40 team members in eight countries: the USA, Canada, the UK, South Africa, UAE, Thailand, the Philippines, and Lebanon.

It’s fair to say I’ve learned a thing about operating a virtual team over the years.

If I were to boil that experience down to two key takeaways, it would be these:

1. Hire people with a track record of excellence and love for the craft. It’s way harder nurturing talent when they are remote versus in person. That’s why I recommend you recruit experienced “pros” who live with your culture. Thankfully, you have the whole world from which to choose.

2. Visit your remote workers or have them visit you. Meeting your team face-to-face will do wonders for productivity and morale. We bring our whole team together once per year.

John Rampton
Calendar

My best VA experience has been an assistant I’ve had for the past four years who continues to be reliable, trustworthy, and productive.

They are my go-to person for all tasks because they make themselves available via multiple channels and know how to prioritize what I need to do. My VA is a good communicator and has a strong work ethic, so I don’t have to micro-manage them or worry if they are getting the work done when I can’t see them.

I found my VA through a referral from a colleague, which I highly recommend to anyone searching for someone they can trust. Knowing that someone else had previously worked with my VA and knew their work was an excellent way to start the relationship on the right foot. It’s also been successful because I make myself available when necessary so my VA can keep work moving. Also, having numerous tech tools in place automates some of their work so I can give them other tasks.

Catherine vanVonno

20four7va

 My best VA experience is when my VAs show me they can manage themselves.

This happens when they can complete job responsibilities independently and require less management from me. They know what needs to be done and ensure it happens.

When this happens, I allow room for trial and error. It all starts with hiring people who know what they’re doing and then communicating the company’s vision and guiding principles to them. I remove obstacles by setting clear expectations for what I want to have done and how. Then, I give them space to breathe. It can be hard not to micromanage, but I try to get out of their way so they can work to their full potential.

Finally, I reward for ingenuity and critical thinking.

Zak Mustapha

When I first got a VA, I would look at how well they followed instructions and how much they charged per hour. However, it’s deeper than that. You need to get to know why. Why did they do this VA stuff in the first place? Are they out of a job and need to make a living? Is it something they enjoy? You don’t want someone who’s just doing it temporarily. Ideally, you want someone passionate about assisting business people (or whatever you do). Because if they don’t, you may message them one day and not hear back from them for days (which has happened to me).

Set expectations in advance and qualify them hard so you can work with them efficiently. Always start with a paid trial period. And make sure you mention it’s “paid”. Give them tasks to do, show them how to do them (if needed), and set goals for each job so they don’t just do them robotically… because at the end of the day, it’s all about results they can achieve, and the time they can save you. You don’t want someone who’s just there to clock their hours and send you an invoice by the end of the week.

Barbara Weltman

 Big Ideas For Small Business

I’ve worked with the same VA for the past 12 years, and the experience has been suburb.

Initially, I had only a vague idea of how to use the VA’s services in my business. Over time, she took on more and more responsibilities, becoming an essential asset to the company. She completes all the tasks necessary and is proactive in looking out for the business and suggesting ways to improve.

One of the ways that my VA and I work together successfully is continual communication via email. Even though we’re in different time zones, our ability to communicate regularly (and even at odd times—nights and weekends) has been critical.

Elaine Rau

I needed my spreadsheets to be organized. I had dozens of interns work on the sheets, which were a total mess. I needed everything in the duplicate rows, color-coordinated, and in the same format. 

I knew exactly what I needed when I needed it and communicated the exact details of what I was looking for. When you’re clear with your instructions, you won’t ever have a bad experience with a VA!

Kedma Ough

I have a VA who has been with me for five years, and I have never met him. He changed my life and business and gave me back my freedom. I supported him as he supported me.

Laura Yang Renner

 FREEDOM Makers

I’m a big fan of systems. My best VA experience was when I had a system I could transfer to her. She stepped in without a hitch and made it her own.

Taking me out of the picture made it a success. I got out of her way. It became that she would tell me what she needed me to do to complete the process!

Melissa Smith
Association of VAs

My best VA experience is matching clients with the right virtual assistant and creating a win-win situation for the two individuals with so much to offer one another in business. Jackpot!

Uncovering the communication strategy and ideal client fit are the keys to success. The first ingredient is finding a suitable VA with whom a client can communicate quickly and seamlessly. The other ingredient is knowing the perfect client the VA started their business to serve. Once I have these two pieces in place, success is inevitable.

John Mac

 The MotionEffect

I knew for a long time that I needed an editor on my virtual team. My best VA experience was asking the right questions, being personal, and checking to see which personal values also connected with my business and mine; I found a VA that understands my message to the world.

Before hiring, I ask many questions. It is about the work to be done and testing their mindset around workflow, figure-things-out mentality, and what they think about the productivity workflows. I also try their overall ability to stay organized in communication and productivity. Then, I go hot on personal questions to get to know them. See how they handle human connections and how they are open and honest. Ultimately, I’m letting them know I won’t work with an invisible VA that is afraid to show its face. I expect video calls to be the primary method of communication besides Slack chats.

By being personal and direct from the start, you’ll find out if the VA can handle a personal work relationship with sound, open communication. By making sure you find a VA that shares some of the worldview and personal values, they will be more invested in the mission and purpose of your business. Get personal but professional. And share the same values. An emotionally invested VA in your business will feel more connected and do a better job.

Ray Blakney

Infinite Upcycle

My best VA experience was starting over 12 years ago. Like many others, I had just read Tim Ferris’s book The 4-Hour Work Week and was introduced to the concept.

At the time, I was running a chain of brick-and-mortar language schools in Mexico, and as the only native English speaker on staff, I answered all the English emails. The business was growing, so at this point, I was spending 6-8 hours a day just on this task.

It was not as easy to find VAs back then, but after a few months of searching and some family contact in the Philippines, I found somebody willing to work US hours for a great price.

Within two weeks, I went from 6-8 emails a day to just 1 hour of emails. The VA I hired first was not significant due to my lack of experience, but the change was enough to open up a new world. I let the first VA go within six months but hired another great one within a week. Almost a decade later, I have worked with dozens of VAs from Asia to Europe, which is my basis for building my businesses.

What helped me make it a success was embracing failure. By this, I mean that finding and working with a great VA required me to fail in my hiring dozens of times. When I started, 2/3 of the people I hired did not work out. Now, 3/4 have stayed with me for over two years.

The key was learning why the ones that did not work (for me) did not work and then changing the hiring and training process to try to account for it.

At this point, while not perfect, my process weeds out lousy work and culture fit during the interview, leading to more long-term success.

Chaz Edward
Web 2.0 Ranker

My best VA experience was hiring a virtual assistant from Indore with four years of experience as a digital marketing generalist. We could train and mold this person into a local recruiter for the Web 20 Ranker team. With a local recruiter, we could set up and register a foreign office, permanently staff it, and tap into a wide range of graduates from the local universities.

Elevating our team member and empowering her personal growth and development has been my best VA experience.

We focused on hiring a generalist rather than a specialist. Therefore, we were able to develop her skillset in ways that were directly beneficial to our business and that followed our processes and systems without any preconceived ideas that might be counter to our management and operation style.

Rob te Braake
ABEL Finance

My VA is running my LinkedIn. Simply put, she brings in leads and builds our brand without me lifting a finger.

The recurring best experience is when I open the Sheets, go through the leads, and see her responding with messages that are on par with or better than I would respond in my tone of voice.

She takes so much time off my hands, with minimal management time needed!

I spent a lot of time on the recruitment process, including paid test projects and multiple interviews, focusing on skills and especially personality and mindset.

Once she was on board, I invested quite some time training her on what we do and how we communicate.

Vin D’Eletto

Word Agents

My best VA experience was when we hired an independently contracted writer for a single project. She ended up joining our team as a full-time writer. She’s been promoted to management and is a core part of our leadership team.

It immensely helped me when I started making clear expectations and having a great personality. When we hire VAs, we always provide them with clear direction and transparent expectations. To do this, we ensure that we have an iron-clad operations document ready for the VA when they’re hired. We use this document internally for a few “test projects” before making a VA hire to ensure no confusion in our directions/expectations. Our new hires often point out that this is helpful and makes their lives easier. In this case, the VA we had our best experience with has a fantastic personality and great attention to detail. She is always proactive when onboarding a new project, ensuring she has all the necessary information. If something pops up during production, she’s the first to reach out to run the issue down. 

The best part is that she does all of this with a smile. While she may not have years of experience or formal training, her personality has propelled her into the position she’s in right now. 

Learn more about one virtual assistant business owners’ company that has won awards globally, Aristo Sourcing, by visiting the About Us page.

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