Imagine this, First name / babe 👇
You’re a solopreneur, and you’ve been in business maybe 8 months, maybe a year, maybe even 3 years or more.
You start daydreaming of what your time, energy, and success could look like if you had someone to support you. đź’
I don't mean support you mentally or spiritually, I mean LITERALLY take things off your plate. Someone who knows your business, knows how to complete the time consuming tasks, and who knows how to be proactive in helping you succeed.
It’s the golden age question for any solopreneur, “Should I hire an assistant?”
Here’s the thing; if you’re feeling overwhelmed and you have the capacity and finances to hire a VA/OBM/assistant, the answer is almost always “yes.”
But just because that answer may be yes doesn’t mean you shouldn’t approach it with strategy.
Before I became who you know me as now (a systems queen 👸🏼), I was a high-level VA and integrator for 2 years before I pivoted into systems. Even still to this day, I support a few clients as their operations manager.
I learned that solopreneurs were desperate to delegate in their biz, but often times threw caution to the wind and hired VAs without any strategy, without any SOPs, and without any real sense of the goals for the role. 🥴
In turn, it almost always ended with biz owners investing their precious dollars into their business but not seeing the true benefits of delegation come to fruition.
As a biz owner myself, I’ve now worked with my executive assistant (shout out Ellie 🙌) for a year and a half. We started at 3-5 hours per week, and now she assists me with 8-10 hours of work per week.
I’ve seen BOTH sides of the coin, and these are a few of the BIGGEST tips I can dish out if you’ve been considering hiring a VA.
#1. What’s the goal of the role?
The short answer: to delegate things, so you can have more time to focus on your zone of genius… but is there something bigger you're dreaming of? Are you wanting the role to expand from just a catch-all VA to a higher level role in your business? Are you looking to bring on a team member who can handle big projects, communicate with clients, or create an agency-style position? There is ALWAYS a bigger picture when it comes to growing your team. The time, energy, and skill you'll be putting into training a VA can have legs. Consider how you're hoping to grow the person and what the ultimate goal is in your biz before jumping the gun and outsourcing to a VA.
#2. Do you have systems & processes in place?
VAs need training. Even with the most skilled VA, you can't expect them to hop into your business and understand what you have going on. Having solid systems, processes, and SOPs in place before hiring can make the onboarding process so much easier for you and the VA. If you're drowning in your backend and feeling the disconnect with how your business operates, a VA will too. Things don't just magically function better with a VA–it takes work. Consider revamping and auditing your client processes, business systems, and your SOPs before you make the jump. Then, you can focus on fine-tuning those processes and delegating pieces of the puzzle based on your VAs strengths and where you want to be spending your time in the business.
#3. Do you have the capacity to train & micromanage during the onboarding phase?
Onboarding any team member is hard work. Not only are you learning the ebbs and flows of the new relationship and your role as a leader, but the VA is learning how your business operates and how you need things done. Plan plenty of time and then some to proactively train your VA. Take time to micromanage tasks, train them on your processes, and give room for ample feedback, corrections, or critique. A solid VA relationship takes time to develop, so it's always best to hire when you're in a slower season or have the capacity and bandwidth to do a little hand holding if necessary.
* PRO-TIP: When you're delegating and assigning tasks to a VA for the first time, record a Loom video of you doing the task first and outline the process (if you don't already have an SOP), plus any expectations on framework, structure, and timeline of the task. Save the videos in your project management system to create a reference library for your VA to easily access when they need a refresh on how things are done.
When handing over the reigns in your business to someone else, no matter how small or large the responsibility is, it takes strategy, dedication, and clarity–like anything else in business. Going into it with these key themes in mind can help you ease into a new VA relationship with purpose and power! ✨
