Have you been thinking about hiring a virtual assistant? Are you at the beginning stages of exploring the idea of expanding your team to help run your business online? In this week’s blog, Jessica Granish, leading expert in the virtual assistant industry offers some sage advice on this very topic. Jessica has 13 years of experience in creative, social and technical virtual assistant tasks. Jessica helps heart-center and conscious business owners put all the pieces together for their business to run like a well-oiled machine in an online environment. She also is a virtual assistant trainer, as well as thought leader that educate online business owners about the power of delegation and how to successfully and efficiently build a team that is in alignment with your core values and in turn creating authenticity and trust for a long lasting partnership. In a nutshell, Jessica, helps you gets sh*t done so you can focus and shine in your zone of genius.
- Start thinking about expanding and getting assistance now: One of the biggest frustrations I hear from business owners is that they wish they would have hired someone
sooner…or at least started the process sooner. It is daunting and overwhelming when your to-do list becomes a mile long. Get ahead of the curve; don’t let the stacks of tasks pile up. Don’t fall victim to being a prisoner in your own business where it stops you dead in your tracks. You know that feeling of being so overwhelmed that you just take a nap!? Try not to get to that space. A virtual assistant is there to help create less stress and more time for you to focus on your passion, you know, the whole reason why you went into business for yourself to begin with. All seasoned and reliable virtual assistants have processes and procedures to bring you on board with ease. You should feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from your shoulders when you start with your perfect VA. - Don’t feel like you have to hand everything off all at once: It may feel like you are handing the keys to your empire over and for some that might be scary. You and your awesome new virtual assistant should work together to identify and prioritize the most important tasks. I suggest starting at a foundational level. This is so that your business is sturdy and strong. You don’t want to play a game of Jenga with your business. In many cases, people don’t even know where to start with delegation. If you are one of those business owners who have no idea where to even start, I suggest using a great tool that I built called the “Delegator”. It is a way to help identify where delegation could help with your sanity. You can access the form here >>> http://www.alpinesbsolutions.com/the-delegator/
- Let go of the negative mindset: I realize delegation can seem hard at first. I teach this and
can get in the same mindset that many have. You know that negative mindset of, “I want to save money, so I will do it myself”, or “if it is going to get done right, I should do it myself”, or “it is going to take too long to bring someone on board and teach them the ropes”. Don’t fall victim to these statements. Growth is all about letting go of those blocks. The art of delegation comes with great rewards that you will soon realize and will look back and wonder why you didn’t seek support sooner. - Focus on your zone of genius and let your virtual assistant focus on theirs: If you are just starting out with building your online presence you will find yourself inundated with new tools and terminology to help run your business in an online environment. This can seem daunting and can be extremely overwhelming and time consuming. You don’t need to know how to do everything to be successful. Being able to let go, release and trust in the ninja like skills of your virtual assistant, can change your entire business in a very positive and wonderful way.
- Make sure that your virtual assistant matches your core values: This is one of the most important things that a successful and long term virtual assistant relationships can have in
my opinion. If your core values are in alignment everything else just flows so much easier. You can usually tell on the initial conversation with a virtual assistnat if the synergy is there or not. I suggest to all my clients that you don’t focus on all business in your initial conversations. It is super valuable to talk openly about what makes you both burn with passion inside as well. You can learn quite a bit from digging deeper and creating a more personal connection too. Now, don’t get me wrong, passion is important, but their credentials are extremely important too. A nice balance is a wonderful way of matching core values. Having this alignment with your virtual assistant will in turn create authenticity and trust. It is a beautiful thing. - Communication is key: Need I say more? All great relationships let it be professionally or personally start with great communication. Creating expectations and sharing your communication style is super important. When starting your business you will want to set those expectations with your clients, your vendors and your team. Communication is a foundational piece to building authenticity and trust as you grow and expand in your zone of genius.
I hope that this was helpful for someone reading this that may be on the fence. I also just released a new blog recently titled “5 Reasons Why Hiring a Team Will Cost Less Than Doing Everything Yourself”