My VA is starting, what do I do?

Welcome to Skell with Virtual Assistance. Where we explore how to get support from virtual assistance so that you can grow your business and have a life. My VA is starting what do I do? It's a common thing people feel because people spend so much time on going, "Oh, let's find the best virtual assistance," which is of course important, but it's when they start that the rubber really hits the road, doesn't it, Maureen? Yeah, it's a little bit life-finding there, hasn't it? You know, you put all the effort in the natural marriage ceremony and then you've got the whole wedding, but you've actually got the life together. So, it doesn't need some work and some thought and some port, but where you need to just support you today, wasn't it through? And it's okay to feel a little bit nervous. I remember my mother-in-law, she used to say to me, "Oh, how's uni?" And I'd go, "Oh, yeah, yeah, it's good, but I'm a bit anxious. I've got my exam coming up and she'd say, "Oh, don't worry, don't stress. You'll do fine." And I'm like, "Of course I'll fucking do fine." Like this is what I said in my head, not out loud. "Of course I'll fucking do fine because I'm going to put the work in and I'm going to put the work in because I'm anxious and I'm anxious because I know that it's going to take a lot of work and of course I'm going to get a plus, but it's like, so I guess my message is that nervousness has some value. Exactly. And it's normal. Yeah. And it's meaning that you care and that you want to do a good job. Yeah. And so although there's not a one-size-fits-all into how you prepare for your virtual assistant, what we're going to go through is to share with you some things that you might want to consider before your virtual assistant starts and lessons that we've learned ourselves and from other clients and things like that. Sounds good. So the first thing I'd really encourage you to consider is what are you going to delegate to them on day one? So you have probably fantasized about a hundred things that you could get support around. And on day one, you need to pick one or maybe two things. Go slow. Slow is the fastest way to go. And so what you do is you pick your one or two things and then depending on the nature of those tasks in a day or maybe a few days, then you can layer it on and add another one or two things. And so over time, you can get support with many, many things, but you're not overwhelming your virtual assistant. And because when you start any new role, even yourself, maybe even before your business, we all know that feeling of your first week in a new job. So you need to put that hat on and go, "Yes, I do. It can be overwhelming." And you want to set your VA for success. You want them to have some wings. You want them to feel comfortable and have that belief that it's going to work. It's a great role and they made a good decision too. So that's why it's really important to start with things that are really clear, things that they can do and not too many. Yeah. And so start with something easy or easier. Don't say, "Oh, could you add the pixels, my TikTok pixels to my website?" No, no, no, that's like complex. And there's one off thing. Start with something that's easy and an ongoing thing, like maybe connecting you with all the accountants in Brisbane, for example, on LinkedIn. Yeah. And start with something that's a high volume and low risk. So if they did make a mistake, so maybe they sent a message, a connection message to someone that wasn't quite the person that you needed to connect with. It's not the end of the world. There's some wiggle room, some room for learning in that. Yeah. And I know Carmen, you said to me before that you've had a client who got the VA to self-select. Can you tell me about that? Yeah. You've actually told me about this, where the client wrote down the things that they want to support around and then said, "Okay, out of these, what would you like to start with?" And so pretty said, it worked quite well. It gave the virtual assistant some autonomy because they could start with things that they were more comfortable with and had strength around. Now to be able to do this, you have to be pretty organised and I need to confess. Business owners don't have all their systems sorted, almost every single one doesn't. And so when you're working out the one or two things that you want your virtual assistant to do, you need to have your systems work out enough that you can actually delegate it. So don't give them choices of things that they could do if you haven't got your stuff sorted and able to effectively delegate it. Yeah. So it's a little bit more complex way to go with it. So you might just, a simpler way would be to choose things yourself. Yeah. Low risk high volume. Yeah. And so sometimes when people get their virtual assistant, they then look at us and freak out and they're like, "But I don't have all my systems sorted. I can't have them starting in two days. I need to wait for a month to get everything sorted." And you know what, that's not going to work. Like high quality virtual assistant is just going to go get another job. They're not going to wait for you for a month. So we like to get the virtual assistant sorted within a week of interviews. And so you, but the good news is you don't need to have it all sorted. If you're delegating one or two things to them on the first day, you just need to have that sorted and then you're rushing to get the next two things you're going to delegate to them ready for when they're ready. So yeah, so you don't have to have all your ducks in a line. You can sort of jump and build your parachute on the way. Exactly. Which is nice because it is all about getting started. And you don't know what you don't know. So you could go, "Oh, it's a one to do this, and I want them to do this, and this, and this, and have it all mapped out." And then you're strategy around you linked in messaging changes and you don't actually want them to do that thing you had on your list anyway. It's a week later or two weeks later, it's changed. So that's why it's really good to be a bit nimble with it and just find that starting point. Yeah. And when you're delegating to your virtual assistant, so on the first day and you're sharing information with them, like you've been waiting for these day for ages, you're like, "Bah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." What I suggest you do is record the session. But more than that, tell your virtual assistant there's their job to remind you to record the sessions, or to give them permission to record the sessions in Zoom. Because often I'll jump on a call with the team and be like, "Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, like, I'm a freight train," more, and says. And then the team goes, "No, no, stop, stop. Come and just just wait. Could we record the session?" And then I start again and then I'm the freight train. So that they can then go and listen to that later and then come back to me with questions. Because I've been thinking about these things for ages. This is new to them and they might not have questions instantly for me. So recording the session also enables them to speak to our support team as well and to go, "What do you think they meant here?" or, you know, ask for more support as well. And then the other thing there is, which is I do, is record the session and never bloody listen to whatever again. But it's a safety net for you. So to say it for them. So that they can be more present when they are listening to you, because they know they've got a safe safety net if they need it. Even if they don't have that in their team to work. Yeah. So record the session when you're sharing your values and you're just sharing the context of what you want them to do, why you want them to connect with accounts and send Brisbane. Because the thing is, it's their first day. Only a small portion of what you say is actually going to go in. But it gives them that freedom to be able to go back and listen to what you've just shared. And so sometimes people are wondering, "Okay, well, how do I know how much work to give them?" Because, you know, all the business owners we speak with are really kind and they don't want to overwhelm the virtual assistant. And so this is like a little bit of a, you know, a give and take sort of thing. There's no magic answer. But the sort of elements that you do is you start with your one or two things. You delegate those. And then you check in with them and see how are you feeling. You know, how, you know, awesome, how much capacity do you have? Do you want me to delegate the next thing to you? What are your thoughts on that more in? I think there's different ways of going about it. Because you can actually also ask them questions like, "Where did you get to with that?" Or, you know, "How long did it take you to do that roundabout?" And you can place them going, "This is not to measure, you know, how quickly you do things, just get insights into you know, how long things take generally for the business? - Yeah. - So yeah, I think it's really beneficial to get more insights from them. And I think, especially in the beginning stages, where if they see you checking in, it means that you're caring and you're trying to be supportive, and I think that bodes well for the relationship. - Yes. - And I do think in the early days, especially, you need to have discussions about those things. And the other layer of communication that you can add on to that is an end-of-day report, which I highly recommend for all virtual assistants and business owners who are starting work together. And the end-of-day report is a really simple report, which says, "Hey, these are the things I've done today. These are the things I'm planning on doing tomorrow." And these are out in any outstanding questions I have for you. Now, with those reports, if you're wanting to work out how long it's taking a virtual assistant to do a particular thing, then you can, for a period of time, say, "Hey, could you just pop next to each thing "you did today, how long it took?" Like, not down to like seven minute intervals that lawyers do or anything like that, but just like, did it take you an hour? I did, it took you four hours, just so that you've got an idea. And then if things are taking four hours and they should take one hour, then that gives you an opportunity to go, "Okay, maybe they're not clear. "Maybe they need more support. "Maybe I need a breakdown the step "so that I can delegate more effectively." It just gives you an opportunity to then go and have those discussions as well. - Yeah, and I think that's something that will ease over time and you'll both start working together better and you'll just know those things and insuredly know how long things will take. And then those relationships progress as well. You might check in less, but in those beginning stages, it's the more the better. - Yeah, for sure. And the other thing that I know you often say more in is it takes time to do things like it sometimes takes more time than you think. So what's an example of that? So we know that whenever, if you think of something that you do really easily now, and it might be even log into your banking, right? So you go log into your banking, and it's your hardwired to know, click here, even know where on the screen you're gonna click before it's even come up. And so that's all hardwired. And so their tasks that you've done repetitively and so when someone's totally new, they've gotta learn the task, they've gotta learn the context, they've gotta learn about how you like things. So there's all this so much learning, which means it's gonna take longer in the beginning. So I think also your mindset must be not to measure the person, but that it's gonna take longer in the beginning. An example of this is we have an amazing staff member who looks after our clients. And she took, oh, I don't say it in a long time, but she took a different more time than some other people have had in the past. But once she consolidated that learning, she's absolutely amazing because she's intuitive and she's on the ball and she reads people well and she juggles everything well. She's amazing. But that beginning stage took longer than other people that were worked within similar roles over the years. So that's an example of someone who might take a bit longer to get up to speed, but when they're up to speed, oh my god, they're better than us. Yes, for sure, she's better than me, loving the clients. And so another example is, most people want their virtual assistants have experience and most of our virtual assistants will have experience in a number of tools, like a project management tool and a CRM, but just say they've used Trello and you use a SANA. So on day one, not only are they learning about your business, but they're learning about a SANA. Now, a SANA is a pretty easy tool to use, but like if it's, if everything's new, it takes more time to get your head around those things. And I think you have to be conscious of those of that. And consider that when you're assigning tasks or checking in to see how much has been done that day. Yeah, I totally agree. Just give them some slack. Yeah. And then when you have your initial meeting with your virtual assistant, and so for people who work with us, we facilitate that meeting. But one of the things that you go and have to work out is your communication framework. And this can change over time, but what's it going to be at the start? So what platform are you going to message in? What platform will your end of day reports be sent in? When are you going to have your meetings? Are your meetings scheduled in? Are they at Hock? When do you want your virtual assistant messaging you about questions? Do you want the questions in real time? Or do you want them to wait until you meet with them again at 2 p.m.? Do you want your virtual assistant to say, hey, I'm going for lunch? Hey, I'm back for lunch. Or do you not want to know that? So there's all these things around the communication side that you might just take for granted. You might just go, oh, it's natural that they're going to tell me they're going for lunch. Or I don't ever want to know if they're going for lunch. I can do their own thing or whatever it is. But it's about working out that shared understanding around that communication. And that's something that we support with a lot, because a few small tweaks in those communication frameworks can make a big difference to how both parties work together. Yeah. And we don't want to say all this to overwhelm you. So you might go, well, I'm not really sure how the communication is going to go exactly. But it puts them thought into it. And we'll support you around that. And we'll say, are you a person who likes receiving messages throughout the day? Or do you not? And some of those things you can tick off straight away and go, no, no, I'm more of an end-of-day report sort of person. They'll send it through, give me a question, and whatever, ongoing. And then I just want to have a couple of meetings in the first week, or whatever it is. But you've got to start somewhere. And then that communication framework can change and evolve over time. But it's about going with something and having clarity. This is about your virtual assistant starting. So especially pertinent in the light in the first few weeks. Yeah. And the way you communicate in the first week will also be influenced on the nature of the task that you give them as well. And so we'll be able to support you and advise you on that. And so today we've been speaking about, oh, my VA's starting in a few days. What do I do? And I just want to reassure you feeling, if you're feeling a bit nervous, that's OK. And it's actually really normal. A lot of business owners feel like that. You don't have to have everything sorted. All you need to work out are the first one or two things you're going to get your virtual assistant to support you with. And have a bit of a think about how you're going to explain that, like step them through it. Make sure that they're recording all the meetings. Make sure that you have an idea of how you're going to communicate, even if you change your mind in the future. And just be really considerate. And communicative to make sure they're feeling supported and that they're given the time and the space to learn about your business, the context in which you work, how you work, and the tools that you're working with as well. And we're always there to support you through this process. Yeah. Awesome. So I'm really excited for you. Your VA is starting and it's going to be an amazing journey.