Virtually Free Personal Use Ebook

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This section of "Virtually Free" offers hints and tips that will ensure that you start off on the right foot and maintain a great working relationship with your virtual assistant in the future.

One of the best things you can do before entering into a relationship with your new virtual assistant is to decide what your exact relationship will be rather than immediately begin sending long lists of tasks to do.

This will involve talks and a carefully laid out plan that you both agree on and that will determine you're both on the same page. If you're looking for a virtual assistant who can take over and manage projects, that requires that when you delegate the projects, you let go and let him do his job.

If you have tasks that require him performing business tasks such as bookkeeping, you may need to keep a closer eye on the virtual assistant to make sure he knows the inner workings of your business. Later, you can let go in bits and pieces as you see that he's getting a good grasp on the situation.

Here are some issues to keep in mind when beginning and continuing a good relationship with your new virtual assistant:

Recognize the learning curve. Don't expect the VA to jump right in and take over the tasks you specified. Every business and person does things differently and you'll need to be patient during the learning curve.

Don't micromanage. When you've hired a professional virtual assistant, he will have a learning curve in which he'll familiarize himself with the way you do things, but be sure to relay that you're helping in the beginning and then when you feel comfortable and the trust is there - let go and let him do his job. If you have to continue micromanaging, you've likely hired the wrong VA.

Get to know your VA in the beginning. Rather than signing up for a longterm contract in the beginning, begin with a few minor jobs to get to know each other and the expectations you have as well as those of your VA. Make sure the virtual assistant knows that he's on a trial basis before you relinquish large projects and a heftier pay.

Keep your most important projects close. Don't delegate your pet project or important activity at least until you know the capabilities of the VA and know he can get the job done.

Remember - the VA isn't you! No matter how many skills the VA has or how much you're paying, he or she will never be able to do things exactly as you would. But, the good news is that you might find a way of doing things that you hadn't thought of or considered before and it might be better than your old ways of doing things.

Remember why you hired the VA. Whether you hired your virtual assistant to help with tasks that are tedious and time consuming or for a particular project that you need specific skills for, don't overstep the boundaries that you originally projected.

After you feel comfortable with the VA's skills and capabilities, don't let the project keep absorbing your time and energy. You'll be defeating the very purpose of why you hired the VA in the first place.

Main Learning Points of Section 4: Best Practices for Working with Your Virtual Assistant

After you've hired the "perfect" VA, you'll want to know how to work with him to ensure that you have a long, working relationship. Section 4's top learning points include:

Recognizing the learning curve associated with the way you do things. Everyone performs tasks differently and there might be a bit of hand-holding until your VA learns the way you want things.

Handle the important projects yourself. Don't hand off the creative parts of your business or things you know you're hard to please about.

Don't overstep the boundaries of why you hired the VA. You should have reached an understanding in the beginning of how much work there would be and how it would be done.

If you're currently faced with tasks that prevent you from focusing on the core parts of your business, you're a perfect candidate to hire a virtual assistant. In "Virtually Free: Free Your Precious Time by Offloading the Things You Hate," you learned what a virtual assistant is and the ways they may be able to free you to concentrate on the creative aspect of building your business or managing your personal life.

Think of all the things you could get done if you just had someone to take care of certain time-consuming tasks. If you're an Internet marketer, you may have a blog that needs responses on a regular basis.

Or, you may have introduced a beginning service or product that made you lots of money but now you need to create a new one. You've got lots of ideas, but no time to research and formulate them. This is where a virtual assistant can take over and set you free.

Let your VA compile reports that will give you a much better idea about what people expect from you and what you need to do to take your business to the next rung in the ladder.

"Virtually Free" has given you an overview about what steps you need to take to hire a VA. Remember that it doesn't always boil down to hiring the cheapest VA online. That person may be a beginner or lack the skills needed to take over immediately and freeing you for other things.

An extra set of hands and eyes can mean so much to a developing business and effect how you spend your valuable time. A VA can be hired on a part time or full time basis or for a specific project that you need help with. They're also helpful during crunch times or seasonal business efforts.

Continue to research the good things that can come your way when you decide to hire a virtual assistant. Many successful entrepreneurs are finding that a good VA is the answer to their time management problems.

Keep in mind that the valuable time you spend on mundane administrative work and other tasks may actually be hindering your business. Think about hiring a virtual assistant that can free you up to do what you do best.

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