You don’t have to do it all, and you shouldn’t try.
If you’re a solo you might believe you can’t afford to hire someone to help you because you think, “Gee, I don’t have enough work to keep them busy full-time.”
You don’t have to hire someone full-time. And, you don’t have to hire someone locally. The world of virtual assistants awaits you. It’s an amazing place that will make your life vastly easier.
But, it’s strange and you don’t know anything about it, and so you’re scared. I know, believe me. I know because that’s how I felt at first.
The trick to getting started is to go slow and get some basics under your belt. That’s what I’m going to help you do.
Let’s talk about a couple of small hurdles you’ll encounter as you hire and work with virtual assistants.
You need to CLEARLY define what you want your VA to do. You can’t get by with vague instructions. For some people, this is the big barrier.
When I worked in the big firm there were big-shot partners who were notorious for “expecting people to read their minds.” If you’re a big-shot partner in a fancy, big, law firm then you can get away with this. You can get away with it because (1) the people work for you full-time, and (2) they can ask other people that have worked with you what your expectations tend to be.
But, you’re not a partner in a big firm, right?
Virtual assistants don’t work for you full-time (or not usually), and they definitely can’t seek help in figuring out how to decipher your intentions after being given vague instructions. No one likes trying to “mind read” instructions, anyway.
So…
No mind reading.
You have to give CLEAR DIRECTION. This is a skill you’ll have to develop better, no matter how good you are at it now. Working with VAs is great, but only when the communication process is smooth.
You will communicate mostly through email. Learn to craft better emails, ones designed to help people quickly grasp what you want them to do, and know how they should go about doing the thing you expect them to do.
A great book to read is Writing That Works by Kenneth Roman & Joel Raphaelson. The authors are expert copywriters, so they know how to write in a way that’s clear, compelling, and action-oriented. The tips on how to write an email are what you want to focus on.
Here are some key takeaways that apply to general emails you send, but apply particularly to directions that you’d give to a virtual assistant.
Use the subject line wisely. Most people decide what to do with emails based on what’s in the subject line, and many are looking for any excuse to delete the email or ignore it. If the email is seeking specific action, then signal that in the subject line. Also, consider using bracket words to signal things like “time sensitive” or “action item.”
Bold key phrases in your email. Use bullet points, and keep paragraphs short. Even a short paragraph can look intimidatingly long on a mobile device, which is where most people now read their emails. ALL CAPs are okay if they’re short and truly flag a keyword or action item.
Okay, enough about challenges…
Now, I’m going to help you jump-start your way into hiring virtual assistants. And, you don’t need to know how to communicate well, or even how to define the task.
If you go to Fiverr.com you can hire virtual assistants from a worldwide pool of thousands of specialists in all kinds of areas such as Online Marketing, Business Writing, Graphic Design, Advertising, Video or Audio production.
The virtual assistant defines each task, and each task only costs $5 (hence the name Fiverr.com).
What kind of tasks might you want to get done for $5?
- You can have a stylish letterhead designed for your law firm.
- Get an original blog post written for your website.
- Don’t have a firm website? Get a WordPress blog with 3 pages, and a special theme.
You can find a lot of other useful things that you might want to be done for $5 at Fiverr.com, so go check it out. Will every task be perfectly suited to your taste? No, it won’t.
The trick here is to learn how to hire a Virtual Assistant. You’ll have to get used to hiring someone to work for you remotely.
That’s what Fiverr.com can help you learn to do.