How to Scale Your Business With VAs
As someone who started out fully supported in a corporate position with highly skilled and driven associates, I never thought the reason that I was always overwhelmed and stressed out in my early entrepreneurial days was because of the way I had set up my business.
It was the good ole entrepreneurial trap that I had slowly but surely created…ensuring that clients had come to rely only on me and convincing myself that delegation was impossible until I had sufficient revenue and number of clients which was, of course, a circular argument. That, in fact, kept me even more strapped for time and struggling with the work that came in.
Enter my project manager and a virtual team.
But not before going through several other freelancers and contractors trying to cobble together a team that would work together coherently.
Truth is, there are far too many resources about outsourcing and not enough about how to delegate and actually work successfully day to day with your VA (or a team of freelancers and consultants).
So here’s what to bear in mind when you’re working virtually with your VA
1. Don’t expect them to know everything
One of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started hiring freelancers and contractors was the expectation that I could just throw them into my business and they would magically figure out what needs to be done.
Now, that might seem naive on the one hand, but also, in the instance where they are specialists, i.e. the web developer, designer, copywriter, SEO person etc…you could say that it made sense to be able to rely on those specialists skills.
Not quite.
Thing is, they are specialists in what they do.
They are NOT specialists in your business.
Even if you lay out the objectives for them, it’s up to you to make sure that all the separate pieces of your project work together and achieve the outcome you want.
2. Open up the Communication Channels
If you’ve never managed a team before, let alone a remote one, then you might not yet have a clear understanding as to the kind of work that it requires.
Even having just ONE virtual assistant will require ongoing training and management of their responsibilities.
How they work will have to sync with how you work. And time zones are just one of the many issues that you’ll need to coordinate.
It’s best to have routines in place – set times when you will…
- set tasks and instruct the team
- touch base with them
- review the work
This helps both you and your VA get into a rhythm and understanding of how the other works.
Know that they value the connection with you.
We’re all human beings after all.
If they’ve done a good job, be sure to tell them.
If there’s something going on for you personally that’s affecting your focus, let them know – they’ll appreciate it and will support you through what they do as much as they can.
3. Document your Processes and create SOPs
In order to make things efficient in your life and business, you must get used to the idea of creating documentation for your corresponding tasks.
Take the time upfront to do this as you are instructing or setting up the tasks.
The quickest way to document and train someone is to use a screen recording tool or create a series of screenshots you can put in a document that outlines instructions on how to do any particular task. Both suggestions below are free at the time of writing.
- We use Loom for browser recording.
- Annotate Chrome extension for screenshots.
- Good ole Google docs to create SOPs that you can share with the team. If you end up utilising our team to 2-3X your business, we will most likely be sharing your client files with you from Google Drive.
IMPORTANT: Do the first run through as an example. Then delegate.
I’ve seen this all the time, in fact, I fell prey to this when I first started out too. I thought I could outsource all the parts of my business that I wasn’t familiar with.
However this belief is fraught with issues.
It’s not always easy, but sometimes you have to put yourself in the shoes of your team member so that you’ll understand what it is you are actually outsourcing.
It may not be a prerequisite to have the skill to do what they do, e.g. web development, but you must understand the overarching concept and the strategy.
If you cannot articulate clearly what you need, chances are your VA won’t be able to work towards the outcome you want either.
4. Allow for Learning
Continuous improvement is the motto here. And we suggest you adopt the same in terms of the interaction with your VA team.
Your team will seek to add further value to your business while you simultaneously motivate them to keep learning.
For example, if you want someone to help you write content for your blog, you can’t just expect them to be able to produce something right off the bat. It often takes collaborative effort to eventually produce something to your standards.
Many entrepreneurs have a dreaded fear that if they teach somebody all the ins and outs of running their business, that they might end up stealing or duplicating the idea for themselves.
Truth is, your business is so much more than a bunch of tasks and projects that your VAs will ever have access to.
You are, in fact, the heart and soul of the business, and you simply cannot be replicated. Any other belief is fear talking.
And rest assured, your VA team values knowledge and learning.
By being willing to teach your methods and strategies you’re able to offload the large burden that often comes along with creating and growing a self-sustaining enterprise.
5. Leverage a Project Manager
Your project manager is a highly experienced senior VA who is ideally placed to help coordinate the tasks that you set.
S/he knows who within the VA team is best suited to work on your tasks based on your requirements.
It’s a necessary point of contact for you as part of your VA package with us. Your VAs can’t be expected to simply use their knowledge and skills to work together towards your objectives.
Without a project manager you’ll have to split out each workstream into its individual skill sets and instruct separately.
This way, something like building out a funnel can be coordinated by the project manager, say, between the video editor (for your video sales letter), the web developer and the CRM specialist – simply using this as an example – rather than you having to piece together 3 separate work streams to get the job done.
If you don’t have a project manager, guess what – usually you ARE that person. Or at least required to assume the role.
That is why so many entrepreneurs when first working with freelancers, consultants or VAs tend to burn out trying to manage all the different workflows.
Realistically the project manager is someone you would have to train to be able to coordinate all the work for you if you weren’t performing the function on your own.
You need to be very clear how each person / skill set fits into your overall vision or objective for your project. And it can be very difficult to find someone to come in from the outside who is able to manage your team from the onset.
Our team comes structured with the project manager already well versed in what online entrepreneurs need to launch, grow and scale.
It’s impossible to scale on your own. You need the right support at the right time. Otherwise you are simply putting unnecessary constraints on yourself and your business.
Check out some of the support we provide that can help you free up time and effectively scale your business.
