So you’ve got a few VAs that you’re considering taking on as your sub. How do you choose the one that is the best fit for you and your business?
First and foremost, do you enjoy talking with them? I’m not saying you have to be good ole buddies, but if you’re not comfortable with talking with this person then chances are the two of you are not on the same wavelength and you will most likely not work well together. They could be the absolute best at what they do, but if your personalities don’t jive it ain’t gonna work, trust me.
Now that we’ve narrowed down the list to only those folks that are right for you personally, now we have to determine if they’re right for your business. Consider these questions:
- do they have experience with the tasks that you will be wanting them to do?
- are they fast learners?
- do they have any extra skills that you lack that may be an asset to your business?
- does their work ethic match yours?
- are they prompt with their responses whenever you are corresponding?
- have you seen examples of their work?
- do they have references that you can talk to?
- how much available time do they have?
ALWAYS make sure that you have some kind of references to speak to. Did someone recommend them? Talk to them and find out what kind of work they’ve done together and how the whole experience went. Have they done any work for anyone else? Get their contact info and talk to them.
If they are completely fresh and haven’t done much VA work yet you will need extra time to train them, but sometimes that is a good thing as you have the opportunity to train them exactly how you want! And you can still look at some of the tasks that they’ve done for their own business as examples of work. Did they create their own website or blog? Go check it out. Do they have any social networking profiles up and running? Go see what they’re doing there. Do they submit articles or press releases for their own business? Check those out too.
When you think you’ve got the person that fits all of your qualifications, then it’s time to negotiate a rate, send them your contract, and begin some training. When that admin stuff is all taken care of and you’re good to go, I would definitely recommend doing a fake trial run to test them out and work out any kinks.
Stay tuned for Part 7 of this series – The Fake Trial Run!