Are you burned out by all of the repetitive tasks that you have to deal with every day, just to keep your business afloat? You might want to consider getting a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant can have the skills to do the easy tasks, and the not-so-easy ones, for you. Moreover, your virtual assistant can be trained to do virtually any task you need him/her to do.
More time for you equals more things you can do, whether it's for your business or for your personal enjoyment. If you've never hired a virtual assistant before, or did not have a good experience in the past, the tips here might be useful for you.
There are a few places where you could start looking. As with anything you need to research on, you can start with Google. Another place is Elance.com, where candidates actually search for you and your job vacancy. An added excellent benefit to hiring on Elance.com is that you can clearly see all of the skills, profiles, and feedback that your potential candidates have.
After you've gathered a number of possible candidates, it's time to get to know them a little bit more. Number one here that is often overlooked, is to ask for references. Getting input or information from clients that they've worked with before will insure that you have a good idea of what to expect from them.
Ensure that they are actually skilled enough to carry out the various tasks that you have in store for them. Inquire about their work habits and schedule, so you can judge for yourself if they will fit your needs. For instance, don't hire someone who prefers to work on a flexible schedule to do jobs which require them to be online regularly during a specific time of the day. A confidentiality agreement also comes in handy for any type of work that involves sensitive business information.
After you've some selected qualified applicants, it's time to talk about money. Hourly rates are usually anywhere from $10-$50 per hour (but in some cases can be much lower), depending on the work to be done and the experience of your virtual assistant. Some charge on a per-project basis. It's good to have more than a few candidates at this point, so that you can effectively see what the going rates are, or if someone is charging too high.
It's quite possible to spend a long time finding that one perfect ideal virtual assistant. If you've ever hired people for an offline business, it's pretty much the same situation as hiring a virtual assistant. Just as with any business, you don't really see huge empires run by just one person alone. Imagine, once you get the perfect virtual assistant, all you need to do is keep them happy and the profits will start rolling in - with less work than you're used to! As you're business grows, you might eventually want to get an entire team of virtual assistants.
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