Introduction

Virtual assistants work remotely and can take on a wide variety of tasks that you don’t have the time to do yourself. Having a VA can take you from stressed out and struggling to calm and focused on growing your business. Recruiting a VA is often the hire that makes the biggest difference to solo entrepreneurs. But it doesn’t happen by magic.

You need to pay close attention to the route you choose for hiring and onboarding a VA. There are a lot of people out there who call themselves virtual assistants, but it takes a disciplined process to find the one who’s the right fit for you. You’ll be working closely with them and delegating tasks to them that you’ve always done yourself. So you need to feel comfortable with them and trust that they are there to support you and your business.

In this course you’ll prepare your business to take on a VA, follow a step-by-step recruiting process, find strategies to build solid systems, and create in-depth training so your chosen VA will be effective and productive as soon as possible.

Learning Objectives:

By the time you complete this course, you’ll be able to:

• Get into an open and receptive mindset for a virtual assistant, so you can see the advantages for your business and be in the right frame of mind to proceed with recruitment
• Identify the tasks you can delegate to a virtual assistant and plan ahead for hiring, so you know exactly what you want them to do and when your business will benefit from the recruitment process
• Define the experience, qualifications, and personal qualities you need in a VA, so you are clear about the person you’re looking for and how they can best support you
• Plan how you will shortlist and assess potential candidates, so that you only move forward with those who are suitable and don’t waste time on those who aren’t
• Research sources of VAs and advertise for your ideal candidates, so your ad is in the right place to attract high-quality, motivated candidates
• Interview your VA candidates to ensure they have the experience and qualities you require and select the best fit
• Set up the systems and standards you want your VA to follow, so the work between you will run smoothly
• Design the onboarding and training activities for your new virtual assistant, so that they will feel welcomed from the start and learn the skills to become productive as quickly as possible
• Plan how you will delegate to your virtual assistant, so that they will be clear on what’s expected and you’ll be confident to hand tasks over
• Manage your VA effectively to ensure tasks get done as and when you want them
• Motivate your virtual assistant and develop their skills to build your relationship, so that your business will benefit in the long term
• Consolidate and implement your learning and plan future action steps, so you can achieve the goals you set for this course.

This course is broken down into 12 modules to take you step-by-step through hiring and onboarding your virtual assistant and delegating to them.

The modules follow a logical order, so while you can skip around if you want, it’s best to work through them one at a time.

As you go through each module, use your Action Guide to help you complete the Action Steps at the end of each.