A guide to engaging a virtual personal assistant (VPA) – preparation and on-boarding

It is genuinely important to prepare yourself and your business for working with a virtual assistant.  If you fail to prepare then you will need to prepare to fail!

Preparation – basic requirements:

1. A job description – By writing down a job description, of your ideal VPA, you’ll have a clear vision of your requirements. For example: what skills will they need, what times of the day/week/month will you need them, how flexible do they need to be?  A good way to do this would be to write a list of all of the tasks that you carry out each week, that you could pass to your VPA, including the deadline and regularity of the task.  Then jot down the skills required to complete each task.
2. Assess suitability – Prior to engaging your VPA, it’s worth testing their skill set and ability. Any good VPA would welcome the opportunity to show you what they are capable of.  Set them some tasks, monitor how long it takes them and whether the results are as you’d expected.  Give thorough feedback on what you liked, and why, and if anything wasn’t quite right then set them straight so they have a clear picture of your expectations.  If you’re satisfied then proceed.
3. A contract – A VPA should sign a contract prior to undertaking any work for you. Any good VPA should be able to supply you with a template but ensure that it covers the basic items such as: confidentiality agreement, description of services, agreed availability, how and when you will pay for their services, non-disclosure and non-solicitation, relationship of parties, work product ownership and liability.
4. Liability insurance – ensure that they are covered for an agreed amount of business liability insurance.

Onboarding

5. Training – Once in place, your VPA needs a basic understanding of how you complete your tasks. They will need access to templates, guidance on your company and an introduction to your team with a clear understanding of the roles of anyone they will need to engage with.  Ensure that they fully understand the requirements, purpose and desired outcome of each task you give them.  If you give a vague outline then a lot is left to assumption and you may not receive the outcome you’d hoped for.
6. Email – set-up your VPA with an email account that you also have access to.
7. Availability – ensure that you have agreed when your VPA will be available and agree the task turn-around time.
8. Software – Your VPA won’t be working from your office so ensure that they have a secure off-site backup and substantial antivirus software. Check that they have the relevant software to complete your tasks and that they are using a compatible version to your own.
9. Sharing documents – Agree a suitable method, and location, for sharing and storing of documents so that you have real time access at all times.
10. Payment – Hopefully, you’ve agreed up-front, the amount of hours required and how and when you will pay your VPA but how will you keep a record of the hours that they’ve worked? A simple excel spreadsheet, stored in a secure shared location, could be used to record the tasks and hours worked or software is available such as Toggl.
11. Tell your clients – If your VPA will have client contact then introduce them either by email, company newsletter or an announcement on your social media platform. Explain that you’re gaining a VPA’s expertise so that you can improve the service, to them, to allow you to focus on more strategic elements of their work.
12. Ignore your inner control freak – Finally, let go and trust them to do what you’re paying them to do.

I hope this has been useful and if you’re ready to take that step to employing a VPA then please do consider Max My Time.

Max My Time, Virtual Personal Assistant Services.

No time? That’s fine, pass your tasks to Max My Time.

Tel: 023 9343 0030

email: christina@maxmytime.co.uk

https://www.maxmytime.co.uk

The secret weapon in a hectic PMs world….

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Life in the world of a project manager is hectic.  When you’re not constantly juggling multiple balls in the air, you’re placating sponsors with conversations like; “no, you can’t have all the bells and whistle AND have this project delivered yesterday” or trying to stretch a mightily thin budget and timeline across a mightily large amount of scope.

Entrepreneurs – task overload?? The solution is a no brainer…..

We all need more time with the family, with our friends, for ourselves and just doing things that we like, right?!  How is that possible in this busy world where everything is instant?  When you’re running a business (or even several businesses) the list of tasks is overwhelming and your focus becomes blurred on each item because there’s just so many until you’re just left with multi-tasking mayhem!

VPA Demystified

Sole traders, entrepreneurs, small businesses and busy contractors can all value from using a virtual assistant for everything from carrying out extensive research to preparing presentations. It’s important to build trust, just as you would with a permanent employee so that they become a team member who just happens to work remotely.  Any good VPA is pre-trained, multi-skilled and has decades of business experience. In fact, they run their own business which benefits you in two ways. Firstly, they understand your problems and struggles because they live them too. Secondly, their performance reflects on their own business success so they will care more about exceeding expectations than some employees who may just be interested in receiving a salary.
VPA’s are ready and able to tackle your tasks as and when you need, negating the need for employing an individual which brings additional costs such as: office space & equipment, insurance, payroll, national insurance, pension, sickness pay & cover, holiday cover, maternity cover, training, employee management, performance reviews and motivation.

For example, if you’re a busy contractor working flat out on a programme of work, a VPA could: collate and record your expenses; keep on top of your invoicing and time sheets: help find you new opportunities when your existing contract is nearing an end; pull together presentation or add that vital final polish and proof read; help with company branding; keeping on top of social media; schedule meetings, ensuring key people can attend and that they understand the purpose of the meeting, that documentation is distributed prior to the meeting and actions are captured and distributed post meeting.

Your business could be expanding at such a rapid rate that you’re so busy running the business that you don’t have time to set up and maintain all the essentials such as health and safety records, policies and procedures, accurate financial records including PAYE & tax returns let alone recruit the right people, this is where a VPA could step in and ensure that all back office functions are set up and maintained.
Most entrepreneurs have several irons in the fire whether it be a portfolio of rental properties or holiday homes in the sun, all of which require administrative resource to run and maintain, by employing a VPA to carry out this task you’ll only pay them for the time that they spend.
Max My Time is a virtual PA service and so much more. If you’d like to improve the quality of your life then why not see what a VPA can do for you. Get in touch:
christina@maxmytime.co.uk or check out the website: https://www.maxmytime.co.uk

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