You’ve decided you and your business are worth it – it’s time to absorb the cost of hiring a virtual assistant. Now you need to assign your virtual assistant tasks. But what kind of help will be the most useful and add the most value to your business?
While I now have 3 virtual assistants, a bookkeeper, and a website administrator working inside my business, there was a day when I started by hiring one person for just an hour or two per week. It’s all that I felt I could afford inside my barely-profitable business.
I knew that if I wanted my business to grow I could not do all of the work myself. In fact, I already felt slowed down by the steady stream of email messages coming in from the contact form on my blog and by doing the work to promote my new content inside various LinkedIn groups.
So my new virtual assistant took on those two tasks. It was like a small but very oppressive weight was lifted off of my shoulders. Soon I was looking for more tasks to give her. And then more. And then more. The more I delegated, the more my business grew.
Are you ready to get started? Let’s look at how to decide what tasks to assign a virtual assistant inside your business.
#1 – Assign Your Virtual Assistant Tasks You Procrastinate
The first set of tasks to look at is anything you procrastinate. For me, I put off responding to those emails, because I dreaded the work. Delegating made sense because it freed up a lot of energy. Perhaps you procrastinate sharing your content, updating plug-ins on your WordPress website, or sending out your email newsletter.
Look at the tasks that get moved forward on your to do list week to week and delegate them. You’ll free up the time you feel you should be spending doing those and also all of the energy you spend procrastinating.
Before you delegate a task you procrastinate, be sure that it needs to be done. Sometimes we procrastinate because we know deep down that the work isn’t worth our time but we’re emotionally attached to do it someday. Better let go of it than waste your money delegating it.
#2 – Assign Your Virtual Assistant Tasks Where You Make Mistakes
If you are a big thinker type like me, there are a lot of tasks you could do that you simply don’t do well. Sometimes I swear my head is in the clouds and I can’t just buckle down and focus on the details. If you are consistently making mistakes, consider delegating the task to your virtual assistant.
For example, I used to set up my own online course sessions. This was something I could theoretically do, and I didn’t tend to procrastinate it. However, it took a fair amount of time and I always missed a step. Inevitably these issues would be discovered by our customers. Then I’d have to fix the problem.
Once I created a checklist and handed off this work to my virtual assistant, there were much fewer errors which led to an improved customer experience.
#3 – Assign Your Virtual Assistant Tasks to Proof and Edit
As I got better at delegating, I realized that I was spending a lot of time reading and re-reading any new blog post I wrote. Essentially I was looking for typos and grammatical errors. Yet I would nearly always miss one or two.
Having someone proof your work can save you a ton of time with your writing. I was astonished that a typical blog post went from taking over an hour, sometimes two, to about a half an hour.
You can also assign your virtual assistant tasks to proof your social media posts, marketing emails, digital product content, sales pages, and any content that goes into delivering your product.
#4 – Assign Your Virtual Assistant Any Routine Tasks
Your job as a creator of an online business is to be consistently doing the work to move your business forward – digital product development, marketing strategy and messages, community engagement, etc. Any tasks that are essential to running your business but get done the same way again are ripe candidates for delegation.
A lot of customer service type tasks fit into this category. For example, getting your customers new download links, helping them figure out what to do with a zip file, and inevitably processing refunds. If social media marketing is a big part of your marketing strategy, then you could outsource the actual set up and posting.
Sometimes we think a task can’t be made routine, only because we happen to do it a little differently every time. Discuss this type of work with a virtual assistant. A good VA will be able to help you break down the process and create a checklist they can use to work through the task.
Pick One Task, And Build From There
Leveraging the services of a virtual assistant inside your business is all about enabling your business to grow faster, because the work frees up your time and energy. It’s about enabling your business to run more smoothly, giving you more freedom and flexibility. Having this kind of support is essential to the momstyle business model.
No matter what tasks you decide to assign your virtual assistant, choose something and commit to expanding the work as you get more comfortable with delegating. Many virtual assistants offer trials and small packages to get started. Pick one task, delegate it, and experience the results. Tweak, adjust, and expand from there.
For more tips on how to build your business the momstyle way, download my free guide.
