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Delegating for Control Freaks and Cheapskates:

Top 5 Myths About Hiring Virtual Assistants Busted

by Carrie Smith, carefulcents.com

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TABLE OF CONTENTS  

Myth #1: Not Having the Budget to Hire

Myth #2: No Time to Find or Train an Assistant

Myth #3: Being a Control Freak Who Can’t Let Go

Myth #4: Don’t Know What Tasks to Outsource

Myth #5: Afraid to Trust or Give Away Trade Secrets

Time to Take Action!

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A little about me and why I’m qualified to share My name is Carrie Smith and I’m the writer and artist behind Careful Cents, a site designed to successfully balance creating art and making a living. I help solo business owners tackle their organization and money issues so they can afford to create. On May 1, 2013 I quit my full-time accounting job and made the leap into being a creative entrepreneur! But I wouldn’t still be in business today without the 3 fabulous assistants and team members who are behind-the-scenes making sure my business stays organized, productive and runs smoothly. After spending a few years working with virtual assistants (also called VA’s for short), I’ve learned a few things about how the process works. I also get tons of questions from readers and other entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their businesses without working more, or spending more. Questions like: “Where do I find a VA and what tasks do I outsource?” “How can I afford to pay someone when I can barely pay myself?” “Doesn’t it take a lot of time to train a good assistant?” In this short ebook I will answer those questions, and address the top 5 myths about delegating that I’ve heard over the years, including the exact strategies I use in my own business.

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Myth #1. Not having the budget to hire

Anytime I start talking about why a creative business owner should hire out part of their workload, this is the very first excuse I hear. “I don’t have the money to hire an assistant.” “I need the help but I can’t afford to hire someone.” Can you relate? I was guilty of it myself when I first launched my business as a side-hustle. I didn’t think I had the money to hire someone to help me because I was only working part-time on my brand. But I was just making an excuse. Yes, I call it an excuse because if you REALLY want something bad enough you can find the funds, and the time, to make it happen. Or else you’ll take on more work to save up for it, right? But I have good news! You won’t have to work your butt off, or prepare months in advance, to delegate work to a VA or contractor. It’s actually surprisingly simple, and once you start it will be hard to not add more contractors with special talents to your team. So how do you hire out work when you don’t even have the funds to pay yourself a decent salary? Easy. Hire them for just one revenue-producing project! Take the work from your biggest client and outsource one part of the project (preferably something you don’t like doing, are not good at, or don’t know how to do). Where do you get the extra money to pay your assistant? Use the income your client pays you for this project and pay your VA a portion of the funds. But here’s where the smart part really comes in -- the first step only works if you use the time your VA is working on the client project to land

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another client or do work that brings in more money. BOOM! You’ve just upped your revenue and crossed off something on your checklist you didn’t like doing anyway. In order to afford your first VA or contracted help, you essentially need to pick projects (or client work) that already produce income by themselves, and use your newly-found time to work on more important tasks of your business. Like closing new client deals, launching products, and collaborating with other influential entrepreneurs.

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Myth #2. No time to find or train an assistant

Seriously, this myth is the biggest lie of them all! I told myself this excuse for months before I hired my first virtual assistant and now I wish I hadn’t dragged my feet. The main point you need to remember is if you choose a good assistant -- someone who is in the same field as you or knows the business you’re in -- you won’t have to do a lot of training anyway because they will be a capable person. So how do you find the right person for the job? I have 3 contractors who work with me on various projects for my business. One strictly works on Careful Cents as the project manager, another is an assistant editor, and the third one is a community coordinator who runs my private Facebook community. Additionally, I have a freelance writer who creates helpful tutorials for the website. Here’s how I found -- and hired -- each one of the freelance contractors I work with, and how you can find the VA you’re looking for too. Twitter. This is my best tip if you're interested in finding a tech-savvy assistant who knows a bit about social media and online publishing. I found my first VA this way and we started off by only agreeing to a few tasks that cost less than $100/month, then I increased the workload as time went on. Trust is an important part of working together, and having a connection on Twitter is just the start. Email/Blog. I sent an email newsletter out to my community, and then hinted on my blog explaining what type of VA I was looking for. Anytime you want to hire someone for your team, the first place to look is within your network. ALL of the freelance contractors I hired responded because they were already following my work and my business. These

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are the type of people you want to hire -- the ones who are already familiar with your business and your mission. Fiverr: Thanks to Fiverr, it's now easier than ever to find experts who are willing to do random tasks for as little as $5 each. So if you don’t need a consistent VA (or just want to dip your toes in at first) a site like Fiverr is perfect. I recently needed several videos transcribed and hired someone from Fiverr. It only cost me $20 in total, but saved me over 3 hours of tedious work, and enabled me to spend my time doing other things -- like closing a new deal with a client. TaskRabbit: This site is great for both business and personal use. If you're too busy at work to pick up your dry cleaning or go grocery shopping, you can hire someone from TaskRabbit to do it for you. Likewise, if you need a delivery driver to deliver a load of goods to a vendor, you can hire someone from this site to help you out. Sometimes personal tasks are easier to outsource than business ones, and doing this will still free up time for you to get down to business! Hiring a VA who's already in your own network, will make it a thousand times easier to hand over certain tasks, because they know your voice, which will save you a ton of time and headaches. Once you try outsourcing, it will be hard to stop -- trust me! :) And as an added bonus, you might find contractors who are more skilled at the job than you are, so they can bring a lot of new ideas to the table. Outsourcing is a solo business owner’s best friend! Now that you’ve found a smart assistant, are you really trying to tell me you don’t have “time” to give your business the chance it needs to grow? There’s no doubt you have a few minutes to invest in your business up front to help it pay off down the road.

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These are a few obstacles I found myself struggling with after spending far too long making excuses. And what I learned was, that if I didn’t have 15-20 minutes to create a quick outline of instructions, or sit on a phone/Skype call with a potential VA, then I probably shouldn't be in business. Heck, even spending an hour on training still makes it totally worth it. So to break it down, you do have the time -- or rather you can make the time. Otherwise, you essentially aren’t interested in making your life easier, helping your business grow, or ensuring its success. What questions should you ask a potential VA when hiring them? I only hire people based on one rule: Skills can be taught, character cannot. It’s easy to write out some simple steps of how you want tasks to be completed, but getting someone to put in that extra 15% is an all-too-rare ability. I don’t really pay much attention to their past experience or their current skills, what I want to know is if they have a go-getter, problem-solving mindset like I do. Are they a hustler? Or do they need their hand held for every step they take? My Club Coordinator VA is such a go-getter I have to ask her NOT to do something because it’s too soon. Yep, she gets things done before the deadline and it pushes me to get my butt in gear too, or else she can’t do her work. These are the type of people you want on your team. Here are some key questions you can ask to narrow down the results:

● Did you enjoy school when you were younger?

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● What was your best/strongest subject? ● Who are your favorite inspirational business men/women? ● What’s your ultimate goal for your business? All of the VAs I work

with are in the process of quitting their day job and starting their own business, or they have already quit and are freelancing now. That drive is a vital characteristic of a successful assistant relationship.

● What do you do in your spare time? What’s your favorite hobby? I have commonalities with all my VAs because I want to connect with them on a personal level, not just a professional one.

● What does your schedule look like currently? You want to nail down some idea of when they are available to work with you, and if they have the time to devote to being your VA.

These are just a few of the questions I ask when I’m chatting with someone, and you can customize these based on your own needs. But hopefully it gives you some idea of where to start. In the next section, I break down exactly how you can outsource work, over and over, to new people, without ever having to do the training over and over. Sounds like it’s too good to be true, doesn’t it?!

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Myth #3. Being a control freak who can’t let go

This is the part where all control freaks unite! As I’m sure you’ve seen by now, the reason I can debunk all these myths is because they were once my personal issue. They are just excuses I used for not providing my business with the best tools and strategies to make it a success. I’m a type A personality and have (sometimes severe) cases of OCD. It all goes back to when I lost my mom to cancer at 15 and my world was thrown into a tailspin, so the only way I could control my surroundings was to develop Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). So if anyone understands the need to retain control of everything, trust me, I do. I have since developed a simple method that allows me to give away tasks and projects to members of my team, without having to relinquish any control. Sounds too good to be true right? It starts with creating a quick and easy system of instructions for how you perform certain tasks. If you don't know exactly how to create your first set of systems for your business, I’m going to show you. Some "experts" might point you to more costly or elaborate ideas, but basically you just need a simple Word or Google doc. When you’re about to start a task, open up a Google doc and start documenting your process, one step at a time. It can be something as simple as logging into your email and organizing the messages, to something more complicated like creating a spreadsheet to monitor client info. I mean, you’re going to be doing the work anyway, so why not list out how you do each step? Here's an example of an ACTUAL systems doc I made for my one of my freelance contractors who keeps my writing portfolio updated on

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Pinterest and coordinates the monthly newsletters. Download the free PDF example here! As you can see it's just a simple guide, with detailed steps and coordinating screenshots, nothing fancy or difficult. And to this day, my assistant has yet to ask me questions concerning how I want the task done. I even hired another team member to handle a different Pinterest task for the Careful Cents Club author interviews. I updated a couple things in the systems doc and sent it to her as the first thing I wanted her to do. She asked me a couple questions, then got started. Simple, effective, and I still have all the control of how I want my business to be run. Another option if you’re not into creating a systems doc, is to create an audio or video recording of yourself doing the task you want to delegate. I’m a writer so I prefer to write out each step, and include coordinating screenshots. But if you’re into audio or video, that medium works just as well too! Creating systems like this are perfect for control freaks who want things done a certain way. You never have to explain yourself, justify your reasons, or spend hours detailing how it needs to be done. It’s also a lot easier to fire and rehire someone to do the work since you already have the system in place. You just share the doc and the new VA gets to work! And you can let the relaxation time begin.

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Myth #4. Don’t know what tasks to outsource

So what exactly can be outsourced to a virtual assistant or freelance contractor? Well, anything and everything you can think of, it just depends on your comfort level and your budget. I started out by hiring VAs for specific projects I needed help with, and for the most part, that’s how it’s remained to this day. I needed someone to help me manage my private community of 300+ freelancers and solo business owners, so I hired a Community Coordinator. Then I was feeling overwhelmed with my own blog and newsletters, so I hired an assistant editor and writer to help fill in the gaps. (She helped edit and prep this ebook). All the content is still run by me first, and I have the final say. Like VA expert Chris Ducker says, “never outsource the creation of your content, or the voice of your brand,” and that’s a rule I live by. Luckily though, a VA can do all the formatting, categorizing, and scheduling once the content is ready for publishing. What you can delegate to a VA comes down to three things (which I hinted at before):

● What you don’t like doing ● What you can’t do ● What you don’t have time to do (or your skills are better spent

elsewhere) Over the next few weeks, keep a log of every task you do. Whether it’s answering emails, sharing updates on social media, scheduling client calls, booking travel plans or anything in between.

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Make a list of all the tasks you do in an average week -- even the personal stuff like doing the laundry and grocery shopping. The personal tasks can be outsourced too if you find that route works better than delegating business work. Now put a check next to the ones you LOVE doing, and put an X next to the tasks you HATE doing or don’t know how to do. The tasks with an X should be the first items on your list to delegate to a virtual assistant. It’s that simple. If you still need some more ideas about what kinds of things can be outsourced, check out this slideshow PDF from Chris Ducker. I was blown away when he shared this presentation at New Media Expo in 2013. Most business owners (myself included) get overwhelmed by the fact that we have too many things on our plate, and we have no idea where to start when it comes to hiring out help. So here’s my best tip: start small and only work with one project. Hire a VA for one thing and increase the work as needed. As you work with your contractor more, you’ll start to understand their personal strengths and weaknesses, so you can add or subtract the work as needed.

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Myth #5. Afraid to trust or give away trade secrets

Hiring a new contractor to work within your business requires a small leap of faith. There’s no way you can know for sure how they’re going to work out unless you give them a shot. That being said, you don’t have to jump in headfirst and throw caution to the wind. To make this leap a little less scary, there are five things I suggest doing before hiring a VA for the first time.

1. Jump on a face-to-face chat.

If at all possible, schedule a time to chat with your new contractor via an in-person meetup, Skype session, or Google Hangout. There’s a different vibe when you meet face-to-face versus just having an email exchange. You can feed off their energy, hear the excitement (or lack thereof) in their voice, and chat about random things you might not otherwise learn about them. The first thing I do when interviewing a potential VA is jump on a video Skype call. We have a quick 30-minute chat and discuss any questions. It also helps to put a face to the name/avatar as well as a personality and a voice. Doing this will ease your reluctance to trust them. 2. Work out a trial period. I suggest entering a test period for a month or two in order to see how the working relationship goes. They may not enjoy the work you have for them, or perhaps they’re better suited elsewhere. A trial period will cut out this awkward learning curve phase and make it easier to part ways if it doesn't work out. At the end of the trial period, ask them what tasks they enjoyed the most,

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what they want to do more of, and what they want to stop doing. Nobody wants to do work they hate, so if it’s possible, give your contractors jobs they actually like doing. 3. Don’t give away all your secrets at once. Start off small with the projects you give your new VA. Don’t dump all your tasks on them because you’re so overloaded you can’t breath (if you’re nearing this point, you should have hired someone a few months ago). You want the relationship to be a mutual connection -- they should enjoy working with you as much as you like working with them. Of course, they only earn your trust once you’ve tested everything out. So small tasks like handling last-minute deadlines and responding to emails in a timely manner, can tell you a lot about the kind of freelancer they are. Start with just a few things and give them plenty of time to complete them. If they turn them in on time, or ahead of schedule, you probably have a fantastic VA on your hands. If they are slow, unresponsive, or keep making excuses, it’s time to cut your losses and move on NOW! Because in the end it’s your business and you need to trust the person you are working with. And who do you trust? The person who stays in constant contact with you, or the contractor who is off doing gosh knows what? EXACTLY! 4. Be clear with your expectations. This is probably one of the most important parts of working with someone else in your business, whether it’s in-person or virtually. You HAVE to be clear with your expectations from the beginning.

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The lines of communication need to be open at all times, and it’s smart to let your VAs know they can ask you about anything. I always tell my contractors to send me emails or ask questions anytime they need to, instead of fumbling around and messing everything up. If you want emails answered within 24 hours, tell them and state it in your contract. If you have certain tools or processes they have to use, then give them time to learn them before you demand results. And always take notes! It’s SO much easier to clear up a misunderstanding if it’s in writing or written down on paper (preferably with the date next to it for further ease). 5. Treat them like a friend. Remember when you had that one boss who was a slave driver and didn’t care if you worked on your birthday? After a while, you didn’t care what happened to his business as long as you got a paycheck. Don’t be that kind of boss! Be a boss who’s friendly, approachable, and helpful -- think of it more as a mentor role. When my freelance contractors have a birthday, I send them a gift card from Amazon. I also send them Christmas cards and a little present or gift card to go with it. And you don’t need a large budget to make a difference -- even $10 will mean a lot to your team. If you treat your assistants and contractors as friends, and contributing members of the team, they will respond in kind. They will enjoy working for you and will be genuinely interested in the success of the business. There’s NO way they would sabotage or ruin your trust if you build a good relationship with them.

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Time to take action!

Now that I’ve shared my secrets to working with virtual assistants, it’s your turn to take action. Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you hire 3 people right now and blow your budget. But I do want you to get out there and start making your business a priority. NO more excuses -- it’s time for serious mode! If you really care about giving your business the best chance of success possible, then here’s what you can do this week. Step 1 Over the next 7 days I want you to create a time journal by closely watching where you spend your time. This takes the “I don’t know what to outsource” excuse out of the equation. Consider purchasing a new moleskine journal or create a calendar to document what you spend your time on each day. Record everything you do, from napping, to working, to reading, and make any notes regarding distractions, your energy level, and how much you like/don’t like what you’re doing. Step 2 Based on your progress with step 1, it’s time to choose ONE of the X tasks from your list and create a systems doc for it. Now, don't freak out! Print off a copy of my systems doc and use it as a guide.

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And you don't even need to take screenshots, just start out small and type out the steps one by one (or record the audio). This is a vital step towards making your business run more efficiently so you’re less stressed. Step 3 Now that you’ve created a simple systems doc, I want you to take that task and outsource it to a VA. Yep, it’s time to pull the trigger! If you don't have a VA or contractor yet, use the resources I listed in part 2 to hire one. Take the final step to reach out to your newsletter list, or share a quick tweet on Twitter. Put the word out that you’re looking for a contractor to help you with XYZ.

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Thank you!

Thank you so much for reading this short freebie. It’s taken me almost 2 years to learn many of these tips through my own experiences and mistakes. I hope you’ll take my advice to heart and start down the path towards creating your own financial freedom. Got questions? Need more in-depth help or want to pick my brain? Schedule a 30-minute chat and get access to bonus worksheets and strategies. Let me be your Creativity Advocate and I’ll guide you through the exact steps to hiring your first Virtual Assistant. Or connect with me on Twitter @carefulcents. I look forward to hearing from you and answering any questions.

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