How to work effectively with a virtual assistant

In this article we will answer the following questions.

1) who is a virtual assistant?

2) which task do i need to hire a VA for?

3) how do i effectively work with my newly hired VA ?

Running a Shopify store can be a profitable business if done right. With e-commerce becoming such a huge industry today, it’s not surprising how so many people have decided to go into online entrepreneurship.

Having gone through it, you know how important it is to learn how to properly set things up. You have done a lot to learn what you need to know to fuel your startup. Now, you have gotten your Shopify store ready to receive orders and get them delivered to your customers.

All the effort and resources that you have out into your business can make it hard for you to pass of parts of it to someone you barely know. Why not just carry on as before, doing everything yourself? After all, you’ve come this far and you know your store better than anyone, right?

You most certainly know your business better than anyone. However, keeping all the different tasks that need to get done on your plate is not the best decision. With the amount of work that needs to be done, hiring a Shopify virtual assistant is one of the best decisions you can make. The question now is, which tasks do you need to hire a Shopify virtual assistant for and how do i work with this va to get the best results?

Now lets answer the first question WHICH TASK DO I NEED TO HIRE A VA?

Below is a list important Shopify virtual assistant experts that you can hire so that you will be able to nurture your business and allow it to reach its success potential.

⦁ product sourcer

⦁ product lister

⦁ Store Designer

⦁ Order Management

⦁ Inventory Manager

⦁ Customer Service Rep

⦁ Social Media Manager

⦁ Email Marketing Manager

⦁ Photographer

⦁ Graphic Designer

⦁ Shopify Developer

⦁ Content Writer

⦁ SEO Specialist

⦁ Marketing Manager

secondly, HOW DO I EFFECTIVELY WORK WITH MY NEWLY HIRED VA TO GET THE BEST RESULTS?

Below are some tips and tricks for effectively working with your va

Define Expectations

Virtual assistants can be used for a number of tasks from compiling leads to helping schedule meetings. They can basically handle any task that you need completed where they don’t physically need to be present.

The more challenging part after understanding what role you want the virtual assistant to take is setting clear expectations. To set clear expectations, you need to either complete an example task that they would do, or conduct a trial with them. Defining expectations usually revolves around a numerical list setting the steps they need to take to complete your task.

Provide guidelines

Create training manuals and written guidelines throughout the on-boarding process, or get your VA to update documents you have already created. Use voice recordings and videos to compliment written guides, particularly for administrative tasks using to train your VA on specific apps and platforms.

Recording screen share training sessions is a great way to ensure that future VAs have access to resources, meaning you can spend less time training. You can use tools like Camtasia for PC, and ScreenFlow for Mac. ScreenFlow allows you to record your screen and yourself using your webcam, making the training more engaging.

PICTURE : SCREEN FLOW CREDIT SOURCE

If you need help training staff on how to use popular tools, like Zendesk or Shopify, use YouTube videos and tutorials. There are libraries of professional tutorials for most tools and skills on YouTube, saving you lots of time.

Use screenshots, links, and attachments, and share everything via Google Drive, Dropbox, or something similar.

Don’t forget to add each step of the process to a training manual, so it can be used for future reference.

Provide training

Remember you are the best person that understands your business, There is a world of free online resources you can use to train remote workers on specific tasks or tools.

One of my favorites is HubSpot Academy, as they cover topics like inbound content creation, email marketing, and web design to name a few. HubSpot is an industry leader in inbound marketing and sales, and offers lots of comprehensive and engaging online classes.

Another resource that I always turn to is Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO. SEO is such a fundamental element of all growth tactics, and this guide teaches you how search engines work, how to research keywords, and how to measure and track success.

If you want your VA to manage your paid ad efforts, WordStream’s PPC University is a great place to get them started. They can learn about CTR, CPC, negative keywords, and A/B testing among countless other aspects of PPC advertising.

Other great resources include Social Media Quickstarter, CodeAcademy for web development, and Design School by Canva.

Good management

Once you establish a workflow, you need to nurture the relationship. Make sure your VA is satisfied and learning things that interest them. If they start to lose interest in their role or your relationship becomes stale, there is a high likelihood that they might leave or their productivity might start to decline.

Ask them to send you a weekly recap with bullet points of what they have achieved. Schedule a regular weekly call to go over projects and discuss anything they would like to do differently or learn. The more trust you build, the less time you will have to spend supervising, enabling your VA to use their initiative and work independently.

Here’s an example of what a VA’s weekly recap might look like:

⦁ I resolved all customer service tickets to date.

⦁ I scheduled your weekly blog posts for the next two weeks.

⦁ I booked your flight to San Francisco and requested a gluten-free meal.

⦁ I can help with label orders if you need help.

Ideally, you want to build a relationship where your VA is able to work as independently as possible. That way you’ll be comfortable delegating more complex tasks, and they’ll learn and grow with you.

Track Their Time

Even if you build a strong relationship with the virtual assistant, you need to be tracking their time. You can utilize external tracking software to ensure they are actually getting your work done in a timely manner.

The worst virtual assistants are the ones who aren’t willing to track their time. This is almost always a red flag and I suggest you don’t work with anyone who isn’t willing to use time tracking software. The exception to this is when you’re paying on a fixed-project basis.

Virtual assistants can be used in a number of ways and are not only useful to entrepreneurs. Even when you work a full-time job for someone else, you can utilize a virtual assistant to conduct research for you or help you schedule your meetings.

Useful Apps and Platforms communicate with Your VA

Asana — Create projects and assign them to team members.

Slack — Communicate and collaborate on anything work-related.

Trello — Create dynamic to-do lists.

lastpass -- For safe-keeping passwords.

YouCanBook.Me — Simple and quick way to schedule short meetings.

WhatsApp — Text and chat on the go for free.

Skype — Call across the globe for free.

Google Hangouts — Video call via your google account.

Google Drive — Share files and documents and collaborate on them.

Delegating So You Can Grow

I know delegation can be difficult for business owners, especially considering you have built everything from scratch and want things to be done a certain way. But at some point building a team becomes an inevitable necessity, and you have to find a way that works for you. The goal is to provide the necessary structure for your VA to thrive, freeing up your time to focus on building your business.

It might take a few rounds of hiring to find a process that works, but trust me, it’s worth the hassle. You’ll have more time to work on what you really want to do, getting closer to kind of work-life balance that Tim Ferris teaches and entrepreneurs like me dream of.