What’s the best way for me to start working my new VA?

Jun 15 – Written By Stephanie Sheargold

At last, you’ve decided to get the help of a VA! No doubt you’re looking forward to the day when your VA steps in and – as if by magic – makes your life feel simpler and easier to handle.

But making that magic happen requires a little effort. That’s because as incredible as they are, our VAs need some help to get started. Even with the most highly trained and experienced VA (and all Timpi VAs have at least five years’ experience), spending time fully onboarding your VA will pay dividends. By taking time to complete the following steps, you’ll soon find yourself breathing a huge sigh of relief as your VA shrinks your to-do list.

Five steps to a better onboarding for you and your new VA

1. Tell them all about you!

A good VA will quickly become the second pair of hands you always wished for. But for that to happen, they need to know about you and your life.

Now honestly, no information is bad information. We make this process as easy as possible by having a preference form on our app to guide you. This includes basic contact info as well as details you might never have considered such as your chiro’s phone number and airmiles account number.

But beyond this, taking the time to have an informal ‘getting to know you’ type chat will pay dividends. You might not think that the reasons behind starting your business in the first place is important or that the name of your Cockapoo is relevant, but this information helps your VA build a more accurate picture of you and your life. This in turn makes it easier for them to help you.

2. Tell them what you hate!

Being clear with your VA about what really gets your goat will make your life easier from the off. That’s because they’ll then be able to do everything in their power to make sure you can avoid those tasks and situations. It’s for this reason that we recommend you spend some time listing the tasks you don’t enjoy or that take too long – these are normally jobs you can delegate to your new VA.

Don’t feel you have to limit your list to tasks you dislike. If you hate sitting in the middle seat on flights or your child can’t cope with noisy restaurants, tell your VA. That way, you can be sure of only ever being in the right situation.

To make this job easier, we’d suggest you make a record of challenging situations and tasks you encounter throughout the week. You could record your thoughts on your phone or just jot them down on a pad. This way you won’t miss anything and will be able to pass those awful jobs over to your new VA.

3. Give them access to the right tools.

The sooner your VA can access your tools, accounts and software, the sooner they can start taking the effort out of things for you. This could include your online grocery account, your accounting software or even your social media accounts. Giving them a username and password is essential, as is a chat to share how you prefer to use these tools.

If you want your VA to work under a specific email address, then you’ll need to set them up with this too. If you’re not technical, don’t fear – your VA will be able to talk you through the steps needed to do this, making life simpler from day one.

4. Show them how things work

Just as with any new starter, you’ll need to show your new VA how to use your unique systems and processes. Even with years of experience as a VA, it’s important that they understand the subtleties of what you do and why.

The brilliant news is that you can avoid writing lengthy instructions. We’ve found that using video recordings such as Loom is a great way to demonstrate a step-by-step guide to specific tasks. The great thing about video recordings is that you can fit them into your existing working life – just click record and talk through the steps as you complete the task. You can then send a link to your new VA who can view your instructions whenever they need to. Again, if you’re not sure how to do this, your new VA will be able to guide you through the process.

5. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Little and often is always the best way to communicate with your VA. Taking 5 or 10 minutes 3 times a week will mean your VA knows exactly what’s going on, giving them the chance to be proactive and take a further load off your mind and to-do list.

Not only will regular communication mean you remember to pass more work over to your VA, it also helps build your relationship more quickly. This means your new VA will soon become your right-hand man or woman and be able to readily give you extra suggestions of ways to make life even easier. Our app makes it even easier to stay in touch with your VA. You can use it to talk, video call and instant message your VA, keeping all comms safe, reliable and easy to access for future reference.

Your VA can help you with anything

Now that you’ve got your VA set up and ready to go, feel free to pass all your admin, errands and chores their way. Too many of our clients tell us they’re worried that the tasks they set their VAs are too mundane or silly. Or that they feel worried about asking for help with something that seems unusual. Our response is always the same. Our VAs are for everyone – we genuinely get a lot of satisfaction from completing the tasks that others find boring. No matter how small a task is, if it’s taking up space in your head, then it’s distracting you from everything else you have to do. And as for unusual tasks, take a read of our previous blog and you’ll see there’s NOTHING for you to worry about there 😀.

Ready to take a load off your mind? Get in touch and let us match you with your perfect VA.