A Sneak Peak into the Work Life of a Virtual Assistant

The highly competitive world of today almost compels you to find alternatives to the way you function. Getting a virtual assistant on board is a great way to improve on your processes, while bringing down the costs.

You may hire a virtual personal assistant(s) for several tasks – personal assistance, bookkeeping, data entry, customer support, graphic designing, writing – and many others.

In case you've made up your mind to hire a remote personal assistant in India, a sneak peek into their everyday work life will help you.

Beginning of a long day

Like any other professional, a virtual assistant needs to gear up for the day ahead. Planning and organization are two primary skills that virtual assistants require and they're very good at both. Preparation is a hallmark of a successful virtual assistant.

Many will create a checklist of the tasks scheduled for a day. This provides them with an idea of what is expected of them. They would then formulate a plan to complete all the tasks in the most efficient way possible.

Independent Functioning

At the onset of the collaboration, you may need to have a virtual meeting with your virtual assistant once a day to give them broad guidelines regarding their work. You would instruct them on the tasks lying ahead and review the tasks they're done with. Your instructions will set the pace and the scope for a day.

As time passes and your virtual assistant becomes accustomed to their work, the meetings may come down to once a week or even less. Even when the meetings do take place, they may not be for than a couple of minutes. The complexity of a task also influences the duration of a meeting.

Right Scheduling of Tasks

You need to recognize the time difference between you and your virtual assistant and schedule the tasks accordingly. If your virtual assistant is required to make calls to your prospects and there is considerable difference between your and their side of the world, your virtual assistant may not be able to call immediately after entering office. In this case, you may assign them some other task for half of the day, while making calls could be scheduled in the remaining half.

Scheduling in the right manner will ensure that your VA doesn't sit idle anytime. This way, by midday, considerable work is likely to be completed.

Prepping for Next Day

Coordinate closely with your virtual assistant to make sure that they've all the information they require to complete the scheduled tasks efficiently. You should also instruct them to prep for the next day before they leave.

Ask them to provide you with a daily report so that it's clear what they have completed and what is pending. Set up a mechanism that keeps both of you on the same page.

Signing off is important before your virtual employee leaves. It'll not only help you know that your VA has left for the day, but will also ensure that no one else is able to sit at their system and know things they should not.

Trying to connect to a VA who has already left is surely frustrating; so, why let this happen?

Achievements

A working day has only a certain number of hours; so you should ask your virtual employee how they're going to best utilize the time. Inquire whether they're good at

• Making and sticking to a schedule
• Keeping all equipment in good working condition
• Optimizing the quality of the tasks they're entrusted with
• Understanding what they're good at
• Making a Plan B if Plan A goes wrong
• Finding their expertise and then nurturing it

Hiring a virtual personal assistant may turn out to be one of the best business decisions you take, provided you do it right. Just make sure you do the right hiring of a personal assistant in India, and you can be pretty sure of meeting your objectives.

Article By John Tie, Outsourcing Enthusiast