What We’ve Seen Working as Virtual Assistants
We worked as virtual assistants for a while before we moved into strategic operations, and I will say, I’m glad we did. That decision helped us become better strategic operations partners because now we can tell whether a business has strong operations or not & how it affects their team. When I tell you, we’ve seen it all. We’ve seen businesses with clear systems and processes, and we’ve seen them with… none of that. We’ve seen how important it is to strengthen your business operations before hiring because if you don’t, there will be friction. So this post will be about what we’ve seen, what we know, and the benefits of getting organized before hiring help.
Signs Your Business Needs Order Before Support
1. You’re Winging It
We once had a client who was the loveliest person you could ever meet. They were running a business coaching business with a mastermind & needed help with the Facebook group and email marketing. We started and…
Because there were no processes in place, we just went in and did what we could and hoped that it would help. Did it? Probably? They were always so grateful for everything we did. The Facebook group was pretty active. The emails would go out almost on time after multiple follow-ups for content. So I know we were executing the tasks. But was it in the way they wanted? We could never tell because everything was living in our client’s head and not in the records. No SOPs, no process, nothing. We’d help schedule meetings & they’d be abruptly cancelled sometimes. Video replays would delay getting out because there wasn’t a set time for them to go out, so it was whenever they decided. There was no way of measuring improvement/impact on our end because our client was really fumbling through everything without clear directions themselves.
2. You End Up Micromanaging Your VA
I sometimes see business owners talking about “I want someone who can read my mind.” Now to all the anime & Dungeons & Dragons nerds here, you’ll get this reference, lol. Unless your virtual assistant is Anya Forger or has prepared a “Detect Thoughts” spell, that is a lofty expectation for someone you contracted to work with you. First of all, that type of relationship is based on time. Secondly, reading someone’s mind is easier when their mind is written down somewhere. If you think of your operations as your mind, it’s easier for you to make an effort in writing down your operations before hiring. That is your mind on show, and it’ll be way easier to read once your team can easily access it.
The funny thing is, when a business’s operations are not on paper, you, the business owner, are prone to micro-managing. See, you know how you want things to be run, but because nothing is written down, you have to hover to see if things are going the way you want. Your business plans/dreams are written in some notebook on your desk somewhere, like a tightly held secret (Krabby Patty formula, amirite?), and not in your team’s hands. So now you’re trying to make sure they’re doing the right thing… that they have no idea about. You’re wasting time now trying to correct them & watch what they’re doing, when clearly defined processes could’ve saved you the time you needed saving.
3. Tasks Have No Clear Boundaries
“Oh my word, I’m drowning! I need help!”
“With what?”
“Everything!”
Nope. Nope. Nope.
This is how scope creep happens, because you haven’t defined what you really wanted.
What is scope creep? It’s when you hire for one thing, but start adding tasks that are not related to what you hired for. For example, you hired a virtual assistant for admin work (inbox management, file management), and everything is going great. Then you realise you need help with social media & add those tasks. Then you have a launch coming up, and you need help with those tasks. Then you want to start email marketing & you ask them to handle that. So now you have a social media manager, a launch manager, and an email marketing expert all in one, and they’re struggling. Their work suffers & then you complain & say they weren’t a good fit. Or, they are up to the challenge, everything works out, but you see you’re paying them 3 to 4 times what you budgeted, and you complain that it’s not what you agreed. Well, the agreement was admin only, but because you didn’t define beforehand what you really needed help with, it ended up being more.
What to Do Before Outsourcing
Now, have you been thinking of when to hire a VA, and you see yourself in the things above? Or maybe you’ve already hired someone, and you see yourself doing those things? All is not lost; we can fix it before it gets any worse. You don’t have to fire your team or close your business; with a few steps, we can bring some order to your business and save you some money (& your team some stress). Let’s get into it:
1. Start With Your Business Foundation
How does your business work? What is your branding like? What is your business about? Who are your target clients? What is your vision & mission? What are your values? You’re side-eyeing us right now, yeah? Let us tell you, we’ve seen clients who didn’t have that & we became their de facto branding strategists (scope creep, yeah?), and worked to define the business they started. This is the foundation of your business, and you should know it and be passionate about it. Whoever’s coming in needs to understand that immediately before starting work with you. I say this because with our business coach client, they didn’t have that, so again, we had to connect the dots from their videos, the people in their Facebook group, and from their email content. They didn’t have a place where their business foundation was laid out, so the branding and personality of the business were left in our hands, which was way too much pressure for virtual assistants just starting in the online business world. As strategic operations partners, though, we know better, and we’re passing on our experiences so you, as the business owner, can know what you need to solidify before inviting someone to work on your business with you. Lay out your business foundation. Make it clear so that whoever joins knows your business and can mimic your principles in everything they do.
2. Define your processes
How are you doing… anything? What is your process for social media? Lead generation? Lead tracking? Lead nurturing? Onboarding/offboarding? Events (launches, retreats, etc.), groups, anything? If it’s something that moves your business forward in some way, it must be written down. It doesn’t have to be perfect (hey, having a co-working session where SOPs are updated could be something you can do in your business), but it has to exist. I always say this because my choir director used to say it:
“A short pencil is more valuable than a long memory.”
Another one (I learned this in medical school):
“If it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist”
Writing things down, no matter how rough, is way better than thinking your memory will make an effective process repository. Before hiring support for your business, make sure you get that organized so your virtual assistant doesn’t have to guess how you like things done in your business.
I reiterate: If your process is not written down, we may as well assume that it doesn’t exist. How can your team follow a process that isn’t documented? They can’t, so get to it.
Here is a practical way to define your processes. Once you’ve done something in your business, take 5 minutes to write it down. If you’re doing something that you’ve done at least three times, the next time you do it, screen record & talk through what you’re doing. Another way to do it if you don’t like writing or screen recording: record an audio they can listen to & get a transcript. They need some sort of process so they know how to execute the tasks you hired them to.
3. Automate the processes that can be automated
Some things shouldn’t be done manually, especially if you’re looking to establish yourself as an authority in what you’re doing. The things you may be overwhelmed with could be just because you haven’t created templates or automations for them. Now, I’m not talking about crazy 23-step workflows (though I’m very good at that, call me!). I’m talking about the simple, built-in automatic things you can add to repetitive tasks that you won’t have to worry about.
Picture this: you’re doing group coaching or masterminds with multiple clients, and you need to check in with them and send them materials for the next meeting. Imagine having to write each email, attach a form, send the email, then follow up, then follow up again, then remind them a week before, then a day before, then an hour before, and you’re doing all that manually… aren’t you exhausted just reading that? Things will fall through the cracks. There’s no point in hiring someone for that when you can do it automatically.
Now the question that usually follows is: what about the personal touch? You can make canned emails personal, with your voice, mannerisms, etc. Your clients aren’t going to call each other and say, “Oh, look at that, they sent us a similar email, no personal touch!” and quit. You know what will make them quit, though? A poor client experience. You can always let your personality shine in your automations & templates, don’t let it make you think otherwise. Automation is not an option, it’s a necessity.
I would also argue that if you are in a client-facing business, automating certain steps in your processes will give you the time you need to show up in person as the best version of yourself. What would you rather have: a haggard persona with personal emails, or your personality shining through with boring emails? With automation, you can have a secret third thing: both. Personal emails that go out automatically & save you time to let your unique personality shine through for your clients.
How to Know What You Actually Need Right Now
Running a business can be quite overwhelming, especially when you have multiple clients, but before thinking, “I need a team,” you need your systems and processes to be in order. This is why I crafted a nifty little quiz to test your business operations readiness in a fun way. Are your operations all over the place? Are they good, and have you picked out the tasks that need a virtual assistant? Or have you grown past that, and you now need a strategic operations partner to take over the reins of your business operations? Take the quiz and comment below what you got! We can’t wait to hear your results!
With you in business,
Nawena Virtual Solutions