Below are some Virtual Assistant Tips and Tricks that can cement a relationship with your VA, according to a survey done with entrepreneurs by AllBusiness. As a reminder, a Virtual Assistant is a professional who offers support and business services while working remotely. Your VA can be either an independent contractor or an employee of a VA company. You have an opportunity to save hours of work daily by hiring a virtual assistant, but only if you make the most of your time with them.

Virtual Assistant Tips and Tricks

1. Provide clear instructions – Not providing clear and concise instructions for tasks is a large reason why new virtual assistants do not work well with entrepreneurs. 

2. Be patient – It takes time to get into a groove with VAs. Give one task out at a time, and manage each task at the beginning. Make sure you use clear instructions and are polite and gracious! 

3. Use the right tools – Using the right tools can help speed up the process of communicating with and training a new VA. Examples include tools like Dropbox or Evernote for easy access to files and information.

4. Be kind – Virtual assistants are people, too! They’ll always be more likely to do great work for you if you treat them with respect and kindness.

5. Overcommunicate – The key is to overcommunicate with your virtual assistants. More often than not, it’s not that the VA isn’t capable; it’s that the process is broken.

6. Document all your processes – I keep a shared Evernote folder with notes that outline various preferences and processes (e.g., scheduling, travel, setting up blog posts). This makes it easy to bring a new VA on board. 

7. Be realistic – Test your virtual assistant with a variety of tasks, some simple and some complex. In that way, you can get an idea of how capable your VA does without constant chaperoning. 

8. Invest your time – Invest a little time in the virtual assistant. The more you give, the more you will get back.

9. Delegate routine tasks – Virtual assistants are great to leverage your time but to maximize them, you need to honestly assess the value of your time and the tasks with diminishing returns. As a rule of thumb, you should delegate anything repetitive and routine to an assistant

10. Let them ask questions – Virtual assistants often want to impress in the beginning by “just getting on with it” and not asking important questions about a project’s requirements. I tell my VAs that I prefer honest and open communication, and they should feel free to ask for clarification or guidance at any time without feeling stupid 

11. Set explicit instructions – Upfront communication and repeatable processes are key. In the beginning, provide a couple of helpful examples, have them complete a handful of tasks based on those examples, and provide feedback for continuing.

 12. Develop a 90-day plan – Think through what you want your VA to be able to do in seven days, 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days. Determine what’s critical for them to do up-front and what can wait, but still needs to be addressed. 

13. Pick up the phone – Pick up the phone for a five-minute overview of the project with the VA, then send specifics via email. This allows your VA to ask questions about the general direction and prevents you from wasting more time than the task is worth.