The year 2022 is going to be the best one for you to develop and expand your company. Employing a virtual assistant is one strategy you may use to expand your company. Although using virtual assistants may help you better manage your time, you will need to invest some time up front to onboard them and ensure that both you and they have the tools necessary to be successful.

Before you decide to bring on a virtual assistant, here are 4 things you need to ask yourself:

1. What do I want to outsource?

Because of your limited time and resources, it may not be possible for you to complete all of the duties that need to be done as an entrepreneur, a startup, or a small company owner. However, you may have numerous responsibilities that need to be fulfilled. The solution lies in using the services of a virtual assistant. Knowing which responsibilities to delegate to your virtual assistant may have a significant impact on the level of success you enjoy in your endeavors. This may seem to be a difficult task at first, but with the help of your team, you can determine if you want someone who is a specialist in a few important areas or someone who is a jack of all crafts. If you decide early on what tasks you want to delegate to a third party, not only will this keep your helper interested, but it will also help you get excellent outcomes.

Consider these important aspects of the situation:

• Personal and administrative tasks
• Marketing and social media
• Web design, development and maintenance
• Customer service
• Content creation
• Research on your competitors, vendors and consumers
• Sales and prospecting
• One-time project(s)

2. What are my expectations?

The goal of a reliable virtual assistant is to fulfill your requirements in a timely manner and in a manner that is tailored to your preferences. Once you’ve decided the duties you want to outsource, the next step is to ensure that you have a firm grasp on the most important aspects. Find out which projects need immediate attention so that you can communicate the broad picture for your company together with the amount of urgency required and the timeframes for the individual tasks. It is important that you explain this to your remote assistant if there are certain activities that need a rapid turnaround, or if there will be high hours during which you want them to answer the phone or react to emails on short notice. Find out which duties will be allocated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, as well as the manner in which these activities should be completed, and the frequency with which they should be reported. It is important to establish timetables for delivering feedback in order to ensure that projects and activities are finished on time.

3. Which methods of communication are best for me?

Now that you have all of the tasks that you want to get started with arranged, it is time to establish a clear channel of communication with your virtual assistant so that you can benefit from a more efficient working relationship with them. Your virtual assistant will have access to a wide variety of tools to facilitate communication with you, while it is possible that not all of these tools may function well for you. Determine the mode of communication that you like the most, along with your work hours and the times during which you are available to reply to emails, attend meetings, or answer phone calls. Are there any more members of your team who ought to be involved in part or all of the communications? Determine who these individuals are and ensure that they are aware of the situation so that they are not taken aback when they get an email from your virtual assistant.

4. What resources will the virtual assistant need access to?

There is a possibility that you already own some of the tools and resources that the virtual assistant will need to utilize. Establish a point of contact for the virtual assistant in the event that they need assistance getting started with any of the tools, and compile a list of these resources, including applicable login information, if required. You may need to establish standard operating procedures for utilizing the different tools and resources in addition to providing those tools and resources. Because of these guidelines, you won’t have to send as many emails for clarification. You shouldn’t worry if you have an idea of what you want to do but are lacking the resources necessary to do it since your virtual assistant will be able to provide suggestions.

The necessary groundwork must always be done prior to onboarding a new employee. If you get this aspect done, though, you will put yourself in a position to have success while working with a virtual assistant. You will be well on your way to enjoying the development in your company that you have always dreamed of after you have established things like duties, expectations, communication methods, and resource requirements.