Investing in a dedicated real estate virtual assistant can be one of the best decisions you make for your business. You can cut down on your operational costs as well as achieve more of a work-life balance, allowing you to focus on the tasks that grow your business. 6 Tips for Hiring Your First VA 1. Delegating Identifying exactly what tasks you can start outsourcing to your VA is a critical starting point. Even smaller tasks such as appointment scheduling, social media management, or handling emails is a good starting point. I would recommend going through your normal work week and document all the tasks you are doing and how much time you are spending on each one. At the end of the week, determine what tasks are taking up too much of your time that would be better spent on income-producing tasks. Almost anything over the phone or internet can be done by a virtual assistant! Related: Hire a Virtual Assistant for These 21 Tasks (& Supercharge Your Productivity!) 2. Training This is a crucial step for setting your VA up for success. Although some VAs are pre-trained in real estate specific tasks, you will need to train them according to your own systems and processes. Even if you don’t currently have a need for a VA, documenting your processes is essential to being able to replace yourself in the future. Screen recording and voice-over instructions can be very helpful for this. 3. Consistent Communication As with most relationships in life, communication is always an important factor to a healthy partnership. Having a short daily or weekly meeting with your VA is a great way to set goals, celebrate wins, or talk about any adjustments that may need to be made. There are free Wi-Fi texting apps such as WhatsApp that allow you to communicate throughout the day. You can also use video conferencing software such as Google Hangouts, Skype, or Zoom to have face-to-face communication with your VA. If you both have iPhones, you can also FaceTime. 4. Setting Expectations By setting clear expectations and goals, you can ensure a great and long-lasting relationship with your VA. Let them know exactly what their role is and what you expect from them to encourage their brilliance. This will set you both up for success—win-win! Related: How to Find the Correct Virtual Assistant for Your Real Estate Marketing Needs 5. Equipment Having the right tools in place for your virtual assistant to work with is another way to encourage a successful partnership. Provide your communication platform for them to message, video conference, and make calls. Provide access to your CRM, social media, or any account they should need for your business. Providing the right tools ensures they have all they need to succeed. 6. Be Prepared Having your virtual assistant create a manual on how they accomplish their daily tasks can be beneficial if you plan on adding more VAs to your team later down the road so they can pass on what you have taught them. This can also include screen recording or call recording. Overall, implementing virtual assistants into your real estate business can have a profound impact on the growth of your business when done correctly. By following these six tips to help you get started, you will have a healthy working partnership that will allow you to work on your business instead of in your business.