{"id":43239,"date":"2013-05-14T05:33:18","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T11:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=43239"},"modified":"2024-05-30T10:37:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T16:37:02","slug":"2013-05-14-virtual-assistant-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2013-05-14-virtual-assistant-success","title":{"rendered":"Setting Your Virtual Assistant Up For Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

In last week\u2019s article<\/a> I talked about successful delegation and outsourcing; the big picture in other words. This week I wanted to really go into what your duties and responsibilities are as the business owner <\/i>since you ultimately play such a big part in setting your virtual assistant up for success.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a clue: it\u2019s all about the work you do upfront, and giving that person ongoing feedback especially in the beginning of a new \u201ctask\u201d.\u00a0 You want to make any course corrections that are needed quickly.<\/p>\n

Creating Procedures and Systems<\/b><\/h2>\n

There is no getting around the fact that you have to spend the time upfront in order for these types of relationships to work for both of you. I know I was totally unprepared for just how much work would be involved at first.<\/p>\n

As the business owner, you want to get the job done correctly and in a timely manner. Therefore the person you have hired needs to be absolutely clear about the exact steps they need to take in order to do a good job for you. What I found out very quickly was that even though I thought I had every step detailed perfectly, there are these tiny bits of knowledge that we accrue over time that perhaps the other person doesn\u2019t have. So you really have to keep drilling down the instructions until you get it right.<\/p>\n

The good news is that once it is done, you have this roadmap that you can hand off to another person down the line if and when you need to do that. I put everything into Dropbox in a \u201cshared folder\u201d for my VA.\u00a0 Any cloud storage site will work. I just happened to start out using Dropbox which is free and virtual assistants are familiar with this particular site.<\/p>\n

Creating a \u201cTask Package\u201d<\/h2>\n

I have put together a \u201cTask Package\u201d that contains all of the information the VA will need for each individual job or task. You can make your own version that fits your business and the particular job or task you are outsourcing, but it should be very detailed. Remember that it needs to be broken down into baby steps.<\/p>\n

This \u201cTask Package\u201d is what I created for my VA to post \u201cWe Buy Houses Ads\u201d daily on CraigsList.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. An Overview of \u201cThings Needed and Training Materials for This Ongoing Task\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Overview of the job or task<\/p>\n

3. Craigslist Rules<\/p>\n

4. Craigslist Login Information<\/p>\n

5. Sample Posting Schedule <\/b><\/p>\n

6. List of \u201cWe Buy Houses Ads\u201d<\/p>\n

7. Website\/Squeeze Page URL\u2019s to insert into ads (clickable Links)<\/p>\n

8. Graphics to Upload into Ads (Houses with a sold sign)<\/p>\n

9. Training Video on How to Use Craigslist<\/p>\n

I will go over each one of these in a minute, but right now I can already hear someone saying that this seems like overkill. I can assure you that it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Even with these instructions, there were some parts of the instructions I had to change and \u201ctweak\u201d because my VA had never used Craigslist.<\/p>\n

Breaking Down the Parts of the Task<\/b><\/h2>\n

1.\u201dThings Needed and Training Materials for This Ongoing Task\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

This is simply a list of the items in numbers 2-7 or kind of a checklist for both of us to ensure that she has every single thing she needs to do the job. Don\u2019t make the mistake of trying to put everything into one long instruction sheet.<\/p>\n

2. Overview of the job or task.<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0 This is where you will write an overview of the job. Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n

Overview of the Work:<\/b><\/p>\n

I would like you to post one ad on Craigslist each morning before 10:00 AM (my time zone). Since you have indicated that you are available to do this on Saturday and Sunday, that will be 7 ads per week.<\/p>\n

Please keep a log of which ad, website and account were used for posting each day. I would like you to put a copy of that log into our shared Dropbox folder twice a month; once around the middle of the month and again on the last day of the month. I want to be able to track the ads and the websites to see how they are performing and tell if some are working better than others. *You will get a notice to approve each ad as it is posted so you will know it is done.<\/p>\n

3. Craigslist Rules:<\/b><\/p>\n

Craigslist is a simple site to use, but there are some rules. The main rule to worry about is that \u201can ad must be off the site at least 48 hours before it can be reposted<\/strong>\u201d. You could actually change the ad text but if it contains a URL or link to a website, it is considered the same ad. \u00a0I will want you to pull down (delete) each ad after 48 hours to be sure we adhere to this site\u2019s rules.<\/b><\/p>\n

4. Craigslist Login Information<\/b><\/p>\n

I have created several accounts and the login information is below for each account. Remember to delete any ad that has been up more than 48 hours. *Please do not share this information with anyone or have anyone do the posting for you.<\/p>\n

5. Sample Posting Schedule <\/b><\/p>\n

I gave her a sample posting schedule since she has multiple logins, seller ads, and website URL\u2019s. I want her to be clear on how to do this. \u00a0Once again, I want to be sure to follow the site\u2019s rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

6. List of \u201cWe Buy Houses Ads\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

I supplied her with a list of ads to be rotated. Some are long and some are short. Each one has a unique title.<\/p>\n

7. Website\/Squeeze Page URL\u2019s to insert into ads with \u201cClickable Links\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

It is important that these be rotated in order so that the same domain doesn\u2019t appear too often on one account.<\/p>\n

For anyone that doesn\u2019t know how to do \u201cclickable links\u201d on Craigslist, here is the code you use to make your URL back to your website \u201cclickable\u201d:<\/p>\n

<a href=”http:\/\/PutYourWebsiteURLHere.com<\/a>“>Sell Now!<\/a><\/p>\n

The link will be hidden inside \u201cSell Now\u201d.<\/b><\/p>\n

*As a note, sometimes these links \u201cget broken\u201d or stop working, and you have to put them in again.\u00a0 There are two things you need to do each time:<\/p>\n