Have you ever been in this situation?
You are super excited, you just hired your first Virtual Assistant, and you can’t wait to begin working on other projects while they carry some of the load. They are trained, starting to work, and you feel like you are in heaven! Life is perfect!
And then one morning you wake up… and all hell breaks loose.
Your VA sends you a short message saying, “We had a troll say something unpleasant on Twitter, so I blocked her.” You think, okay, that happens, no biggie.
Going about your day, you have a short conversation with your VA. They start sharing a little bit more about what happened – and it turns out the story wasn’t at all how it was portrayed!
So you do a Google search… and there for the world to see is a screenshot of “your” conversation with the troll (even though it was really your VA) on a Google thread with over 117 nasty, mean, negative comments about you on it already. And to make matters worse, the “troll” has over 91,000 individuals in her circles on her Google Profile.
Yes, that really happened to me!
You might think after hearing this Virtual Assistant account that you will never hire a VA. However, that is the furthest thing from the truth. The moral of the story is that you need train your Virtual Assistants in every detail and don’t assume they know everything.
That was my mistake – I assumed since my VA had been working in Social Media that she understood that it wasn’t acceptable to engage in a verbal pissing match online. Unfortunately, she didn’t adhere to that standard and it caused me a lot of unwanted negative attention.
The Good News is that I was able to resolve the situation… and I learned a valuable lesson.
Don’t Assume Your Virtual Assistant Knows Everything
Consider the whole picture when hiring a Virtual Assistant. Follow these hiring practices when looking for that perfect VA:
- Look for a VA that is trustworthy. In your search, gather verifiable work references from other business owners. Make sure that you contact all of their references and ask specific questions that are important to your overall business.
- Craft a list of tasks that your VA will need to perform for you. When checking the references, ask if the VA has performed these same tasks satisfactorily for them.
- If applicable, ask the VA for specific examples of their work. For example, in the case of a copywriter, ask for previous samples.
- Put together a contract that stipulates the VA’s specific duties. Go over this contract in detail with your top three candidates to ensure that you are all on the same page.
- Consider hiring the VA for a test run of specific duties that are non-essential. This will help you determine if the relationship will be a good fit for your business.
Manage Your Virtual Assistant
Once you have hired your perfect Virtual Assistant, then you must act like a manager. They need to be trained in every facet of the job that you expect them to perform. If you don’t train them, then you may find yourself in a similar situation to mine.
Follow these valuable lessons that I learned going through my first harrowing experience with a Virtual Assistant:
- Put together a document that outlines key responsibilities and training procedures. Your assistant will be able to refer to it if they have questions.
- Set priorities, milestones, and deadlines. Assign tasks by priorities and check in with your VA on a regular basis. Give rewards for meeting your expectations.
- Set regularly scheduled meetings. If your VA has questions, they’ll know they can get answers in a timely manner.
- Be available to your assistant. Provide various means of communication – these can include Skype, email, and Facebook.
- Treat your VA with respect and compensate them on time.
A savvy entrepreneur will train her new Virtual Assistant well – an excellent VA will become your Right-hand Woman or Man! Not only will they help you shorten your To-Do List, but a fabulous VA will increase your productivity and help grow your bottom line!
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6 Responses to How to avoid the Virtual Assistant from Hell
Gee your story with a troll VA is horrible. Good thing that did not affect you. I hate it when my fellow VA does stupid things, it makes us look bad.
Your tips here are awesome, as a VA for three years what you shared here are all helpful for both parties. Thanks!
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You know it really was a learning experience for me. I learned I have to be clear about what my expectations are!
Twitter: showcasingwomen
This is a wonderful article and it certainly gave me some things to think about. I can see myself falling in to the trap of assuming my upcoming (and first!) VA would know what to do, I mean, she’s an experienced VA, right? This brought to my attention the gaps in my plan. I’ll definitely read this again, make some notes and will be much better prepared. And OMG! I thought your troll story was just a great example, but then to find out it had been a true story, wow! Your retelling made me laugh, but also made me say, “Oh crap, I’d better get things in order so this doesn’t happen to me!” So thanks for a great article, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
Except one of my virtual assistant , all are use less and destroying my online community reputation .So i have already terminated 4 nos of such VA.
It is better , do your own work .
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I’m glad I read this article… I wouldn’t have even thought anyone would be dumb enough to do something like that! I’ve been an administrative assistant (and exceptional one) for years and years, and I would never have done anything like that! So it wouldn’t have occurred to me to be sure my VA didn’t do it either! I kinda feel sorry for my first VA… nobody is going to be good enough for me! Haha!
Trust me, I thought the same thing but I learned the hard way. Always important to educate your VA!
Twitter: showcasingwomen