• Pay attention to response time. If you’re going back and forth with a potential VA and you’re not happy with his or her response time—or if the candidate continues to miss specific questions in your e-mails—then expect the same type of interaction in your day-to-day workflow. Then ask yourself, “Can I live with this?”
As long as you implement the hiring practices I’m about to show you, you’ll greatly increase your chances of successfully finding the right candidate.
When most people consider starting an online business, it’s usually to escape an unfulfilling job or to earn an extra living on the side—but that wasn’t the case with Todd Beuckens. As a teacher based in Asia, Todd’s passion for education inspired him to create Elllo.org, an e-learning site designed to give students and teachers the resources they need to become better educated at no charge. With more than ten years of teaching experience, Todd thoroughly understood the needs of both students and teachers. This allowed him to create the kind of content he felt was scarce online—or anywhere, for that matter.
To monetize (meaning make money directly from his website), Todd used Google AdSense and sold digital products and a few online classes. For five long years, Todd was strapped for cash. Every piece of his business, from coding his website to creating custom graphics, was his responsibility. It wasn’t until he came upon a coding problem he couldn’t solve that he decided to seek outside help. When he did so, Todd realized that it’s infinitely more efficient to hire an extra hand than to try to teach yourself specialized skills.
After this epiphany, Todd made himself an interesting promise. Despite his passion for his teaching job, he resolved to quit the moment he had made enough income to replace his salary and to live the coveted lifestyle of a digital entrepreneur, traveling extensively and visiting exotic beaches.
But surprisingly, after eight months of soaking up the sun and living what he thought was “the dream,” Todd was miserable. He realized just how much he missed teaching and his community of colleagues. Todd realized he wanted to return to teaching, but he wasn’t willing to close up shop on his website or to go back to driving himself into the ground by teaching full-time while running his online business as a one-man show. He needed to find a healthy balance.
Why Virtual Staffing?
By returning to a teaching position, Todd could leverage his salary to outsource work for his online business while continuing to do the work he loved. Shortly after making this decision, Todd transitioned into professional outsourcing and now only does about 20 percent of the work he did previously in his Internet business while also working as a full-time teacher.
Todd often recalls a particular story to reiterate the power and efficiency of a workforce made up of VAs. Years ago, Todd worked in publishing and was asked to produce a series of books. He was paid $10,000 to create just one of the titles. The book contained fourteen educational lessons and was compiled by a team consisting of a co-author, designer, editor, and sales staff. From concept to distribution, the book took two years to complete and is still available for purchase today.
Compare that to a website that Todd recently created to help people learn Spanish. It’s a free platform that consists of more than 300 videos of Spanish speakers from twelve different countries and various quizzes to help challenge the learner. However, the site’s most impressive feature is that it was created using VAs who do not speak Spanish. The site took less than three months to complete and will be distributed in print and mobile versions as well.
Thanks to Todd’s VAs, the site was created in a language he does not speak, for a fraction of the cost it would have otherwise taken to complete just the website alone, without the print or mobile iterations.
Todd’s Hurdles
The biggest hurdle Todd faced was a mental block concerning the risks of owning a small business. Questions like, “Why would someone want to work for a small-time operation?” and “What if I get ripped off?” were constantly in the back of his mind.
These two questions were quickly answered once Todd took the plunge. He learned that most independent contractors and VAs prefer working for smaller businesses because they receive better treatment. Todd realized that having virtual staff was not only personally liberating, but also that most VAs are hardworking people who enjoy being a part of something that’s constantly growing and improving.
Todd’s Best Practices
• Work with multiple VAs instead of hiring one full-time VA. Instead of hiring one full-time VA to complete a project, Todd prefers working with multiple VAs who each handle a small set of tasks for a couple hours a week until a project is completed. He’s also found that some VAs would rather collaborate with multiple employers for a few hours each week than hitch their carts to just one person or project. For example, let’s say Todd needs 500 quizzes created for one of his teaching sites. Instead of putting all of his eggs in one basket with a single assistant, he’ll hire a group of VAs so he can determine who is best suited for the job, then assign the quizzes to an equal number of VAs after dismissing those that don’t quite fit the bill and boosting the hours (and workload, obviously) of those who are hitting the mark. This allows him to keep moving forward without having to begin the hiring process all over again and rewards those virtual workers who show a better fit with his plans.
• Look for freelancers or VAs with no reviews. Everyone needs a chance to get started, and this strategy can result in a win-win situation if executed correctly. Todd will contact these newbies, give them the rundown of his business, and offer them positions as VAs. Some of his best hires are still with him today and were found using this exact strategy.
• Be a nice guy. It’s a simple strategy that works well. The difference between productive virtual workers who produce amazing work over a long period of time and those who dwindle away into the virtual wilderness lies in how you treat them.
Todd’s Tools of the Trade
Here are the top tools Todd uses when working with his virtual staff:
• Screencast (Screencast.com): Step-by-step instruction on creating training content exactly the way you want it to be consumed by your VA.
• Dropbox