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Offliners With a Virtual Assistant - I Need Your Help!

by robd1302
8 replies
So as many of you know, I run a pretty successful offline business, focusing primarily on web design and development, but also on SEO and local marketing.

My business has gotten to the point where I feel like I would do much better to focus less on "operations" and more on clients, potential clients, and marketing/networking.

I'm in the process of hiring a virtual assistant to help me with this stuff. Ideally, I want to be able to forward him/her emails and just say "please handle this". That may involve contacting one of the people on my design/development team, or possibly just answering an email from a client.

My question is this:

How do you handle email with virtual assistants? Do you give them access to your inbox? Do you setup a separate account that they have access to, but keep a separate, more private address for yourself? Do you forward emails to your VA to handle, and have them copy you on any response?

My biggest worry is that something will get lost in the mix somewhere, and I'll have an angry client, or several. Back in my "office job" days, my eight-person office had a trunk email address that went to all eight of us, and despite everyone's best efforts, sometimes multiple people would respond to a single email (which makes us look stupid), and sometimes, no one would respond at all, each of us thinking that it was someone else's job to handle it.

If you've come up with any solutions that work great for you, please let me know. Thanks!

Robert
#assistant #offliners #virtual
  • Profile picture of the author Anthony seoserviceagents
    hi i would create him his own email address on your domain and forward him all emails he needs to answer an let him BCC copy you so client don't see that you get a copy of that that would be the best way in my opinion,or use a CRM system to assign the different work to your VAs and they could upload it directly to each clients project
    good luck
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    Local SEO / Organic SEO Services / Citation Services
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  • Profile picture of the author nthmarketing
    Email in my opinion is a horrible way to work with VA's the only way to deal with them properly is with some type of project management system. That way you can post items that you KNOW they see. You can create timelines and task lists.

    Hope that helps.. but save yourself a lot of headache and DONT use email.

    Fred
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  • Profile picture of the author driven247
    This post intrigued me to start looking into some project management software. I will be looking to hire some VA's or maybe even just Assistants that live by me very soon.

    2 interesting things I found where a website called chatter[dot]com which basically allows you to have your own personal business social media network with file sharing and it's free.

    The other online program I found was basecamp from 37 signs, I have heard alot of good things about their software and it's not expensive at all.

    I hope those 2 websites help you out a bit.

    Justin
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    • Profile picture of the author robd1302
      Thanks for the advice, everyone!

      I had never heard of chatter - I will look into that tonight. I've used Basecamp before, and I couldn't stand it. I thought email was far more effective. If I could find something that worked well for me and my assistants, I would use it in a heartbeat.

      Has anyone else had a good experience using a project management system, or something similar? Anything that would help me communicate effectively with my assistants would be great!

      Thanks!

      Robert
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      • Profile picture of the author Jason Dittberner
        Whoa! I wouldn't recommend going the "please handle this" route. You will find yourself having a really hard time.

        VA's are great, if you find a good one, and even with a good one, they require a lot of hand holding if you want a good working relationship.

        What I mean by hand holding is VERY specific directions...down to the most granular level. You can have a lot of success and free a lot of time, if you are willing to put in the time and effort for clear, specific directions, which takes practice.

        As for the other comments, I used several project management solutions and found them to be a pain. Email, or a simple Word doc in Dropbox works great for me and is dirt cheap (read: free). Do you need a project management solution to communicate with your friends and family? i suspect you use email with them...a lot. Teaching how to use a project management solution can take away from the actual work you need done. Just a thought.

        My point is to use the best solution for your situation and not to immediately put on the Basecamp jersey yet until you are in the starting lineup.

        Finally, I would recommend starting out with specific tasks to ODESK or your flavor/site of choice until that becomes a need for a full time VA.

        Best of luck. Outsourcing is where it is at.
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  • Profile picture of the author atrbiz
    Hey Robert,

    I own a successful web design/seo company and have several VA's that work for me. I can tell you from experience that you need to make sure your both of your working styles connect, train them well, they'll make mistakes and correct them, don't be quick to fire a VA...BUT at the same time if its not working move on to another VA. Give them a to do list/guidelines with priorities,etc.

    Good luck on your search!

    - Ahmad
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    • Profile picture of the author robd1302
      Thanks everyone for the great advice!

      I manage a team of about 15 designers, developers, and marketers, so I'm familiar with hiring people for tasks. The only type of tasks that I've been hesitant to outsource are the operations tasks - especially email - since it's basically the core of my business, and it directly represents me and my business, without any filters or oversight.

      When I hire new designers, I typically give several people the same or similar projects, and see how they do. If they do good work at a reasonable price, I keep them on for future work. I think I'll do the same here. I have found 3-4 seemingly good VAs. I think I will give each one a few tasks, and see the kind of work they do, how long it takes them , how well they follow instructions, etc. and go from there.

      As for "please handle this", if I have to give specific instructions for every task, it won't be worth the time or money to even hire an assistant. However, I feel like after working on the same type of project a few times, my assistant should know pretty much what to do for that type of situation. I don't mind putting in the time to hand-hold up front if it means I will eventually end up with someone who can do a good job with minimal oversight.

      I've never had good experiences with Project Management software, but I'm looking at some of the products that have been recommended. Perhaps I'll find something worthwhile.

      Thanks again for your help!

      Robert
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      • Profile picture of the author Bennette
        Robert,

        I agree with Jason's advice and use the same process. I create an info at (your domain) email address for them to use with user name and password when I want them to send out information to prospects.

        I don't not allow them access to my personal email.

        I also created tutorials that I can use over again if I need to hire a new VA (big time saver).
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