GREAT ADAPTATIONS

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For Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and the Seriously Over-Booked

If you’re a blogging entrepreneur, here are some things to think about when you’re thinking about bringing on a virtual assistant. I’ll call her a “she” for the sake of the story, but of course he could also be a he.

Practice appropriate praise
Right off the top, get yourself ready to openly praise the person who assists you. Know that when you are clear about your own goals you should be able to see how much your assistant actually does for you – and actively, genuinely, regularly show that you value those skills. Your VA anticipates your needs, and can tell you what is the most efficient use of her skills according to your goals and objectives. Isn’t she amazing?

Anticipate collaboration
I have new projects I want to launch, but I’m not about to swamp myself with new tasks without collaborators. So I look for a VA who understands collaboration. Her business plan allows for a percentage of her time to be used in the risk-investment required to collaborate for future profits. She doesn’t rely on schemes and scams, but she is enthusiastic and savvy in evaluating a potential partnership. She can help set the proper boundaries and expectations in the agreement the two of us might create.

Taking a look at her readiness

Her own tech skills are readily observable because:

*She has her own blog
*She uses Twitter
*She’s on Facebook
*And besides that, she demonstrates great research skills, she’s creative, and – joy! – she is ORGANIZED. (That’s at least half the reason you need help, after all.)

Her communication skills are evident in her blog, as she describes the following assets clearly.

She sets up her daily calendar to handle clients who need small daily tasks tended. Since she is highly skilled at managing her own time, she is able to meet the needs of a number of clients who have small or sporadic tasks to complete. While she likely has an hour or half-hour minimum, when she has a good client she likes and trusts, she becomes more flexible about the minimum time slots she is willing to bill.

Her level of understanding of How Things Work Online can be seen in the suggestions she makes. She does not wait until it’s too late to tell you she can’t get something done. She’s intuitive and proactive.

She can participate in building our network if we decide to collaborate on a project. (Meaning, she’s connected and knows how to leverage it.)

She has two or three references I can actually call on the phone, since I’m going to be turning over passwords and basically the keys to my kingdom.

Since we’re talking about a dream VA here, by the way, she is also funny, warm, bright, responsive, casual, and energetic. She probably loves dogs and boats and plans to live in France at some point. Or is involved in something fun and off-mainstream. Oh, and she knows everything about chocolate.

I wonder what her dream client would look like? Am I her nightmare or her vision of successful collaboration?

Reader, have you found a dream VA? If you’re a virtual assistant, what is your ideal client? Tell me in the comments.

If you know of a wonderful virtual assistant you’d like to recommend, tell me that too. Around the first of May, I’ll do a new post to highlight all the Dream VAs people love to work with.

Suzanna Stinnett