It should be a given that hiring a Virtual Assistant will make you and your business more productive, right? But what about being more accountable for the tasks necessary to achieve your long range business goals? An incredible spin off benefit of hiring a VA is that you suddenly have someone who is “checking in” regularly to see if you’ve crossed any of those pesky to-dos off your list. Because let’s face it, a Virtual Assistant can do a lot but she can’t do everything for you!
When I hired my current Virtual Assistant back in July, (hi Ruth!), I told her upfront that she had carte blanche to boss me around whenever she felt it was necessary. Sound strange? Let me clarify.
Like any entrepreneur, I spend a lot of my time in what I call inspiration overwhelm. That is, I have more ideas than time. To bring my ideas to action in a somewhat premeditated fashion, I need more than someone to tackle my to-do lists. I need someone to actually wrangle my ideas into something more orderly than random emails to colleagues or scribbles in 10 different notebooks.
Now, when one of my projects or to-dos starts to linger a little too long on the back burner, I get a nudge from my VA (I love saying “my VA!”). Maybe she’s not exactly bossing me around, but knowing there is someone else on my team (I love saying “my team!”) who is waiting for me to do my part before she can either cross something off the list or move it to the next step, has a way of getting me off my proverbial butt. Suddenly I’m not just letting myself down by putting something off (because I’m being obnoxiously picky about perfecting it first which is another article entirely). Now I’m letting down a team member who is waiting for me to do my part so she can do hers.
Not to mention the powerful effect “otherness” has on the lone entrepreneur, the man or woman used to flying solo ALL of the time. When there is someone else watching you, observing you, waiting for your next move, you become self aware in a way that’s just not possible all by your lonesome.
So, if you’re putting off finding a Virtual Assistant because you don’t want someone else to answer to, scrap that notion. It’s misguided. It’s counterproductive. It’s really a bit high minded. You’re special but you’re not that special. Adding a new team member to your business might be just what the doctor ordered to cure symptoms you didn’t even know you had.
I have with my clients regular “check in” times – at the beginning of the relationship, we make a determination if they want to check in weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. We also schedule goal review chats, which occur monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly… A lot of the time the timing changes, but the clients begin to look forward to knowing that they have this time that’s just for them, and they also (sometimes) feel guilty if they haven’t done what they said they wanted to accomplish.
When we have our goal review sessions, I take LOTS of notes, and then a couple of days after the meeting, I send a summary of what we talked about with a general guideline of dates, etc. When the time for the next session draws near, I send the summary again with a short note that says something like, “Just to let you know our next goal session is _______ and here’s the summary from our last meeting so we can see where you are, and where we need to take you next.”
Its a little bit like coaching, but I don’t call it that. I call it strategic partnering. Solopreneurs/entrepreneurs and busy executives seem to like that term – strategic partnering.
I also do a thing called “Brain Dumping” with my clients during our regular check ins, which sometimes also get put into the goals because when someone’s got something on their brain, sometimes all they need is to dump it out, get it on paper and see how its going to progress. Sometimes it just needs to get out so that some other flash of brilliance can formulate.
My VA services have really changed since I first started out. I thought I’d be an assistant, but in the short time since I started, I’ve figured out that there are certain things I love to do, and certain things I absolutely don’t like to do, so I’m now playing to MY strengths, which help my clients play to theirs.
There is nothing like having someone who knows what is next on the team! I wrote a blog post at my blog: Virtually @ Eight Twenty-Two (http://barjdcommunications.com/virtualblog) that has a little more opinion on the possibilities. ACCOUNTABILITY COMES WITH OUTSOURCING TO A PROFESSIONAL VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
Again, I completed the ping back portion. I hope it works here!
Accountabilty can be one of the most powerful motivators. It’s been said that if you say it aloud you will become motivated and if you say it aloud to another person you become accountable.
What changes? Your perception, your attitude, and often your determination. It’s pleasing to fill that place with my clients — checking in to gauge the progress, assisting whenever possible, and becoming a Details Diva when necessary (also known as a “Nag with a tiara.”) Seldom is the tiara really needed but it’s in my bag of tricks. 😉 You’re an awesome client, Karri!