How Hiring a Virtual Assistant Helps Build Your Business

When you first start your business, you are the business. You are doing all the tasks:

• Admin – Proposals
• Financial – Bookkeeping
• Website – Graphics and Copy
• Social Media – Creating posts and Posting them

There are many behind the scenes systems to a business. As your business grows, your time is better spent working in your area of expertise. As for things not in your area of brilliance? These are tasks to delegate to a virtual assistant (VA).

There are many behind the scenes systems to a business. As your business grows, your time is better spent working in your area of expertise and delegating other tasks to a virtual assistant. #Youpreneur Click To Tweet

But how do you make the transition from doing it yourself to handing the systems to someone else? Creating a document or video now showing how you currently complete these tasks helps you delegate them later. Eventually, these processes can go into the policy and procedures manual for your business.

Here are some tasks that are typical to most businesses. This is not a comprehensive list. Pick one of these and document your process to complete it. The tools I use to document are described later in this article.

1. Admin
   a. Proposals/Contracts
   b. Invoicing
   c. Bookkeeping
2. Website
   a. Graphics
   b. Copy
   c. Updates to pages on a website
   d. Software updates if WordPress
3. Blog Posts
   a. Written
   b. Video
   i. How created
   ii. Where to host the video (usually Youtube)
   c. How often posted
   d. Graphics
4. Social Media
   a. Which social media outlets to share on
   b. How often to share
   c. How to share blog posts
   d. Sources of external articles to share

Here are 2 examples of processes in your business that are easy to delegate if you outline the steps and set the guidelines. The goal of creating an effective blog and social media post is consistency for your brand in the look and feel – logo, colors, font, etc.

Example 1: Post a blog to your website.

1. Create the Title of the Blog
2. Create the written or video portion of the blog post
3. If there’s a video add the written content to explain the video
4. If there’s not a video, find or create images related to the blog post – visuals are important for readability
5. Log into the Dashboard of the website
6. Navigate to add new blog section (In WordPress: Posts à Add New)
7. Enter the title
8. Check the URL slug – change it if necessary
9. Enter the text and image(s)
10. Use different heading sizes at various spots in the post
11. Add a Call to Action (CTA) – download a free lead magnet or book a short call with you
12. Add text asking readers to comment on the blog or send a comment via social media
13. Add social share buttons and ask readers to share the article
14. If using the Yoast plug-in on WordPress
    a. Decide on Focus Keyword
    b. Write snippet (Short preview text that shows up on Google search)
    c. Make sure you have 2 green lights for SEO and readability
15. Preview it before officially publishing the post
16. On WordPress, make sure the article is attributed to the business owner or the correct person.
17. Publish the article

While the above may seem a bit overwhelming, delegating all or part of the process is doable. Make sure your VA fully understands the steps and can convey your brand. It is also essential that you approve all content before publishing.

Example #2 is the process of creating and posting your blogs, curated articles and quotes to social media.

1. Type of Content
   a. Links for new blog post(s) and/or video(s) from your website or social media channels
   b. Links to curated articles related to your topic or theme that are not your own
   i. How you find these articles – trusted sources, colleagues, industry publications?
   c. Quotes
2. Create images for each quote or link if needed
   a.Branded images especially for quotes are recognizable and show consistency. (Example – look at the @Youpreneur Twitter feed. All quotes have a theme, the logo at the top, all caps font in white and different images.) That’s branding! 
3. Write copy explaining each link (and to show you did read the article that’s not your own).
4. Open content/editorial calendar
5. Paste links into the calendar so you know what to post when and to what channel
6. Schedule posts in your social media scheduling software (examples are Buffer or Hootsuite)

The goal is to create a document with detailed written steps with images that outline your processes. Then anyone can follow and do the steps once you begin delegating tasks.

For instance, here’s an example showing how I document one step to add a new blog post in the back end of my WordPress Website.

1. Login to WordPress
2. Click Posts
3. Click Add New

Here are the tools I use to document a process in my business.

• Microsoft Word or Google Docs – Both tools allow easy editing and sharing of your work
• A college student! I hired a college student up the street. I recorded a video showing a process and she created the Word document with the steps and images based on my direction.
• Jing by Techsmith. It’s a free and seriously cool tool. I have a little yellow bubble on the edge of my desktop screen. I click the plus sign and I get crosshairs that I click and drag from top left to the bottom right corner of the image I want to capture on my screen. I click capture to grab the image. Then I can copy and paste the captured image into Word or Google Docs. I can also save it a file.

I can add arrows pointing out where to click or comments to describe a step. Then you copy the screens capture so you can paste it into your documentation. This shows how Jing can clearly provide direction, useful in delegating.

Some processes will be administrative, and some will be technical. Either way, when you hire a VA or need to replace your VA, by taking the time to document how you are completing the tasks, you have a process that is easily followed.

This level of clarity lets you delegate and forget it, trusting that your VA will understand how your business works. You have more time to work on your business and not in your business. You can work with more clients doing what you love the most, earn more money and help more people.