If you’ve been thinking about hiring a Virtual Assistant for the first time, you probably have a lot of questions fluttering around in your head. “How do I prepare my business for a VA? How do I share my login details safely? How do I train them?”
You’re definitely not alone! Learning how to effectively train and work with a VA is a common concern with business owners.
I’ve been a VA and I’ve also hired VAs so I know quite a bit about this topic. My best advice for you is – the more prepared you are, the easier the hiring process will be on both of you.
One of the ways that you can prep your biz for a VA is to have the right tools. The good news is, these tools don’t have to be complicated or expensive. In fact, most of them are free!
Below is a list of tools to have in place when you hire a VA and why you need them.
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MUST-HAVE TOOLS TO TRAIN AND WORK WITH VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS
STORING + SHARING PASSWORDS
LastPass – In this day and age, security is on top of everyone’s minds. This tool allows you to store and share sensitive information with your VA like login details and credit cards. Your VA doesn’t even need to see your password to log in! There’s also an app for your phone which makes it easy for you to log in to any site anywhere!
TRAINING + DELEGATING
Google Drive – Oh how I LOVE Google Drive! I store email templates, procedure docs, and write my blog posts in my Google Drive. You can create documents and spreadsheets and easily share them with your VA. You can also collaborate with them on projects. For instance, my VA sends me an email draft for my newsletter through G-Drive, I edit as needed, and then she schedules the email.
Loom – This is a great video tool to capture your processes for your VA. It’s really easy to use and you can simply share a link to the video or add the link to your SOP (that you have stored in your Google Drive).
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Trello – I use Trello to map out projects, assign tasks to my VAs, keep track of ideas…almost everything! It’s a great place to capture things that are running around in your head, especially if you’re a visual thinker like me. There’s also a phone app too so you can add to your Trello boards on the run. Alternative options are Asana, Teamwork PM, and ClickUp.
EMAILS
Google Suite – I use this to create Gmail accounts using my VA’s name and my domain name. It’s also great if you are sharing an email account with a VA, like a support inbox. You’ll both have access to the emails that come through, but you can reply with your individual email addresses.
CLOUD STORAGE
DropBox – I use DropBox to store my photos, graphics, and ebooks. That way, I can share folders and items with my VAs and have access to my files on my phone.
COMMUNICATION
WhatsApp – This is a walkie-talkie type phone app that I love to use to communicate with my team as a whole and my VAs individually. It’s a great way to stay in touch as well as a way to work on projects together at the same time. Instead of emailing my VA while we’re working on a sales page together, we can text or send voice messages through the app. I actually don’t have meetings with my team, I just chat with them through this app as needed and it works wonderfully!
Zoom – This is a great tool for meetings with your VA if you choose to have them.
If you’ve never worked with a Virtual Assistant before, it can feel overwhelming figuring out everything you need to do. Having an idea of the basic tools you’ll need is one part of the process you can now check off your list!
Thinking about hiring a VA? Check out my Hire a Virtual Assistant Workbook on Amazon or try my free Hire a VA service!
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