Welcome to another episode of Freedom In Five Minutes. I am your host, Dean Soto, founder of FreedomInFiveMinutes.com and ProSulum.com. And for this episode, I am going to give three powerful tips and strategies to help you find the best virtual assistant for your business.
All that and more, coming up.
Overview & Episode Content
- What to Look for in a Virtual Assistant?
- Develop a Hiring System to Find the Perfect Virtual Assistant for You
- The Advantages of Establishing a Hiring Process
- Use Personality Tests
- Hire a Virtual Assistant Who is Specialized in Creating Systems
What to Look For in a Virtual Assistant?
For a long time. I have been relatively hesitant to do podcasts like this. Now, I like sharing my stories—the goings-on day-to-day. I love creating content that helps our clients, and even non-clients, succeed when it comes to getting a Virtual Systems Architect—with superpowers—from ProSulum.com. Or even with your normal virtual assistant.
Either way, how do you become really successful with finding the perfect Virtual Systems Architect or virtual assistant for your business?
You obviously want to get the right person for the job whether it’s a small business medium-sized or even a large business. So, here are three tips to help you find the best people that will fit with your goals in business.
But before we get into it, remember that there are tons of different resources available out there. This is simply my personal take on the subject with my outsourcing experience since 2007. From there, I have built up this business you know today at Pro Sulum with our Virtual Systems Architects. This business has been around since 2009. And the things we have been doing for clients in the past few years have been fantastic.
So all that being said, let us get into it!
Tip Number 1 – Develop a Hiring System to Find the Perfect Virtual Assistant for You
Tip number 1. Start with a hiring system designed to find the perfect person to be your virtual assistant. I used to hire people from different job boards. The problem I always had was the lack of a good system for hiring people.
I went through what typical business owners do. What does that mean? They ask for a resume, filter through fifty different applications and find three or four people you consider hiring and then you go through initial interviews, and then another round of final interviews before choosing one person and hiring them.
That’s what I did in the beginning. I found out that the system was pretty much hit and miss.
I had two problems. The first was their resumes. Our resumes would always look good, right? Everybody’s resume pretty much looks good—whether they created their document themselves or had someone else create the document for them.
So, when you look at resumes, a lot of times you are going to find a lot of things that aren’t really going to matter. I kept running into these types of problems.
Then, I shortlisted people based on their resumes and put them through the interview process. It sounded like they were great and I would bring them on. But they would not be as great as I thought they were—with respect to skills or personality.
I ran into these problems about six months down the road. And every time this happened, I had to rehire. So what changed for me?
The Advantages of Establishing a Hiring Process
I learned from a mentor about putting people through a system that sets themselves for success or failure. And that system might be as simple as filling out a questionnaire. So, if they answer incorrectly, then they might be cut off from your application process.
You might have a question that says, “How often would you allow a customer to get upset at you before you brought it up to your supervisor?” for example.
And maybe you are a fanatic about customer service and the answer should be, “I’m going to deal with that customer until they are happy. And if I can’t find a way to deal with them and make them happy, that’s when I’ll bring him to my supervisor.”
But if someone answers, “I would bring it up to my supervisor right away.”
The system immediately cuts them off from the process if an applicant responds incorrectly. So, you just saved yourself from reviewing a ton of resumes because you are asking a very targeted question.
From there, maybe you have a test task in place that is related to the position you want them to fill in. Maybe you give them a scenario where a customer becomes irate—to see how the applicants would respond.
Through that test task, you will see which applicants respond correctly to the scenario and which ones respond incorrectly. And from there, maybe the next step could be a set of interview questions that they can fill up.
And after that, the last step would be the actual interview. So, by the time that everyone has gotten to the fourth step, you have really dove deep into who that applicant really is. And how they would respond to scenarios that directly affect the culture and course of your business.
Use Personality Tests
Tip number 2. Use personality tests—something I did not value for a very long time. None of these personality tests are perfect but they give you an insight on how someone thinks and works. Knowing if an applicant’s personality matches up with your personality is such a game changer.
There are a ton of personality tests out there such as DISC Assessment by Tony Robbins, another one is Wealth Dynamics by Roger Hamilton, and there is also Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Another very good one is called a Mindscan. You can get that at MindsetPerformance.co.
But my guys at Pro Sulum use Talent Insights because it gives you insight on how a person could work as a leader.
I hire people for different reasons but regardless of the situation, the more I know about my people’s personalities, the better. By having personality tests at the end of your process where you are now talking to a few applicants who could fit very well in your business, you get to know how to communicate best with them. You get to know what they are very good at and where they will fit well in the organization.
This leads me to tip number 3. This is funny because if you know me, then it is something that I want to be at number 1—but I want to give you a glimpse of how we hire people at Pro Sulum before this last tip. So, when you are going to be working with a VSA from Pro Sulum or hiring a VA by yourself, you have a better chance of finding the perfect VA for the job.
Hire a Virtual Assistant Specialized in Creating Systems
Tip number 3. Hire a Virtual Assistant who is specialized in creating systems—first and foremost. What does that mean?
I had the most success working with Virtual Assistants who are detail-oriented at creating standard operating procedures. No matter their personality type. I can show them how I want something done and they can document that into a step-by-step process they can follow. And because of that, I don’t have to go back and forth with them about those tasks.
This is very different from training people. With training, it is just explaining to someone how to do something. And after you have explained a process to them, you hope that they have understood. More often than not, they do not. I have fallen for that trap countless times already.
Because it does not work, they will come back to you and ask the same questions. That will take up more of your time.
A lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners ask themselves, “I hired people so I can save time but why am I spending more of my time training these guys?”
That is why we only deal with Virtual Systems Architects at Pro Sulum. These are systems-oriented and process-focused virtual assistants. They are trained to document standard operating procedures (SOP). Every single time you show them a task, they will document that for you—step-by-step exactly as you showed them—so that they never have to come back to you. And then, your entire organization can use that SOP to do the same task. And with that, you can scale your business.
Focus on people who are fanatical about documenting everything you show them into a very detailed step-by-step process. They turn your business into an automated cash flow machine. Your business becomes a cash flow asset because now, everybody in your organization knows how to perform those documented tasks.
The important thing is that you have removed bottlenecks in your business. Even if delegated tasks are not done perfectly. Documentation allows your virtual assistant to know your entire business and because of that, they become valuable members of your team. And through documentation, it is easier to bring in other virtual assistants and build your team as time goes along.
That has been the biggest game-hanger in our business and for most of our clients. So if you want to find your perfect virtual assistant, those are the three tips that I recommend.
Conclusion
When you follow these tips, you will find people who can think about your business and care more about your business. You will find talents who are dedicated to taking tasks off of your hands and turning your business into a cash flow asset. That is a huge win right there and definitely one of the game-changers for us at Pro Sulum.
So if you are thinking of getting a Virtual Systems Architect, you need to understand their potential. A VSA is someone who you can show a 5-minute video about how to do something and they will document that for you step-by-step with screenshots and everything like that.
Then, they will return that document for you to review. Once you approve that SOP, you delegate that task to your VSA and you never have to do that task ever again.
Check us out at ProSulum.com if you are interested in working with a VSA. Get a free discovery call with our strategists. It has a no-risk 30-day money back guarantee as well. We only want to help you find the perfect virtual assistant and if it doesn’t fit, then you get a 30-day money back guarantee.
And that is how you hire the perfect virtual assistant. It is all based on systems and creating ways to avoid people who don’t fit. Focus on finding the superstars who not only think well but genuinely care about your business.
Resources and Links
This is your host, Dean Soto—founder of FreedomInFiveMinutes.com and ProSulum.com.
Check out our websites and I will see you in the next Freedom In Five Minutes podcast episode.