Welcome to a new series here on Tishia Saves Time – Mail Call Monday. Every Monday I will be answering questions submitted to me about working with a virtual assistant, transcription, eBook formatting, etc. I would love it if you would submit a question. In exchange for your question you will receive a link back to your site when I use it. Please fill out the contact form here, put Monday Mail Call in the subject line and your question in the ‘your message’ box (don’t forget to put a link to your site in there as well!).

So, let’s get right to it with today’s question.

Tishia,

I need a reliable and trustworthy VA who is available nights/weekends. Do you know of any? This would be an occasional need such as when I’m out and about or on vacation and my web hosting server needs to be rebooted.

Glennette,
Premium Web Design

First, thank you for submitting your question Glennette. I’m sure this is something other people wonder too. While your question doesn’t have anything to do with time zones I want to take a minute to address this. I know from personal experience time zone differences can sometimes be a hindrance.

For example, I used to have a client who was in California and was 3 hours behind me. We established upfront that me being three hours ahead could get a little tricky – oftentimes my day was done and over and I was ready to shut down when she was just getting around to sending me projects to do. We worked it out so that I worked ‘late’ one day a week for her.

Now, that brings me to your question Glennette. Off the top of my head I don’t know of any VA’s that work evenings and weekends. I’m sure there is someone out there that does. I can’t speak for other VA’s but for myself, one of the reasons I started my own business was so I could get away from the evening and weekend hours. However, with that being said I still find myself working evenings and some weekends. Not because I have to but because I want to.  An occasional client here and there will have had something come up during the evening or weekend and need my help. I enjoyed being available for them.

So, to answer your question – I’m sure if you discuss the need for an occasional evening or weekend project that it wouldn’t be a problem. I know I wouldn’t have a problem doing it as long as I knew about it beforehand. But, don’t be surprised if you get charged a higher rate for ‘after hours’ services! If you’re looking for someone that could be available on a more regular basis for nights and weekends, it could be a bit trickier to find a VA that is available those hours.

Tishia

PS. Please feel free to contact me for a free consultation on how I can help you with your outsourcing needs! I would love to talk to you.

 

Welcome to a new series here on Tishia Saves Time – Mail Call Monday. Every Monday I will be answering questions submitted to me about working with a virtual assistant, transcription, eBook formatting, etc. I would love it if you would submit a question. In exchange for your question you will receive a link back to your site when I use it. Please fill out the contact form here, put Monday Mail Call in the subject line and your question in the ‘your message’ box (don’t forget to put a link to your site in there as well!).

So, let’s get right to it with today’s question.

Tishia,

I’m kind of a perfectionist and like things done a certain way in my business.  I really want to start outsourcing, though.  Can you give me some tips on letting go and letting a VA handle some of my tasks?

Kim,
Dramatic Design

What a great question Kim! First, let me start by saying that I think this is normal and something that we all suffer from. It’s only natural for you to be a bit of a perfectionist. After all this is your business, your name/brand/reputation being ‘put out there’ so it’s normal to want only the best work out there representing you.

Now, with that being said, there comes a point where you just have to let go and as Nike says ‘Just Do It’. I’ve worked with clients like this in the past and we always start with something small like article marketing. The reason I suggest a small task like article marketing is because it’s probably one of the easiest projects to outsource. You provide the article(s) and let the VA do the submission. You can’t control the submission process meaning you have no control over the rules of the article directories and the things they accept (no HTML, some HTML, etc). So, there’s nothing there for you to be a ‘perfectionist’ about.

You can also create a QRG (quick reference guide) of how you do something in your business for a VA to follow. It’s pretty hard for someone to mess things up when they’re following step-by-step instructions. Another tip is have a phone meeting and make sure the VA understands exactly what you want. It will put you at ease being able to talk to them so there’s no misunderstanding that could happen in an email. And with web conference rooms and screen sharing, you can expand on that phone meeting and show exactly what you want done.

Thanks again for submitting your question Kim. I hope this helped and you’re ready to outsource now with a small project like article marketing I mentioned. Take baby steps, but the most important thing is that you at least take a step and do something!

Tishia

PS. Please feel free to contact me for a free consultation on how I can help you with your outsourcing needs! I would love to talk to you.