The virtual assistant is able to locate areas in need of improvement that a client may have overlooked or don’t know how to improve them. This is the reason why businesses need the virtual assistants. Having someone on a side to help the business peoples where it’s needed most, and it also means your job as a virtual assistant has a better opportunity to scale up what you may have been able to achieve to be a successful one.
The qualities of a successful virtual assistant.
1. Effective Communication
Good communication matters at work because it takes communication to work on a client. When communicating, it must have to be clear about what they want and expect. If a virtual assistant has understood their duties and responsibilities, everything flows more smoothly. Unclear guidelines and instructions are not ethical. Bad communication leads to inaccuracies, errors, failures and sometimes complaints. Effective communication is the key.
2. Time Management
Time management takes time and practice, trial and error procedure to know what strategy suits you. You must know how to manage your time correctly because you’ll be managing different clients and projects. Scheduling, setting deadlines and following the timetables, these would help you to set your priorities. Such planning builds your productivity because some specific tasks have a tendency to be completed at first. These permits you to concentrate your time and efforts on the most critical projects.
3. Attitude
A virtual assistant must have the willingness to put in time and effort. You need to understand the client who needs your work in the virtual world that is essentially freelancers. These means you will not be their only virtual assistant. Find out the tasks and the projects and manage time to accommodate the demands of your project without compromising the quality of work.
The attitude is transmittable and affects other people. When it is good and pleasant, clients will like you and want your service.
Great Listener
An excellent listening skill makes a virtual assistant more competent and can respond satisfactorily and receive instruction without a problem; there will be few chances of committing mistakes. Being a good listener has many benefits, especially in dealing with the clients.
A virtual assistant with well-developed listening skills are more dynamic, are better problem solvers, and have healthier interpersonal relationships. One of the most essential communication tips is the ability to listen.
As a virtual assistant, your job is either moving forward or backward. There is no static. Time never stands still. Continue your learning, upgrade your knowledge and commit a professional development, it’s the never-ending pursuit of knowledge and the desire to continually improve your skills that will boost you’re the potential for you to become a successful virtual assistant.
The Commitment to personal and professional development means being a better virtual assistant today than you were yesterday.
Where to Hire the Best Freelancers
If you are an entrepreneur you will realize something very quickly. Hiring quality talent is difficult and expensive. While startups and businesses, in general, fail because of a broad range of reasons, inability to hire quality talent is one of the major reasons. If you need quality talent but lack the budget to hire full-time, looking for freelancers may be the answer.
The freelance labor market allows you to cherry-pick top talent and pay relatively low amounts to acquire their services. Be warned, however, that the freelance marketplace is not without its challenges.
How to Hire
How you hire plays a big part in who you hire and, the outcome of that hire. Some things that could go wrong include; hiring unskilled persons, time zone mismatching, language barriers, and a host of others. Here are some points to follow to avoid these pitfalls.
Requirements
First, write down your project requirements. Unlike a full-time hire who will be around as you figure out the way forward, freelancers require a highly specified project plan to deliver results. Determine the timelines, deliverables, and every other detail you need into the project plan. The more detailed it is, the better.
Budget
Next, set a budget. If you go recruiting with a blank check, you will get quotes from as low as a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. You can also look at what other clients are paying for similar projects. Consider setting a minimum and maximum so you allow room for negotiating.
Recruit
Look for as many quality freelancers as you can and invite them to come for an interview. What you are looking for here is availability. The best talent is useless to you if they are unavailable.
Review
Review their past projects. What did past clients have to say? How were they rated? How many similar projects have they undertaken? Never take a freelancer’s word concerning their skills. Test all of them to determine their skill level. Once you find one that works, interview the freelancer and then get started.
Where to Hire
Now that you have a good idea of what to do when hiring a freelancer, where do you find them? Here are some places to look.
Major Marketplaces
Today, major marketplaces that you can find freelancers include Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, and Guru. The main advantage of going with these marketplaces is the depth and breadth of talent available. You will have to work harder to surface and hire the right talent for your project.
Specialized Marketplaces
These are smaller niche sites like 99designs, Toptal, Matchist, and others. These sites offer a better experience because they invest a lot in recruiting quality talent for their platforms, as well as in value-added platform features. This makes it easy to get top talent. One notable downside is they are often more expensive.
Portfolio Sites
These include sites like Behance, Dribbble, Stack Overflow and GitHub. On these sites, you have an opportunity to see upfront what the freelancer has accomplished. The main challenge with these platforms is they do not provide project management tools and, it is often difficult to ascertain the authenticity of a portfolio.
Social Platforms
Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit also offer a fertile ground for recruitment. Most of these platforms have groups, or communities, of freelancers where you can go and post a job and get proposals. While this is an easy option, you will face the challenge of vetting proposals and figure out how to move forward once you hire.
Hiring the best freelancers takes time and patient reviewing and vetting. However, a talented and reliable freelancer, once discovered, can add exceptional value to your project over time.