1558: [Part 2] Benefits of Outsourcing - Pros and Cons of Hiring Help and More by Chalene Johnson

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Work Daily. Benefits of Outsourcing, Pros and Cons of Hiring Help and How a Virtual Assistant Will Improve Your Business, Part 2 by Chalene Johnson of ChaleneJohnson.com

[00:00:14] The mistake people make is they're like, I've got a VA and given her 40 hours worth of things to do and she's doing some of these wrong so apparently this didn't work and so I'm going to take it all back or I'm going to fire her and I'm going to start over.

[00:00:27] Now, just go slow. You're trying to figure out what they are good at and that's what we did.

[00:00:32] So we made a master list of things that can be outsourced and we had her begin by doing each one of these things.

[00:00:38] And one step at a time, we gave her these assignments for two reasons. Number one, to see if she was good at it.

[00:00:44] And number two, because it was our goal that if she didn't love it or didn't excel at it, she at least knew what went into it so she could help us be kind of the general contractor and in charge of hiring experts to do these other things.

[00:00:55] So in the beginning, we loved using our virtual assistant to be kind of like somebody who works at Starbucks. Like before you're going to be a manager, you're going to be a barista.

[00:01:05] You're going to know what it takes to do these things. Even if you're not the best person on Canva, at least you know what goes into it so that she can actually hire and find someone who's really good at it and really credible and can master that job.

[00:01:18] Okay, so that's how you do this. You start. I know your list is full because you're like, I don't know what to outsource. And now you've got this list and you're like, oh no, it's so big. I don't know what to do first.

[00:01:29] So just pick the first one where you're like, okay, that's basic. It wouldn't take a lot of time to do this and I could begin outsourcing this. Just as a reminder, once you've decided to outsource something, you're going to create a recording of your screen of you doing it and explaining it.

[00:01:45] And you're going to upload that to Dropbox so it stays there forever. So if by chance this virtual assistant doesn't work out, you've already done the work, right?

[00:01:53] And if by chance your virtual assistant doesn't end up doing this work, but she's got to assign it to somebody else, you've already shown them exactly how to do it and what your expectations are.

[00:02:03] Once you've created that video, then have them watch it and then get on Skype face to face and say, okay, now explain back to me what it is we want you to do after you've watched that video.

[00:02:13] I just like to make sure I didn't, you know, leave anything out or if you have any questions whatsoever.

[00:02:19] And you'll find that you did leave out some pretty basic steps and you're like, oh yeah, I forgot to even mention that you have to be logged into my personal account or whatever it is.

[00:02:28] And just go slow. Create screen flows for all of these things. Have them watch them, then discuss them, then have them take a stab at it, then give them the opportunity to get better.

[00:02:38] But then it's also important that you realize there's going to be a point in time where you're like, okay, they're not good at this and so we've got to find somebody else.

[00:02:47] That doesn't mean replace that person, it means this particular thing they're not great at, but they're good at all these other things.

[00:02:53] And so, that's what we did. That's just how it works out.

[00:02:57] Hire the people that you work with because you really trust them, you really like them, and you spend the time and have the patience to figure out what they are good at.

[00:03:04] Don't give up just because they can't do some of the things you hired them for.

[00:03:08] Because it takes you so much time and effort and time away from your business to find someone anyway.

[00:03:13] That's like half of it.

[00:03:15] So if you can just find some things that they're good at, dude, keep them.

[00:03:19] When we're talking $3 an hour, I can have somebody spend 40 hours a week just liking photos on Instagram.

[00:03:25] I can have somebody spend 40 hours a week summarizing articles that I don't have the time to read.

[00:03:30] Like, just give me the bullet points.

[00:03:31] I mean, if you're creative about this and you know your work, you know your value when you do,

[00:03:37] if there's a person that you like and you trust and you've gone through the process,

[00:03:41] then just find something that they can do for you and then you hire another person.

[00:03:45] And that's how it goes.

[00:03:46] We keep layering these things on, but one at a time.

[00:03:49] And I'm going to say it again.

[00:03:51] Go slow.

[00:03:52] A virtual business is not about bots.

[00:03:55] A virtual business is not about faceless, nameless people in other countries.

[00:03:59] A virtual business is a team.

[00:04:02] It's about people who care about your business as much as they care about their own family.

[00:04:06] So they have to feel that from you.

[00:04:08] They have to experience that from you.

[00:04:10] And that, my friend, takes time.

[00:04:13] You know, this is not an overnight process.

[00:04:15] And the people who are willing to have patience will be richly rewarded.

[00:04:19] You just listened to part two of the post titled Benefits of Outsourcing, Pros and Cons of Hiring Help and How a Virtual Assistant Will Improve Your Business by Chalene Johnson of ChaleneJohnson.com.

[00:04:35] And thanks again to Chalene.

[00:04:37] I told you a little bit about her yesterday.

[00:04:39] She's got a ton of great content on her site and also on her podcast.

[00:04:43] So make sure to check those out.

[00:04:44] And you can find her site linked in this episode's description.

[00:04:48] Okay, I'm going to keep this ending nice and short for you on this Sunday.

[00:04:51] But if you haven't done so already, please do subscribe to this show in the podcast app of your choice.

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[00:05:08] And that's going to do it for the Sunday episode.

[00:05:10] Hope you enjoyed it.

[00:05:11] And I'll see you right back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.