29. When a VA Disappears: No Panic, Just Adaptation

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Have you ever considered what happens when your key team member suddenly goes MIA? In today’s episode of The Work From Anywhere Agent, I delve into the unexpected disappearance of my virtual assistant who was responsible for editing and publishing the podcast. This unforeseen event opened my eyes to the importance of building a strong runway and how vital it is to rely on your team while ensuring processes are robust enough to withstand unforeseen hiccups.

Throughout this journey, I've realized that the first steps when onboarding a VA should include having them document and update the SOPs. This strategy not only prepares for smooth transitions but also safeguards against sudden disruptions. I've learned that while we can’t prepare for every scenario, enhancing our systems can minimize downtime and confusion.

In this episode, I explore the lessons from this experience, share the strategies I plan to implement going forward, and discuss the potential future where AI could automate roles traditionally done by VAs. It’s a fascinating time in the world of remote work, and being adaptable is key.

Join the conversation in our Facebook group and let’s delve into how you manage sudden changes in your team. Plus, don't miss out on what’s coming next in agent technology innovation!

Episode Transcript

Alexa (00:00):
I've worked with VAs for a long time now and I've seen
pretty much it all.
However, most recently, I justhad a VA that just decided to
stop showing up for work, andthat's never happened to me
before.
Typically, we have a prettystrong onboarding process.
We make sure that they're allbought in, we make sure that
they feel valued as team members, and this particular VA just so

(00:21):
happens to be the one who doesour editing and publishing of
this show that you are watching,and so I am sitting here
reflecting on this whole entirejourney of this process, and
it's been a lot of fun.
I've really gotten to a pointwhere we've designed our SOP so
that my only responsibility inthis process is to actually

(00:45):
record the episode every singleday, and so it was my intention
to make sure that I was at leasttwo weeks ahead or so just in
case, and so I ended up notgetting ahead, and so I've been
a couple days ahead of time,scheduling and recording and
whatnot, but I didn't givemyself enough of a runway that,
in the event that I got sick orin the event that my VA just

(01:06):
disappeared, that I was going tohave a runway.
And so I am sharing thisbecause I think number one
staying consistent comes down tobeing able to rely on your
people.
That's number one, and numbertwo is making sure that you have
that runway, and so, inprojects, when I'm starting them
, what I'm finding myselfwanting to do is sort of hold

(01:28):
off on launching until I have arunway like that right.
So, with the show, I didn't dothat.
I just kind of launched it, andwe started it.
One of the things that we did dowell, though, is when I had her
come on.
I literally hopped on a Zoomwith her.
I explained every single thingI wanted to happen, and then I
basically said your firstassignment, before you even
start editing, is to startworking on the SOP.

(01:49):
I want to see the exact processyou're going to take everything
through.
I want to see how you documentevery single piece of this as
you go, and so that's exactlywhat she did.
So now, when we go and hire ournext VA for this role, they're
going to know exactly what to doto step into this, and so I
would say that would be thesecond big lesson here is making
sure that your firstassignments are always making

(02:11):
sure that your SOPs are updated,making sure that, whenever you
have a VA that's stepping into arole, that that's the first
thing they do is like startworking on those SOPs, because I
mean, we've had VAs leavebefore and they usually give
their notice and we findsomebody else, and so on and so
forth, but this is the firsttime I can say somebody has just
completely up and vanished, andso you know, it does kind of

(02:33):
suck, but you know we roll withthe punches and like, one of the
things that I've been thinkingabout a lot recently is how,
like I know myself and I'm notwilling to step back into the
role of editing and so for thetime being, like we had to just
hold off on publishing until wefound a replacement, right, so
that's the big one for that, andso this isn't a super long
episode.
I kind of just wanted to let youguys know why we haven't been

(02:54):
publishing and then also kind ofmy reflections and my lessons
around that you know, don't letthis be something that scares
you away from hiring VAs, andone of the other things that I
would also throw in here is thatI think that over the next I
would say, 18 to 24 months,we're going to start to be able
to see a lot of the stuff thatwe have VAs doing, being able to

(03:15):
be automated through AI agents,even down into editing podcasts
, getting them published, likeall of it.
I think that we are in such anincredible time that agents who
do not start to leveragetechnology, agents that fight it
and continue to sort of buildan identity around not being
tech savvy are gonna be so farbehind they will never ever be

(03:37):
able to catch up, and so that'sall I have for today.
That's the episode.
With that in mind, please don'tforget to join our daily
Facebook discussion, and I willsee you in the next episode.