October 23, 2025 • 62 mins
What if the fastest way to grow isn’t doing more, but letting go—carefully? We pull back the curtain on how we hired and trained two very different assistants, one in Texas and one in the Philippines, and the systems that make those partnerships smooth, secure, and genuinely business-changing. From the first grading task to a multi-role teammate, and from a five-hour bookkeeping trial to dashboards, course ops, and content workflows, this is a real-world blueprint for delegating without losing your mind.
We walk through the decisions that matter: how to choose between 1099 and W‑2, where to source talent (and what marketplace reviews actually tell you), and how to set pay based on skill, scope, and outcomes. Security and ethics are baked in—NDAs, HIPAA training when needed, and password managers like LastPass so you can grant access without giving away the keys. You’ll hear how simple, living SOPs turn chaos into consistency: short Loom or Camtasia videos, Trello checklists, and clear definitions of “done” that make handoffs clean and quality predictable.
Communication is the backbone. We explain why one primary channel and a weekly check-in beat scattered pings and why screenshots with specific notes eliminate rework. We also share candid red flags—vanishing act replies, task-dumping without initiative, and hidden subcontracting—and the green flags that signal a pro: proactive problem-solving, honest updates, and resilience when life or weather hits across time zones. Most of all, we make the case that delegation is an investment, not a cost. Start with five to ten hours, document one process, ship it, and use the time you get back for higher-leverage work—or real rest.
Ready to turn overwhelm into a system that scales? Listen now, subscribe for more practical playbooks, and leave a review with the first task you plan to delegate.
Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
All right.
So this is broken into twoparts.
In the first part, we willinterview my uh assistant who is
here in Texas.
And in the second part, I'minterviewing my assistant who is
in the Philippines because Iknow that's something that
that's uh probably in everyone'ssphere where you're aware of
(00:20):
assistance that you can uh go onsomething like Fiverr, or I go
to Upwork, and there are otherdifferent uh companies where you
have your choice of folks allover the world.
And so what do you do when yourassistant is in a different time
zone?
Jennifer is not in a differenttime zone.
She is right here in my timezone.
(00:41):
And so uh we're gonna start offand then at about 5:15, we will
switch over to a pre-recorded uhinterview that I did with Irvin.
I couldn't do a live interviewwith Irvin because he's sound
asleep right now, or he shouldbe.
He's probably working, but he'sprobably hopefully he's asleep.
So awesome, good to see you fromVirginia.
(01:01):
Excellent.
All right, we got some EastCoast going on here.
Got some other people go uhjoining us.
Great.
All right, so Jennifer,introduce yourself.
SPEAKER_00 (01:11):
Um, my name says Kate Walker, but I'm not Kate
Walker.
I just log in under her Zoom.
But my name is Jennifer MarieFairchild.
I am an LBC associate here inTexas, and I am a clinical
mental health counselingcandidate in New Hampshire.
And a PhD student at Texas TechUniversity.
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
Yes.
And we've got Missourirepresenting in North Carolina.
I'm so happy you guys are here.
So when I started doing hiringor thinking about hiring a
virtual assistant, I was in aplace of complete overwhelm.
And Jennifer knows she wasn't myfirst assistant.
(01:52):
She is actually my second,probably third.
And so it's something that I'velearned along the way, and I'm
in a constant state of learning,and and we kind of grow into
this together.
But um, Jennifer, do youremember how I found you?
SPEAKER_00 (02:11):
Um, yes.
So I was still in my master'sprogram.
And um I had just joined, youknow, as we a lot of us do, we
just join every Facebook groupwe can find.
And I see this post and I haveno idea who Kate is.
And it just says, hey, I'mlooking for a PhD student um to
(02:32):
help me out with some grading.
And I thought, well, I can I cando that.
That that's doable.
So I messaged Kate and I said,I'm not a PhD student, but can I
help you?
And um that's kind of how myrole started was helping out
with grading.
And it over the course of thenext few minutes kind of just
(02:53):
transitioned to a little bitmore here and a little bit more
there.
And then I graduated.
And um, you know, mostassociates, and that was kind of
the plan that after I graduated,I would move on because
obviously I'm, you know, gettinghours and doing all that, but
Kate was such an amazing personto work for.
I just never left.
SPEAKER_01 (03:11):
And we're well, I'm almost a year four.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
Yeah, we're almost a year four.
SPEAKER_01 (03:18):
Yes.
And it started out with grading,but this is how uh when you hire
someone, you may have a specifictask in mind.
Like mine was specifically, Ineeded help grading assignments
for the online 40-hour training.
But with that, and if you'vefollowed me at all or listened
to our webinars about um, if youwant to have a course, you know,
(03:39):
90% of what we do once thecourse is built is customer
service.
And so handling folks wheretechnology is breaking down or
emails just won't talk to emailor things get lost.
And I found and out Jennifer'samazing with customer service.
So, okay, then I piled that jobon to her.
(03:59):
And then I find out other areaswhere, you know what, she lets
me know, hey, Kate, you can giveme this job, but I'm up to here
right now.
And you, you know, we who knows,right?
And you had better words thanthat.
But at that point, then I knowit's time to hire another
virtual assistant.
(04:19):
And so, Jennifer, we have you.
Well, you started out as a 1099,correct?
And then once we actually gotdeeper into the definition of a
1099 and the W-2 employee, uh,we found out, we figured out
that it made sense to switchJennifer to a W-2.
(04:41):
And so Jennifer is a W-2employee.
She works 20 hours a week forme.
Uh, job description is is clear,but it always changes.
We just had a huge overhaul lastweek of our support system.
And so you notice that I use theterm SOP at the beginning of
this presentation because that'sthe standard operating
(05:04):
procedure.
So if I have a new system that Iwant to roll out, I will check
with Jennifer.
I'll say, okay, look at this.
Does this make sense?
If she says, okay, but we reallyneed to clarify here or or
change this over here, I'll waituntil I get her to look at it,
and then I'll develop the SOPfor the other people that will
(05:25):
be using our system.
So Jennifer was very, so this issort of how this transitions,
very specific for one job, butthen it grows into another job
and another job and another job.
A virtual assistant or any typeof assistant can go the other
way too.
So you can hire for this jobover here, and you find out,
(05:47):
okay, they're not cut out forthat job at all.
And so you need to plug themhere or you need to plug them
there.
Um, and that's okay too.
So uh we're gonna address, Ithink it might be a good idea,
like right now.
Uh, I want to make sure I doaddress all your questions
because we are gonna address theethics of things like sharing
(06:10):
passwords, the ethics of thingslike sharing protected health
information.
But if you would just take about10 seconds and pop your
questions into the chat, whatwhat questions do you have or
worries or concerns about hiringa virtual assistant?
SPEAKER_00 (06:30):
I like that you brought up like the the whole
there were things that thatperson may not do.
Like very and that for me wasthe directory.
The directory was sooverwhelming that we shifted
that to somebody else.
And it wasn't because I wasincapable, it was just it was a
(06:50):
beast, and I just didn't havethe time to dedicate to it.
So it often kind of got pushedto the bottom.
So, I mean, finding somebodythat you can have those
conversations with and it's notpersonal, it's just hey, how do
we fix this is huge.
SPEAKER_01 (07:05):
Absolutely.
And one thing, how much shouldyou pay your virtual assistant?
That's a really good question.
Um, you are if you're on a sitelike Upwork, you're going to be
given a rate.
And you'll be given differentrates for different levels of
skill.
You'll be given different ratesfor different level levels of
(07:27):
customer reviews.
Um, so let's say you're lookingfor a bookkeeper.
You're gonna look at their skillset, you're gonna look at how
many jobs they've accomplished.
So you'll be able to see so muchinformation and customer reviews
to really know if you want topay$50 an hour or$100 an hour,
or if you want to give thisperson over here a chance who
(07:49):
maybe has only done 10 jobs, butthey have really, really good
reviews, and they're onlycharging$15 an hour.
So it's it's easier to see thegoing rate on a site like Upwork
or Fiverr.
Now, when I just put it out intothe ether for Jennifer, I just I
asked around.
I said, okay, what is the goingrate?
(08:11):
You know, I didn't want to payjust terrible wages.
Um, so I asked, you know, whatis what is better than minimum
right now, especially for thelevel of education that I was
looking for, because it was askilled job.
And uh, so then so you mightwant to look at it that way if
it's something you're gonna go amore traditional route, like
indeed, or you're gonna do likeI did, and maybe in Texas
(08:34):
Counselor's creating badassbusinesses, you're just gonna
post it in the in search ofthread or in the lemonade stand.
Um I may not be tech savvyenough to handle it.
Well, Mary, I'm gonna make surethat you understand how to do
that.
Also, there's a download that Ihave.
(08:54):
It's at KateWalkerTraining.comslash bonus.
And I'm gonna have differentresources every month.
But this month it's how tocreate a sample SOP.
And so you'll be able to see howto create an SOP for something.
And also, I'm gonna show you oneof my organizational systems.
We use Trello boards, and I'llshow you how I use the Trello
(09:18):
board to create an SOP.
So hopefully that addressesthat, but it can uh slash bonus.
So if you want to go grab thatfreebie, like I said, it's just
10 things to delegate and how tocreate an SOP.
Does the assistant have theirown liability insurance policy
(09:41):
or are they covered under yourprofessional policy?
Well, so that's part of uhCarlin.
My organization of my company isan LLC.
And so as a limited liabilitycorporation, that's a uh it's a
lead curtain between whathappens in my business and in my
(10:02):
practice or my personal assetsor my husband's business.
And so in that, there are allkinds of choices.
You can get trip and fallinsurance, you can have uh, you
know, gosh, home and autoinsurance if you have a building
or if you're letting yourassistant drive a car or
something like that.
If your assistant or if yourvirtual, if this person you're
(10:24):
hiring is going to be seeingclients, then they would have
their own malpractice insurance.
But because they Jennifer's aW-2 employee, she's under my
control.
That's the the definition of aW-2.
Um, I don't require her to haveany insurance.
In fact, uh what we do on ourend is more around trademarking
(10:46):
and copyright to protect ourassets, but we're completely
virtual.
So I would you probably need tolook at your particular
situation.
Like if you were hiring somebodyto clean your office, would you
make them have insurance?
Or would your insurance cover ifthey tripped and fell?
And I have met Jennifer, sothat's kind of funny.
SPEAKER_00 (11:08):
We do live far apart, but we have met.
SPEAKER_01 (11:11):
We have met what two years, but it took two years to
meet.
And then every when I go toColorado, I swing through
Lubbock.
Um, I had an assistant in Ohio,and when I passed through Ohio,
I did stop and meet her too.
SPEAKER_00 (11:24):
It's happened a couple of times where because I
do help with scheduling um andcancellations for Kate's um
clinical stuff.
Um typically if if a client's incrisis, I do the same thing I
would, you know, do.
If is this an emergency, youknow, call 911, make sure, you
know, they're okay.
(11:44):
And then I, you know, notifiedKate.
Um, I don't I don't know what Iwould do if I were not, because
I am.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
You know, that's a great question to ask.
Like if you go to yourphysician's office and you talk
to the receptionist and say,hey, how are you guys trained?
Uh, if there was an emergency inthe waiting room, or if there's
an emergency back behind thedesk, and let's say when you're
drawing blood with someone,right?
That that's a perfect example oropportunity to create an SOP.
Number one, this is what you'lldo.
(12:13):
Number two, this is what you'regonna do.
Number three, you're gonna needto give me your certificate.
I want to see that you've beenCPR trained and you know how to
use the defibulator machine,right?
So everything short of likesurgery, you know, can be
trained.
Um, and I know that's anexaggeration.
If wanting to hire for admintests, building schedule, email
(12:35):
phone, et cetera, do yourecommend hiring someone with
mental health background or arethe SOPs efficient or
sufficient?
That's a great, actually, that'sa great segue to the next
interview.
So, Jennifer, I'm gonna let yougo.
Thank you so much for joining.
SPEAKER_00 (12:48):
And don't forget to grab the link.
I dropped it one more time andgrab the webinar number because
I can't email it too many.
All right.
Thank y'all.
SPEAKER_01 (12:57):
Thanks, Jennifer.
See ya.
And this is Irvin Nixon Cruz.
And uh as I mentioned before,I've gone through lots and lots
of assistance.
And with Irvin, he was sowilling to grow and he was so
wonderful at taking feedback.
And uh I did pay a little bitmore because of his skill set.
(13:21):
Uh, because you always have theoption to start off with someone
who maybe doesn't have the skillset you're looking for.
They're just sort of a generalassistant.
But I started off needing Irvinfor bookkeeping.
So he was going to have accessto numbers, not necessarily
protected health information,but you'll see how that grew.
(13:44):
So here's Irvin.
All right, so today I'm withIrvin Nixon Cruz, and he is very
special to me because he is myvirtual assistant.
So um, so let's get to thequestions.
I want to, we're just gonna gobullet by bullet because of
course I have to have promptshere.
Um, what exactly can a VAvirtual assistant do?
SPEAKER_02 (14:09):
Okay, that's a good question.
You know, the VA industry hasreally become such a big um part
of how business operates today,not only for business, but also
for the professionals.
And honestly, we are needed morethan ever because of, of course,
the existence of AI and so on.
There are many lots of things todo as a business owner and
(14:32):
professional.
And think about it, uh, mostbusiness owners and
professionals are alreadyjuggling so much on their
day-to-day activities.
So they just don't have time todeal with those time-consuming
um tasks.
So I'm talking about like thingslike admin work, um, keeping up
(14:52):
social media, managing calendarand indexes, creating or
updating websites, doingresearch, customer support, and
so on and so forth.
Or, for example, creatingcourses like what I'm doing with
you, um, and then managing umdifferent social media
platforms.
So that's what exactly we stepin as a virtual assistant.
(15:14):
We basically the extra hand ofthe business owners and the
professionals.
So, whatever task that you needto take off your plate, that's
what we come in.
So that's exactly what we do asa virtual assistant.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
Well said, exactly.
No, that's that's so well said.
And it uh as a business owner,probably the hardest thing for
me was to let go of some ofthese tasks, like the course
creation.
I mean, that's that's what we doat Kate Walker Training, right?
We create online courses andwebinars, and to take my hands
(15:51):
off and to say, okay, I'm gonnalet someone else do it.
I'm gonna teach someone to doit, I'm going to help them learn
to do it as well as I do.
It's it's a little it's a littlescary.
Um, but worth it.
I I cannot emphasize thisenough.
It is worth it.
And the time that Irvin frees upfor me has just helped me grow
(16:15):
my business exponentially.
I mean, it's it's just been suchan incredible help.
Um, so you may be askingyourself, business owner or
potential business owner who'swatching this, listening to
this, do I have enough tasks tokeep a VA busy?
So, Irvin, how would you respondto that?
SPEAKER_02 (16:35):
Well, that's such a common question, actually,
during discovery call orinterview with potential
clients.
Do I really have enough tasks tokeep a BA busy?
And the truth is, um, most ofthe time the answer is yes, um,
way more than you realize it.
Um, here's the thing when you'rerunning a business, you get used
(16:55):
to doing things everythingyourself that you stop um
noticing just how many littlethings are piling up.
So answering emails like that,scheduling appointments,
updating your social media andso on.
So even if you think um even ifyou think I probably only have a
(17:16):
couple of things to delegate,once you start working with a
BA, you'll quickly see that umyour plate is actually um
overflowing.
And the beauty of it is youdon't need to hand over 40 hours
of work right right away, justlike what we did.
We can um do step by step, likeyou can start small, delegate a
(17:38):
few tasks, and as you buildtrust, um you'll naturally find
more and more things your VA cantake off your hands.
So, in summary, um no need tohire a full-time virtual
assistant.
Um you can start like five toten hours a week or a month, and
then after that, once you figureout um the best way on how you
(18:02):
can work together as a team,then that's the time you need
that you can hire themfull-time, something like that.
Um, do not pressure yourself onhiring someone to go full-time
for yourself, like to help youfull-time, because if you don't
have enough tasks, then how canyou hire someone to work
full-time?
So do not pressure yourself.
(18:23):
Just um take it one task at atime, and then from that you can
figure it out moving forward.
SPEAKER_01 (18:31):
Again, well said.
Uh you and I started off um withbookkeeping.
And not even really bookkeeping.
I guess my dream was to have adashboard for my um my my
courses, my uh main course,which is the 40-hour training to
become a supervisor in Texas.
And then I had some smallerproducts, and it's you know, it
(18:54):
was sort of looking and saying,okay, now I don't understand
which one of these is actuallymoving the needle toward my
five-year goals.
And so Irvin helped me develop adashboard where I could see the
things that I sold and how theyimpacted my profit, uh, how much
the shared cost was.
(19:14):
All of these things I reallywasn't thinking about.
And it helps to just, because Ijust have it at a glance.
I mean, he created a dashboardwhere at a glance I can see at
the end of every month which ofthese categories of products is
helping me.
So if you're listening to thisand you're a therapist, you know
I've taught you guys everysingle session is sort of a
(19:37):
different product.
You have individual sessions,group sessions, couple sessions,
family sessions.
You may have sessions with kids,sessions with uh folks in their
20s, right?
So you can actually start tolook at how these sessions
impact your bottom line.
You can look at days of theweek, you can look at times of
(19:58):
the day.
And there's a way that uh, youknow, a virtual assistant could
create a dashboard so you couldsee uh, oh, this would be great
too if you're trying to come offof insurance, right?
You look to see which ones ofyour clients, you know, uh uh
your insurance clients as acategory versus your self-pay
clients.
So I could go on and on and on,but this is just one way Irvin
(20:21):
and I started off.
I think we started off with um,was it five hours a week?
SPEAKER_02 (20:26):
Or it was it wasn't very five hours, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Yeah, it's it's not that much.
And then we we grow intosomething close to full time
already.
SPEAKER_01 (20:36):
We're getting now that you know, like you said, it
uh we build trust, we wecommunicate, we have the
occasional Zoom meeting, we workwith our Trello board, and so
it's it's evolved over time, butI gotta tell you, it's not just
trusting Irvin, it's me lettinggo of my control.
And as a business owner, that'sthat's not easy.
(20:59):
So I let it go of it.
SPEAKER_02 (21:01):
Actually, one of the hardest things um that I noticed
during um Discovery Call isbecause it's it it's not easy to
delegate.
To be honest, that it's not easyto delegate.
So um, letting go of the taskthat you usually do on your own
is not easy to let go and shareit with other people.
So I really understand that it'sreally a step-by-step process to
(21:25):
build a trust between the clientand the virtual assistant.
And yeah, going back to thequestion, we really need to um
take it one step at a time, takea few hours, and then from there
we can start um getting beingsomething like that.
SPEAKER_01 (21:42):
Awesome.
Okay, next question.
How do I know if I can trustthem with sensitive information,
passwords, clients, finances?
SPEAKER_02 (21:53):
That's a big yeah, that's that's actually a serious
question because as as we know,there are many scammers
everywhere.
And uh as AI is progressing, wedon't know if we are talking
about we are talking on a realperson or not.
So it is really important thatwe do our due diligence to make
(22:16):
research about um who we aretalking, especially the virtual
assistant, like checking theirsocial media and then before
sharing anything.
And it's a good thing that weare talking about this because
recommendation from a friend ora mentor is really important
because we're lowering the riskof being um scammed or sharing
(22:41):
the ink, like high risk ofsharing information to the
people who are untrustworthy,trust not trustworthy enough.
So when it comes to sensitiveinformation, just like what we
are doing, we have like tools tolower the risk, like um um
LastPass.
So it's like a vault of share.
(23:02):
Um you need to uh, for example,for the client, you need to you
need to um save your password onon that password vault, and then
um to lower the risk of gettingthe password, like you don't
need to um send the exactpassword of all of your um
tools, for example.
All you need to do is to savethat in the um last pass a
(23:26):
password vault and then um getthe email of your um virtual
assistant, and then from therethey can already have the
access.
So I think we can lower the riskon that.
And also one of the things thatwe need to point out is we as a
virtual assistant, we valueconfidentiality the most.
(23:47):
So we can also lower the riskby, for example, creating
contracts or signing anon-disclosure agreement.
So this is the important thingthat we we should not um we
should always take intoconsideration because as you
work together as a team, it isvery important that you don't
(24:10):
only protect the sensitiveinformation, but also there are
um information about, forexample, business model that you
need to protect for yourbusiness.
So that's the that's that's thepower of non-disclosure
agreement.
So it will protect both partiesfrom disclosing anything,
especially on the part of theclient.
(24:31):
It will help you a lot.
SPEAKER_01 (24:34):
Yes, uh I love that.
And for those of you uh who haveuh who are thinking about a
virtual assistant to help withclients, now Irvin, he works uh
in Kate Walker training.
He doesn't work with clients andclient files, PHI, sensitive
information.
But if he did, um I would treathim like I would treat any other
(24:58):
hire.
I would train him on HIPAA.
I would send him to a HIPAAtraining.
I would make sure my annualself-audit that we talked about
on the last episode, that wetalked, you know, we kept a copy
of the certificate in a file.
And when I do my self-audit, Iwould include Irvin with the
other employees or anyone else,any other therapists in my
(25:18):
office who have access to thatpersonal health information.
So, you know, training someoneon HIPAA, getting a certificate,
making sure that they're trainedin your office procedures for
your practice, that's the duediligence that you would do with
anyone.
And so the idea that Irvin isalso there to protect my
(25:39):
business, to protect any sort ofintellectual property with my
courses, to be there to protect,you know, anything that I share
with him.
He's a he's a team member.
And uh that's but one of thethings, I mean, I know with
Irvin, we have done Zoom calls.
Like I knew Irvin was a realperson, you know, and and uh we
(25:59):
are on WhatsApp, you know, ifIrvin has a question, even
though I might get it the nextday, because we are how many
hours apart are we?
I always get this wrong.
We're 14 hours.
SPEAKER_02 (26:08):
Like the 14 hours, something like that.
SPEAKER_01 (26:10):
Yeah.
And so where are you located,Irvin, exactly?
SPEAKER_02 (26:14):
Um, I'm located in um Bagu City, like the coldest
place in um in the Philippines.
Like I'm in the top of themountain, something like that.
SPEAKER_01 (26:26):
Oh wow.
So coldest?
I didn't know you were in thecoldest place.
SPEAKER_02 (26:29):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
Yes.
I wish it's gonna be 100 degreeshere today.
Well, great.
Okay, I'm gonna keep going.
Um, next question.
So this is sort of relating backto the other one about do I have
enough stuff for a VA?
Then uh, Irvin, how would yousay how many hours should I hire
(26:54):
for starting out?
SPEAKER_02 (26:56):
Uh yeah, just like what I said, uh, we can actually
start like five to ten hours.
It really depends on theworkload and how much you're
ready to let go of.
Because we cannot force um theclient to like, like, for
example, we set like this andlike that, and then you're not
ready to like um prepare preparea certain task that needs to be
(27:21):
done or outsourced for virtualassistant.
So we can start small, just likewhat I said a while ago, like
five to ten hours a week isperfect, something like that.
And then from that, we can fillin fill in tasks just like what
we did before.
And then if ever that you'recomfortable with each other
already, and then you have otherworkloads to do, for example,
(27:44):
you have multiple businesses,and then there are like example
admin tasks and then socialmedia tasks that um you need to
let go of because it's a timeconsuming task.
Then that's the time that we canincrease that time um we spent,
something like that.
So it's it's not the force thatwe need to hire someone
(28:07):
full-time.
We can start small and then fromthere we can start working so
that we can move move forward.
SPEAKER_01 (28:16):
This kind of this actually covers our another one
where we're talking about, I'mgoing through bullets,
everybody.
Um, do I need to hire full-timeor can I start with just a few
hours a week?
So, you know, I'm uh this isbringing it a business idea to
my head, and I'm hoping Irvin'son board with this because I
think he he would be great to dothis.
But Irvin, it's almost like youneed to develop a handbook or a
(28:40):
guide that you could give topeople who want to hire you.
Like, here's the best way to useme as your virtual assistant.
Oh, sure, sure.
I can provide that.
I figured you could.
unknown (28:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (28:54):
Actually, I have one.
Um normally I send that to thepeople who are interested in my
services so that it's easier forthem to understand what we do,
how we do it, and how we canhelp you better as a business
owner.
Because sometimes um when theyresearch, um, it research is
(29:17):
different from the actualexperience of a virtual
assistant or talking to someonewho had direct experience with
it.
So um to make it clear, I justprovided a copy for them to um
to read, and then from there wecan start.
Like I also provided somestep-by-step process on how we
(29:38):
can proceed, how how we canonboard the client, something
like that.
So, yes, I can provide it.
Excellent.
SPEAKER_01 (29:46):
I love that.
Thank you so much.
Um, so coming to this idea oftraining, because that's I I'm
looking at all these questions,and uh, there are really only
two more I want to make sure wehit.
This one, how do I train a VA sothey understand my business.
This opens the gate to SOPs.
And we haven't even reallytalked about SOPs in our
(30:08):
conversation today.
So talk about that a little bit.
How do I train a VA so theyunderstand my business?
SPEAKER_02 (30:15):
Actually, that's such a great question because a
lot of people think hiring a VAis just about giving them a list
of tasks.
But really, the magic happenswhen they actually understand
your business.
Okay.
So how do you get how do you getthere?
First, don't overcomplicate it.
(30:35):
I think this is one of thelessons that I've learned from
Kate, because she's alwaysmaking sure that the instruction
is simple and not overlycomplicated.
SPEAKER_01 (30:48):
So I think you can.
That's great feedback becausesometimes I wonder.
SPEAKER_02 (30:52):
Yeah, just like uh you don't need a hundred pages
manual to make it work,something like that.
Start with the very basic, givethem the overview of what your
business is all about.
So start giving informationabout your business because when
they know about your business,they can easily um help you
better.
Like um they can proposesomething that can make the
(31:14):
process more efficient.
Okay.
So it's not only about how theywill help you to do this, but
they also need to understand theins and outs of your business so
that they can help you better.
So the next next is think aboutdocumenting as you go.
This is what we are doing.
Simple things like recording aLoom video while you walk
(31:37):
through the process or jottingdown step-by-step instruction in
Google Docs, because this willreally help a lot in um making
sure that the output that you'reexpecting from a virtual
assistant is the same outputthat they will submit at the end
(31:58):
of the day, for example.
And then one of the good thingsabout this is of course, um you
are not always on your beststate.
There are times that you forgetsomething.
So once you have these thingsdocumented, they can always go
back to that document and thencheck it.
(32:18):
For example, in our case, you'reproviding me an SOP, sometimes a
video.
So every time I forgetsomething, um, I always go back
to that video so that I willstill make sure that I can
provide a quality output on justlike what you expect me to do.
(32:39):
And then remember, it's not it'snot just about um what, it's
about why, just like what I saida while ago.
If they don't understand why acertain task matters, um they'll
make better, they'll make betterdecisions even without looking
over their shoulder.
So it is very important thatthey know what they are doing.
(33:03):
And then one thing that I wantto point out is um these VAs
were actually skilled alreadybefore you onboard them.
They are actually skilled.
So you don't need to train themfrom the very basic, just um
inform them and then setexpectations from the both view,
(33:27):
and then from there you canstart working.
So you don't need to train thetrain and train them because it
will take you some time.
And one of the reasons why youare VE is to solve your
problems.
So if you're if you're thinkingthat um you will train them over
and over again, don't worryabout that because they are
already skilled.
All you need to do is to guidethem to do um the expected
(33:50):
output that you expect you tohave.
SPEAKER_01 (33:55):
Yeah, uh, thank you.
That's uh so there are actuallytwo or three things.
I mean, the first thing um Iwant to just so how do I put
this?
I want to own this.
When I give Irvin an SOP and hegives me output, I actually get
to see how well I did that SOP.
(34:17):
And remember, SOP just standsfor standard operating
procedure.
So I might uh go step by stepshowing Irvin how I want him to
put um a webinar that we'vecreated, take the recording and
put it into Podia so that we canadd it to the step it up
membership, right?
Because step it up members arethe ones who get the replays.
(34:39):
And we this just happenedyesterday.
We were going through something,and then I realized, okay, I
totally forgot to put into theSOP some some important
information that would make hislife easier.
So there was a step missing, andit it wasn't Irvin, it was me.
And so easy fix because I docreate a video.
(35:02):
I used to do the the Google Docand try to make a step by step
by step, but it did look, it waslike I would have made it 10
pages long.
So I do uh so Irvin mentionedLoom.
That's a great video software.
I use Camtasia just becausethat's what I'm used to.
And so when I go in and I Icreate a course, I say, wait,
hang on a second.
(35:23):
I'm gonna record every step ofme creating the webinar into the
asynchronous Podia course.
And then I can put it into oursystem, which we use Trello.
And when I put it into Trello,it gives me the ability to
actually attach each SOP videoto the Trello card.
(35:45):
And so when I say, oh, wait,Urban, I see you forgot to check
this box or add this thing, hecan go back and see exactly
which step it was and a videofor how to do that.
So if you're listening to thisand you're thinking about, okay,
what can I delegate?
And this sounds really, reallyhard.
It's not, I promise.
Just start with something like Istarted with bookkeeping.
(36:08):
I don't know how to dobookkeeping, but Irvin was
already skilled in bookkeeping.
He was already skilled inQuickBooks.
And so that was our introductionto each other.
The ability for him to um, itwasn't even QuickBooks.
I just sent you a spreadsheet.
So he was skilled in Excel.
And so it was, it wasn't like Ihad to give him an SOP.
I didn't teach him how to useExcel.
(36:30):
I didn't teach him how to filterdata.
So then I was able to think,okay, what do I know how to do
really, really well, which iscreate courses?
It just takes a super amount oftime and I don't want to do it
anymore.
And that's when I got intorecording the videos creating
the SOPs that I could then handoff to him.
(36:52):
And we could both look at thesefinished products.
And in Urban, it's stillevolving.
I mean, I talked the other dayabout combining two of our
boards, and he came back, he'slike, I'm not sure what that
would look like.
And I said, okay, hang on.
I'll I'm gonna I'm gonna thinkit through first because it I
have to, I've got this vision,which is really common.
(37:12):
I get a big vision, but unless Ican put it into a space where I
can communicate it with him,right?
It's it it has to start with meto give to him, but then I let
go.
And I know so many of mycolleagues find it's it's hard
to let go of, oh wait, but Iusually do it in this color
(37:33):
canva, or I usually use thiswording, you know, what in my
title.
You know what?
There are just some things thatare more important than getting
a Canva color, although Irvin,you always give me choices.
So yes, I mean it's uh SOPstandard operating procedures,
(37:55):
find uh uh uh some sort ofsoftware to record step by step.
Uh I don't work for Loom, I'mnot a Loom affiliate, uh, but I
hear it's wonderful.
But even screen share.
I mean, you know, on my Mac, Ican write, I can I can record a
video, right?
I mean, I can record no screengrabs.
(38:15):
Um, make it simple.
That's the main thing.
Make it simple.
And then uh Irvin willcommunicate.
And and Irvin, of course, I'mpushing your services, but um, I
found you on Upwork initially,uh, but there are lots of uh
places out there where you canfind virtual assistants.
Um, but if I give Irvinsomething and he comes back and
(38:38):
he's like, I don't know, thatwasn't the greatest, right?
Well, then we work together andwe build it.
So um last question.
No, I'll probably do two more.
Okay, second to the lastquestion.
Irvin, how do we communicateeffectively and smoothly?
So, how would one who wants tohire a VA communicate
(39:00):
effectively and smoothly like wedo?
SPEAKER_02 (39:03):
Okay, so here's the thing.
Actually, good communication isreally the backbone of
successful VA and clientrelationship.
Always remember that.
And the good news is it doesn'thave to be, again, complicated.
So start by big picking um onemain channel where you'll vote
(39:24):
consistent.
It's maybe email, Slack, or evenWhatsApp, just like what we're
using.
We're using WhatsApp.
So so that you're not scatteredon one place.
Because just like what I'vesaid, it should not be
complicated.
So just choose one so that youcan communicate, for example,
not regularly, but if there is atask, you can communicate
(39:47):
immediately.
Then add in a regular check-insor a weekly check-in, something
like that.
That could be, for example, aweekly Zoom call or even just a
few minutes of chat in WhatsApp.
And then um clarity.
Clarity is a huge tool.
(40:08):
Clarity is important.
Be specific with yourinstructions, share examples if
something changes, update rightright away, because um this is
one of the important um aspectsthat we need to consider so that
we can communicate effectivelyand smoothly.
And finally keep it human,encourage questions, something
(40:32):
like that, give feedback.
And uh, for example, if you uhif um if you have something in
mind, for example, you don'tlike the output of your virtual
assistant, and then communicateimmediately because that's the
only way that um the next outputwill be improve.
And um, do not keep it yourself.
(40:53):
Um, you just have to be openbecause it's a working
relationship between you andyour virtual assistant, just
like what I've said in myprevious um answer.
Your virtual assistant is yourextra hand.
If you don't communicate, umthen how can he or she perform
his task, right?
(41:14):
So that's it.
Just don't complicate things,just choose one and then
communicate regularly or weeklyso that uh you can catch up on
whatever things that you need towork on.
And then you can also be updatedon what are the tasks that was
already done and what are thetasks that still on the process,
(41:37):
something like that.
SPEAKER_01 (41:39):
Yeah, I I send Irvin, I'll take a picture on my
phone.
That's you know, I'll I'll gothrough and I'll be, you know,
because uh when it's my turn togo through and check and just
make sure everything looks how Iwant it to look.
Yes, I am a little bit of acontrol freak still.
If I see something, I just takea quick screenshot, or I'll take
a picture with my camera andI'll just say, like, oh hey
(42:00):
Irvin, you forgot to check thisbox, send.
SPEAKER_02 (42:03):
And then I that's actually works for me.
That's actually works at all.
It works really well becauseit's very specific, it's clear,
right?
I need to change this, and thenKate, um make a screenshot or
picture picture and then send itto me, and then I will change
it.
And it's clear, uh, it's notcomplicated because at the end
(42:24):
of the day, you want to make theoutput um better, not perfect,
but better.
So just communicate, and thenfor sure your virtual assistant
will assist you on the best ofhis capacity.
SPEAKER_01 (42:40):
You know, I didn't I didn't think about this.
I I am gonna ask two morequestions.
Okay, so we didn't have this,but what are some red flags for
a bad assistant when when thebusiness owner might sit and
think, uh-oh, you know, becauseI I know in my mind, but I want
(43:01):
to hear from you, like, becauseI've had some bad ones.
And I can tell you what kind ofstarted giving me, uh-oh, what's
what's going on here?
And it wasn't anything dire,like, you know, my my passwords
are being shared or something.
It wasn't like that.
Um, but what would you say?
I mean, you've you've got a abusiness there where you
(43:22):
actually have some virtualassistants who are working for
you and you vet them, right?
You make sure that theyunderstand how to do things well
before you let them uh go withother clients.
So, what would be a red flag foryou for somebody who's just not
getting it?
SPEAKER_02 (43:43):
For me, and that's correct.
Since I'm working with othervirtual assistants, um, there
are red flags.
What are the red flags that Iconsider?
Maybe the opposite of like whatI consider the best virtual
assistant.
Because for me, a good virtualassistant is proactive and
resourceful.
(44:04):
So if they are contrary to that,like you're not willing to
learn, for example, or or if youare not open in um discussion,
that's one of the red flags.
Because um uh you need to builda client, be a client
relationship.
(44:25):
So if you are if you always umwhat do you call it?
If you always um if you're atype of virtual assistant who
always or only asks forinstruction, that's one of the
red flags.
Because as a virtual assistant,you also need to step in, like
(44:46):
you need to be proactive and umdo your task beyond what is
expecting on you.
Like, for example, if you if youtask if if you ask by your
client to create a certain umspreadsheet, do not create just
a plain spreadsheet, just gobeyond that, like make some bold
(45:10):
text or like make the alignmentalignment.
You know, you know what is goodand bad, right?
So you need to make sure that umyou need to work beyond what is
expected on you as a virtualassistant.
So that's one thing.
Second is you don't communicatereally well, you're always
(45:32):
missing in action.
I don't like to work withsomeone who has the like the
habit of replying more than 48hours, something like that.
Because as a business owner, uhas a business owner or
professionals, you you'remeeting deadlines, and then
that's one thing, one red flagfor me because um you're there
(45:56):
to be a hand, not to be likeother person.
So you need to communicate, um,you need to communicate as soon
as possible, something likethat.
And then what else?
What else red flag?
I think is one of the red flagsis if you are not honest to your
(46:23):
to the client, for me honesty isvery important because it will
go a long way.
Like if you are not honest toyour your your clients, for
example, you are asked by yourclients to do a certain task and
then you outsource that tosomebody else.
That's really a red plug.
Because in the first place, ifyou really want to outsource
(46:46):
that to someone, you need totell the person, you need to
tell your client beforehand.
Because um you are not onlysharing the task, you're you're
sharing the important andsensitive information of the
client.
So um you need to be honest andtransparent, otherwise, um I
(47:10):
will not choose to ask myvirtual assistant.
So these are the things that Iconsider as a red log of a
virtual assistant.
SPEAKER_01 (47:18):
Yes, yes, and so I want to tell y'all, I mean, one
time uh Irvin, I I hadn't heardfrom him in a couple of days,
and it was like very unusual.
Like I I Irvin is very, verygood.
I mean, not just for I mean 24hours, less than 24 hours.
He always gets back to me.
Well, there was a freakingtyphoon happening.
(47:42):
And he should be like picturesoutside his window.
I mean, flooding and wind trees,you know, blowing.
And he's like, our internet'spretty sketchy.
I'm like, okay, just stay safe.
SPEAKER_02 (47:54):
You know, so life happens with your virtual
actually, actually, during thattime, just to share, we have
deadlines that we need to uhthere are tasks that the
deadlines already do.
And then unfortunately, westruck by two consecutive
typoons.
And I'm looking for ways, andthere is a power power
(48:16):
interruption, and then we don'thave internet, and as we all
know, that's our lifeblood as avirtual assistant.
We need electricity, we needinternet, otherwise, we cannot
perform our tasks.
So during that time, we don'thave that aspect.
So I really make made sure thatI uh I can find a way to work
(48:37):
things out, otherwise my clientswill be like, I will find them
me as a missing in-actionperson.
That's why beforehand, beforethe typoon, I already told Kate
that there is a typoon comingand it's a category which we
(48:57):
haven't seen in a while in thePhilippines.
So, and then after typoon, she'sreaching out because yeah, we we
already have a due date.
So, what I did is I transferredto a coffee shop just to make
sure that everything is um umfixed and I can provide the
output that she's expected me tohave on the specific date.
(49:20):
And that's what I'm telling you.
Um, you need someone that isresourceful enough to finish the
task.
Yes, we we can be considerate,but if the virtual assistant
keeps on doing that, um we canbecause we cannot delay that.
We are on the process, we wework on the back end.
(49:42):
So as much as we always want togive consideration to the
virtual assistant, we also needto consider that we are running
business and we cannot delaythings.
So so that's it.
We need to be resourceful,otherwise, um it keeps getting
worse and worse.
SPEAKER_01 (50:03):
Yeah, and and and as a business owner, okay, say, you
know, take that even uh out ofthe equation, you know, natural
disasters.
I mean, I live in Texas, youknow, and so we have uh, you
know, life happens.
I think for me, when it becomesa red flag is I call them
(50:24):
touches, right?
So for me to move on to anotherproject, I have to be able to
take my hands off this one overhere.
And that trust that when I havehanded it to Irvin, I can take
my hand off of it and then goover here and focus completely,
right?
So a red flag for me or our youknow would be a virtual
(50:46):
assistant that's I think yousaid constantly asking for
instruction or they they are notproactive, they don't take the
initiative, right?
I mean, I want to be able togive me a product, give me
something I can look at and say,Oh, you were close, got it 80%,
let's get at the other 20%,right?
But not just tell me again, tellme again.
And and especially if I havehave given pretty decent SOPs,
(51:08):
right?
So keep that in mind as you'rehiring your virtual assistant.
They aren't supposed to justkeep asking, asking, asking,
right?
Yes at the same time, give thema decent SOP, right?
Give them something.
SPEAKER_03 (51:23):
Yeah, correct.
SPEAKER_01 (51:25):
All right, Irvin, final comments.
Give us a give us a takeaway.
SPEAKER_02 (51:31):
Well, I'm caught on guard.
So so I I think um the besttakeaway in this um conversation
is that um it is reallyimportant to ask help to someone
who are expert on what they aredoing, because at the end of the
(51:56):
day, there are many aspects ofbusiness that you can focus on.
And if these are the tasks thatyou uh if you are eating by like
by this task day by day, youneed to let someone handle it.
(52:17):
Because I know that delegationis one of the challenges, even
personal, not only in business,but even in personal.
Like you've been doing that forlike maybe for a decade or for
months or years, but I mind you,once you outsource this um this
task that makes your life socomplicated, um you can turn
(52:44):
that time into a more proactive,um like in more fruitful
endeavor, um, you can focus onlike um building your business
more, you can focus on thebusiness side rather than
focusing on like the ad hoc orthe admin side of the business,
(53:08):
which can be handled by otherpeople.
So trust me, um, if you're ifyou're thinking about the costs,
don't think it as a burden onyour part because you're
spending another dollars fromfrom these people from the
virtual assistant.
Take it as an investment becauseat the end of the day, when you
(53:34):
are free on the task that youare you're you're you used to do
daily, um, you can focus you canfocus more on upscaling your
business.
And once you upscale yourbusiness, it can generate a lot
of income.
So instead of thinking that asadditional cost, take that as
investment.
Because that's how businessworks.
(53:55):
Um we we pay people to make ourlife more easier in this in this
industry.
So that's it.
That's that's that's my mytakeaway.
And as a virtual assistant, weare really, really, really
wanted to help business owners.
Because once we see you thrivingon your business or on your
(54:16):
career, it it is really a goodfeeling for us because we are
helping you in the back end,even though we are not at front
like commending other people,commending by other people.
It's okay with us for as long aswe we we see you thriving in
your business.
That's that's really a big umbig thing for us as a virtual
(54:39):
assistant.
SPEAKER_01 (54:40):
That's awesome.
I love that.
And so, Irvin, if people wantedto contact you, because as you
mentioned, one of the best waysto trust a new virtual assistant
is to have a referral fromanother person, and I'm your
referral, everybody.
So, Irvin, there there are acouple ways.
I know one, we'll put we'll puta link in the show notes uh to
(55:01):
make sure people can contactyou, but how else could people
find or what's the best way forpeople to find you if they
wanted to hire you or one ofyour virtual assistants?
SPEAKER_02 (55:10):
Well, you can find me in all of my socials.
Um my name is Irvin Nixon Cruz.
You can check that for mycredibility.
You can hire me upwork inUpwork.
Um, you can also um contact Katefor my details, or we can put it
here so that you can um contactme and then we can do a
(55:31):
discovery call so that if youhave questions, then you can
easily um ask me directly.
So, for example, if you needsomeone to help you, of course,
I am currently exclusive to Kateas her virtual assistant.
But if you really wanted to havea virtual assistant um who are
(55:54):
efficient, um, that can reallywork hard on your business, I
can actually um you can hire onmy agency.
I have a mini uh virtualassistant agency, which is
actually trained by me.
So do not worry about that.
What is good about hiring avirtual assistant from an
agency, from an agency inparticular, is that um when you
(56:18):
hire someone from an agency, forexample, you are not good match
with each other, um, we can umactually replace that because at
the end of the day, um, if it'snot best fit for you, we cannot
force to fit a certain virtualassistant because we consider,
because we're considering a lotof things.
Um, even if the virtualassistant is scaled, but
(56:41):
personality-wise, he or she isnot best fit for you are not
best best fit for each other.
We can replace another virtualassistant.
So if that's the case, you cancontact me, I can give my
WhatsApp, or we can schedule acall so that um you have an idea
(57:01):
on how it works.
So that's it.
SPEAKER_01 (57:03):
Yes, and uh Irvin edits all my blogs.
So if you are actually accessingthis on my blog, Irvin, I
imagine you will put all thelinks necessary into that blog
so people can grab it.
If you are not reading the blog,if you're listening on the
podcast, uh, we will be sure toput information about how to
contact Irvin in the mid-rolland in the intro.
(57:27):
So listen for those.
SPEAKER_02 (57:29):
And I hope I forgot that I'm doing the blog, so I
will put some information.
SPEAKER_01 (57:35):
I didn't forget.
This is how I'm able to takevacations.
I'm I can't even tell you.
Like knowing that that Irvin anduh my other wonderful assistants
are out there holding mybusiness together.
This is how I'm able to spendtime with my family, visit my
grandkiddo.
This is uh it's it's a gamechanger.
SPEAKER_02 (57:53):
So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01 (57:56):
All right, thank you.
Thank you for letting meinterview you and everybody
listening, watching.
Please get yourself a virtualassistant if you haven't
already.
And uh we'll have anotherepisode on how to build an SOP.
I'll I'll do what I gotta do tohelp you get to a space where
you're able to delegate and bethe magnificent badass business
(58:18):
owner that you are.
So thanks for watching.
Thanks for being here, Irvin.
SPEAKER_02 (58:23):
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
See you.
SPEAKER_01 (58:26):
And show you some examples of SOPs, and then I'm
going to take up the recordingso you can hear Urban talk about
how to contact him.
So uh an SOP, I'm gonna show youthe old school.
This is an old school SOP for uhscheduled Facebook post.
(58:48):
And so I created this.
And when I start to dosomething, when I'm thinking
about uh offloading a task, youreally have to get into this
mindset of, okay, I'm about todo this thing.
What if I just sat down andwrote down every step that I
take?
Like one, open the program, two,click start, three, do this.
(59:12):
And so that's what I did withthe Facebook post.
And honestly, it's not thegreatest SOP in the world
because if you're reading it andyou're like, well, what does
that mean?
That means it's not that greatof an SOP, right?
Because I'm not being verydescriptive.
So what I switched to was screenrecordings.
(59:33):
And so with the screenrecording, and if you're in the
step it up membership, I use alot of screen recordings to show
how to find your products, howto get the Zoom link for our
week weekly coaching call.
Um, because when someone sees aquick two minute screen
recording, it can make a lot ofsense.
Now, if you take, so when I sayscreen recording, it's that app
(59:58):
on your computer that And Idon't so here it is on my PC.
And I can do a recording of thewhole screen.
Mac is so much easier, but my PCcan do it too.
Or you can use outside softwarelike Loom and Camtasia.
But let me show you an example.
(01:00:19):
So this is mine and Irvin'scombined Trello board.
So this Trello board is designedto go left to right.
And so if it needs a blog post,it goes here.
If it's a training, it goeshere.
If it's an online course, andyou can see I don't have any
(01:00:39):
online courses in the queue.
So if you click on, let's justlook at a blog post.
There's a lot of informationhere.
And with Trello, Irvin cancommunicate with me in the
Trello card.
He can tag me so that I get anemail.
(01:01:00):
And I can add information likethe link to the YouTube video
right in the Trello card.
But here's where the magichappens: the checklist.
So we have an 11-item checklist,and each one of these checklists
is how to create a portion ofthe blog.
So let me click step one.
(01:01:25):
And uh y'all give me a thumbs upif you can see what the screen
switched to.
Can you see a YouTube video?
Okay, awesome.
So no sound, I'm not talking,but what it shows him is how to
grab the transcript.
So I could have explained this.
(01:01:49):
But instead, I'm showing him.
(01:02:12):
I mean, if you're like me, and Imean, even these one-hour
webinars, I know it's likedrinking from a fire hose.
So imagine how your assistantmight feel if you're like, okay,
this is protected healthinformation.
And what you're gonna do, you'regonna answer the phone, you're
gonna triage the client, you'regonna ask them five questions,
but start with scheduled beforeyou get to days of the week.
(01:02:33):
I mean, right, but imagine ifyou could create step by step,
even if you did just the oldschool way and wrote it down and
scheduled a meeting, Zoom, youknow, whatever, and just that
one task, and then you couldcheck in and watch them, you
(01:02:56):
know, watch it because thevirtual assistant, it takes
time.
This is not a fast process.
On the flip, if you're hiringfor something like bookkeeping,
yes, you should hire a VAskilled in that skill, right?
Don't teach someone how to dobookkeeping, right?
Don't hire someone and teachthem how to do graphic design or
(01:03:20):
how to use Canva.
You're gonna hire somebody whoalready has the skill set for
that.
All right.
So any questions about what Ijust showed you, or what is it
SOP, or what does it mean tobreak down a task?
There.
And I'm gonna put Irvin'sinformation into your profile,
(01:03:42):
same place where yourcertificate is.
So you can email him if you'reinterested in reaching out, he
would love that.
And as I mentioned before, healso uh hires VAs to work for
him.
And he's a pretty, from what hehe describes, he's a very
meticulous boss.
He makes sure that his VAs dogood work as well.
But let's let's use the last fewminutes to ask questions.
(01:04:05):
Are what's what's still kind ofconfusing for you, or what
questions or worries do youhave?
I think the biggest mistake I'veever made with a VA is not
breaking down a task enough.
You know, like if they said, Ohyeah, I'm I'm great at designing
(01:04:26):
Canva covers for social media.
And I'm like, great, give methree for the next three weeks.
And then they give them to meand I'm like, oh, these are
these aren't good.
Well, did I tell them whatcolors to use?
Did I tell them I only wantedfour words?
I didn't want a paragraph.
Did I tell them I wanted thispicture of me and not this
picture of me?
(01:04:46):
Right.
So a lot of what comes back toyou is exactly what you didn't
say, right?
So these SOPs, they'reimportant.
And thinking about the output,and it's okay if you don't know
what Canva you don't want touse.
I go into Canva and I'm like,oh, too much information.
(01:05:08):
So I don't, I'm not real pickyabout what someone gives me for
a Canva product.
I just want it spelled right.
Um, but I know uh a lot of folksthey they get a little bent out
of shape if if their blogs ortheir transcripts come back and
it doesn't sound like them.
I I'm okay if it doesn't soundlike me, right?
(01:05:28):
I'm more interested in gettingthe information out because
we're very consistent at KateWalker Training.
We get these things out,episodes out every week.
We get the trainings out once amonth.
So really think about theproduct.
What's the outcome?
Right?
If you're thinking about hiringsomeone to answer client phone
calls, what's the outcome?
Well, you want booked sessionsand you want happy clients,
(01:05:54):
right?
So you would teach customerservice, you would teach HIPAA,
you would teach uh the 10-minuteconsultation script that the
step it up members, you guyshave that in your profile and
you know how to answer the phoneso that this person will book
their first session.
You don't have to use a Trelloboard, you don't have to use
(01:06:14):
WhatsApp.
Uh, but if your projects aregoing to be bigger, like if
you're writing a book or um youare developing a marketing plan
for the entire year and you wantto develop content, yeah, then
you might want to get some sortof a board or some sort of an
organizational system.
(01:06:34):
And of course, the ethics wetalked about, you know, if
you're worried about passwords,you want to use something like
LastPass, uh, until you get toknow someone like Irvin and I,
we were in Upwork.
We did not take our business outof Upwork until I was certain
that I could trust him.
But again, I don't give anybodythe keys to the kingdom.
(01:06:57):
I mean, my husband's the onlyone that has all my passwords.
So absolutely be prudent aboutwhat you share, right?
Someone doesn't have to have allyour passwords in order to, you
know, answer the phone or answeryour emails or even manage your
calendar.
All right.
So this is broken into twoparts.
In the first part, we willinterview my uh assistant who is
here in Texas.
And in the second part, I'minterviewing my assistant who is
in the Philippines because Iknow that's something that
that's uh probably in everyone'ssphere where you're aware of
(00:20):
assistance that you can uh go onsomething like Fiverr, or I go
to Upwork, and there are otherdifferent uh companies where you
have your choice of folks allover the world.
And so what do you do when yourassistant is in a different time
zone?
Jennifer is not in a differenttime zone.
She is right here in my timezone.
(00:41):
And so uh we're gonna start offand then at about 5:15, we will
switch over to a pre-recorded uhinterview that I did with Irvin.
I couldn't do a live interviewwith Irvin because he's sound
asleep right now, or he shouldbe.
He's probably working, but he'sprobably hopefully he's asleep.
So awesome, good to see you fromVirginia.
(01:01):
Excellent.
All right, we got some EastCoast going on here.
Got some other people go uhjoining us.
Great.
All right, so Jennifer,introduce yourself.
SPEAKER_00 (01:11):
Um, my name says Kate Walker, but I'm not Kate
Walker.
I just log in under her Zoom.
But my name is Jennifer MarieFairchild.
I am an LBC associate here inTexas, and I am a clinical
mental health counselingcandidate in New Hampshire.
And a PhD student at Texas TechUniversity.
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
Yes.
And we've got Missourirepresenting in North Carolina.
I'm so happy you guys are here.
So when I started doing hiringor thinking about hiring a
virtual assistant, I was in aplace of complete overwhelm.
And Jennifer knows she wasn't myfirst assistant.
(01:52):
She is actually my second,probably third.
And so it's something that I'velearned along the way, and I'm
in a constant state of learning,and and we kind of grow into
this together.
But um, Jennifer, do youremember how I found you?
SPEAKER_00 (02:11):
Um, yes.
So I was still in my master'sprogram.
And um I had just joined, youknow, as we a lot of us do, we
just join every Facebook groupwe can find.
And I see this post and I haveno idea who Kate is.
And it just says, hey, I'mlooking for a PhD student um to
(02:32):
help me out with some grading.
And I thought, well, I can I cando that.
That that's doable.
So I messaged Kate and I said,I'm not a PhD student, but can I
help you?
And um that's kind of how myrole started was helping out
with grading.
And it over the course of thenext few minutes kind of just
(02:53):
transitioned to a little bitmore here and a little bit more
there.
And then I graduated.
And um, you know, mostassociates, and that was kind of
the plan that after I graduated,I would move on because
obviously I'm, you know, gettinghours and doing all that, but
Kate was such an amazing personto work for.
I just never left.
SPEAKER_01 (03:11):
And we're well, I'm almost a year four.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
Yeah, we're almost a year four.
SPEAKER_01 (03:18):
Yes.
And it started out with grading,but this is how uh when you hire
someone, you may have a specifictask in mind.
Like mine was specifically, Ineeded help grading assignments
for the online 40-hour training.
But with that, and if you'vefollowed me at all or listened
to our webinars about um, if youwant to have a course, you know,
(03:39):
90% of what we do once thecourse is built is customer
service.
And so handling folks wheretechnology is breaking down or
emails just won't talk to emailor things get lost.
And I found and out Jennifer'samazing with customer service.
So, okay, then I piled that jobon to her.
(03:59):
And then I find out other areaswhere, you know what, she lets
me know, hey, Kate, you can giveme this job, but I'm up to here
right now.
And you, you know, we who knows,right?
And you had better words thanthat.
But at that point, then I knowit's time to hire another
virtual assistant.
(04:19):
And so, Jennifer, we have you.
Well, you started out as a 1099,correct?
And then once we actually gotdeeper into the definition of a
1099 and the W-2 employee, uh,we found out, we figured out
that it made sense to switchJennifer to a W-2.
(04:41):
And so Jennifer is a W-2employee.
She works 20 hours a week forme.
Uh, job description is is clear,but it always changes.
We just had a huge overhaul lastweek of our support system.
And so you notice that I use theterm SOP at the beginning of
this presentation because that'sthe standard operating
(05:04):
procedure.
So if I have a new system that Iwant to roll out, I will check
with Jennifer.
I'll say, okay, look at this.
Does this make sense?
If she says, okay, but we reallyneed to clarify here or or
change this over here, I'll waituntil I get her to look at it,
and then I'll develop the SOPfor the other people that will
(05:25):
be using our system.
So Jennifer was very, so this issort of how this transitions,
very specific for one job, butthen it grows into another job
and another job and another job.
A virtual assistant or any typeof assistant can go the other
way too.
So you can hire for this jobover here, and you find out,
(05:47):
okay, they're not cut out forthat job at all.
And so you need to plug themhere or you need to plug them
there.
Um, and that's okay too.
So uh we're gonna address, Ithink it might be a good idea,
like right now.
Uh, I want to make sure I doaddress all your questions
because we are gonna address theethics of things like sharing
(06:10):
passwords, the ethics of thingslike sharing protected health
information.
But if you would just take about10 seconds and pop your
questions into the chat, whatwhat questions do you have or
worries or concerns about hiringa virtual assistant?
SPEAKER_00 (06:30):
I like that you brought up like the the whole
there were things that thatperson may not do.
Like very and that for me wasthe directory.
The directory was sooverwhelming that we shifted
that to somebody else.
And it wasn't because I wasincapable, it was just it was a
(06:50):
beast, and I just didn't havethe time to dedicate to it.
So it often kind of got pushedto the bottom.
So, I mean, finding somebodythat you can have those
conversations with and it's notpersonal, it's just hey, how do
we fix this is huge.
SPEAKER_01 (07:05):
Absolutely.
And one thing, how much shouldyou pay your virtual assistant?
That's a really good question.
Um, you are if you're on a sitelike Upwork, you're going to be
given a rate.
And you'll be given differentrates for different levels of
skill.
You'll be given different ratesfor different level levels of
(07:27):
customer reviews.
Um, so let's say you're lookingfor a bookkeeper.
You're gonna look at their skillset, you're gonna look at how
many jobs they've accomplished.
So you'll be able to see so muchinformation and customer reviews
to really know if you want topay$50 an hour or$100 an hour,
or if you want to give thisperson over here a chance who
(07:49):
maybe has only done 10 jobs, butthey have really, really good
reviews, and they're onlycharging$15 an hour.
So it's it's easier to see thegoing rate on a site like Upwork
or Fiverr.
Now, when I just put it out intothe ether for Jennifer, I just I
asked around.
I said, okay, what is the goingrate?
(08:11):
You know, I didn't want to payjust terrible wages.
Um, so I asked, you know, whatis what is better than minimum
right now, especially for thelevel of education that I was
looking for, because it was askilled job.
And uh, so then so you mightwant to look at it that way if
it's something you're gonna go amore traditional route, like
indeed, or you're gonna do likeI did, and maybe in Texas
(08:34):
Counselor's creating badassbusinesses, you're just gonna
post it in the in search ofthread or in the lemonade stand.
Um I may not be tech savvyenough to handle it.
Well, Mary, I'm gonna make surethat you understand how to do
that.
Also, there's a download that Ihave.
(08:54):
It's at KateWalkerTraining.comslash bonus.
And I'm gonna have differentresources every month.
But this month it's how tocreate a sample SOP.
And so you'll be able to see howto create an SOP for something.
And also, I'm gonna show you oneof my organizational systems.
We use Trello boards, and I'llshow you how I use the Trello
(09:18):
board to create an SOP.
So hopefully that addressesthat, but it can uh slash bonus.
So if you want to go grab thatfreebie, like I said, it's just
10 things to delegate and how tocreate an SOP.
Does the assistant have theirown liability insurance policy
(09:41):
or are they covered under yourprofessional policy?
Well, so that's part of uhCarlin.
My organization of my company isan LLC.
And so as a limited liabilitycorporation, that's a uh it's a
lead curtain between whathappens in my business and in my
(10:02):
practice or my personal assetsor my husband's business.
And so in that, there are allkinds of choices.
You can get trip and fallinsurance, you can have uh, you
know, gosh, home and autoinsurance if you have a building
or if you're letting yourassistant drive a car or
something like that.
If your assistant or if yourvirtual, if this person you're
(10:24):
hiring is going to be seeingclients, then they would have
their own malpractice insurance.
But because they Jennifer's aW-2 employee, she's under my
control.
That's the the definition of aW-2.
Um, I don't require her to haveany insurance.
In fact, uh what we do on ourend is more around trademarking
(10:46):
and copyright to protect ourassets, but we're completely
virtual.
So I would you probably need tolook at your particular
situation.
Like if you were hiring somebodyto clean your office, would you
make them have insurance?
Or would your insurance cover ifthey tripped and fell?
And I have met Jennifer, sothat's kind of funny.
SPEAKER_00 (11:08):
We do live far apart, but we have met.
SPEAKER_01 (11:11):
We have met what two years, but it took two years to
meet.
And then every when I go toColorado, I swing through
Lubbock.
Um, I had an assistant in Ohio,and when I passed through Ohio,
I did stop and meet her too.
SPEAKER_00 (11:24):
It's happened a couple of times where because I
do help with scheduling um andcancellations for Kate's um
clinical stuff.
Um typically if if a client's incrisis, I do the same thing I
would, you know, do.
If is this an emergency, youknow, call 911, make sure, you
know, they're okay.
(11:44):
And then I, you know, notifiedKate.
Um, I don't I don't know what Iwould do if I were not, because
I am.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
You know, that's a great question to ask.
Like if you go to yourphysician's office and you talk
to the receptionist and say,hey, how are you guys trained?
Uh, if there was an emergency inthe waiting room, or if there's
an emergency back behind thedesk, and let's say when you're
drawing blood with someone,right?
That that's a perfect example oropportunity to create an SOP.
Number one, this is what you'lldo.
(12:13):
Number two, this is what you'regonna do.
Number three, you're gonna needto give me your certificate.
I want to see that you've beenCPR trained and you know how to
use the defibulator machine,right?
So everything short of likesurgery, you know, can be
trained.
Um, and I know that's anexaggeration.
If wanting to hire for admintests, building schedule, email
(12:35):
phone, et cetera, do yourecommend hiring someone with
mental health background or arethe SOPs efficient or
sufficient?
That's a great, actually, that'sa great segue to the next
interview.
So, Jennifer, I'm gonna let yougo.
Thank you so much for joining.
SPEAKER_00 (12:48):
And don't forget to grab the link.
I dropped it one more time andgrab the webinar number because
I can't email it too many.
All right.
Thank y'all.
SPEAKER_01 (12:57):
Thanks, Jennifer.
See ya.
And this is Irvin Nixon Cruz.
And uh as I mentioned before,I've gone through lots and lots
of assistance.
And with Irvin, he was sowilling to grow and he was so
wonderful at taking feedback.
And uh I did pay a little bitmore because of his skill set.
(13:21):
Uh, because you always have theoption to start off with someone
who maybe doesn't have the skillset you're looking for.
They're just sort of a generalassistant.
But I started off needing Irvinfor bookkeeping.
So he was going to have accessto numbers, not necessarily
protected health information,but you'll see how that grew.
(13:44):
So here's Irvin.
All right, so today I'm withIrvin Nixon Cruz, and he is very
special to me because he is myvirtual assistant.
So um, so let's get to thequestions.
I want to, we're just gonna gobullet by bullet because of
course I have to have promptshere.
Um, what exactly can a VAvirtual assistant do?
SPEAKER_02 (14:09):
Okay, that's a good question.
You know, the VA industry hasreally become such a big um part
of how business operates today,not only for business, but also
for the professionals.
And honestly, we are needed morethan ever because of, of course,
the existence of AI and so on.
There are many lots of things todo as a business owner and
(14:32):
professional.
And think about it, uh, mostbusiness owners and
professionals are alreadyjuggling so much on their
day-to-day activities.
So they just don't have time todeal with those time-consuming
um tasks.
So I'm talking about like thingslike admin work, um, keeping up
(14:52):
social media, managing calendarand indexes, creating or
updating websites, doingresearch, customer support, and
so on and so forth.
Or, for example, creatingcourses like what I'm doing with
you, um, and then managing umdifferent social media
platforms.
So that's what exactly we stepin as a virtual assistant.
(15:14):
We basically the extra hand ofthe business owners and the
professionals.
So, whatever task that you needto take off your plate, that's
what we come in.
So that's exactly what we do asa virtual assistant.
SPEAKER_01 (15:29):
Well said, exactly.
No, that's that's so well said.
And it uh as a business owner,probably the hardest thing for
me was to let go of some ofthese tasks, like the course
creation.
I mean, that's that's what we doat Kate Walker Training, right?
We create online courses andwebinars, and to take my hands
(15:51):
off and to say, okay, I'm gonnalet someone else do it.
I'm gonna teach someone to doit, I'm going to help them learn
to do it as well as I do.
It's it's a little it's a littlescary.
Um, but worth it.
I I cannot emphasize thisenough.
It is worth it.
And the time that Irvin frees upfor me has just helped me grow
(16:15):
my business exponentially.
I mean, it's it's just been suchan incredible help.
Um, so you may be askingyourself, business owner or
potential business owner who'swatching this, listening to
this, do I have enough tasks tokeep a VA busy?
So, Irvin, how would you respondto that?
SPEAKER_02 (16:35):
Well, that's such a common question, actually,
during discovery call orinterview with potential
clients.
Do I really have enough tasks tokeep a BA busy?
And the truth is, um, most ofthe time the answer is yes, um,
way more than you realize it.
Um, here's the thing when you'rerunning a business, you get used
(16:55):
to doing things everythingyourself that you stop um
noticing just how many littlethings are piling up.
So answering emails like that,scheduling appointments,
updating your social media andso on.
So even if you think um even ifyou think I probably only have a
(17:16):
couple of things to delegate,once you start working with a
BA, you'll quickly see that umyour plate is actually um
overflowing.
And the beauty of it is youdon't need to hand over 40 hours
of work right right away, justlike what we did.
We can um do step by step, likeyou can start small, delegate a
(17:38):
few tasks, and as you buildtrust, um you'll naturally find
more and more things your VA cantake off your hands.
So, in summary, um no need tohire a full-time virtual
assistant.
Um you can start like five toten hours a week or a month, and
then after that, once you figureout um the best way on how you
(18:02):
can work together as a team,then that's the time you need
that you can hire themfull-time, something like that.
Um, do not pressure yourself onhiring someone to go full-time
for yourself, like to help youfull-time, because if you don't
have enough tasks, then how canyou hire someone to work
full-time?
So do not pressure yourself.
(18:23):
Just um take it one task at atime, and then from that you can
figure it out moving forward.
SPEAKER_01 (18:31):
Again, well said.
Uh you and I started off um withbookkeeping.
And not even really bookkeeping.
I guess my dream was to have adashboard for my um my my
courses, my uh main course,which is the 40-hour training to
become a supervisor in Texas.
And then I had some smallerproducts, and it's you know, it
(18:54):
was sort of looking and saying,okay, now I don't understand
which one of these is actuallymoving the needle toward my
five-year goals.
And so Irvin helped me develop adashboard where I could see the
things that I sold and how theyimpacted my profit, uh, how much
the shared cost was.
(19:14):
All of these things I reallywasn't thinking about.
And it helps to just, because Ijust have it at a glance.
I mean, he created a dashboardwhere at a glance I can see at
the end of every month which ofthese categories of products is
helping me.
So if you're listening to thisand you're a therapist, you know
I've taught you guys everysingle session is sort of a
(19:37):
different product.
You have individual sessions,group sessions, couple sessions,
family sessions.
You may have sessions with kids,sessions with uh folks in their
20s, right?
So you can actually start tolook at how these sessions
impact your bottom line.
You can look at days of theweek, you can look at times of
(19:58):
the day.
And there's a way that uh, youknow, a virtual assistant could
create a dashboard so you couldsee uh, oh, this would be great
too if you're trying to come offof insurance, right?
You look to see which ones ofyour clients, you know, uh uh
your insurance clients as acategory versus your self-pay
clients.
So I could go on and on and on,but this is just one way Irvin
(20:21):
and I started off.
I think we started off with um,was it five hours a week?
SPEAKER_02 (20:26):
Or it was it wasn't very five hours, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Yeah, it's it's not that much.
And then we we grow intosomething close to full time
already.
SPEAKER_01 (20:36):
We're getting now that you know, like you said, it
uh we build trust, we wecommunicate, we have the
occasional Zoom meeting, we workwith our Trello board, and so
it's it's evolved over time, butI gotta tell you, it's not just
trusting Irvin, it's me lettinggo of my control.
And as a business owner, that'sthat's not easy.
(20:59):
So I let it go of it.
SPEAKER_02 (21:01):
Actually, one of the hardest things um that I noticed
during um Discovery Call isbecause it's it it's not easy to
delegate.
To be honest, that it's not easyto delegate.
So um, letting go of the taskthat you usually do on your own
is not easy to let go and shareit with other people.
So I really understand that it'sreally a step-by-step process to
(21:25):
build a trust between the clientand the virtual assistant.
And yeah, going back to thequestion, we really need to um
take it one step at a time, takea few hours, and then from there
we can start um getting beingsomething like that.
SPEAKER_01 (21:42):
Awesome.
Okay, next question.
How do I know if I can trustthem with sensitive information,
passwords, clients, finances?
SPEAKER_02 (21:53):
That's a big yeah, that's that's actually a serious
question because as as we know,there are many scammers
everywhere.
And uh as AI is progressing, wedon't know if we are talking
about we are talking on a realperson or not.
So it is really important thatwe do our due diligence to make
(22:16):
research about um who we aretalking, especially the virtual
assistant, like checking theirsocial media and then before
sharing anything.
And it's a good thing that weare talking about this because
recommendation from a friend ora mentor is really important
because we're lowering the riskof being um scammed or sharing
(22:41):
the ink, like high risk ofsharing information to the
people who are untrustworthy,trust not trustworthy enough.
So when it comes to sensitiveinformation, just like what we
are doing, we have like tools tolower the risk, like um um
LastPass.
So it's like a vault of share.
(23:02):
Um you need to uh, for example,for the client, you need to you
need to um save your password onon that password vault, and then
um to lower the risk of gettingthe password, like you don't
need to um send the exactpassword of all of your um
tools, for example.
All you need to do is to savethat in the um last pass a
(23:26):
password vault and then um getthe email of your um virtual
assistant, and then from therethey can already have the
access.
So I think we can lower the riskon that.
And also one of the things thatwe need to point out is we as a
virtual assistant, we valueconfidentiality the most.
(23:47):
So we can also lower the riskby, for example, creating
contracts or signing anon-disclosure agreement.
So this is the important thingthat we we should not um we
should always take intoconsideration because as you
work together as a team, it isvery important that you don't
(24:10):
only protect the sensitiveinformation, but also there are
um information about, forexample, business model that you
need to protect for yourbusiness.
So that's the that's that's thepower of non-disclosure
agreement.
So it will protect both partiesfrom disclosing anything,
especially on the part of theclient.
(24:31):
It will help you a lot.
SPEAKER_01 (24:34):
Yes, uh I love that.
And for those of you uh who haveuh who are thinking about a
virtual assistant to help withclients, now Irvin, he works uh
in Kate Walker training.
He doesn't work with clients andclient files, PHI, sensitive
information.
But if he did, um I would treathim like I would treat any other
(24:58):
hire.
I would train him on HIPAA.
I would send him to a HIPAAtraining.
I would make sure my annualself-audit that we talked about
on the last episode, that wetalked, you know, we kept a copy
of the certificate in a file.
And when I do my self-audit, Iwould include Irvin with the
other employees or anyone else,any other therapists in my
(25:18):
office who have access to thatpersonal health information.
So, you know, training someoneon HIPAA, getting a certificate,
making sure that they're trainedin your office procedures for
your practice, that's the duediligence that you would do with
anyone.
And so the idea that Irvin isalso there to protect my
(25:39):
business, to protect any sort ofintellectual property with my
courses, to be there to protect,you know, anything that I share
with him.
He's a he's a team member.
And uh that's but one of thethings, I mean, I know with
Irvin, we have done Zoom calls.
Like I knew Irvin was a realperson, you know, and and uh we
(25:59):
are on WhatsApp, you know, ifIrvin has a question, even
though I might get it the nextday, because we are how many
hours apart are we?
I always get this wrong.
We're 14 hours.
SPEAKER_02 (26:08):
Like the 14 hours, something like that.
SPEAKER_01 (26:10):
Yeah.
And so where are you located,Irvin, exactly?
SPEAKER_02 (26:14):
Um, I'm located in um Bagu City, like the coldest
place in um in the Philippines.
Like I'm in the top of themountain, something like that.
SPEAKER_01 (26:26):
Oh wow.
So coldest?
I didn't know you were in thecoldest place.
SPEAKER_02 (26:29):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
Yes.
I wish it's gonna be 100 degreeshere today.
Well, great.
Okay, I'm gonna keep going.
Um, next question.
So this is sort of relating backto the other one about do I have
enough stuff for a VA?
Then uh, Irvin, how would yousay how many hours should I hire
(26:54):
for starting out?
SPEAKER_02 (26:56):
Uh yeah, just like what I said, uh, we can actually
start like five to ten hours.
It really depends on theworkload and how much you're
ready to let go of.
Because we cannot force um theclient to like, like, for
example, we set like this andlike that, and then you're not
ready to like um prepare preparea certain task that needs to be
(27:21):
done or outsourced for virtualassistant.
So we can start small, just likewhat I said a while ago, like
five to ten hours a week isperfect, something like that.
And then from that, we can fillin fill in tasks just like what
we did before.
And then if ever that you'recomfortable with each other
already, and then you have otherworkloads to do, for example,
(27:44):
you have multiple businesses,and then there are like example
admin tasks and then socialmedia tasks that um you need to
let go of because it's a timeconsuming task.
Then that's the time that we canincrease that time um we spent,
something like that.
So it's it's not the force thatwe need to hire someone
(28:07):
full-time.
We can start small and then fromthere we can start working so
that we can move move forward.
SPEAKER_01 (28:16):
This kind of this actually covers our another one
where we're talking about, I'mgoing through bullets,
everybody.
Um, do I need to hire full-timeor can I start with just a few
hours a week?
So, you know, I'm uh this isbringing it a business idea to
my head, and I'm hoping Irvin'son board with this because I
think he he would be great to dothis.
But Irvin, it's almost like youneed to develop a handbook or a
(28:40):
guide that you could give topeople who want to hire you.
Like, here's the best way to useme as your virtual assistant.
Oh, sure, sure.
I can provide that.
I figured you could.
unknown (28:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (28:54):
Actually, I have one.
Um normally I send that to thepeople who are interested in my
services so that it's easier forthem to understand what we do,
how we do it, and how we canhelp you better as a business
owner.
Because sometimes um when theyresearch, um, it research is
(29:17):
different from the actualexperience of a virtual
assistant or talking to someonewho had direct experience with
it.
So um to make it clear, I justprovided a copy for them to um
to read, and then from there wecan start.
Like I also provided somestep-by-step process on how we
(29:38):
can proceed, how how we canonboard the client, something
like that.
So, yes, I can provide it.
Excellent.
SPEAKER_01 (29:46):
I love that.
Thank you so much.
Um, so coming to this idea oftraining, because that's I I'm
looking at all these questions,and uh, there are really only
two more I want to make sure wehit.
This one, how do I train a VA sothey understand my business.
This opens the gate to SOPs.
And we haven't even reallytalked about SOPs in our
(30:08):
conversation today.
So talk about that a little bit.
How do I train a VA so theyunderstand my business?
SPEAKER_02 (30:15):
Actually, that's such a great question because a
lot of people think hiring a VAis just about giving them a list
of tasks.
But really, the magic happenswhen they actually understand
your business.
Okay.
So how do you get how do you getthere?
First, don't overcomplicate it.
(30:35):
I think this is one of thelessons that I've learned from
Kate, because she's alwaysmaking sure that the instruction
is simple and not overlycomplicated.
SPEAKER_01 (30:48):
So I think you can.
That's great feedback becausesometimes I wonder.
SPEAKER_02 (30:52):
Yeah, just like uh you don't need a hundred pages
manual to make it work,something like that.
Start with the very basic, givethem the overview of what your
business is all about.
So start giving informationabout your business because when
they know about your business,they can easily um help you
better.
Like um they can proposesomething that can make the
(31:14):
process more efficient.
Okay.
So it's not only about how theywill help you to do this, but
they also need to understand theins and outs of your business so
that they can help you better.
So the next next is think aboutdocumenting as you go.
This is what we are doing.
Simple things like recording aLoom video while you walk
(31:37):
through the process or jottingdown step-by-step instruction in
Google Docs, because this willreally help a lot in um making
sure that the output that you'reexpecting from a virtual
assistant is the same outputthat they will submit at the end
(31:58):
of the day, for example.
And then one of the good thingsabout this is of course, um you
are not always on your beststate.
There are times that you forgetsomething.
So once you have these thingsdocumented, they can always go
back to that document and thencheck it.
(32:18):
For example, in our case, you'reproviding me an SOP, sometimes a
video.
So every time I forgetsomething, um, I always go back
to that video so that I willstill make sure that I can
provide a quality output on justlike what you expect me to do.
(32:39):
And then remember, it's not it'snot just about um what, it's
about why, just like what I saida while ago.
If they don't understand why acertain task matters, um they'll
make better, they'll make betterdecisions even without looking
over their shoulder.
So it is very important thatthey know what they are doing.
(33:03):
And then one thing that I wantto point out is um these VAs
were actually skilled alreadybefore you onboard them.
They are actually skilled.
So you don't need to train themfrom the very basic, just um
inform them and then setexpectations from the both view,
(33:27):
and then from there you canstart working.
So you don't need to train thetrain and train them because it
will take you some time.
And one of the reasons why youare VE is to solve your
problems.
So if you're if you're thinkingthat um you will train them over
and over again, don't worryabout that because they are
already skilled.
All you need to do is to guidethem to do um the expected
(33:50):
output that you expect you tohave.
SPEAKER_01 (33:55):
Yeah, uh, thank you.
That's uh so there are actuallytwo or three things.
I mean, the first thing um Iwant to just so how do I put
this?
I want to own this.
When I give Irvin an SOP and hegives me output, I actually get
to see how well I did that SOP.
(34:17):
And remember, SOP just standsfor standard operating
procedure.
So I might uh go step by stepshowing Irvin how I want him to
put um a webinar that we'vecreated, take the recording and
put it into Podia so that we canadd it to the step it up
membership, right?
Because step it up members arethe ones who get the replays.
(34:39):
And we this just happenedyesterday.
We were going through something,and then I realized, okay, I
totally forgot to put into theSOP some some important
information that would make hislife easier.
So there was a step missing, andit it wasn't Irvin, it was me.
And so easy fix because I docreate a video.
(35:02):
I used to do the the Google Docand try to make a step by step
by step, but it did look, it waslike I would have made it 10
pages long.
So I do uh so Irvin mentionedLoom.
That's a great video software.
I use Camtasia just becausethat's what I'm used to.
And so when I go in and I Icreate a course, I say, wait,
hang on a second.
(35:23):
I'm gonna record every step ofme creating the webinar into the
asynchronous Podia course.
And then I can put it into oursystem, which we use Trello.
And when I put it into Trello,it gives me the ability to
actually attach each SOP videoto the Trello card.
(35:45):
And so when I say, oh, wait,Urban, I see you forgot to check
this box or add this thing, hecan go back and see exactly
which step it was and a videofor how to do that.
So if you're listening to thisand you're thinking about, okay,
what can I delegate?
And this sounds really, reallyhard.
It's not, I promise.
Just start with something like Istarted with bookkeeping.
(36:08):
I don't know how to dobookkeeping, but Irvin was
already skilled in bookkeeping.
He was already skilled inQuickBooks.
And so that was our introductionto each other.
The ability for him to um, itwasn't even QuickBooks.
I just sent you a spreadsheet.
So he was skilled in Excel.
And so it was, it wasn't like Ihad to give him an SOP.
I didn't teach him how to useExcel.
(36:30):
I didn't teach him how to filterdata.
So then I was able to think,okay, what do I know how to do
really, really well, which iscreate courses?
It just takes a super amount oftime and I don't want to do it
anymore.
And that's when I got intorecording the videos creating
the SOPs that I could then handoff to him.
(36:52):
And we could both look at thesefinished products.
And in Urban, it's stillevolving.
I mean, I talked the other dayabout combining two of our
boards, and he came back, he'slike, I'm not sure what that
would look like.
And I said, okay, hang on.
I'll I'm gonna I'm gonna thinkit through first because it I
have to, I've got this vision,which is really common.
(37:12):
I get a big vision, but unless Ican put it into a space where I
can communicate it with him,right?
It's it it has to start with meto give to him, but then I let
go.
And I know so many of mycolleagues find it's it's hard
to let go of, oh wait, but Iusually do it in this color
(37:33):
canva, or I usually use thiswording, you know, what in my
title.
You know what?
There are just some things thatare more important than getting
a Canva color, although Irvin,you always give me choices.
So yes, I mean it's uh SOPstandard operating procedures,
(37:55):
find uh uh uh some sort ofsoftware to record step by step.
Uh I don't work for Loom, I'mnot a Loom affiliate, uh, but I
hear it's wonderful.
But even screen share.
I mean, you know, on my Mac, Ican write, I can I can record a
video, right?
I mean, I can record no screengrabs.
(38:15):
Um, make it simple.
That's the main thing.
Make it simple.
And then uh Irvin willcommunicate.
And and Irvin, of course, I'mpushing your services, but um, I
found you on Upwork initially,uh, but there are lots of uh
places out there where you canfind virtual assistants.
Um, but if I give Irvinsomething and he comes back and
(38:38):
he's like, I don't know, thatwasn't the greatest, right?
Well, then we work together andwe build it.
So um last question.
No, I'll probably do two more.
Okay, second to the lastquestion.
Irvin, how do we communicateeffectively and smoothly?
So, how would one who wants tohire a VA communicate
(39:00):
effectively and smoothly like wedo?
SPEAKER_02 (39:03):
Okay, so here's the thing.
Actually, good communication isreally the backbone of
successful VA and clientrelationship.
Always remember that.
And the good news is it doesn'thave to be, again, complicated.
So start by big picking um onemain channel where you'll vote
(39:24):
consistent.
It's maybe email, Slack, or evenWhatsApp, just like what we're
using.
We're using WhatsApp.
So so that you're not scatteredon one place.
Because just like what I'vesaid, it should not be
complicated.
So just choose one so that youcan communicate, for example,
not regularly, but if there is atask, you can communicate
(39:47):
immediately.
Then add in a regular check-insor a weekly check-in, something
like that.
That could be, for example, aweekly Zoom call or even just a
few minutes of chat in WhatsApp.
And then um clarity.
Clarity is a huge tool.
(40:08):
Clarity is important.
Be specific with yourinstructions, share examples if
something changes, update rightright away, because um this is
one of the important um aspectsthat we need to consider so that
we can communicate effectivelyand smoothly.
And finally keep it human,encourage questions, something
(40:32):
like that, give feedback.
And uh, for example, if you uhif um if you have something in
mind, for example, you don'tlike the output of your virtual
assistant, and then communicateimmediately because that's the
only way that um the next outputwill be improve.
And um, do not keep it yourself.
(40:53):
Um, you just have to be openbecause it's a working
relationship between you andyour virtual assistant, just
like what I've said in myprevious um answer.
Your virtual assistant is yourextra hand.
If you don't communicate, umthen how can he or she perform
his task, right?
(41:14):
So that's it.
Just don't complicate things,just choose one and then
communicate regularly or weeklyso that uh you can catch up on
whatever things that you need towork on.
And then you can also be updatedon what are the tasks that was
already done and what are thetasks that still on the process,
(41:37):
something like that.
SPEAKER_01 (41:39):
Yeah, I I send Irvin, I'll take a picture on my
phone.
That's you know, I'll I'll gothrough and I'll be, you know,
because uh when it's my turn togo through and check and just
make sure everything looks how Iwant it to look.
Yes, I am a little bit of acontrol freak still.
If I see something, I just takea quick screenshot, or I'll take
a picture with my camera andI'll just say, like, oh hey
(42:00):
Irvin, you forgot to check thisbox, send.
SPEAKER_02 (42:03):
And then I that's actually works for me.
That's actually works at all.
It works really well becauseit's very specific, it's clear,
right?
I need to change this, and thenKate, um make a screenshot or
picture picture and then send itto me, and then I will change
it.
And it's clear, uh, it's notcomplicated because at the end
(42:24):
of the day, you want to make theoutput um better, not perfect,
but better.
So just communicate, and thenfor sure your virtual assistant
will assist you on the best ofhis capacity.
SPEAKER_01 (42:40):
You know, I didn't I didn't think about this.
I I am gonna ask two morequestions.
Okay, so we didn't have this,but what are some red flags for
a bad assistant when when thebusiness owner might sit and
think, uh-oh, you know, becauseI I know in my mind, but I want
(43:01):
to hear from you, like, becauseI've had some bad ones.
And I can tell you what kind ofstarted giving me, uh-oh, what's
what's going on here?
And it wasn't anything dire,like, you know, my my passwords
are being shared or something.
It wasn't like that.
Um, but what would you say?
I mean, you've you've got a abusiness there where you
(43:22):
actually have some virtualassistants who are working for
you and you vet them, right?
You make sure that theyunderstand how to do things well
before you let them uh go withother clients.
So, what would be a red flag foryou for somebody who's just not
getting it?
SPEAKER_02 (43:43):
For me, and that's correct.
Since I'm working with othervirtual assistants, um, there
are red flags.
What are the red flags that Iconsider?
Maybe the opposite of like whatI consider the best virtual
assistant.
Because for me, a good virtualassistant is proactive and
resourceful.
(44:04):
So if they are contrary to that,like you're not willing to
learn, for example, or or if youare not open in um discussion,
that's one of the red flags.
Because um uh you need to builda client, be a client
relationship.
(44:25):
So if you are if you always umwhat do you call it?
If you always um if you're atype of virtual assistant who
always or only asks forinstruction, that's one of the
red flags.
Because as a virtual assistant,you also need to step in, like
(44:46):
you need to be proactive and umdo your task beyond what is
expecting on you.
Like, for example, if you if youtask if if you ask by your
client to create a certain umspreadsheet, do not create just
a plain spreadsheet, just gobeyond that, like make some bold
(45:10):
text or like make the alignmentalignment.
You know, you know what is goodand bad, right?
So you need to make sure that umyou need to work beyond what is
expected on you as a virtualassistant.
So that's one thing.
Second is you don't communicatereally well, you're always
(45:32):
missing in action.
I don't like to work withsomeone who has the like the
habit of replying more than 48hours, something like that.
Because as a business owner, uhas a business owner or
professionals, you you'remeeting deadlines, and then
that's one thing, one red flagfor me because um you're there
(45:56):
to be a hand, not to be likeother person.
So you need to communicate, um,you need to communicate as soon
as possible, something likethat.
And then what else?
What else red flag?
I think is one of the red flagsis if you are not honest to your
(46:23):
to the client, for me honesty isvery important because it will
go a long way.
Like if you are not honest toyour your your clients, for
example, you are asked by yourclients to do a certain task and
then you outsource that tosomebody else.
That's really a red plug.
Because in the first place, ifyou really want to outsource
(46:46):
that to someone, you need totell the person, you need to
tell your client beforehand.
Because um you are not onlysharing the task, you're you're
sharing the important andsensitive information of the
client.
So um you need to be honest andtransparent, otherwise, um I
(47:10):
will not choose to ask myvirtual assistant.
So these are the things that Iconsider as a red log of a
virtual assistant.
SPEAKER_01 (47:18):
Yes, yes, and so I want to tell y'all, I mean, one
time uh Irvin, I I hadn't heardfrom him in a couple of days,
and it was like very unusual.
Like I I Irvin is very, verygood.
I mean, not just for I mean 24hours, less than 24 hours.
He always gets back to me.
Well, there was a freakingtyphoon happening.
(47:42):
And he should be like picturesoutside his window.
I mean, flooding and wind trees,you know, blowing.
And he's like, our internet'spretty sketchy.
I'm like, okay, just stay safe.
SPEAKER_02 (47:54):
You know, so life happens with your virtual
actually, actually, during thattime, just to share, we have
deadlines that we need to uhthere are tasks that the
deadlines already do.
And then unfortunately, westruck by two consecutive
typoons.
And I'm looking for ways, andthere is a power power
(48:16):
interruption, and then we don'thave internet, and as we all
know, that's our lifeblood as avirtual assistant.
We need electricity, we needinternet, otherwise, we cannot
perform our tasks.
So during that time, we don'thave that aspect.
So I really make made sure thatI uh I can find a way to work
(48:37):
things out, otherwise my clientswill be like, I will find them
me as a missing in-actionperson.
That's why beforehand, beforethe typoon, I already told Kate
that there is a typoon comingand it's a category which we
(48:57):
haven't seen in a while in thePhilippines.
So, and then after typoon, she'sreaching out because yeah, we we
already have a due date.
So, what I did is I transferredto a coffee shop just to make
sure that everything is um umfixed and I can provide the
output that she's expected me tohave on the specific date.
(49:20):
And that's what I'm telling you.
Um, you need someone that isresourceful enough to finish the
task.
Yes, we we can be considerate,but if the virtual assistant
keeps on doing that, um we canbecause we cannot delay that.
We are on the process, we wework on the back end.
(49:42):
So as much as we always want togive consideration to the
virtual assistant, we also needto consider that we are running
business and we cannot delaythings.
So so that's it.
We need to be resourceful,otherwise, um it keeps getting
worse and worse.
SPEAKER_01 (50:03):
Yeah, and and and as a business owner, okay, say, you
know, take that even uh out ofthe equation, you know, natural
disasters.
I mean, I live in Texas, youknow, and so we have uh, you
know, life happens.
I think for me, when it becomesa red flag is I call them
(50:24):
touches, right?
So for me to move on to anotherproject, I have to be able to
take my hands off this one overhere.
And that trust that when I havehanded it to Irvin, I can take
my hand off of it and then goover here and focus completely,
right?
So a red flag for me or our youknow would be a virtual
(50:46):
assistant that's I think yousaid constantly asking for
instruction or they they are notproactive, they don't take the
initiative, right?
I mean, I want to be able togive me a product, give me
something I can look at and say,Oh, you were close, got it 80%,
let's get at the other 20%,right?
But not just tell me again, tellme again.
And and especially if I havehave given pretty decent SOPs,
(51:08):
right?
So keep that in mind as you'rehiring your virtual assistant.
They aren't supposed to justkeep asking, asking, asking,
right?
Yes at the same time, give thema decent SOP, right?
Give them something.
SPEAKER_03 (51:23):
Yeah, correct.
SPEAKER_01 (51:25):
All right, Irvin, final comments.
Give us a give us a takeaway.
SPEAKER_02 (51:31):
Well, I'm caught on guard.
So so I I think um the besttakeaway in this um conversation
is that um it is reallyimportant to ask help to someone
who are expert on what they aredoing, because at the end of the
(51:56):
day, there are many aspects ofbusiness that you can focus on.
And if these are the tasks thatyou uh if you are eating by like
by this task day by day, youneed to let someone handle it.
(52:17):
Because I know that delegationis one of the challenges, even
personal, not only in business,but even in personal.
Like you've been doing that forlike maybe for a decade or for
months or years, but I mind you,once you outsource this um this
task that makes your life socomplicated, um you can turn
(52:44):
that time into a more proactive,um like in more fruitful
endeavor, um, you can focus onlike um building your business
more, you can focus on thebusiness side rather than
focusing on like the ad hoc orthe admin side of the business,
(53:08):
which can be handled by otherpeople.
So trust me, um, if you're ifyou're thinking about the costs,
don't think it as a burden onyour part because you're
spending another dollars fromfrom these people from the
virtual assistant.
Take it as an investment becauseat the end of the day, when you
(53:34):
are free on the task that youare you're you're you used to do
daily, um, you can focus you canfocus more on upscaling your
business.
And once you upscale yourbusiness, it can generate a lot
of income.
So instead of thinking that asadditional cost, take that as
investment.
Because that's how businessworks.
(53:55):
Um we we pay people to make ourlife more easier in this in this
industry.
So that's it.
That's that's that's my mytakeaway.
And as a virtual assistant, weare really, really, really
wanted to help business owners.
Because once we see you thrivingon your business or on your
(54:16):
career, it it is really a goodfeeling for us because we are
helping you in the back end,even though we are not at front
like commending other people,commending by other people.
It's okay with us for as long aswe we we see you thriving in
your business.
That's that's really a big umbig thing for us as a virtual
(54:39):
assistant.
SPEAKER_01 (54:40):
That's awesome.
I love that.
And so, Irvin, if people wantedto contact you, because as you
mentioned, one of the best waysto trust a new virtual assistant
is to have a referral fromanother person, and I'm your
referral, everybody.
So, Irvin, there there are acouple ways.
I know one, we'll put we'll puta link in the show notes uh to
(55:01):
make sure people can contactyou, but how else could people
find or what's the best way forpeople to find you if they
wanted to hire you or one ofyour virtual assistants?
SPEAKER_02 (55:10):
Well, you can find me in all of my socials.
Um my name is Irvin Nixon Cruz.
You can check that for mycredibility.
You can hire me upwork inUpwork.
Um, you can also um contact Katefor my details, or we can put it
here so that you can um contactme and then we can do a
(55:31):
discovery call so that if youhave questions, then you can
easily um ask me directly.
So, for example, if you needsomeone to help you, of course,
I am currently exclusive to Kateas her virtual assistant.
But if you really wanted to havea virtual assistant um who are
(55:54):
efficient, um, that can reallywork hard on your business, I
can actually um you can hire onmy agency.
I have a mini uh virtualassistant agency, which is
actually trained by me.
So do not worry about that.
What is good about hiring avirtual assistant from an
agency, from an agency inparticular, is that um when you
(56:18):
hire someone from an agency, forexample, you are not good match
with each other, um, we can umactually replace that because at
the end of the day, um, if it'snot best fit for you, we cannot
force to fit a certain virtualassistant because we consider,
because we're considering a lotof things.
Um, even if the virtualassistant is scaled, but
(56:41):
personality-wise, he or she isnot best fit for you are not
best best fit for each other.
We can replace another virtualassistant.
So if that's the case, you cancontact me, I can give my
WhatsApp, or we can schedule acall so that um you have an idea
(57:01):
on how it works.
So that's it.
SPEAKER_01 (57:03):
Yes, and uh Irvin edits all my blogs.
So if you are actually accessingthis on my blog, Irvin, I
imagine you will put all thelinks necessary into that blog
so people can grab it.
If you are not reading the blog,if you're listening on the
podcast, uh, we will be sure toput information about how to
contact Irvin in the mid-rolland in the intro.
(57:27):
So listen for those.
SPEAKER_02 (57:29):
And I hope I forgot that I'm doing the blog, so I
will put some information.
SPEAKER_01 (57:35):
I didn't forget.
This is how I'm able to takevacations.
I'm I can't even tell you.
Like knowing that that Irvin anduh my other wonderful assistants
are out there holding mybusiness together.
This is how I'm able to spendtime with my family, visit my
grandkiddo.
This is uh it's it's a gamechanger.
SPEAKER_02 (57:53):
So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01 (57:56):
All right, thank you.
Thank you for letting meinterview you and everybody
listening, watching.
Please get yourself a virtualassistant if you haven't
already.
And uh we'll have anotherepisode on how to build an SOP.
I'll I'll do what I gotta do tohelp you get to a space where
you're able to delegate and bethe magnificent badass business
(58:18):
owner that you are.
So thanks for watching.
Thanks for being here, Irvin.
SPEAKER_02 (58:23):
Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
See you.
SPEAKER_01 (58:26):
And show you some examples of SOPs, and then I'm
going to take up the recordingso you can hear Urban talk about
how to contact him.
So uh an SOP, I'm gonna show youthe old school.
This is an old school SOP for uhscheduled Facebook post.
(58:48):
And so I created this.
And when I start to dosomething, when I'm thinking
about uh offloading a task, youreally have to get into this
mindset of, okay, I'm about todo this thing.
What if I just sat down andwrote down every step that I
take?
Like one, open the program, two,click start, three, do this.
(59:12):
And so that's what I did withthe Facebook post.
And honestly, it's not thegreatest SOP in the world
because if you're reading it andyou're like, well, what does
that mean?
That means it's not that greatof an SOP, right?
Because I'm not being verydescriptive.
So what I switched to was screenrecordings.
(59:33):
And so with the screenrecording, and if you're in the
step it up membership, I use alot of screen recordings to show
how to find your products, howto get the Zoom link for our
week weekly coaching call.
Um, because when someone sees aquick two minute screen
recording, it can make a lot ofsense.
Now, if you take, so when I sayscreen recording, it's that app
(59:58):
on your computer that And Idon't so here it is on my PC.
And I can do a recording of thewhole screen.
Mac is so much easier, but my PCcan do it too.
Or you can use outside softwarelike Loom and Camtasia.
But let me show you an example.
(01:00:19):
So this is mine and Irvin'scombined Trello board.
So this Trello board is designedto go left to right.
And so if it needs a blog post,it goes here.
If it's a training, it goeshere.
If it's an online course, andyou can see I don't have any
(01:00:39):
online courses in the queue.
So if you click on, let's justlook at a blog post.
There's a lot of informationhere.
And with Trello, Irvin cancommunicate with me in the
Trello card.
He can tag me so that I get anemail.
(01:01:00):
And I can add information likethe link to the YouTube video
right in the Trello card.
But here's where the magichappens: the checklist.
So we have an 11-item checklist,and each one of these checklists
is how to create a portion ofthe blog.
So let me click step one.
(01:01:25):
And uh y'all give me a thumbs upif you can see what the screen
switched to.
Can you see a YouTube video?
Okay, awesome.
So no sound, I'm not talking,but what it shows him is how to
grab the transcript.
So I could have explained this.
(01:01:49):
But instead, I'm showing him.
(01:02:12):
I mean, if you're like me, and Imean, even these one-hour
webinars, I know it's likedrinking from a fire hose.
So imagine how your assistantmight feel if you're like, okay,
this is protected healthinformation.
And what you're gonna do, you'regonna answer the phone, you're
gonna triage the client, you'regonna ask them five questions,
but start with scheduled beforeyou get to days of the week.
(01:02:33):
I mean, right, but imagine ifyou could create step by step,
even if you did just the oldschool way and wrote it down and
scheduled a meeting, Zoom, youknow, whatever, and just that
one task, and then you couldcheck in and watch them, you
(01:02:56):
know, watch it because thevirtual assistant, it takes
time.
This is not a fast process.
On the flip, if you're hiringfor something like bookkeeping,
yes, you should hire a VAskilled in that skill, right?
Don't teach someone how to dobookkeeping, right?
Don't hire someone and teachthem how to do graphic design or
(01:03:20):
how to use Canva.
You're gonna hire somebody whoalready has the skill set for
that.
All right.
So any questions about what Ijust showed you, or what is it
SOP, or what does it mean tobreak down a task?
There.
And I'm gonna put Irvin'sinformation into your profile,
(01:03:42):
same place where yourcertificate is.
So you can email him if you'reinterested in reaching out, he
would love that.
And as I mentioned before, healso uh hires VAs to work for
him.
And he's a pretty, from what hehe describes, he's a very
meticulous boss.
He makes sure that his VAs dogood work as well.
But let's let's use the last fewminutes to ask questions.
(01:04:05):
Are what's what's still kind ofconfusing for you, or what
questions or worries do youhave?
I think the biggest mistake I'veever made with a VA is not
breaking down a task enough.
You know, like if they said, Ohyeah, I'm I'm great at designing
(01:04:26):
Canva covers for social media.
And I'm like, great, give methree for the next three weeks.
And then they give them to meand I'm like, oh, these are
these aren't good.
Well, did I tell them whatcolors to use?
Did I tell them I only wantedfour words?
I didn't want a paragraph.
Did I tell them I wanted thispicture of me and not this
picture of me?
(01:04:46):
Right.
So a lot of what comes back toyou is exactly what you didn't
say, right?
So these SOPs, they'reimportant.
And thinking about the output,and it's okay if you don't know
what Canva you don't want touse.
I go into Canva and I'm like,oh, too much information.
(01:05:08):
So I don't, I'm not real pickyabout what someone gives me for
a Canva product.
I just want it spelled right.
Um, but I know uh a lot of folksthey they get a little bent out
of shape if if their blogs ortheir transcripts come back and
it doesn't sound like them.
I I'm okay if it doesn't soundlike me, right?
(01:05:28):
I'm more interested in gettingthe information out because
we're very consistent at KateWalker Training.
We get these things out,episodes out every week.
We get the trainings out once amonth.
So really think about theproduct.
What's the outcome?
Right?
If you're thinking about hiringsomeone to answer client phone
calls, what's the outcome?
Well, you want booked sessionsand you want happy clients,
(01:05:54):
right?
So you would teach customerservice, you would teach HIPAA,
you would teach uh the 10-minuteconsultation script that the
step it up members, you guyshave that in your profile and
you know how to answer the phoneso that this person will book
their first session.
You don't have to use a Trelloboard, you don't have to use
(01:06:14):
WhatsApp.
Uh, but if your projects aregoing to be bigger, like if
you're writing a book or um youare developing a marketing plan
for the entire year and you wantto develop content, yeah, then
you might want to get some sortof a board or some sort of an
organizational system.
(01:06:34):
And of course, the ethics wetalked about, you know, if
you're worried about passwords,you want to use something like
LastPass, uh, until you get toknow someone like Irvin and I,
we were in Upwork.
We did not take our business outof Upwork until I was certain
that I could trust him.
But again, I don't give anybodythe keys to the kingdom.
(01:06:57):
I mean, my husband's the onlyone that has all my passwords.
So absolutely be prudent aboutwhat you share, right?
Someone doesn't have to have allyour passwords in order to, you
know, answer the phone or answeryour emails or even manage your
calendar.
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